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Posted on 08/05/2005 9:06:30 AM PDT by robowombat
The True Story Of Dracula
By Mark Gelbart Oct. 14, 2004
Halloween is a time when friendly neighbors pretend to be tricked by children dressed up as ghosts, goblins, superheroes, clowns, fairies, and Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles. And in return the adults--feigning surprise--pass out sugary treats; a tradition that has helped those in the dental profession for many generations. Unlike most of the characters that make an annual appearance on our door steps, Dracula is based on a real person. Most people are familiar with the fictional version of Dracula created by Bram Stoker, but they are only vaguely aware of the true Dracula from the history books. The old adage that truth is stranger than fiction applies here, and one with modern sensibilities also might add that the truth is more horrific than fiction.
Like the fictional legend, the real Dracula lived in Trannsylvania, now a province of Romania, but in the fifteenth century it was a battleground between the Hungarian Empire and the Turks of the Ottoman Empire. Dracula was a name picked by Vlad Tepes when he joined a fraternal order of knights vowed to protect Christians from muslim Turks. Dracula means both devil and dragon.
Vlad Tepes seized the throne of Trannsylvania in 1436 and tried to stay neutral when the Hungarians went to war with the Turks. Hungary lost the war, and they blamed Vlad who they forced from the throne. In contradiction to his vows as a Christian knight, Vlad allied with the Turks and regained power. However, to insure continued loyalty, Vlad had to leave his two sons, Vlad and Radu, as hostages in Turkey--a common practice during this time period. Vlad, the son, is the one who the legend of Dracula is based on.
In 1444 Hungary went to war with the Ottoman Empire again, and this time the elder Dracula was killed and replaced with the Hungarian puppet kin, Vladislav II. The following series of events was like a game of musical chairs: Vlad, the son, returned with the support of the Turks in an attempt to gain power, Vladislav was afraid that he would lose, so he switched sides and joined the Turks, and Vlad switched sides and allied with the Hungarians. Vlad won.
As king of Trannsylvania, Vlad declared war on poverty. He invited all the poor people and beggars to a grand feast in a castle. He then locked all of the exits and burned the castle down. He even said, "I did this so there would be no poor in my realm."
His tactics for consolidating power were also very ruthless. He enslaved all of the land- owning nobility and forced them to build his castle which still stands today. He gave the former nobility's land to his friends.
Vlad earned his nickname, the impaler. Historians estimate that he impaled between fourty thousand and one hundred thousand people. Vlad would have big banquets and would enjoy seeing people being impaled, while he ate. The victim could be anyone, and the reason could be for any excuse or whim. He even had women and small children impaled for trivial reasons. He seemed to have a fetish for impaling. Later in life, he was chased from the throne and was forced to live under house arrest by the king of Hungary. Since he no longer had power over people, he liked to impale small animals instead.
Vlad, the impaler, is considered to be a great patriotic hero by most Romanians, because he helped Trannsylvania become independent from the Ottoman Empire. The Turks invaded his kingdom, and he defeated them in battle. He took twenty thousand prisoners and impaled them all. In addition, he burned down farms and villages and poisoned wells, so the Turks would be denied supplies. When the Turks saw the impaled prisoners, they became frightened, and they retreated.
A grisly ending was in store for Vlad as well. The Turks returned--this time with Vlad's brother, Radu. In the middle ages sibling rivalry could become quite bloody. Radu and the Turks were able to force Vlad from the throne and he had to escape through secret passages in his castle. He sought refuge in Hungary and was arrested by the king. His brother died of syphilis, and the king of Hungary allowed Vlad to regain the throne. His return was short-lived. He was defeated, captured, and beheaded by the Turks. The sultan kept Vlad's head displayed on a stick.
The true story provided ample material for Bram Stoker's fertile imagination though this was only a small part of his novel. He borrowed the character's name, his bloodthirstiness, and his location. What about the idea for vampirism?
Vampirism is one of many superstitions that were held by the illiterate peasants of Trannsylvania during the middle ages. The human mind needed explanations for the enigmatic occurences of everyday living.
Busy, exhausted peasants--one debatable step about slavery--didn't have the time or energy to dig deep graves. They buried their loved ones in shallow graves. During the warmer months, this practice could have disturbing consequences. Decomposition would cause the bodies of the corpses to fill with gas. The escaping gas from decaying, bloated bodies would make funny noises, and the peasants thought the bodies were becoming undead. The expanding gas could also make the corpses sit straight up, and because they were in shallow graves, they would break through the surface of the soil. This would not be a comforting sight for a feudal age peasant. The peasants would rebury the corpse and stake it to the ground. Sticking a stake through the bloated body would release more gas that to a fearful peasant might sound like screaming. Vampirism was the explanation for what we now know as a chemical process.
One can see how a writer gets his, or her ideas. Bram Stoker combined two different legends into one, and wrote a classic novel.
Posted on Monday, October 18
thanks for not spoiling it, bc i am truly loving the book. i am on page 481 and i have found it gripping from page one. i am on vacation and have had a ton of time to read. i will definitely look for you to discuss it with when i am finished, bc i don't know anyone else who has read it : )
I am not sure where this information comes from, but I have never heard of that indcident. When he took the throne, he did invite all the royal administrators that were left over from the previous administration and kill them at a banquet to vanquish his enimies within the government.
Also, the name he was tagged with was Dracool, not exactly Draula, as we say it now.
Actually, Vlad ruled in Wallachia, not Transylvania, though I believe that he had held lands in Transylvania.
CA....
Wasn't Vlad then succeeded in power by his brother Shishka Bob? LOL
Right. He was from Wallachia. Wallachia and Transylvania are both in modern day Romania.
Funny.
I guess a lot of people would "get the point".
Amazing that now it is known as a satanic center. I had a feeling the Muslims were involved somehow.
Just read the article. Now I know more.
For more, see also
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad
"He was greatly disliked, but the bufferzone between Central Europe and the Ottoman Empire made Vlad a crucial player in the defense of Christendom.
At times, he and his army would pass over the frozen Danube and invade Ottoman territory (mainly in present-day Bulgaria) and cause great mayhem. In one of his invasions, he is supposedly to have killed more than 20,000 Turks. This, in turn, caught the attention of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, who himself laid siege on Targoviste. Vlad fled but left impaled corpses of Muslims and used the scorched earth policy. He ordered the burning of crops, the poisoning of wells, and the killing of all domestic animals. He freed convicted criminals and encouraged those who were afflicted with leprosy and the bubonic plague to mingle among the Turks.
Mahmud Pasha lamented that "for six leagues not a drop of water was to be found. The intensity of the heat caused by the scorching sun was so great that the armor seemed as if it would melt like a lighted candle."
"Another anecdote tells of a foreign merchant who was in Vlad's capital city. The merchant left his wagon out, knowing the strict punishment for breaking the law. When he came back to the wagon in the morning he found that 16 ducats were missing. He went to Dracula and told him of the stolen money. Vlad told him he would have his money by sundown. He then told the people that if they did not find the thief, then he (Vlad), would burn down the city. He then told one of his servants to place 17 ducats in the merchant's wagon. After the merchant discovered the ducats, he went to Dracula and told him that there was an extra ducat. At this point the thief was brought to Dracula who ordered him impaled, and Dracula also told the merchant that if he had not returned the extra ducat, he would have been impaled along with the thief."
"On a kinder note, another story tells that Vlad placed a golden cup at a well-travelled spring so travelers could drink. Not once during his entire reign was the cup ever stolen. The legend also says that the very day people saw the cup missing they knew that Vlad was gone."
I think Vlad was the kind of ruler the Wallachians needed and appreciated at the time.
He was a Christian warrior holding the gates of Europe against the Turks.
By the way, young Vlad probaly learned about impalements while kept hostage by the brutal Turks.
Using their own techniques against them was fair play.
Contrary to the popular conception that vampires are a real pain in the neck, Dracula was a real pain in the a$$.
I'm with you,
I know about him killing the 'nobles' or administrators after a feast, but I've never heard this story before.
Vlad and the whole 'Dracula' legend is one on my favorite bits of history.
Exactly,
What the Turks did as common practice was very similar to what he did.
It was a brutal time (glad I wasn't there) but he was the right person for the era.
Thanks. You got me searching.
See
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Cavern/3987/1.html
for extensive pages.
they were Turkish envoys..
wasn't there a part of the story where at one point while treating with turks, he ordered them to remove their turbins, and when they refused he nailed their turbans to their heads?
Intersting background. Thanks.
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