Vlad III the Impaler

Vlad III the Impaler
Prince of Wallachia
Earliest known portrait of Vlad the Impaler from c. 1560
Reign	1448; 1456–1462; 1476
Born	1431
Birthplace	Sighişoara, Transylvania
Died	December 1476 (age 45)
Place of death	Bucharest, Wallachia
Predecessor	Vladislav II of Wallachia, Basarab Laiotă cel Bătrân
Successor	Vladislav II of Wallachia, Radu cel Frumos, Basarab Laiotă cel Bătrân
Father	Vlad II Dracul
Mother	Princess Cneajna of Moldavia

Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia called Vlad the Impaler (Vlad Ţepeş in Romanian), also known as Vlad Dracula or simply Dracula (Drăculea in Romanian; 1431 – December 1476), was a Wallachian (southern Romania) voivode. His three reigns were in 1448, 1456–1462, and 1476. Vlad the Impaler is known for the exceedingly cruel punishments he imposed during his reign.

In the English-speaking world, Vlad III is perhaps most commonly known for inspiring the name of the vampire in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula.^[1]

As prince, Vlad maintained an independent policy in relation to the Ottoman Empire^[2] and was a defender of Wallachia against Ottoman expansionism.

Names

His Romanian surname "Drăculea" means "Son of Dracul" and is derived from his father's title, Vlad the Dragon (see Vlad II Dracul); the latter was a member of the Order of the Dragon created by Emperor Sigismund. The word "Dracul" means "the Devil" in modern Romanian but in Vlad's day also meant "Dragon" and derives from the Latin word "Draco", also meaning "Dragon". The suffix "Ulea" can be translated as "Son of".^[3]

The old Romanian word for Serpent (Cf. "Drac") is nowadays the most common and casual reference to the devil—the people of Wallachia gave Vlad II the surname "Dracul" ("Dracul" being the more grammatically correct form). His son Vlad III would later use in several documents the surname "Drăculea". Through various translations ("Draculea", "Drakulya") Vlad III eventually came to be known as "Dracula" (note that this ultimate version is a neologism).

His post-mortem moniker of "Ţepeş" ("Impaler") originated in his preferred method for executing his opponents, impalement—as popularized by medieval Transylvanian pamphlets. In Turkish, he was known as "Kazıklı Voyvoda" (pronounced [kɑzɯkˈɫɯ]) which means "Impaler Prince". Vlad was referred to as "Dracula" in a number of documents of his times, mainly the Transylvanian Saxon pamphlets and "The Annals of Jan Długosz".

Wallachian royalty and family background

The crown of Wallachia was not passed automatically from father to son; instead, the leader was elected by the boyars, with the requirement that the Prince-elect be of nominally Basarab princely lineage ("Os de domn" — "Of voivode bones", or "Of voivode marrow"), including out of wedlock births. This elective monarchy often resulted in instability, family disputes and assassinations. Eventually, the princely house split between two factions: the descendants of Mircea the Elder, Vlad's grandfather; and those of another prince, Dan II (Dăneşti faction). In addition to that, as in all feudal states, there was another struggle between the central administration (the prince) and the high nobility for control over the country. 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.

Order of the Dragon symbol

Part of a wing image from the altar of the church of Saint Maria, Vienna, painted in the year 1460. The figure of Vlad Ţepeş (the man with the black cap) measures approximately 1.1 m

Vlad's family had 2 factions, the "Drăculeşti" and the "Dăneşti". His father, Vlad II Dracul, born around 1395, was an illegitimate son of Mircea the Elder, an important early Wallachian ruler. As a young man, he had joined the court of Sigismund of Luxemburg, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary, whose support for claiming the throne of Wallachia he eventually acquired. A sign of this support was the fact that in 1431 Vlad II was inducted into the Order of the Dragon ("Societas Draconis" in Latin), along with the rulers of Poland and Serbia. The purpose of the Order was to protect Eastern Europe and the Holy Roman Empire from Islamic expansion as embodied in the campaigns of the Ottoman Empire. Wishing to assert his status, Vlad II displayed the symbol of the Order, a dragon, in all public appearances, (on flags, clothing, etc.)^[4]

Vlad II Dracul became prince of Wallachia in 1436. During his reign he tried to maneuver between his powerful neighbors, opposing various initiatives of war against the Ottoman, most of them poorly organized and letting most of the burden on Vlad II's shoulders, and that finally attracted the irritation of the Hungarian side, who accused him of disloyalty and removed him in 1442. With the help of the Turks (where he also had connections) he regained the throne in 1443 and reigned until December 1447, when he was assassinated on the orders of John Hunyadi, regent of Hungary.^[5] The identity of Vlad Dracula’s mother is somewhat uncertain, the most likely variant being that she was a Moldavian princess, niece or daughter of Moldavian prince Alexandru cel Bun. In some sources she is named Chiajna—Princess. Vlad seems to have had a very close relationship with her: he spent several years in Moldavia after his father’s death; he left with his presumed cousin Stephen the Great to Transylvania, and helped the latter gain the crown as Prince of Moldavia in 1457 and was later helped by Stephen to return to the throne of Wallachia in 1476.

Vlad III seems to have had three brothers. The oldest was Mircea II, born before 1430, and who briefly held his father's throne in 1442, and who was sent by Vlad Dracul in 1444 to fight in his place during the crusade against the Turks that ended with his defeat at the Battle of Varna. Mircea II fought some successful yet small campaigns against the Ottomans prior to his capture along with his father in 1447. Mircea II, captured by the boyars, had his eyes burned out, after which he was buried alive. Vlad III's half-brother, Vlad IV, also known as Vlad Călugarul (Vlad the Monk), was born around 1425 to 1430. Vlad the Monk spent many years in Transylvania waiting for a chance to get the throne of Wallachia, trying a religious career in the meantime, until he became prince of Wallachia (1482). Radu, known as Radu cel Frumos (Radu the Handsome), the youngest brother, was also Vlad’s rival as he continuously tried to replace Vlad with the support of the Turks, to whom he had very strong connections. Radu seems to have been also favoured by the Turkish Sultan Mehmed II, and willingly converted to Islam.

From his first marriage to a Wallachian noble woman, Vlad III apparently had a son, later prince of Wallachia as Mihnea cel Rău (Mihnea the Evil), and another two with his second wife, a relative of Matthias Corvinus of Hungary.

Biography

Plate honouring Vlad Dracul in Sighişoara (marking the house where Vlad III was allegedly born)

Early years

Vlad was very likely born in the citadel of Sighişoara, Transylvania in 1431. He was born as the second son to his father Vlad Dracul and his mother Princess Cneajna of Moldavia. He had an older brother named Mircea and a younger brother named Radu the Handsome. Although his native country was Wallachia to the south, the family lived in exile in Transylvania as his father had been ousted by pro-Ottoman boyars. In the same year as his birth, his father was living in Nuremberg, where he was vested into the Order of the Dragon. At the age of five, young "Vlad" was also initiated into the Order of the Dragon.

Hostage of the Ottoman Empire

Vlad's father was under considerable political pressure from the Ottoman sultan. Threatened with invasion, he gave a promise to be the vassal of the Sultan and gave up his two younger sons as hostages so that he would keep his promise. He developed a well-known hatred for Radu and for Mehmed, who would later become the sultan. According to McNally and Florescu, he also distrusted his own father for trading him to the Turks and betraying the Order of the Dragon's oath to fight them.

Bust of Vlad Ţepeş near the birthplace plate

Brief reign and exile

Vlad's father was assassinated in the marshes near Bălteni in December 1447 by rebellious boyars allegedly under the orders of Hungarian regent John Hunyadi. Vlad's older brother Mircea was also dead at this point, blinded with hot iron stakes and buried alive by his political enemies at Târgovişte. To protect their political power in the region, the Ottomans invaded Wallachia and the Sultan put Vlad III on the throne as a puppet ruler. His rule at this time would be brief; Hunyadi himself invaded Wallachia and ousted him the same year. Vlad fled to Moldavia until October 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. Eventually Hunyadi put him forward as the Kingdom of Hungary's candidate for the throne of Wallachia.

In 1456, Hungary invaded Serbia to drive out the Ottomans, and Vlad III simultaneously invaded Wallachia with his own contingent. Both campaigns were successful, although Hunyadi died suddenly of the plague. Nevertheless, Vlad was now prince of his native land.

Main reign (1456–1462)

Vlad's actions after 1456 are well-documented.

Since the death of Vlad's grandfather (Mircea the Elder) in 1418, Wallachia had fallen into a somewhat chaotic situation. A constant state of war had led to rampant crime, falling agricultural production, and the virtual disappearance of trade. 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.

Vlad III was constantly on guard against the adherents of the Dăneşti clan. Some of his raids into Transylvania may have been efforts to capture would-be princes of the Dăneşti. Several members of the Dăneşti clan died at Vlad's hands. Vladislav II of Wallachia was murdered soon after Vlad came to power in 1456. Another Dăneşti prince, suspected to have taken part in burying his brother Mircea alive, was captured during one of Vlad's forays into Transylvania. Rumors (spread by his enemies) say thousands of citizens of the town that had sheltered his rival were impaled by Vlad. The captured Dăneşti prince was forced to read his own funeral oration while kneeling before an open grave before his execution.

Personal crusade

Main article: The Night Attack

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. This angered the Turks, who attempted to remove him. They failed, however; later in the winter of 1461 to 1462 Vlad crossed south of the Danube and devastated the area between Serbia and the Black Sea.

In response to this, Sultan Mehmed II, the recent conqueror of Constantinople, raised an army of around 60,000 troops and 30,000 irregulars and in the spring of 1462 headed towards Wallachia. Other estimates for the army include 150,000 by Michael Doukas, 250,000 by Laonicus Chalcond. Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror was greeted by the sight of a veritable forest of stakes on which Vlad the Impaler had impaled 20,000 Turkish prisoners.^[6] With his army of 20,000–40,000 men Vlad was unable to stop the Turks from entering Wallachia and occupying the capital Târgovişte (4 June 1462), so he resorted to guerrilla war, constantly organizing small attacks and ambushes on the Turks. The most important of these attacks took place on the nights of June 16–17, when Vlad and some of his men allegedly entered the main Turkish camp (wearing Ottoman disguises) and attempted to assassinate Mehmed. Unable to subdue Vlad, the Turks left the country, leaving Radu the Handsome to continue fighting. Despite Vlad achieving military victories, he had alienated himself from the nobility, which sided with Radu the Handsome. By August 1462 Radu had struck a deal with the Hungarian Crown. Consequently, Vlad was imprisoned by Matthias Corvinus.

His first wife, whose name is not recorded, died during the siege of his castle in 1462. The Turkish army surrounded Poienari Castle, led by his half-brother Radu the Handsome. An archer shot an arrow through a window into Vlad's main quarters, with a message warning him that Radu's army was approaching. McNally and Florescu explain that the archer was one of Vlad's former servants who sent the warning out of loyalty, despite having converted to Islam to escape enslavement by the Turks. Upon reading the message, Vlad's wife threw herself from the tower into a tributary of the Argeş River flowing below the castle. According to legend, she remarked that she "would rather have her body rot and be eaten by the fish of the Argeş than be led into captivity by the Turks". Today, the tributary is called Râul Doamnei (the Lady's River) (also called the Princess's River).

In captivity

The exact length of Vlad's period of captivity is open to some debate. The Russian pamphlets indicate that he was a prisoner from 1462 until 1474. Apparently his imprisonment was none too onerous. 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, Countess Ilona Szilágy (the cousin of Matthias), and have two sons who were about ten years old when he reconquered Wallachia in 1476. McNally and Florescu place Vlad III the Impaler's actual period of confinement at about four years from 1462 to 1466. It is unlikely that a prisoner would have been allowed to marry into the royal family. Diplomatic correspondence from Buda during the period in question also seems to support the claim that Vlad's actual period of confinement was relatively short.

The openly pro-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 converted to Catholicism, in contrast to his brother who converted to Islam. Apparently in the years before his final release in 1474 (when he began preparations for the reconquest of Wallachia), Vlad resided with his new wife in a house in the Hungarian capital (the setting of the thief anecdote). Vlad had a son, Mihnea cel Rău, from an earlier marriage.

Return to Wallachia and death

See also Battle of Vaslui

There are several variants of Vlad III the Impaler's death. It is generally believed that he was killed in December 1476.

Legacy

The legacy and the legend of Vlad Ţepeş is mostly the result of different stories about him. The Romanian, German, and the Russian stories all have their origins in the 15th century. Besides the written stories the 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. However, they still provide valuable information about Dracula and his relationship with his people. ^[7]

Many of the tales contained in the pamphlets are also found in the oral tradition, though with a somewhat different emphasis. Among the Romanian peasantry, Vlad Ţepeş was remembered as a just prince who defended his people from foreign aggression, 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. National poet of Romania Mihai Eminescu wrote the memorable verses "Unde eşti tu, Ţepeş Doamne, ca punând mâna pe ei, Să-i împarţi în două cete: în smintiţi şi în mişei" ("Where are you, lord Ţepeş, to get them, Split them into two gangs: fools and rascals"). Vlad's fierce insistence on honesty is a central part of the oral tradition. Many of the anecdotes contained in the pamphlets and in the oral tradition demonstrate the prince's efforts to eliminate crime and dishonesty from his domain. Presidential candidate Traian Băsescu referred to Vlad Ţepeş and his method of punishing illegalities in his anticorruption discourse during the election campaign of 2004.

However, despite the more positive interpretation, the Romanian oral tradition also remembers Vlad as an exceptionally cruel and often capricious ruler. There are several events that are common to all the pamphlets, regardless of their nation of origin. Many of these events are also found in the Romanian oral tradition. Specific details may vary among the different versions of these anecdotes but the general course of events usually agrees to a remarkable extent. For example, in some versions the foreign ambassadors received by Vlad Ţepeş at Târgovişte are Florentine, in others they are Ottoman (McNally and Florescu believe he may have done this to both nationalities at different times). The nature of their offense against the Prince also varies from version to version. However, all versions agree that Vlad, in response to some real or imagined insult had their hats nailed to their heads (perhaps because they refused to remove them in Vlad's presence). Some of the sources view Vlad's actions as justified; others view his acts as crimes of wanton and senseless cruelty.

Atrocities

Woodblock print of Vlad III attending a mass impalement

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 Târgovişte to the ruins of Poienari Castle in the mountains above the Argeş River. 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 stories, they labored until the clothes fell off their bodies and then were forced to continue working naked. Very few of the old gentry survived the ordeal of building Vlad's castle.

Throughout his reign, Vlad systematically eradicated the old boyar class of Wallachia. The old boyars had repeatedly undermined the power of the prince during previous reigns and had been responsible for the violent overthrow of several princes. Apparently Vlad Ţepeş was determined that his own power be on a modern and thoroughly secure footing. In 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.

German stories about Vlad Ţepeş

Vlad as Pontius Pilate judging Jesus Christ. National Gallery, Ljubljana, 1463

The German stories circulated first in manuscript form in the late 15th century and the first manuscript was probably written in 1462 before Vlad’s arrest.^[8] The text was later printed in Germany and had major impact on the general public becoming a best-seller of its time with numerous later editions adding and alternating the original text.

In addition to the manuscripts and pamphlets the German version of the stories can be found in the poem of Michel Beheim. The poem called "Von ainem wutrich der hies Trakle waida von der Walachei" ("Story of a Bloodthirsty Madman Called Dracula of Wallachia") was written and performed at the court of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor during the winter of 1463. ^[9]

To this day four manuscripts and 13 pamphlets are found as well as the poem by Michel Beheim. The surviving manuscripts date from the last quarter of the 15th century to the year 1500 and the found pamphlets date from 1488 to 1559–1568.

Eight of the pamphlets are actually incunabula because they were printed before 1501. The German stories about Vlad Ţepeş consist of altogether 46 short episodes, although none of the manuscripts, pamphlets or the poem of Beheim have all of the episodes in them.

All of the Stories start with the episode telling how the old governor (meaning John Hunyadi) had Vlad's father killed and how Vlad and his brother renounced their old religion and swore to protect and uphold the Christian faith. After this the order of the episodes differs in the different manuscripts and editions of the pamphlets. The title of the German stories varies in different manuscripts, incunabula and pamphlets with mainly three different titles with variations. ^[10]

The German stories about Vlad Ţepeş were written most likely for political reasons, especially to blacken the image of the Wallachian ruler. The first version of the German text was probably written in Braşov by a Saxon scholar. According to some researchers the writer of the text did little else than mirror the state of mind of the Saxons in Braşov and Sibiu who had borne the brunt of Vlad’s wrath in 1456–1457 and again in 1458–1459 and 1460.

Against this political and cultural backdrop it is quite easy to understand the hostility towards Vlad Ţepeş. Although there is historic background for the events described in the German stories, some of them are either exaggerated or even fictitious. The Hungarian king Mathias Corvinus is also said to have had a part in the blackening of the image of Vlad Ţepeş.

Corvinus had received large subsidies from Rome and Venice for the war against the Ottomans, but because of a conflict with Emperor Frederick III of the Holy Roman Empire he couldn’t afford the military support for the fight.

By making Vlad a scapegoat Corvinus could justify his reasons for not taking part in the war against the Ottomans. He arrested Vlad and used a forged letter where Vlad announced his loyalty to the Sultan, as well as the horror stories about Vlad, to justify his actions to the Pope. In 1462 and 1463 the court in Buda fostered the dissemination of the negative legend of Vlad in central and Eastern Europe, and capitalized on the horrors attributed to him.^[11]

The purpose of the stories soon changed from propaganda to literature and became very popular, best-sellers of their time, in the German world in the 15th and 16th centuries. Part of the reason for this success was the newly invented printing press, which allowed the texts to filter to a wide audience.

Vlad as Aegeas, the Roman proconsul in Patras, crucifying Saint Andrew. Aprox. 1470–1480, Belvedere Galleries, Wien.

Vlad's atrocities against the people of Wallachia have been interpreted as attempts to enforce his own moral code upon his country. According to the pamphlets, he appears to have been particularly concerned with female chastity. Maidens who lost their virginity, adulterous wives, and unchaste widows were all targets of Vlad's cruelty. Such women often had their sexual organs cut out or their breasts cut off. They were also often impaled through the vagina on red-hot stakes that were forced through the body until they emerged from the mouth. ^[12] One report tells of the execution of an unfaithful wife. The woman's breasts were cut off, then she was skinned and impaled in a square in Târgovişte 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. Vlad also viewed the poor, sick and beggars as thieves. One horrific tale tells of him inviting all the sick and poor in the area to a large dinner only to have them locked inside and the building burned.

Russian stories about Vlad Ţepeş

The Russian or the Slavic version of the stories about Vlad Ţepeş called "Skazanie o Drakule voevode" (Tale about Voivode Dracula) is thought to have been written sometime between 1481 and 1486. Copies of the story were made from the 15th century to the 18th century. There are some twenty-two extant manuscripts about Vlad in Russian archives.^[13] The oldest one is from the year 1490 and it ends as following: "First written in the year 6994 (meaning 1486), on 13 February; then transcribed by me, the sinner Elfrosin, in the year 6998 (meaning 1490), on 28 January". The Tale about Voivode Dracula is neither chronological nor consistent, but mostly a collection of anecdotes of literary and historical value concerning Vlad Ţepeş.

There are 19 episodes or anecdotes in the Tale about Voivode Dracula and they are longer and more constructed than the German stories. The Tale itself can be divided into two sections. The first 13 episodes are more or less non chronological events and are most likely closer to the original folkloric oral tradition about Vlad. The last six episodes are thought to have been written by a scholar who had the idea of collecting the anecdotes because they are chronological and seem to be more structured. The Tale about Voivode Dracula starts with a short introduction and then with the story about the nailing of hats to ambassadors heads and it ends with the death of Vlad Ţepeş and information about Vlad’s family.^[14]

Out of the 19 episodes there are ten that are almost the same as in the German stories.^[15] Although there are similarities between the Russian and the German stories about Ţepeş there is a clear distinction with the attitude towards Vlad Ţepeş in these stories. Unlike in the German stories the Russian stories tend to give a more positive image of Vlad. He is seen as a great ruler, a brave soldier and a just sovereign. There are also tales about atrocities but even most of them seem to be justified as the actions of a strong one-man ruler. Out of the 19 episodes only four seem to be exaggerated with violence.^[16] Some elements of the episodes of the Tale about Voivode Dracula were later added to Russian stories about Ivan IV of Russia.^[17]

The nationality and identity of the original writer of the Tale about Voivode Dracula is disputed. The two most plausible explanations are that the writer was either a Romanian priest or a monk somewhere in Transylvania or a Romanian or Moldavian from the court of Stephen the Great in Moldova. One theory is also that the writer would have been a Russian diplomat named Fedor Kuritsyn but it is very unlikely that we can find a name to the real writer of the Tale.^[18]

Vampire legend and Romanian attitudes

It is most likely that Bram Stoker found the name for his vampire from William Wilkinson's book, "An Account of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia: with various Political Observations Relating to Them". It is known that Stoker made notes about this book.^[19] It is also suggested by some that because Stoker was a friend of a Hungarian professor (Arminius Vambery/Hermann Bamberger/Ármin Vámbéry) from Budapest, Vlad's name might have been mentioned by this friend. 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.

However, recent research suggests that Stoker actually knew little about the Prince of Wallachia.^[20] Some have claimed that the novel owes more to the legends about Elizabeth Báthory, a 16th century Hungarian countess who murdered hundreds of her servants. ("See Dracula—Historical connections for more detail").

The legend of the vampire was and still is deeply rooted in that region. There have always been vampire-like creatures in various stories from across the world. However, the vampire, as he became known in Europe, largely originated in Southern Slavic folklore — although the tale is absent in Romanian culture. A veritable epidemic of vampirism swept through 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. 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 Augustine 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 legend. Stoker's novel was merely the culminating work of a long series of works that were inspired by the reports coming from the Balkans and Hungary.

Given the history of the vampire legend in Europe, it is perhaps natural that Stoker should place his great vampire in the heart of the region that gave birth to the story. Once Stoker had determined on a locality, Vlad Dracula would stand out as one of the most notorious rulers of the selected region. 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.

Tales of vampires are still widespread in Eastern Europe. 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 alleged 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. He is also remembered in a similar manner in other Balkan countries, as he fought against the Turks.

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. Hungary later found itself under siege but was never entirely penetrated by Ottoman forces. Though neither the first nor the last powerful ruler to take on the Ottoman Empire, Vlad's battle tactics were quite influential in damaging the impression of Turkish invincibility among Europeans and reversing the European aura of appeasement.

Romanian folklore and poetry, on the other hand, paints Vlad Ţepeş as a hero. 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 him the virtual opposite symbolism of Stoker's vampire. In Romania, he is considered one of the greatest leaders in the country's history, and was voted one of "100 Greatest Romanians" in the "Mari Români" television series aired in 2006.

A description of Vlad Dracula survives courtesy of Nicholas of Modrussa, who wrote:

He was not very tall, but very stocky and strong, with a cruel and terrible appearance, a long straight nose, distended nostrils, a thin and reddish face in which the large wide-open green eyes were enframed by bushy black eyebrows, which made them appear threatening. His face and chin were shaven but for a moustache. The swollen temples increased the bulk of his head. A bull's neck supported the head, from which black curly locks were falling to his wide-shouldered person.

^[21]

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.

His image in modern Romanian culture has been established in reaction to foreign perceptions: while Stoker's book did a lot to generate outrage with nationalists, it is the last part of a rather popular previous poem by Mihai Eminescu, "Scrisoarea a III-a", that helped turn Vlad's image into modern legend, by having him stand as a figure to contrast with presumed social decay under the Phanariotes and the political scene of the 19th century (even suggesting that Vlad's violent methods be applied as a cure). This judgment was in tune with the ideology of the inward-looking regime of Nicolae Ceauşescu, although the identification did little justice to Eminescu's personal beliefs.

All accounts of his life describe him as ruthless, but only the ones originating from his Saxon detractors paint him as sadistic or insane. 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. A Hungarian court chronicler reported that King Matthias "had acted in opposition to general opinion" in Hungary when he had Dracula imprisoned, and this played a considerable part in Matthias reversing his unpopular decision. 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.

Vlad in popular culture and media

Apart from the Dracula movies, which are partially based on Vlad as well as Elizabeth Bathory, there has been comparatively fewer movies about the man who inspired the vampire. In 1979, Romania released a movie based on his six-year reign and his brief return to power in late 1476 called "Vlad Ţepeş" (sometimes known, in other countries, as "The True Story of Vlad the Impaler"), in which the character is portrayed with a mostly positive perspective, while, at the same time, also mentioning the excesses of his regime and his practice of impalement. The lead character is played by Ştefan Sileanu.^[22]

Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula

The 2000 movie "Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula", ^[23] filmed on location in Hungary and starring Rudolf Martin, attempts to portray Vlad the Impaler as a generally sympathetic, tragic figure. The film takes a number of liberties with the details of his life, but remains overall a fairly accurate outline of his story. It portrays Vlad as the ruthless ruler/hero he has been known to be, but it also goes on to portray him as the seductive vampire, Dracula, of the popular novel and movies.

In literature, he is found as a main character of the book "The Historian", published in 2005.

Bram Stoker's Dracula

The 1992 Francis Ford Coppola film "Bram Stoker's Dracula", based on Bram Stoker's novel, claims that the Dracula character is truly Vlad the Impaler. In the opening of the film, which is set in Transylvania in 1462, he leaves his beloved wife Elisabeta at his castle to fight an army of Turks, who have invaded Transylvania and are threatening all of Christendom. Vlad Draculea, as he is known in the film, leads his army to victory against the Turks and impales many of them on stakes, before praising God for his triumph. However, he then experiences a premonition in which Elisabeta flings herself out of the window of the castle to her death in the river hundreds of feet below, since the surviving Turks shot an arrow through the castle window, with a letter attached to it falsely informing her of Vlad's death in the battle. Rushing back to the castle, a distraught Vlad is shown his wife's dead body in the chapel, and is told by an elderly priest that due to her suicide, Elisabeta's soul cannot enter heaven. Overcome with grief and anger, Vlad renounces God and proceeds to plunge his sword into a stone crucifix nearby, causing blood to gush out of the hole and fill up the floor of the entire chapel. Vlad then swears that he will live beyond his own death and avenge Elisabeta's death with all the powers of darkness, and then drinks some of the blood from a goblet next to the stone crucifix.

Over 400 years later, in 1897, Vlad is still alive in Transylvania and is revealed through the course of the film to have been transformed into a vampire, becoming known as Dracula and possessing all of the strengths and weaknesses described in Bram Stoker's novel. The film then follows the plot of the novel, except the character of Mina Harker is revealed to be the reincarnation of Elisabeta, sharing her exact physical appearance, and a passionate romance between Mina and Dracula is added in the film to coincide with the opening of the film (Dracula turning Mina into a vampire so they can be together as husband and wife for an eternity, just as he and Elisabeta were meant to be together all of their lives). In the climax of the film, once Dracula has been fatally wounded by having his throat slashed and a hunting knife embedded into his heart, Mina/Elisabeta provides the finishing blow by impaling the dying Vlad/Dracula to the floor with the knife, who reverts back to his original appearance and then dies. Through Dracula's death, Mina is freed of the vampire's curse, in accordance with the novel.

The film presents Vlad the Impaler as a brutal but tragic character who became the immortal vampire Dracula out of his love for his deceased wife, and shows his actions to be his own personal war against God for denying the entry of Elisabeta's soul into heaven, mixing historical fact with the fiction of Bram Stoker's character. His appearance as Vlad is similar to historical depictions of Vlad the Impaler; his suit of armour in the battle against the Turks has a distinct wolf-like appearance; he is shown to be able to fight multiple armed men single-handedly, both as Vlad and Dracula, and golden dragons appear frequently on his clothes and in his castle once he becomes the vampire Dracula. In the film, Vlad/Dracula was played by Gary Oldman, and Elisabeta/Mina was played by Winona Ryder.

Notes

References

External links

• Media related to Vlad III the Impaler at Wikimedia Commons
• Vlad's Biography
• The Tale of Dracula Russian manuscript circa 1490, with English translation (MS Word format).
• The Real Life of Dracula