The Forest of the Impaled

This story begins in 1462. Facing a massive onslaught from Ottoman troops, a warlord and his small force infiltrates the camp of Sultan Mehmed II under the cover of darkness. Their goal was to assassinate the Sultan in his own tent. But confused in the dark and attacking the wrong set of tents, The chaotic night raid failed to kill Mehmed, but it set the stage for a much darker psychological blow.

Days later, as the Sultan's army regrouped marched on Târgoviște, the capital city of Vlad the Impaler. However on their way they encountered a nightmare. Vlad had left behind an agonising display. Thousands of dead and dying Ottoman prisoners hoisted on wooden stakes. The forest of the impaled. The sight and smell were so horrific that Sultan Mehmed, concluding that he could never defeat a man capable of such atrocities, broke off the campaign and ordered his army to retreat despite his overwhelming numbers.

The original design of the "the forest of the impaled" comes from a German pamphlet printed in 1499. It was essentially 15th-century political propaganda. Saxon merchants, who were bitter enemies of Vlad, mass-produced these gruesome prints to ruin his reputation. Depicting him not as a cunning military tactician, but as a bloodthirsty tyrant who casually ate his dinner while his victims were hacked apart.

47cm x 30cm engraved on solid reclaimed wood. 

Ready to hang.