Who was Vlad Tepes Dracula, this mysterious figure? Some called him a demon, while others called him an Angel. Yet he was Romania’s ruler in the fifteenth-century. Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel was based on Vlad Tepes. The real story of Vlad Tepes is probably more interesting that any vampire novel.
Vlad was born on 1431, in Sighisoara. He was born in Sighisoara, Romania. Dracul’s father ruled the country of Wallichia. He was an Order of the Dragon member. This group consisted of Slavic warriors and rulers, who were sworn to fight against the Turks for the Christian religion. Dracul never managed to gain the full throne. Eupraxia was his bride. Eupraxia is the sister of Moldavia’s ruler. Vlad Dracul made an alliance with Turks later and attacked his Wallachia. Vlad was taken captive by the Sultan because he wasn’t trustworthy. The Sultan arranged it so that Radu and Vlad Dracula’s sons were taken instead. Vlad Dracula’s father was a Turk and he was kidnapped at a very young age in 1444-1448. Vlad Dracula negotiated with Sultan Mehemet for the release of his children. Vlad Dracula’s revenge began after he was released from prison and his father had been assassinated.
Vlad was brutal in the way he terrorized his enemies. Tepes means impaler. Vlad the impaler, or Vlad in general, is his most common name today. He was determined to get revenge on the boyers, whom he considered responsible for the death of his father. He went after not only the boyers but also the churches. Both the Roman Catholics and Orthodox were powerful in his area.
Vlad the Impaler had a brutal, terrorist-like foreign policy. Imprision was used to force his will on merchants in Transylvania who were believed to be not following Vlad’s policy. He burned down a part of Brasov and impaled many others. In anti-Dracula images, he was shown eating in the midst of impaled bodies. This man is notorious for his cruel treatment of people. Dracula’s favorite method of torture and execution was impalement. Impalement was one of Dracula’s favorite methods of execution and torture. Vlad would normally attach a saddle to each leg of the victim and then slowly drive a stake into their body. The stakes were usually oiled and not too sharp. The victim will die quickly if the stake is too sharp. The stake would be inserted into the body from the rear and then forced to the mouth. In other cases, stakes have been inserted through other orifices on the body. They can also be inserted through the chest or abdomen. The stakes were forced through the mothers and impaled onto small children. Some records from that time implied that victims were hanged upside down by the stakes with which they were impaled. The pain of this could last up to a few days or hours. In the suburbs, he would set up the stakes according to a pattern. The shapes used were concentric circles, which formed a kind of target. The height at which the victim was placed indicated his or her status. (jyu.fi/`karnorr/vlad.html) This estranged individual had many different tortures that he used like he was commanding Hells torture chamber. Cut off limbs or ears, burn, cut off noses or ears, strangulation and mutilation. Who was safe from the evil terror of these warlords? No one. He would pursue anyone whose mood he liked. He would go after anyone that suited his mood. (jyu.fi/`karnorr/vlad.html) To make his point more clear Vlad would wipe out the old boyer class in Wallachia. Draculas authority had been repeatedly challenged by the boyers. Vlad finally set out to establish his throne in a secure location.
Vlad built Bucharest’s fortress during his reign. The Transylvanian Alps provided a strong wall around the city. Castles are not immune to problems. He decided to flee through a tunnel in the Carpathian Mountains to Transylvania because his army had weakened. The Turks had taken over the castle before his wife had committed suicide. Vlad surrendered himself to Mattias Corvinus who was the new King of Hungary. Vlad’s imprisonment in the Hungarian capital was not a bad one. Around 1466, Vlad was considered the next-best candidate to take the Wallachian Crown. He was again prince of Wallachia in the summer of 1475. He moved with his army away to Siberia shortly after he returned to the throne. Vlad, when he came home, fought alongside the kings of Moldavia to defeat the Turks. The Wallachians found courage and a killer to end Vlad’s terror reign. It was 1476 when Vlad died. He was 45 years old. In forty-five years, he killed about 40,000 individuals. It was the most deaths in history. Vlad Tepes Dracula is also known for many other stories. These tales are all too common in Europe. They made him famous. He was feared by many, but others admired him. The first tale is
The bejeweled goblet. Dracula is known for his strict justice. Thieves would not dare enter his domain. Dracula believed in his own power so much that he put a cup of gold on the town’s square. The cup was left untouched throughout his reign. This must have been a powerful land to be able to prevent anyone from stealing. Dracula’s Lazy Woman Dracula was once observing a field worker wearing a too-short caftan. The man answered that he did have a spouse when the prince asked. Dracula asked the woman what she did all day. She told him that she washed, baked, and sewed. Prince pointed out the caftan of her husband was too short. The prince impaled her on a stout despite the protests of her husband. The husband told Dracula that he had no desire to do this. Dracula impaled her and ordered a peasant girl to marry him. She had to work very hard to avoid ending up like the woman before her. This story intrigued me. He would kill someone for a minor thing. The story that followed was very thought provoking. Dracula thought that people were all working for the greater good. He decided to host a feast when he realized that there were many poor people in his country. He declared that no one would go hungry in his land. It was an enormous feast. The poor, crippled people came to eat as much food as they could. Dracula was there to greet them. They party till late at night. He asked them if they had any wishes or if their only wish was to be completely free of all worries and enjoy perfect tranquility. All of them answered yes. The hall was boarded and they were all burned to death. Nobody expected to die in a fiery fire.
Why did Bram Stoker pick Vlad Tepes Dracula as the protagonist of his novel? I don’t think we’ll ever find out. It is possible that he was friends and a Buda-Pest Professor. In that region, vampire stories and myths were everywhere. Perhaps he was trying to make his character more realistic. Or at least, their stories are. Vlad was the next-best thing to real vampires.
