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For information about the band, see Vlad Tepes (band).Vlad is best known for the exceedingly cruel punishments he imposed during his reign and for having a famous literary figure named after him; the vampire main character in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Dracula.The word "dracul" means "the Devil" in modern Romanian but in Vlad's day also meant "dragon" or "demon", and derives from the Latin word Draco, also meaning "dragon".This elective monarchy often resulted in instability, family disputes and assassinations.To top it off, the two powerful neighbors of Wallachia, the Kingdom of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, were at the peak of their rivalry for control of southeastern Europe, turning Wallachia into a battle ground.His father, Vlad II Dracul, born around 1395, was an illegitimate son of Mircea the Elder, an important early Wallachian ruler.The old Romanian word for serpent (Cf.Wallachia did give Vlad II the surname Dracu (Dracul being the more grammatically correct form), any connection with a dark power was most likely coincidental.Through various translations (Draculea, Drakulya) Vlad III eventually came to be known as Dracula (note that this ultimate version is a neologism).Vlad with the support of the Turks, to which he had very strong connections.Radu seems to have been also favoured by the Turkish Sultan Mehmed II.At the age of five, young "Vlad" was also initiated into the Order of the Dragon.These years were influential in shaping Vlad's character; he was often whipped by his Ottoman captors for being stubborn and rude.His rule at this time would be brief; Hunyadi himself invaded Wallachia and ousted him the same year.Vlad fled to Moldavia until October of 1451 and was put under the protection of his uncle, Bogdan II.Turning tides
Bogdan was assassinated by Petru Aron, and Vlad, taking a gamble, fled to Hungary.Impressed by Vlad's vast knowledge of the mindset and inner workings of the Ottoman Empire as well as his hatred of the new sultan Mehmed II, Hunyadi pardoned him and took him in as an advisor.Both campaigns were successful, although Hunyadi died suddenly of the plague.Nevertheless, Vlad was now prince of his native land.Chindia Tower is today the most notable remainder), reinforced some castles, like the one at Poienari, where he also had a personal house built nearby.For the less important functions, Vlad also ignored the old boyars, preferring to knight and appoint men from the free peasantry.Since the death of Vlad's grandfather (Mircea the Elder) in 1418, Wallachia had fallen into a somewhat anarchical situation.Vlad used severe methods to restore some order, as he needed an economically stable country if he was to have any chance against his external enemies.Vladislav II of Wallachia was murdered soon after Vlad came to power in 1456.Rumors (spread by his enemies) say thousands of citizens of the town that had sheltered his rival were impaled by Vlad.Europe between the Ottoman Empire and the Hungarian Kingdom.Following family traditions and due to his old hatred towards the Ottomans, Vlad decided to side with the Hungarians.To the end of the 1450s there was once again talk about a war against the Turks, in which the king of Hungary Matthias Corvinus would play the main role.Knowing this, Vlad stopped paying tribute to the Ottomans in 1459 and around 1460 made a new alliance with Corvinus.Vlad crossed south of the Danube and devastated the area between Serbia and the Black Sea, leaving over 20,000 people dead.Vlad and some of his men allegedly entered the main Turkish camp (wearing Ottoman disguises) and attempted to assassinate Mehmed.Radu the Handsome, as the new prince; he gathered support from the nobility and chased Vlad to Transylvania, and by August 1462 he had struck a deal with the Hungarian Crown.An archer shot an arrow through a window into Vlad's main quarters, with a message warning him that Radu's army was approaching.River flowing below the castle.In captivity
The exact length of Vlad's period of captivity is open to some debate.He was able to gradually win his way back into the graces of Hungary's monarch; so much so that he was able to meet and marry a member of the royal family (the cousin of Matthias) and have two sons who were about ten years old when he reconquered Wallachia in 1476.It is unlikely that a prisoner would have been allowed to marry into the royal family.Turkish policy of Vlad's brother, Radu (who was prince of Wallachia during most of Vlad's captivity), was a probable factor in Vlad's rehabilitation.During his captivity, Vlad also adopted Catholicism.Return to Wallachia and death
See also Battle of Vaslui
Around 1475 Vlad the Impaler was again ready to make another bid for power.Transylvania invaded Wallachia with a mixed force of Transylvanians, a few dissatisfied Wallachian boyars, and a contingent of Moldavians sent by Vlad's cousin, Prince Stephen III of Moldavia.At the approach of Vlad's army, Basarab and his cohorts fled, some to the protection of the Turks, others to the shelter of the Transylvanian Alps.Apparently, even the peasants, tired of the depredations of Vlad, abandoned him to his fate.There are several variants of Vlad III the Impaler's death.Some sources say he was killed in battle against the Ottoman near Bucharest in December of 1476.Still other reports claim that Vlad, at the moment of victory, was struck down by one of his own men.Legacy
Romanian oral tradition provides another important source for the life of Vlad the Impaler: legends and tales concerning 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.Through constant retelling they have become somewhat garbled and confused and they have gradually been forgotten in later years.There are several events that are common to all the pamphlets, regardless of their nation of origin.Some of the sources view Vlad's actions as justified; others view his acts as crimes of wanton and senseless cruelty.His method of torture was a horse attached to each of the victim's legs as a sharpened stake was gradually forced into the body.Normally the stake was inserted into the body through the anus and was often forced through the body until it emerged from the mouth.However, there were many instances where victims were impaled through other bodily orifices or through the abdomen or chest.Victims sometimes endured for hours or days.Vlad 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 constituted his target.There are claims that thousands of people were impaled at a single time.Impalement was Vlad's favourite method of torture but was by no means his only one.The list of tortures he is alleged to have employed is extensive: nails in heads, cutting off limbs, blinding, strangulation, burning, cutting off noses and ears, mutilation of sexual organs (especially in the case of women), scalping, skinning, exposure to the elements or to animals, and boiling alive.No one was immune to Vlad the Impaler's attentions.Nevertheless, the vast majority of his European victims came from the merchants and boyars of Transylvania and his own country, Wallachia.Many have attempted to justify Vlad's actions on the basis of nascent nationalism and political necessity.Most of the merchants in Transylvania and Wallachia were Saxons who were seen as parasites, preying upon Romanian natives of Wallachia, while the boyars had proven their disloyalty time and time again (Vlad's own father and older brother were murdered by unfaithful boyars).It was reported that an invading Ottoman army turned back in fright when it encountered thousands of rotting corpses impaled on the banks of the Danube.The warrior sultan turned command of the campaign against Vlad over to subordinates and returned to Constantinople, even though his army had initially outnumbered Vlad's three to one and was better equipped.Almost as soon as he came to power, his first significant act of cruelty may have been motivated by a desire of revenge as well as a need to solidify his power.One answered that at least thirty princes had held the throne during his life.None had seen less than seven reigns.Vlad immediately had all the assembled nobles arrested.Vlad the Impaler was determined to rebuild this ancient fortress as his own stronghold and refuge.The enslaved boyars and their families were forced to labour for months rebuilding the old castle with materials from another nearby ruin.According to the reports, they labored until the clothes fell off their bodies and then were forced to continue working naked.Throughout his reign, Vlad systematically eradicated the old boyar class of Wallachia.Many of Vlad's acts can be interpreted as efforts to strengthen and modernize the central government at the expense of the decaying feudal powers of nobility carried over from the Middle Ages.Holy Roman Empire and chronicles written in Muscovy.The Russian pamphlets took a somewhat different view.The princes of Muscovy were at the time just beginning to build the basis of what would become the autocracy of the tsars.Despite the differences in interpretation, the pamphlets, regardless of their land of origin, agree remarkably well as to specifics.Vlad's atrocities against the people of Wallachia were usually attempts to enforce his own moral code upon his country.According to the pamphlets, he appears to have been particularly concerned with female chastity.Such women often had their sexual organs cut out or their breasts cut off.One report tells of the execution of an unfaithful wife.The vampire legend and Romanian attitudes
It is unclear why Bram Stoker chose this Wallachian prince as the model for his fictional vampire.Regardless of how the name came to Stoker's attention, the cruel history of the Impaler would have readily lent itself to Stoker's purposes.The events of Vlad's life were played out in a region of the world that was still basically medieval even in Stoker's time.Historical connections for more detail).The legendary vampire was and still is deeply rooted in that region.Eastern Europe beginning in the late 17th century and continuing through the 1700s.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.Philosophers in the West began to study the phenomenon.He was obscure enough that few would recognize the name and those who did would know him for his acts of brutal cruelty; Dracula was a natural candidate for vampirism.Why Stoker chose to relocate his vampire from Wallachia to the north of Transylvania remains a mystery.Similarly, the name of Dracula is still remembered in the Romanian oral tradition but that is the end of any connection between Dracula and the folkloric vampire.Outside of Stoker's novel the name of Dracula was never linked with the vampires encountered in the folklore.Despite his inhuman cruelty, in Romania Dracula is remembered as a national hero who resisted the Turkish conquerors and asserted Romanian national sovereignty against the powerful Hungarian kingdom.It is somewhat ironic that Vlad's name has often been thrown into the political and ethnic feuds between Hungarians and Romanians, because he was ultimately far from an enemy of Hungary.While he certainly had violent conflicts with some Hungarian nobles, he had just as many Hungarian friends and allies, and his successes in battle with the Turks largely benefited Hungary in the long term.Though neither the first nor the last powerful ruler to take on the Ottoman Empire, Dracula's demoralizing battle tactics were quite influential in damaging the illusion of Turkish invincibility and reversing the European aura of appeasement.His favorite weapon being the stake, coupled with his reputation in his native country as a man who stood up to both foreign and domestic enemies, gives Dracula the virtual opposite symbolism of Bram Stoker's vampire.In Romania he is still considered by some to be a "savior" to the people of his country.His famous contemporary portrait, rediscovered by Romanian historians in the late 19th century, had been featured in the gallery of horrors at Innsbruck's Ambras Castle.These pamphlets continued to be published long after his death, though usually for lurid entertainment rather than propaganda purposes.It has largely been forgotten until recently that his tenacious efforts against the Ottoman Empire won him many staunch supporters in his lifetime, not just in modern day Romania but in the Kingdom of Hungary, Poland, the Republic of Venice, and even the Holy See, not to take into account Balkan countries.During his time as a "distinguished prisoner" before being fully pardoned and allowed to reconquer Wallachia, Vlad was hailed as a Christian hero by visitors from all over Europe.Catholicism, Sexual Deviance, and Victorian Gothic Culture.All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.Surprisingly, it has not killed me, though the first week of it was rough.Now if I could just kick my addiction to sex and Internet, I might be considered normal!Interestingly enough, I spoke about this very thing with my wife yesterday.China) I would sacrifice next few months of gravy train sales and pitches for a retraining in development of business solutions software.Small businesses are getting, and rightfully expecting, more and more crap for free.And in that process of taking advantage of the lower cost of technology, they still have a huge overhead of monkeys running around like McDonalds employees around a fryer.Are you really using the technology you bought?Your first goal would be to find out who the regional MicrosoftBS rep is (I think they went away from MicrosoftBS because the name gave it away, I think its now Microsoft Dynamics).One thing MicrosoftBS division has been able to do, as the name implies, is get a ton of marketing money for anyone that will promote their solutions.Just tag one of the office workers and follow them for a week and find out wtf they do.So when we decided to grow up, get married, have kids (in a nutshell, past 14 months) I knew I had to grow up, and in that process, try every drink available.Friday, what are you IMing about?However, not everything gets engraved.Apple has been rejecting some messages for editorial reasons.Umbralkin* When my battery dies, so will you.Anonymous* iPod Limited Edition: Retard Compatible.Anonymous* Cocaine and razor blade not included.Controls on reverse side, you STUPID FCUK!To all the Chinese children who made my iPod, Thanks!Anonymous* Trapped in iPod factory.Scratch your balls, not my metal.Anonymous* Who said Apple sucks?People will pay more to be entertained than educated.CDs are for amish people!FCUK THE SHUFFLE, WTF I Ordered a 60 Gigger!This is the ONE time I simply have no comment.Ever wonder why the inbred midwestern hicks that never left their zip code are the most vocal when it comes to denying evolution?Plot Outline:
Death and spiritual torment stalk three American students visiting the Carpathian mountain homeland of Vlad Tepes.Plot Synopsis:
This plot synopsis is empty.Cast overview, first billed only) Billy Zane ...Stefana (as Andrea Macelaru)Alin Panc ...The group begins a
two
day 50 mile hiking trek through forests and mountains to a little known
and
inaccessible set of crumbling ruins at Poenari, a fortress built by the
historical Vlad Tepes.The artifact, a 15th century necklace, brings Vlad
back from the past along with several frightening experiences and inner
visions.The acting is good and the movie is filmed on location in Romania
where Vlad actually existed.This one is worth
seeing and the musical score by Christopher Fields is fabulous.Terms and Privacy Policy under which this service is provided to you.We all have an idea of who or what the Count is.However, on the other hand, Vlad Tepes Dracula, the historical figure who inspired Bram Stoker for his novel, is definitely less known.His father, Vlad Dracul, at that time appointed military governor of Transylvania by the emperor Sigismund, had been inducted into the Order of the Dragon about one year before.Knights of the Hospital of St.There are different reasons why this society is so important to us.First, it provides an explanation for the name "Dracula;" "Dracul," in Romanian language, means "Dragon", and the boyars of Romania, who knew of Vlad Tepes' father induction into the Order of the Dragon, decided to call him "Dracul."Dracul became prince of Wallachia (one of the three Romanian provinces) and took up residence at the palace of Tirgoviste, the princely capital.Vlad Tepes followed his father and lived six years at the princely court.In 1442, for political reasons, Dracula and his younger brother Radu were taken hostage by the Sultan Murad II; Dracula was held in Turkey until 1448, while his brother Radu decided to stay there until 1462.At 17 years old, Vlad Tepes Dracula, supported by a force of Turkish cavalry and a contingent of troops lent to him by pasha Mustafa Hassan, made his first major move toward seizing the Wallachian throne.But another claimant, no other than Vladislav II himself, defeated him only two months later.In order to secure his second and major reign over Wallachia, Dracula had to wait until July of 1456, when he had the satisfaction of killing his mortal enemy and his father's assassin.His first major act of revenge was aimed at the boyars of Tirgoviste for the killing of his father and his brother Mircea.He impaled the older ones on stakes while forcing the others to march from the capital to the town of Poenari.Dracula then ordered them to build him a fortress on the ruins of an older outpost overlooking the Arges river.Vlad became quite known for his brutal punishment techniques; he often ordered people to be skinned, boiled, decapitated, blinded, strangled, hanged, burned, roasted, hacked, nailed, buried alive, stabbed, etc.He also liked to cut off noses, ears, sexual organs and limbs.But his favorite method was impalement on stakes, hence the surname "Tepes" which means "The Impaler" in the Romanian language.Even the Turks referred to him as "Kaziglu Bey," meaning "The Impaler Prince."It is this technique he used in 1457, 1459 and 1460 against Transylvanian merchants who had ignored his trade laws.There are many anecdotes about the philosophy of Vlad Tepes Dracula.Almost any crime, from lying and stealing to killing, could be punished by impalement.Being so confident in the effectiveness of his law, Dracula placed a golden cup on display in the central square of Tirgoviste.According to the available historic sources, it was never stolen and remained entirely unmolested throughout Vlad's reign.He looked upon the poor, vagrants and beggars as thieves.In the beginning of 1462, Vlad launched a campaign against the Turks along the Danube river.However, during the winter of 1462, Vlad was very successful and managed to gain many victories.Finding himself without allies, Vlad, forced to retreat towards Tirgoviste, burned his own villages and poisoned the wells along the way, so that the Turkish army would find nothing to eat or drink.Moreover, when the Sultan, exhausted, finally reached the capital city, he was confronted by a most gruesome sight: thousands of stakes held the remaining carcasses of some 20,000 Turkish captives, a horror scene which was ultimately nicknamed the "Forest of the Impaled."Sultan, tired and hungry, admitted defeat (it is worth mentioning that even Victor Hugo, in his Legende des Siecles, recalls this particular incident).Vlad, who was definitely not the kind of man to kill himself, managed to escape the siege of his fortress by using a secret passage into the mountain.It was not until 1475 that Vlad was again recognized as the prince of Wallachia, enjoying a very short third reign.Some scholars have proposed that Stoker had a friendly relationship with a Hungarian professor from the University of Budapest, Arminius Vambery (Hermann Vamberger) , and it is likely that this man gave Stoker some information about Vlad Tepes Dracula.Moreover, the fact that Dr.Abraham Van Helsing mentions his "friend Arminius" in the 1897 novel as the source of his knowledge on Vlad seems to support this hypothesis.The Tour also covers the folklorical aspects of the fictional Dracula.If you have another trip to the Bahamas planned for next Christmas and are a fan of Stoker's literary work, maybe should you reconsider your decision?As for the 100th birthday of the novel, may you celebrate "freely and of your own will!"Florescu, Radu, and Raymond T.New York: Hawthorn Books, 1973.New York: Romanian Library, 1969.New York: Columbia University Press, 1991.The Transylvanian Society of Dracula
47 Primaverii blvd.Journal of the Dark, and was written by Benjamin Leblanc.They say that stars are collapsing clouds of hydrogen.Write them in the comments of this post!It perfect match with my ubuntu studio..!I've been using your selection of wallpaper for my blog backgrounds for several years now and the reaction of reader's has always been complimentary.Thank you so very much for sharing yourself, your creativity...For WebmastersYou can add the preview of Vladstudio latest wallpaper to your web site.To do this, copy the HTML code below and paste it anywhere in your web page.Vladstudio is a design company run by graphics enthusiast and digital artist Vlad Gerasimov.In my spare time, I create wallpapers for your desktop.My commercial work and artwork has received enormous positive feedback.Vlad had a proven ability to identify market opportunities, define new product categories, develop and communicate compelling market vision, and to attract talent, investors, partners and customers.Vlad is a Fulbright scholar and holds an MS degree from Moscow University, where he majored in Quantum Physics.He had so much energy and passion to innovate and create new things that nobody has tried before.He had great plans for 3Tera, and its team.Vlad, we promise not to let you down.We'll make 3Tera the success you've envisioned.The most famous of the early Basarabs was
Vlad's grandfather, Mircea cel Batrin (Mircea the Old).Mircea was prominent for
his struggles against the Ottoman Empire and his attempts to exclude
permanent Turkish settlement on Wallachian lands.As there were no clear rules
of succession in Wallachia (the council of "boyars" had the power to
select as voivode any son of a ruling prince), Mircea's death led to
conflict between his illegitimate son Vlad (Vlad the Impaler's father)
and Dan, the son of one of Mircea's brothers.He was one of a number of princes and vassals initiated
by the Emperor into the Order of the Dragon, an institution, similar to
other chivalric orders of the time, modelled on the Order of St George.Christianity and to do battle against
its enemies, principally the Turks.The Wallachian word
"dracul" was derived from the Latin "draco" meaning "the dragon."The
epithet, which echoed the fear that he instilled in his enemies, was
embraced in his native country.His mother was apparently Cneajna, of a
Moldavian princely family.Here, young Vlad was educated at court, with training that
was appropriate for knighthood.Turkish policies to
neutrality as he considered necessary to protect the interests of
Wallachia.Turkey as
guarantees that he would actively support Turkish interests.The two
boys may have spent up to six years under this precarious arrangement.After their subsequent release in 1448,
Radu chose to remain in Turkey.Vlad was voivode for three
separate periods, totalling about seven years.Vlad spent the next eight years plotting his return to power.His recovery of the throne for a third time in 1476 was
brief, for he was killed in battle during the subsequent winter.Consequently, it is a virtually impossible task to reconstruct his
political and military activities with certainty.The most
popular were several pamphlets that began to appear late in the
fifteenth century and which were widely circulated because of the
recent invention of the printing press.Indeed, some of the earliest
secular texts to roll off the presses were horror stories about Vlad
Dracula.The
printers of the Dracula tales also included woodcut portraits of the
prince and, in some cases, illustrations of his atrocities.All of these sources are biased.The Romanian narratives, by
contrast, present a very different Vlad: a folk hero who endeavored to
save his people not only from the invading Turks but from the
treacherous boyars.He did not hesitate to inflict the
punishment of impalement on anyone who committed a crime, large or
small.Not only were these merchants ignoring customs duties, they were
also supporting rival claimants to his throne.Constantinople fell to the Turks.His
exploits drew the attention of several European rulers, including the
Pope himself.On 17 June 1462, he led a
raid known in Romanian history as the "Night Attack."But the Sultan's
army continued onwards and reached the outskirts of Vlad's capital
city.Sultan's army
came across a field with stakes, about three kilometers long and one
kilometer wide.Turks and the Sultan
himself!The Sultan, in wonder, kept saying that he could not conquer
the country of a man who could do such terrible and unnatural things,
and put his power and his subjects to such use.He also used to say
that this man who did such things would be worthy of more.There were babies clinging to their mothers on the stakes, and
birds had made nests in their breasts."Mehmed threw his support behind Vlad's brother Radu, who
with the support of defecting boyars and Turkish soldiers, pursued Vlad
all the way to his mountain fortress at Poenari.Vlad is best known today in the
West for the many cruel actions that have been attributed to him.One of his earliest actions was
taken against the nobles of Tirgoviste whom he held responsible for the
deaths of his father and brother.According to an early Romanian
chronicle, in the spring of 1457, Vlad invited the nobles and their
families to an Easter feast.Impalement was an especially
sadistic means of execution, as victims would suffer excruciating pain
for hours, even days, until death came."He had some of his people buried
naked up to the navel and had them shot at."He had a large pot made and
boards with holes fastened over it and had people's heads shoved
through there and imprisoned them in this.And he had the pot filled
with water and a big fire made under the pot and thus let the people
cry out pitiably until they were boiled quite to death."He devised dreadful, frightful,
unspeakable torments, such as impaling together mothers and children
nursing at their breasts so that the children kicked convulsively at
their mothers' breasts until dead.In like manner he cut open mothers'
breasts and stuffed their children's heads through and thus impaled
both."About three hundred gypsies came
into his country.Several of the tales of his atrocities occur in
three or more separate and independent accounts, indicating a large
measure of veracity."Dracula was very concerned that
all his subjects work and contribute to the common welfare.He once
noticed that the poor, vagrants, beggars and cripples had become very
numerous in his land.Do you want to be without cares, lacking
nothing in this world,' asked the prince.Dracula explained his action to the boyars by
claiming that he did this, 'in order that they represent no further
burden to others so that no one will be poor in my realm."Nobody was immune from his
cruelty."Some Italian ambassadors were
sent to him.Then he asked them why they
did not take their caps off, too.They said it was their custom, and
they did not even remove them for the Emperor.In other versions, the ambassadors
are Turkish and the caps are turbans.Whether he was a nobleman, or a priest or a monk
or a common man, and even if he had great wealth, he could not escape
death if he were dishonest.The scene has been
immortalized in an especially gruesome woodcut which appeared as the
frontispiece in a pamphlet printed in Nuremberg in 1499.It depicts
Vlad having a meal while impaled victims are dying around him.The narrative begins as follows: "Here begins a very cruel
frightening story about a wild bloodthirsty man Prince Dracula.He stood up against
the powerful nobles and assured law and order in what were lawless
times.But most of all he is remembered for standing up against the
Ottoman Empire, at a time when other principalities around him were
falling under Turkish control.Today, Vlad Tepes is still
remembered."My grandfather used to tell me
that during the reign of Vlad the Impaler, Romanians paid tribute to
the Turks in exchange for peace.This tax included one to two hundred
young people a year to serve in the mercenary corps of the Turkish
army.Some of these lads came from the village of Aref.The mighty Sultan, on hearing that
Vlad refused to pay tribute, sent an army to capture him alive and
bring him to Turkey.When the Turkish army crossed the Danube, Vlad
retreated through this village to his fortress.Vlad told the elders, 'The Turks have surrounded this fortress
and I want you to take me across the border into Transylvania, by
morning.One of the elders who was an iron smith said, 'I have a plan.Let us reverse the shoes of the horses so that when we leave the
fortress and the Turks come, they will think we have entered when we
have actually gone away' So they reversed the shoes and escaped through
a secret passage, and crossed the Carpathian Mountains into
Transylvania.When they reached the border, Vlad asked how he could
compensate them for their loyalty.The elders of Aref replied, 'Your
Highness, give us not gold or silver because these can be spent.The villagers keep these stories
alive to this day.Less than two months into his
final reign (probably near the end of December, 1476) Vlad was killed
in battle in a forest just north of Bucharest.More likely is that he was
attacked by a rival claimant, Basarab Laiota (who succeeded him as
voivode), and killed by a hired assassin.One story goes that he was
beheaded, and his head was taken back to the Sultan in Constantinople
and displayed as a trophy.However, excavations on the site during
the early 1930s failed to uncover a burial site.Others contend he
is buried near the altar, but at a greater depth than was excavated.As for Vlad's immediate family, we
know practically nothing certain about his first wife (assuming they
were even married), except that she was a Transylvanian noblewoman.One
night a strange thing happened.An arrow entered through one of the
windows of the fortress and put out a candle in their bedroom.Striking
a light, she discovered a letter in the point of the arrow which said
that the fortress was surrounded by the Turks.Thinking that all was
lost, and without waiting for her husband's decision, she climbed up on
the wall of the fortress and threw herself into the Arges River."This cannot be verified through
historical documents.We do know that Vlad later married
Ilona Szilagy, who was related to Matthias Corvinus, the king of
Hungary who had placed Vlad under arrest following his escape from
Wallachia in 1462.To strengthen the bond, Vlad was
offered a royal bride.After his death, Vlad's wife was left with his
three sons."Mihnea the Bad," he is reputed to have cut off the noses and
lips of his political enemies.He was assassinated in 1510 on the steps
of a church in Sibiu.As for the Hungarian lineage,
the last male descendant died late in the sixteenth century, though a
female line can be traced for an additional hundred years.According to researchers at the Institute
of Genealogy of the Romanian Academy, other claims are unsubstantiated.Whatever Vlad might have been,
nowhere is it stated that he was (or was believed to have been) a
vampire.The word "vampire" was never used in connection
with Vlad until long after Bram Stoker's novel appeared and it became
popular to assume (incorrectly) that Vlad was Stoker's inspiration for
his vampire Count.Stoker base his novel upon
the Historical Dracula?Order of the Dragon to uphold
Christianity and defend the Empire against the Ottoman Turks.The Ottomans nonetheless succeeded in
penetrating deep into the Balkans during this time.Christendom was suddenly threatened by the armed might of the Ottoman
Turks.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.This allowed for succession to the throne through violent
means.In fact, both Vlad III and his father assassinated
competitors to attain the throne of Wallachia.Hungary until 1330, when it became independent.In 1431 King Sigismund made Vlad Dracul the military governor of
Transylvania, a region directly northwest of Wallachia.Wallachia from its current occupant, Alexandru I, a Danesti
prince.In 1436 he succeeded in his plan, killing Alexandru and becoming
Vlad II.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.Perhaps he hoped the Sultan would spare his younger sons if he
himself did not join the crusade.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.III later exacted revenge upon these boyars and merchants.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.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.Battle of Belgrade Hunyadi was killed and his army defeated.Vlad II (Vlad Dracul), was living in exile in
Transylvania.The house where he was born is still standing.Wallachian throne by killing his
Danesti rival.His training was typical to that of the sons of nobility
throughout Europe.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.Turkey, where he had
grown up.Kingdom of Hungary that he returned to the throne.Vlad III took place during this time.More than anything else
the historical Dracula is known for his inhuman cruelty.Normally the stake was inserted into the body through the buttocks and was often
forced through the body until it emerged from the mouth.The records indicate that victims were sometimes impaled so that they hung upside
down on the stake.The height of the spear indicated the rank of the victim.Thousands were often impaled at a single time.Ten thousand were impaled in the
Transylvanian city of Sibiu in 1460.Day, Vlad III had
thirty thousand of the merchants and boyars of the Transylvanian city of Brasov impaled.Early in his main reign he gave a feast for his boyars and
their families to celebrate Easter.During the feast Vlad asked his noble guests how many princes
had ruled during their lifetimes.None had seen less then seven reigns.Vlad immediately had all the assembled nobles
arrested.Very few survived this ordeal.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.One report tells of the execution of an unfaithful wife.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.It is unlikely that a prisoner would be allowed to marry a member
of the royal family.Most were impaled on tiny spears.In 1476 Vlad was again ready to make a bid for power.Radu, had by then already died and was replaced by Basarab the Old, a member of
the Danesti clan.Transylvania, leaving Vlad in a vulnerable position.Before he was able to
gather support, a large Turkish army entered Wallachia.Other accounts have him falling in defeat, surrounded
by the ranks of his loyal Moldavian bodyguard.Vlad, at the moment of victory, was
accidentally struck down by one of his own men.German pamphlets, and (3) Romanian oral tradition.Holy Roman Empire and may have intended the early
pamphlets as justification of his less than vigorous support of his vassal.The pamphlets thus painted Vlad Dracula as an inhuman monster who terrorized the land and
butchered innocents with sadistic glee.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.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.Despite the differences between these various sources, there are
common strains that run among them.This level of agreement has led many historians to conclude that
much of the information must at least to some extent be true.There are about nine anecdotes that are almost universal in the Vlad Dracula
literature.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.As the poor and crippled arrived in the city they were ushered into a
great hall where a fabulous feast was prepared for them.Vlad ordered the hall boarded up and set on fire.When in the presence of the prince,
they refused to remove their hats.Then the merchant complained of his loss to the prince, Vlad
assured him that his money would be returned.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.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.Vlad once noticed a man working in the fields while wearing a caftan (shirt) that
he adjudged to be too short in length.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.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 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.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.Benedict de Boithor, a Polish nobleman in the service of the King of Hungary,
visited Vlad Dracula at Tirgoviste in September of 1458.Curious to see the reaction of the churchmen, Vlad showed them rows of
impaled corpses in the courtyard.Vlad rewarded the sycophantic monk and impaled the honest
one.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.From the Balkans the plague spread westward
into Germany, Italy, France, England and Spain.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.Dom Augustin Calmet wrote his famous treatise on
vampirism in Hungary.Stoker based his novel upon the historical figure of Vlad Tepes, there is at least one
prominent scholar who challenges this assumption.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.Dracula and Vlad Tepes (e.Other references in the novel may also be related to the historical Dracula.Professor Miller counters each of these arguments.Moldavia (1820), which Stoker borrowed from the Whitby Public Library in 1890
while there on vacation.Vlad) who crossed the Danube and attacked Turkish
troops.Romanian history from other sources.Dracula, and that everything else is mere speculation.Vambrey ever spoke of Vlad Tepes, vampires or Transylvania during their
visits.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.Vald Tepes, Miller argues, surely he would have included such information in
his novel.
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