Vlad the Impaler Dracula, Prince of Wallachia - Cousins

Thank you for pointing out the pedigree errors. I’ve cleaned up and locked relationships for Archibald Clendenning, of Cowpasture

Vlad the Impaler Dracula, Prince of Wallachia is Michael J P McManus' 7th cousin 21 times removed.

(Share this path) https://www.geni.com/path/Michael-J-P-McManus+is+related+to+Vlad-the-Impaler-Dracula-Prince-of-Wallachia?from=6000000074664092953&path_type=blood&to=6000000002447338054

Have you checked it for validity, though? Hint: the immigrant to America ancestor may have apocryphal parents. This is a good opportunity to clean up, as we can only fix what is reported to curators.

So Is John Gale, of the Cashew proven to parents?

Why Lithuania at that time?

So how would the connection have worked through? It doesn’t look like he had surviving descent:

https://www.quora.com/Who-are-the-descendants-of-Vlad-the-Impaler

There are some people alive today who still (falsely) claim to be descendants of Dracula himself or of the Draculesti (nee. Basarab) family/house to which he belonged. However, Vlad III Dracula AKA Vlad the Impaler was doubly cursed in both life and death. After he died his heirs slowly died out and with them his family name.

Things are made even more complicated when you add in the fact that in medieval Wallachia/Transylvania fratricide was rampant and rival clans plotted to kill one another constantly. Assassinations were a daily part of life. Nobody or their children survived very long, especially if they were a prince or boyar (“noble”). This also included the killing of very young children.

Vlad Dracula’s father (Vlad Dracul), mother (Unnamed), and older brother Mircea were all murdered by a rival, presumably before Mircea himself had any children.

So that left Vlad III Dracula and his youngest brother, Radu, as the last living, legitimate persons belonging to the house of Draculesti. Both of whom had some* children before their deaths.

Vlad had three, all sons - and Radu had one, a girl named Maria. Radu’s only child Maria and Vlad’s son Mihnea were the only two surviving children of the Draculesti family after their respective fathers deaths.

Two of Vlad Dracula’s sons, supposedly born by his second wife Justina Szilágyi, died young (unmarried and childless). Dracula’s most beloved son Mihnea was the sole survivor and lived to become prince of Wallachia for a short time but was later ousted by rival boyars. After this, he moved to the Transylvanian city of Sibiu where he had children of his own (before later being stabbed to death in the street).

Radu’s daughter Maria had one son named Bogdan who married. Mihnea’s surviving children, two sons and one daughter, married. Mihnea’s daughter Ruxandra married Maria’s son (Yes, the same Maria from before) whose name was Bogdan - but they both died childless.

So it was up to Mihnea’s surviving son’s to carry on the family name as the last living individuals in the Draculesti (nee. Basarab) family.

Mihnea’s two sons did go on to have children of their own and thus the Draculesti line lived on until the year 1632 - when the last surviving member, Alexandru Coconul, died with no heirs.

Therefore there are no direct descendants of Vlad the Impaler, other than those who falsely claim to be for publicity sake.

I do think there’s a connection between the houses, it’s a logical migration.

Do you need help trimming the branches, Erica?

Always! I think that post was a good guideline / start point.

Yes, we need more work.

Harry, Duke of Sussex is Vlad the Impaler Dracula, Prince of Wallachia's 16th great grandson.

https://www.geni.com/path/Vlad-the-Impaler-Dracula-Prince-of-Wallachia+is+related+to+Harry-Duke-of-Sussex?from=6000000002447338054&path_type=blood&to=6000000003075017807

A family chart is here

https://academia.edu/resource/work/29701358

“Basaraba”

I’ll upload a screen shot to profile for easier study, it looks OK.

Our Vlad is showing too many wives & children. I’ll add notes for study to profiles, although several are already prepared.

Here’s the source of the chart.

There is a book with family trees of 100 Romanian families, including the Basarabs: Octav George Lecca: Genealogia a 100 de case din Tara Romaneasca si Moldova, Bucarest, 1911.

This tree mentions 4 children, Mircea, Vlad, Mihnea and Manzila, but, as I see, sources are not given.

From https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1120417/cleaning-up-the-family-of-vlad...

This recent (2013) Romanian study is a little different from the 4 children shown in the (1911).

The last page of

https://www.academia.edu/6733752/Aspecte_ale_relațiilor_matrimoniale_munteano_maghiare_din_secolele_XIV_XV_varianta_lb_română_Revista_Bistriței_2013

One down.

countess Maria Zaleska, {Fictional}

I think her “mother” Ilonka is an alternate name for sister Justinia, Vlad’s 2nd wife, and could be merged.

Here’s the “traditional” tree in tabular form.

Marek, Miroslav. "A genealogy of the Drăculești family". Genealogy.EU.

http://genealogy.euweb.cz/balkan/basarab.html#V2

Our problematic descent, then, is :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justina_Szilágyi

Kuritsyn mentioned that Vlad had three sons.[17] Hasan and Matei Cazacu proposed that Justina gave birth to Vlad's second son and namesake, who was the ancestor of the Hungarian noble Drakwla family.[18][11] In contrast, Fedeles wrote that Vlad and Justina's marriage was childless.[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Drăculești

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_the_Impaler#Family

Vlad had two wives, according to modern specialists.[137][138] His first wife may have been an illegitimate daughter of John Hunyadi, according to historian Alexandru Simon.[137] Vlad's second wife was Jusztina Szilágyi, who was a cousin of Matthias Corvinus.[137][139] She was the widow of Vencel Pongrác of Szentmiklós when "Ladislaus Dragwlya" married her, most probably in 1475.[140] She survived Vlad Dracul, and married thirdly Pál Suki, then János Erdélyi.[139]

Vlad's eldest son,[141] Mihnea, was born in 1462.[142] Vlad's unnamed second son was killed before 1486.[141] Vlad's third son, Vlad Drakwlya, unsuccessfully laid claim to Wallachia around 1495.[141][143] He was the forefather of the noble Drakwla family.[141]

Two down.

A copy of
Margit Szilágyi de Horogszeg had been mis attached as a wife of Vlad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandru_Coconul

Alexandru Coconul (14 August 1611 – 26 June 1632) was Hospodar and Voivode of Wallachia from 1623 to 1627 and Hospodar of Moldavia from 1629 to 1630.[1] He was the son of Radu Mihnea, who also was a Hospodar. He married Ruxandra Beglitzi. He was the last of Vlad the Impaler's Romanian bloodline.[2] He died on 26 June 1632 in Istanbul.[citation needed]

The Besaraba chart shows this as well, so that should, I believe, be what geni shows. It’s the Hungarian family that seems more controversial.