Dan III of Wallachia

Dan the Younger
Coat of arms of the House of Basarab
Died	April 1460 Rucăr
Burial	Church of St. Nicholas at Târgșor (?)
Issue	Albert Peter
House	House of Dănești
Father	Dan II of Wallachia

Dan the Younger (executed in April 1460) was a pretender to the throne of Wallachia from 1456 to 1460. He was the son of Dan II of Wallachia who died fighting for the throne in 1431. After Dan's brother, Vladislav II of Wallachia, was murdered by their cousin, Vlad Dracula, in 1456, Dan settled in Brașov. Besides Dan, Vlad Dracula's half-brother, Vlad the Monk, and Dan's half-brother, Basarab Laiotă, laid claim to Wallachia against Dracula. Dan tried to seize Wallachia with the support of the burghers of the town, but he was defeated and captured in a battle near Rucăr. He was forced to dig his own grave before being beheaded.

Dan was the brother of Vladislav II of Wallachia, a son of Dan II of Wallachia. Dan II died fighting for Wallachia against his cousin, Alexander I Aldea, in 1431. Vladislav II seized Wallachia from Alexander Aldea's brother, Vlad II, with the support of John Hunyadi, Governor of Hungary, in late 1447. After Vladislav II submitted himself to the Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed II, Hunyadi supported Vlad II's son, Vlad Dracula, to invade Wallachia and seize the throne after 15 April 1456. Vladislav II was captured and beheaded during the invasion.

Dan settled in Șcheii (outside the walls of Brașov) in Transylvania. Boyars from Wallachia and Făgăraș joined him. On 16 December 1456, John Hunyadi's son, Ladislaus Hunyadi, ordered the Saxons of Brașov and Țara Bârsei to support Dan against Vlad Dracula who had "caused much inconvenience and damage" in Transylvania, but Dan could not chase Vlad from Wallachia. The Saxon burghers of Sibiu supported Vlad Dracula's half-brother, Vlad the Monk, to seize Amlaș (which had been traditionally held in Transylvania by the princes of Wallachia) before 14 March 1457.