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Most authorities believe the character
of Dracula in Bram Stokers novel was based upon the historical figure Vlad Tepes
(pronounced tse-pesh), who intermittently ruled an area of the Balkans called Wallachia in
the mid 15th century. He was also called by the names Vlad III and Vlad
Dracula. The word Tepes stands for "impaler" and was so coined because of
Vlads propensity to punish victims by impaling them on stakes, then displaying them
publicly to frighten his enemies and to warn would-be transgressors of his strict moral
code. He is credited with killing between 40,000 to 100,000 people in this fashion. |
Origin of the Name "Dracula" |
King Sigismund of Hungary, who became the Holy Roman Emperor in 1410,
founded a secret fraternal order of knights called the Order of the Dragon to
uphold Christianity and defend the Empire against the Ottoman Turks. Its emblem was a
dragon, wings extended, hanging on a cross. Vlad IIIs father (Vlad II) was admitted
to the Order around 1431 because of his bravery in fighting the Turks. From 1431 onward
Vlad II wore the emblem of the order and later, as ruler of Wallachia, his coinage bore
the dragon symbol. |
Order of the
Dragon Emblem
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The word for dragon in Romanian is "drac" and "ul" is the
definitive article. Vlad IIIs father thus came to be known as "Vlad
Dracul," or "Vlad the dragon." In Romanian the ending "ulea"
means "the son of". Under this interpretation, Vlad III thus became Vlad
Dracula, or "the son of the dragon." (The word "drac" also means
"devil" in Romanian. The sobriquet thus took on a double meaning for enemies of
Vlad Tepes and his father.) |
Historical Background
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To appreciate the story of Vlad III it is essential to understand the
social and political forces of the region during the 15th century. In broad
terms this is a story of the struggle to obtain control of Wallachia, a region of the
Balkans (in present-day southern Romania) which lay directly between the two powerful
forces of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. |
Europe, circa 1560
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For nearly one thousand years Constantinople had stood as the protecting outpost of the
Byzantine or East Roman Empire, and blocked Islams access to Europe. The Ottomans
nonetheless succeeded in penetrating deep into the Balkans during this time. With the fall
of Constantinople in 1453 under Sultan Mohammed the Conqueror, all of Christendom was
suddenly threatened by the armed might of the Ottoman Turks. The Hungarian Kingdom to the
north and west of Wallachia, which reached its zenith during this same time, assumed the
ancient mantle as defender of Christendom.
The rulers of Wallachia were thus forced to appease these two empires to maintain their
survival, often forging alliances with one or the other, depending upon what served their
self-interest at the time. Vlad III is best known by the Romanian people for his success
in standing up to the encroaching Ottoman Turks and establishing relative independence and
sovereignty (albeit for a relatively brief time).
Another factor influencing political life was the means of succession to the Wallachian
throne. The throne was hereditary, but not by the law of primogeniture. The boyars
(wealthy land-owning nobles) had the right to elect the voivode (prince) from among
various eligible members of the royal family. This allowed for succession to the throne
through violent means. Assassinations and other violent overthrows of reigning parties
were thus rampant. In fact, both Vlad III and his father assassinated competitors to
attain the throne of Wallachia. |
History of Wallachia Prior to Vlad
III
Fortress of Belgrade
Wallachia was founded in 1290 by Radu Negru (Rudolph the Black). It was dominated by
Hungary until 1330, when it became independent. The first ruler of the new country was
Prince Basarab the Great, an ancestor of Dracula. Draculas grandfather, Prince
Mircea the Old, reigned from 1386 to 1418. Eventually, the House of Basarab was split into
two factionsMirceas descendants, and the descendants of another prince
named Dan (called the Danesti). Much of the struggles to assume the throne during
Draculas time were between these two competing factions.
In 1431 King Sigismund made Vlad Dracul the military governor of Transylvania, a region
directly northwest of Wallachia. (Vlad III was born during this time, in the latter part
of 1431.) Vlad was not content to serve as mere governor, and so gathered supporters for
his plan to seize Wallachia from its current occupant, Alexandru I, a Danesti prince. In
1436 he succeeded in his plan, killing Alexandru and becoming Vlad II. (Presumably there
was an earlier prince also named Vlad.)
For six years Vlad Dracul attempted to follow a middle ground between his two powerful
neighbors. The prince of Wallachia was officially a vassal of the King of Hungary and Vlad
was still a member of the Order of the Dragon and sworn to fight the infidel. At the same
time the power of the Ottomans seemed unstoppable. Vlad was forced to pay tribute to the
Sultan, just as his father, Mircea the Old, had been forced to do.
In 1442 Vlad attempted to remain neutral when the Turks invaded Transylvania. The Turks
were defeated, and the vengeful Hungarians under John Hunyadithe White Knight of
Hungary--forced Vlad Dracul and his family to flee Wallachia. In 1443 Vlad regained the
Wallachian throne with Turkish support, but on the condition that Vlad send a yearly
contingent of Wallachian boys to join the Sultans Janissaries. In 1444, to further
assure to the Sultan his good faith, Vlad sent his two younger sons--Vlad III and Radu the
Handsome--to Adrianople as hostages. Vlad III remained a hostage in Adrianople until 1448.
In 1444 Hungary broke the peace and launched the Varna Campaign, led by John Hunyadi,
in an effort to drive the Turks out of Europe. Hunyadi demanded that Vlad Dracul fulfill
his oath as a member of the Order of the Dragon and a vassal of Hungary and join the
crusade against the Turks, yet the wily politician still attempted to steer a middle
course. Rather than join the Christian forces himself, he sent his oldest son, Mircea.
Perhaps he hoped the Sultan would spare his younger sons if he himself did not join the
crusade.
The results of the Varna Crusade are well known. The Christian army was utterly
destroyed in the Battle of Varna. John Hunyadi managed to escape the battle under
inglorious conditions. From this moment forth John Hunyadi was bitterly hostile toward
Vlad Dracul and his eldest son. In 1447 Vlad Dracul was assassinated along with his son
Mircea. Mircea was apparently buried alive by the boyars and merchants of Tirgoviste.
(Vlad III later exacted revenge upon these boyars and merchants.) Hunyadi placed his own
candidate, a member of the Danesti clan, on the throne of Wallachia.
On receiving news of Vlad Draculs death the Turks released Vlad III and supported
him as their own candidate for the Wallachian throne. In 1448, at the age of seventeen,
Vlad III managed to briefly seize the Wallachian throne. Yet within two months Hunyadi
forced him to surrender the throne and flee to his cousin, the Prince of Moldavia. Vlad
IIIs successor to the throne, howeverVladislov IIunexpectedly instituted
a pro-Turkish policy, which Hunyadi found to be unacceptable. He then turned to Vlad III,
the son of his old enemy, as a more reliable candidate for the throne, and forged an
allegiance with him to retake the throne by force. Vlad III received the Transylvanian
duchies formerly governed by his father and remained there, under the protection of
Hunyadi, waitng for an opportunity to retake Wallachia from his rival.
In 1453, however, the Christian world was shocked by the final fall of Constantinople
to the Ottomans. Hunyadi thus broadened the scope of his campaign against the insurgent
Turks. In 1456 Hunyadi invaded Turkish Serbia while Vlad III simultaneously invaded
Wallachia. In the Battle of Belgrade Hunyadi was killed and his army defeated. Meanwhile,
Vlad III succeeded in killing Vladislav II and taking the Wallachian throne.
Vlad III then began his main reign of Wallachia, which stretched from 1456-1462. It was
during this period that he instituted his strict policies, stood up against the Turks and
began his reign of terror by impalement. |
The Life of Vlad III (1431-1476)
Vlad III was born in November or December of 1431 in the Transylvanian
city of Sighisoara. At the time his father, Vlad II (Vlad Dracul), was living in exile in
Transylvania. The house where he was born is still standing. It was located in a
prosperous neighborhood surrounded by the homes of Saxon and Magyar merchants and the
townhouses of the nobility. |
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Little is known about the early years of Vlad IIIs life. He had an older brother,
Mircea, and a younger brother, Radu the Handsome. His early education was left in the
hands of his mother, a Transylvanian noblewoman, and her family. His real education began
in 1436 after his father succeeded in claiming the Wallachian throne by killing his
Danesti rival. His training was typical to that of the sons of nobility throughout Europe.
His first tutor in his apprenticeship to knighthood was an elderly boyar who had fought
against the Turks at the battle of Nicolopolis. Vlad learned all the skills of war and
peace that were deemed necessary for a Christian knight.
In 1444, at the age of thirteen, young Vlad and his brother Radu were sent to
Adrianople as hostages, to appease the Sultan. He remained there until 1448, at which time
he was released by the Turks, who supported him as their candidate for the Wallachian
throne. Vlads younger brother apparently chose to remain in Turkey, where he had
grown up. (Radu is later supported by the Turks as a candidate for the Wallachian throne,
in opposition to his own brother, Vlad.)
As previously noted, Vlad IIIs initial reign was quite short (two months), and it
was not until 1456, under the support of Hunyadi and the Kingdom of Hungary that he
returned to the throne. He established Tirgoviste as his capitol city, and began to build
his castle some distance away in the mountains near the Arges River. Most of the
atrocities associated with Vlad III took place during this time. |
The Atrocities of Vlad TepesMore than anything else
the historical Dracula is known for his inhuman cruelty. Impalement was Vlad IIIs
preferred method of torture and execution. Impalement was and is one of the most gruesome
ways of dying imaginable, as it was typically slow and painful. |
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Vlad usually had a horse attached to each of the victims legs and a sharpened
stake was gradually forced into the body. The end of the stake was usually oiled and care
was taken that the stake not be too sharp, else the victim might die too rapidly from
shock. Normally the stake was inserted into the body through the buttocks and was often
forced through the body until it emerged from the mouth. However, there were many
instances where victims were impaled through other body orifices or through the abdomen or
chest. Infants were sometimes impaled on the stake forced through their mothers
chests. The records indicate that victims were sometimes impaled so that they hung upside
down on the stake.
Vlad Tepes often had the stakes arranged in various geometric patterns. The most common
pattern was a ring of concentric circles in the outskirts of a city that was his target.
The height of the spear indicated the rank of the victim. The decaying corpses were often
left up for months. It was once reported that an invading Turkish army turned back in
fright when it encountered thousands of rotting corpses impaled on the banks of the
Danube. In 1461 Mohammed II, the conqueror of Constantinople, a man not noted for his
squeamishness, returned to Constantinople after being sickened by the sight of twenty
thousand impaled Turkish prisoners outside of the city of Tirgoviste. This gruesome sight
is remembered in history as "the Forest of the Impaled."
Thousands were often impaled at a single time. Ten thousand were impaled in the
Transylvanian city of Sibiu in 1460. In 1459, on St. Bartholomews Day, Vlad III had
thirty thousand of the merchants and boyars of the Transylvanian city of Brasov impaled.
One of the most famous woodcuts of the period shows Vlad Dracula feasting amongst a forest
of stakes and their grisly burdens outside Brasov while a nearby executioner cuts apart
other victims.
Although impalement was Vlad Draculas favorite method of torture, it was by no
means his only method. The list of tortures employed by this cruel prince reads like an
inventory of hells tools: nails in heads, cutting off of limbs, blinding,
strangulation, burning, cutting off of noses and ears, mutilation of sexual organs
(especially in the case of women), scalping, skinning, exposure to the elements or to wild
animals, and burning alive.
No one was immune to Vlads attentions. His victims included women and children,
peasants and great lords, ambassadors from foreign powers and merchants. However, the vast
majority of his victims came from the merchants and boyars of Transylvania and his own
Wallachia.
Many have attempted to justify Vlad Draculas actions on the basis of nascent
nationalism and political necessity. Many of the merchants in Transylvania and Wallachia
were German Saxons who were seen as parasites, preying upon Romanian natives of Wallachia.
The wealthy land owning boyars exerted their own often capricious and unfaithful influence
over the reigning princes. Vlads own father and older brother were murdered by
unfaithful boyars. However, many of Vlad Draculas victims were also Wallachians, and
few deny that he derived a perverted pleasure from his actions.
Vlad Dracula began his reign of terror almost as soon as he came to power. His first
significant act of cruelty may have been motivated by a desire for revenge as well as a
need to solidify his power. Early in his main reign he gave a feast for his boyars and
their families to celebrate Easter. Vlad was well aware that many of these same nobles
were part of the conspiracy that led to his fathers assassination and the burying
alive of his elder brother, Mircea. Many had also played a role in the overthrow of
numerous Wallachian princes. During the feast Vlad asked his noble guests how many princes
had ruled during their lifetimes. All of the nobles present had outlived several princes.
None had seen less then seven reigns. Vlad immediately had all the assembled nobles
arrested. The older boyars and their families were impaled on the spot. The younger and
healthier nobles and their families were marched north from Tirgoviste to the ruins of his
castle in the mountains above the Arges River. The enslaved boyars and their families were
forced to labor for months rebuilding the old castle with materials from a nearby ruin.
According to the reports they labored until the clothes fell off their bodies and then
were forced to continue working naked. Very few survived this ordeal.
Throughout his reign Vlad continued to systematically eradicate the old boyar class of
Wallachia. Apparently Vlad was determined that his own power be on a modern and thoroughly
secure footing. In the place of the executed boyars Vlad promoted new men from among the
free peasantry and middle class; men who would be loyal only to their prince.
Vlad Tepes atrocities against the people of Wallachia were usually attempts to
enforce his own moral code upon his country. He appears to have been particularly
concerned with female chastity. Maidens who lost their virginity, adulterous wives and
unchaste widows were all targets of Vlads cruelty. Such women often had their sexual
organs cut out or their breasts cut off, and were often impaled through the vagina on
red-hot stakes. One report tells of the execution of an unfaithful wife. Vlad had the
womans breasts cut off, then she was skinned and impaled in a square in Tirgoviste
with her skin lying on a nearby table. Vlad also insisted that his people be honest and
hard working. Merchants who cheated their customers were likely to find themselves mounted
on a stake beside common thieves. |
The End of Vlad III Although
Vlad III experienced some success in fending off the Turks, his accomplishments were
relatively short-lived. He received little support from his titular overlord, Matthius
Corvinus, King of Hungary (son of John Hunyadi) and Wallachian resources were too limited
to achieve any lasting success against the powerful Turks.
The Turks finally succeeded in forcing Vlad to flee to Transylvania in 1462.
Reportedly, his first wife committed suicide by leaping from the towers of Vlads
castle into the waters of the Arges River rather than surrender to the Turks. Vlad escaped
through a secret passage and fled across the mountains into Transylvania and appealed to
Matthias Corvinus for aid. The king immediately had Vlad arrested and imprisoned in a
royal tower.
There is some debate as to the exact length of Vlads confinement. The Russian
pamphlets indicate that he was a prisoner from 1462 until 1474. However, during this
period he was able to gradually win his way back into the graces of Matthias Corvinus and
ultimately met and married a member of the royal family (possibly the sister of Corvinus)
and fathered two sons. It is unlikely that a prisoner would be allowed to marry a member
of the royal family. As the eldest son was about 10 years old at the point Vlad regained
the Wallachian throne in 1476, his release probably occurred around 1466.
Note: The Russian narrative, normally very favorable to Vlad, indicates that
even in captivity he could not give up his favorite past-time; he often captured birds and
mice and proceeded to torture and mutilate them. Some were beheaded or
tarred-and-feathered and released. Most were impaled on tiny spears.
Another possible reason for Vlads rehabilitation was that the new successor to
the Wallachian throne, Vlads own brother, Radu the Handsome, had instituted a very
pro-Turkish policy. The Hungarian king may have viewed Dracula as a possible candidate to
retake the throne. The fact that Vlad renounced the Orthodox faith and adopted Catholicism
was also surely meant to appease his Hungarian captor.
In 1476 Vlad was again ready to make a bid for power. Vlad Dracula and Prince Stephen
Bathory of Transylvania invaded Wallachia with a mixed contingent of forces. Vlads
brother, Radu, had by then already died and was replaced by Basarab the Old, a member of
the Danesti clan. At the approach of Vlads army Basarab and his cohorts fled.
However, shortly after retaking the throne, Prince Bathory and most of Vlads forces
returned to Transylvania, leaving Vlad in a vulnerable position. Before he was able to
gather support, a large Turkish army entered Wallachia. Vlad was forced to march and meet
the Turks with less than four thousand men.
Purported tomb of
Vlad III |
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Vlad Dracula was killed in battle against the Turks near the
town of Bucharest in December of 1476. Some reports indicate that he was assassinated by
disloyal Wallachian boyars just as he was about to sweep the Turks from the field. Other
accounts have him falling in defeat, surrounded by the ranks of his loyal Moldavian
bodyguard. Still other reports claim that Vlad, at the moment of victory, was accidentally
struck down by one of his own men. The one undisputed fact is that ultimately his body was
decapitated by the Turks and his head sent to Constantinople where the sultan had it
displayed on a stake as proof that the horrible Impaler was finally dead. He was
reportedly buried at Snagov, an island monastery located near Bucharest. |
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Historical Evidence In
evaluating the accounts of Vlad Dracula it is important to realize that much of the
information comes from sources that may not be entirely accurate. With each of the three
main sources there is reason to believe that the information provided may be influenced by
local, mainly political, prejudices. The three main sources are as follows: (1) Pamphlets
published in Germany shortly after Vlads death, (2) pamphlets published in Russia
shortly after the German pamphlets, and (3) Romanian oral tradition.
- German Pamphlets
At the time of Vlad Draculas death Matthias Corvinus of Hungary was seeking to
bolster his own reputation in the Holy Roman Empire and may have intended the early
pamphlets as justification of his less than vigorous support of his vassal. It must also
be remembered that German merchants were often the victims of Vlad Draculas cruelty.
The pamphlets thus painted Vlad Dracula as an inhuman monster who terrorized the land and
butchered innocents with sadistic glee.
The pamphlets were also a form of mass entertainment in a society where the printing
press was just coming into widespread use. The pamphlets were reprinted numerous times
over the thirty or so years following Vlads deathstrong proof of their
popularity.
- Russian Pamphlets
At the time of Vlad III the princes of Moscow were just beginning to build the basis of
what would become the autocracy of the czars. Just like Vlad III, they were having
considerable problems with the disloyal, often troublesome boyars. In Russia, Vlad Dracula
was thus presented as a cruel but just prince whose actions were intended to benefit the
greater good of his people.
- Romanian Oral Tradition
Legends and tales concerning Vlad the Impaler have remained a part of folklore among
the Romanian peasantry. These tales have been passed down from generation to generation
for five hundred years. As one might imagine, through constant retelling they have become
somewhat garbled and confused and are gradually being forgotten by the younger
generations. However, they still provide valuable information about Vlad Dracula and his
relationship with his people.
Vlad Dracula is remembered as a just prince who defended his people from foreigners,
whether those foreigners were Turkish invaders or German merchants. He is also remembered
as a champion of the common man against the oppression of the boyars. A central part of
the verbal tradition is Vlads insistence on honesty in his effort to eliminate crime
and immoral behavior from the region. However, despite the more positive interpretation of
his life, Vlad Dracula is still remembered as an exceptionally cruel and often capricious
ruler.
Despite the differences between these various sources, there are common strains that
run among them. The German and Russian pamphlets, in particular, agree remarkably as to
many specifics of Vlad Draculas deeds. This level of agreement has led many
historians to conclude that much of the information must at least to some extent be true.
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Anecdotes |
There are about nine anecdotes that are almost universal in the Vlad Dracula
literature. They include the following:
- The Golden Cup
Vlad Dracula was known throughout his land for his fierce insistence on honesty and
order. Thieves seldom dared practice their trade within his domain, for they knew that the
stake awaited any who were caught. Vlad was so confident in the effectiveness of his law
that he laced a golden cup on display in the central square of Tirgoviste. The cup was
never stolen and remained entirely unmolested throughout Vlad Draculas reign.
- The Burning of the Sick and Poor
Vlad Dracula was very concerned that all his subjects work and contribute to the
common welfare. He once notice that the poor, vagrants, beggars and cripples had become
very numerous in his land. Consequently, he issued an invitation to all the poor and sick
in Wallachia to come to Tirgoviste for a great feast, claiming that no one should go
hungry in his land. As the poor and crippled arrived in the city they were ushered into a
great hall where a fabulous feast was prepared for them. The guests ate and drank late
into the night. Vlad himself then made an appearance and asked them, "What else do
you desire? Do you want to be without cares, lacking nothing in this world?" When
they responded positively Vlad ordered the hall boarded up and set on fire. None escaped
the flames. Vlad explained his action to the boyars by claiming that he did this "in
order that they represent no further burden to other men, and that no one will be poor in
my realm."
- The Foreign Ambassadors
Although there are some discrepancies between the German and Russian pamphlets in
the interpretation of this story, they agree to the following: Two ambassadors of a
foreign power visited Vlads court at Tirgoviste. When in the presence of the prince,
they refused to remove their hats. Vlad ordered that the hats be nailed to their heads,
such that they should never have to remove them again.
Note: The nailing of hats to the heads of those who displeased a monarch was not
an unknown act in eastern Europe and by the princes of Moscow.
- The Foreign Merchant
A merchant from a foreign land visited Tirgoviste. Aware of the reputation of Vlad
Draculas land for honesty, he left a treasure-laden cart unguarded in the street
over night. Upon returning to his wagon in the morning, the merchant was shocked to find
160 golden ducats missing. Then the merchant complained of his loss to the prince, Vlad
assured him that his money would be returned. Vlad Dracula then issued a proclamation to
the cityfind the thief and return the money or the city will be destroyed. During
the night he ordered that 160 ducats plus one extra be taken from his own treasury and
placed in the merchants cart. On returning to his cart the next morning and counting
his money the merchant discovered the extra ducat. The merchant returned to Vlad and
reported that his money had indeed been returned plus an extra ducat. Meanwhile the thief
had been captured and turned over to the princes guards along with the stolen money.
Vlad ordered the thief impaled and informed the merchant that if he had not reported the
extra ducat he would have been impaled alongside the thief.
- The Lazy Woman
Vlad once noticed a man working in the fields while wearing a caftan (shirt) that
he adjudged to be too short in length. The prince stopped and asked to see the mans
wife. When the woman was brought before him he asked her how she spent her days. The poor,
frightened woman stated that she spent her days washing, baking and sewing. The prince
pointed out her husbands short caftan as evidence of her laziness and dishonesty and
ordered her impaled, despite her husbands protestations that he was well satisfied
with his wife. Vlad then ordered another woman to marry the peasant but admonished her to
work hard or she would suffer the same fate.
- The Nobleman with the Keen Sense of Smell
On St. Bartholomews Day in 1459 Vlad Dracula caused thirty thousand of the
merchants and nobles of the Transylvanian city of Brasov to be impaled. In order that he
might better enjoy the results of his orders, the prince commanded that his table be set
up and that his boyars join him for a feast amongst the forest of impaled corpses. While
dining, Vlad noticed that one of his boyars was holding his nose in an effort to alleviate
the terrible smell of clotting blood and emptied bowels. Vlad then ordered the sensitive
nobleman impaled on a stake higher than all the rest so that he might be above the stench.
- Vlad Draculas Mistress
Vlad Dracula once had a mistress that lived in a house in the back streets of
Tirgoviste. This woman apparently loved the prince to distraction and was always anxious
to please him. Vlad was often moody and depressed and the woman made every effort to
lighten her lovers burdens. Once, when he was particularly depressed, the woman
dared tell him the lie that she was with child. Vlad had the woman examined by the bath
matrons. When informed that the woman was lying, Vlad drew his knife and cut her open from
the groin to her breast, leaving her to die in agony.
- The Polish Nobleman
Benedict de Boithor, a Polish nobleman in the service of the King of Hungary,
visited Vlad Dracula at Tirgoviste in September of 1458. At dinner one evening Vlad
ordered a golden spear brought and set up directly in front of the royal envoy. Vlad then
asked the envoy if he knew why this spear had been set up. Benedict replied that he
imagined some boyar had offended the prince and that Vlad intended to honor him. Vlad
responded that the spear had, in fact, been set up in honor of his noble, Polish guest.
The Pole then responded that if he had done anything to deserve death that Vlad should do
as he thought best. Vlad Dracula was greatly pleased by this answer, showered him with
gifts, and declared that had he answered in any other manner he would have been
immediately impaled.
- The Two Monks
There is some discrepancy in the telling of this anecdote. The various sources agree,
however, as to the basic story. Two monks from a foreign land came to visit Vlad Dracula
in his palace at Tirgoviste. Curious to see the reaction of the churchmen, Vlad showed
them rows of impaled corpses in the courtyard. When asked their opinions, the first monk
responded, "You are appointed by God to punish evil-doers." The other monk had
the moral courage to condemn the cruel prince. In the version of the story most common in
the German pamphlets, Vlad rewarded the sycophantic monk and impaled the honest one. In
the version found in Russian pamphlets and in Romanian verbal tradition Vlad rewarded the
honest monk for his integrity and courage and impaled the sycophant for his dishonesty. |
The Origins of the Vampire Myth It
is certainly no coincidence that Bram Stoker chose the Balkans as the home of his famous
vampire. The Balkans were still basically medieval even in Stokers time. They had
only recently shaken off the Turkish yoke when Stoker started working on his novel and the
superstitions of the Dark Ages were still prevalent.
The legend of the vampire was and still is deeply rooted in the Balkan region. There
have always been vampire-like creatures in the mythologies of many cultures. However, the
vampire, as he became known in Europe and hence America, largely originated in the Slavic
and Greek lands of Eastern Europe.
A veritable epidemic of vampirism swept through Eastern Europe beginning in the late
seventeenth century and continuing through the eighteenth century. The number of reported
cases rose dramatically in Hungary and the Balkans. From the Balkans the plague spread
westward into Germany, Italy, France, England and Spain. Travelers returning from the
Balkans brought with them tales of the undead, igniting an interest in the vampire that
has continued to this day.
Philosophers in the West began to study the phenomenon. It was during this period that
Dom Augustin Calmet wrote his famous treatise on vampirism in Hungary. It was also during
this period that authors and playwrights first began to explore the vampire myth.
Stokers novel was merely the culminating work of a long series of works that were
inspired by the reports coming from the region. |
Did Bram Stoker base his Dracula
upon
the historical Dracula?
First Edition of DRACULA
Constable, 1897 |
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Although it is widely assumed, even among scholars, that Bram
Stoker based his novel upon the historical figure of Vlad Tepes, there is at least one
prominent scholar who challenges this assumption. Her name is Elizabeth Miller, a
professor with the Department of English at Memorial University of Newfoundland. (http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~emiller/owner.htm)
Her primary argument is that Bram Stoker kept meticulous notes of his references in
creating Dracula, and none of the references contain specific information about the life
and/or atrocities of Vlad Tepes. |
There is fairly strong evidence the two Draculas are connected. Arguments in favor of
this position include the following:
- The fictional Dracula and the historical Dracula share the same name. There can be no
doubt that Bram Stoker based his character upon some reference to Vlad Dracula.
- Stoker researched various sources prior to writing the novel, including the Library at
Whitby and literature from the British Museum. It is entirely possible that his readings
on Balkan history would have included information about Vlad Tepes.
- Stoker was the friend of a Hungarian professor from Budapest, named Arminius Vambery,
who he met personally on several occasions and who may have given him information about
the historical Dracula.
- Some of the text of Stokers novel provides direct correlations between the
fictional Dracula and Vlad Tepes (e.g., the fighting off of the Turks--also, the physical
description of Dracula in the novel is very similar to the traditional image of Vlad
Tepes.).
- Other references in the novel may also be related to the historical Dracula. For
example, the driving of a stake through the vampires heart may be related to
Vlads use of impalement; Renfields fixation with insects and small animals may
have found inspiration in Vlads penchant for torturing small animals during his
period of imprisonment; and Draculas loathing of holy objects may relate to
Vlads renunciation of the Orthodox Church.
Professor Miller counters each of these arguments. In particular she notes the only
reference provided by Stoker in his notes that contains any information about Vlad Tepes
is a book by William Wilkinson entitled An Account of the Principalities of Wallachia
and Moldavia (1820), which Stoker borrowed from the Whitby Public Library in 1890
while there on vacation. The book contains a few brief references to a "Voivode
Dracula" (never referred to as Vlad) who crossed the Danube and attacked Turkish
troops. Also, what seems to have attracted Stoker was a footnote in which Wilkinson states
"Dracula in Wallachian language means Devil." Stoker apparently supplemented
this with scraps of Romanian history from other sources. Professor Miller argues that The
Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia is the only known source for Stokers
information on the historical Dracula, and that everything else is mere speculation.
As far as Stokers acquaintance with the Hungarian professor Vambrey, Miller notes
that the record only documents two meetings between the two individuals, and there is no
evidence that Vambrey ever spoke of Vlad Tepes, vampires or Transylvania during their
visits.
As far as any likeness between the historical Vlad Dracula and descriptions provided in
the novel, professor Miller notes that it is most likely Stoker drew his description of
Count Dracula from earlier villains in Gothic literature, or even from his own employer,
Henry Irving.
In conclusion, Miller makes an assumption of her own: In the novel Stoker provides
thorough historical detail obtained from his various references. Had he known about the
atrocities of Vald Tepes, Miller argues, surely he would have included such information in
his novel.
For a more detailed argument by professor Miller, see http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~emiller/kalo.htm. |
Bibliography
Most of the information provided on this site was obtained from a
document entitled "The Historical Dracula," by Ray
Porter. See http://www.eskimo.com/~mwirkk/vladhist.html
for more information.
Additional information was obtained from the following Web sites:
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