The feud between John Hunyadi & Vlad II Dracul (superimposed on between Draculesti & Danesti) would be an unfortunate power struggle in the midst of anti-Ottoman war & lead to much bloodshed that weakened Wallachia at a crucial point: 1440 -1456.

Vlad II was the son of Mircea the Old & was born around ?1385 & has been sent from early age (10-11) at the court of king Sigismund I of Hungary where he served for several decades.

king Sigismund:

It seems that he expected the king to support his claim to the throne of Wallachia as early as 1422 when his 1st cousin Dan II would receive Sigismund support, along with internal Wallachian anti-Ottoman boyar faction, Byzantine money, Bulgarian & Transylvanian mercenaries.

next year, 1423, it's reported that Vlad left Sigismund's court for Poland without permission & was caught & brought back to be then entrusted with accompanying emperor Manuel II from Venice to Buda & then went until about 1428-29 in Byzantine service.

Around 1429-30 he appears in S Transylvania & (after Dan II death in Jan 1431) receives imperial endorsement to obtain the throne of Wallachia, is induced in the order of the Dragon (hence "Dracul" sobriquet) & given wide authority in S Transylvania including over Saxon cities.

Vlad Dracul will even mint Wallachian silver coins in his name in Sighisoara/Schaessburg & several documents show bossing around the Saxons...

yellow house below is said to have been his residence & place where his sons Vlad & Radu "Draculea" were born cca 1431 & 1435.

In the meanwhile John Hunyadi was just a regional lord in Hunedoara/Hunyadi county son of a Vlach converted to Catholicism & a lady (possibly also of Vlach or even Greek origin per Bonfini ?!) from neighboring Timis county. he was much younger (born around 1407).

Eventually about Sep 1436 (& prbly right after he heard that Alexander Aldea of Wallachia just died) he moves in & occupies his throne in Targoviste.

Vlad refuses to honor the terms Alexander agreed with the Ottomans & is soon (Nov) to deal with vicious Ottoman raids.

1437 will bring the large peasant revolt in Transylvania & king Sigismund will die by the end of that year.

Vlad II will find himself dealing alone with the Ottomans (Moldova was a mess too at that point).

so in 1438 Vlad travels to Adrianople & submits formally to the sultan Murad II agreeing to pay a tribute (including providing 200 Devsirme boys annualy) & to guide Murad in a raid to Transylvania which happened the same year...

... & met little resistance as the province was still in disarray from the just subdued peasants' revolt. Murad returns with lots of loot, while Vlad tries to mend fences by returning some prisoners without asking for ransom.

Murad II gets however to suspect Vlad of duplicity.

John likely was away in Bohemia at this time, but we know his neighbors the Cândea knezes of Hatseg county did put up a fight despite overwhelming odds (invading forces were at least 40,000 strong while these border Vlach knezes had at most 1-2000).

Vlad must have thought himself relieved from the oath he took to Sigismund, but many Transylvanian nobles (including John) did not think so.

Also Vlad & his country could not withstand alone the Ottomans while Hungary was sorting itself out. Tough call.

Hunyadi started his career in the service of Stefan Lazarevic of Serbia in his late teens along with other Hungarian nobles including his future father in law Ladislaus Szilagyi (1425-1430 or so) had been in Sigismund's retinue after 1430 as well & most likely met Vlad there.

he served 2 years (1431-33) the Duke of Milan (at Sigismund's request). In 1434 was in the service of Francis Csanádi, Ban of Severin & by 1437 was again in the retinue of old Sigismund & fought for him in Bohemia.

John prbly continued his service there under Sigismund's successor & son in law Albert II of Austria into mid 1438 & following the above Ottoman incursion in Transylvania, was sent S & appointed in the next year Ban of Severin himself as in 1439 the Ottomans conquered Smederevo.

Death (dysentery!!) of Albert II threw Hungary in civil war between supporters of his wife & newborn son (Ladislau V the Posthumous = born after his father's death) & those of Wladislaw III of Poland (married with another of king's Sigismund daughters).

Ladislau=Wladislaw

Hunyadi supported the young Polish king while Vlad gave support to the other camp. Hunyadi's camp won however the short civil war in early 1441 & was appointed by the new king (with his close friend Nicholas Ujlaki) voievods of Trasylvania.

Hunyadi retained the control over the Banate of Severin as well as captainship of Belgrade. It looks that his family & himself lived mostly in Timisoara from here on ( this was between his & his wife's estates also close to Belgrade & not far from Alba Iulia-capital of T-sylvania

as in Norman case, the Wallachian voievods held 2 large estates in S Transylvania hence being technically vassals of the Hungarian king or his vassal the Transylvanian voievod.

to smooth things out John & Vlad meet in Brasov in Oct 1441 but something goes wrong. John goes on from there in a raid against the Ottoman forces in Smederevo. In response in March '42 an Ottoman force lead by Mezid bey crosses the Danube from there but is defeated near Sibiu.

In July '42 Hunyadi enters Wallachia by surprise & deposes Vlad who seeks refuge to Giurgiu with his family (that fortress was mostly under Ottoman control on/off since 1420). From there he receives an "invitation" to see Murad in Adrianople...

He also has to take his youngest sons, Vlad & Radu with him. He gets arrested & chained in the castle of Gallipoli while his sons are taken to Anatolia. His oldest son Mircea & the rest of his family remain in Giurgiu or N Bulgaria trying to gather support to regain the throne.

In the meanwhile Hunyadi sets up Basarab II (Dan's II son) as ruler of Wallachia & then goes on to meet a large Ottoman force (80,000 strong) lead by Shehabbedin Pasha, eunuc&ruler of Rumelia & 3rd in Ottoman hierarchy on the upper course of Ialomitsa river (N Wallachia).

Battle of Ialomitsa on Sep 2nd 1442 is the biggest Hunyadi victory (save the final victory at Belgrade). Tens of thous of Turks are slayed, most of their camp goods (including 5000 camels & horses) are captured. Shehabbedin barely escapes alive & is disgraced.

Basarab II seems to have participated in the 1443 campaign along John & George Brankovic, but part of the Jun-Aug 1444 peace of Szeged btwn Hunyadi & Murad II Vlad rule in Wallachia is recognised (it appears with Turkish help Vlad bested Basarab II).

about this Basarab II ( ruled about Aug1442 - Mar1444) we know very little. He was in Transylvania in 1431 & appears in king Albert's retinue in 1439 & by 1442 has taken the "pretender position" in the same Sighisoara ).

We have no idea what happened with him after 1444.

It's likely that Vlad II eliminated him & as he mended relations with Huniadi & king Wladislaw his shaky loyalty was excused.

It mostly appears that Vlad had, at least at that moment, the loyalty of Wallachian boyars.

Vlad discouraged the crusade plan put forward by king Wladislaw, but did commit a 4000 strong light cavalry force led by his oldest son Mircea (he was ? only about 15-16yrs old then & likely was just nominally in charge).

Vlad II Dracul was proven unfortunately right & the crusade ended in disaster at Varna in Nov 1444 with both king Wladislaw & cardinal Cesarini ( the Papal Legate) fallen on the battlefield.

Murad II came out of retirement to save his Empire & he did.

Huniadi & Mircea with their remaining men made it out N of Danube into Wallachia. Recriminations mounted high, Huniadi is blamed for the debacle then arrested & roughed up but eventually he is released with his men after a ransome is payed.

for Huniadi the silver lining of this was, however, that once Wladislaw died, he became de facto (& then officially) the ruler of Hungary & regent to the 4yr old Ladislau V.

Imposing his rule over the large & diverse Hungarian nobility required some heavy political lifting, but he still made, with Vlad's & a Burgundian fleet's help, an expedition S of Danube in summer 1445. https://twitter.com/Iulian68/status/1178865652033101825

Vlad recovered the fortress of Giurgiu & exacted retribution to its garrison for having delivered him to Murad 3 years earlier.