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Vampires | Witches | Werewolves | Ghosts Vampires - Vlad the Impaler Essay Introduction During the fifteenth century in Southeastern Europe, the Medieval principality of Wallachia (in modern day Romania) struggled to maintain independence from both Hungary to the northwest and the growing Turkish menace to the south. Vlad III, known as Vlad the Impaler or Dracula, became the Prince of Wallachia in the second half of the century. His reign is notorious in Romanian history; but more importantly, how did this historical figure endure the passage of time and take on mythic proportions? Vlad the Impaler,
or Dracula, was written about in several European cultures. In Russian
legends, Vlad was mainly presented as a fighter against the Turks.
In Hungarian stories he was consistently portrayed as a villain, whereas
in Romanian literature heroic traits prevailed. It was in German
writing, however, that Dracula was gradually associated with the field
of horror fiction rather than represented historically (Florescu 137 –
148). These 15th century German stories happened to coincide with
the invention of the printing press, and the reading public’s taste for
the fantastic (Forescu 179). These coincidences of history began
a lengthy fascination with the “Dracula” figure, all the way to the present
where Dracula has assumed the status of a universal archetype. This
attraction to Dracula lies in the fact that he actually existed, and that
Transylvania is a real place that can be found on a map.
In the Beginning Vlad Tepes was born
in either November or December in 1431 in Transylvania in Sighisoara, an
old Romanian town. Vlad had a double surname; Tepes, meaning “the
Impaler”, was a label given to him later on in his life due to the fact
that he impaled thousands of people. Dracula is the name most people
know today and it is a diminutive of his father’s name, Dracul. Dracul
means ‘devil’ or ‘dragon’ and Dracula means “the son of the Devil”.
Vlad went by both names: Vlad Tepes and Dracula. This meaning comes
into play later on in Dracula’s life, when people wanted him to appear
in a worse light. Dracul’s responsibility was to defend Transylvania
and Wallachia from any attacks by the Turkish forces, which would later
also become his son’s responsibility. Both father and son shared
the same symbol of the dragon.
His Reign To become the Prince of Wallachia, one of three Romanian provinces, Vlad overthrew the boyars (the nobles) who were the people in power at the time and took the centralized seat of power around 1449. Vlad reigned in Wallachia three separate times over the course of his life, his second reign being his longest. Vlad was out for revenge, as the boyars had cruelly buried one of his brothers alive and had killed his father, Dracul. Dracula forced all of the boyar families to march fifty miles without rest, as a means of revenge. At the end of the march, he put them in heavy labour building his fortress, Castle Dracula. He further tortured the boyar families by impaling some of them on huge wooden stakes outside of his castle. Vlad’s goal, as ruler of Wallachia, was to completely vanquish crime from his territory and to have a safe country. Radu Florescu and Raymon T. McNally, experts on Dracula, summarize his accomplishments perfectly:
“In essence, Dracula attempted to legislate virtue and morality through
the use of terror.”
To accomplish this, he created a law stating that almost any crime, from lying to stealing to murder, was punishable by impalement. Through fear of impalement, Dracula’s law was extremely successful. To show his victory over crime in his province he placed a golden cup on display for thirsty travelers to use. Over the course of Vlad’s reign, this cup was never damaged or stolen. Vlad Dracula believed
that the poor, vagrants, and beggars were all thieves, and he invited them
along with the sick people to his court in Tirgoviste for a marvelous feast.
Thinking this was a kindly gesture by their prince, these people went to
the feast and ate and drank until some of them were drunk. At this
point, Vlad had his guards light all four sides of the court on fire so
none of the people could escape. There were no survivors of this
horrible event; all were burnt alive.
“ I have killed men and women, old and young…23, 884 Turks and Bulgarian
without
By the end of 1462, support was withdrawn from Vlad, and his brother, Radu, became the new Prince of Wallachia. Wallachia soon fell to the hands of the Turks. Despite being a destroyer of people, Vlad was a great builder. During his reign, he built numerous churches in Wallachia. His major creation was his Alpine castle, Castle Dracula, which is located in northeastern Wallachia, near Tirgoviste. Vlad the Impaler
certainly achieved his goal of creating a safe country, but he only achieved
it through striking fear into the hearts of his citizens. The fear
of being impaled, burned, or buried alive were ghastly tortures.
His victims totaled anywhere from 40, 000 to 100, 000, which was approximately
one fifth of the population of Wallachia. Vlad Tepes is often considered
to have committed crimes that history had never heard of prior, and he
is sometimes referred to as having been worse than Caligula or Nero of
Rome.
Imprisonment Later in 1462, Vlad and King Matthias Coruinus of Hungary allied to liberate Wallachia from Turkish control under Vlad’s younger brother, Radu. The Hungarian King gave Dracula soldiers under the command of Jiskra of Brandys, who strongly disliked Vlad. Soon after, the Slovak mercenary seized Vlad’s soldiers, and while fleeing the location, Vlad himself was captured on secret orders from the Hungarian King Matthias. At the time of his arrest, Dracula was deemed a hero for his successful defeat of Sultan Mehmed, so King Matthias had to come up with a good reason to justify the arrest. Through unknown means, the Hungarian King found letters from Vlad to Mehmed begging for forgiveness, thus proving that Vlad was a traitor and had broken his alliance with the Hungarian King. This proved to be reason enough to imprison Vlad Tepes for twelve years, from 1462 to 1474 (Florescu 111). After Vlad’s death many believed that these letters were forgeries; an attempt to make Vlad Tepes seem like a traitor by blackening his reputation. Dracula was imprisoned
for twelve years at Visegrad, which was King Matthias’ summer palace.
Supposedly, he captured rats and had birds brought to his cell, which he
impaled and tortured (McNally 100). Some of Dracula’s enemies invented
stories regarding Vlad drinking the blood of animals he had killed in his
jail cell. After Dracula’s release in 1474, he again came to power
for his third and final reign, for barely two years (1474 –76) (McNally
101). He was reinstated to the throne of Wallachia because of his
effective battle tactics and strategies, which he would use to attempt
to avert the Turks once again.
Assassination and Grave Dracula had many
enemies in Wallachia, and when he went into battle against the Turks in
the summer of 1476 he was killed. The Slavs documented their account
of Vlad’s assassination:
It was probably a boyar or a Turkish soldier that gave Vlad the fatal blow. Dracula’s head was severed from his body, and sent to Constantinople as proof to the Turks that Vlad Tepes was truly dead. It was not until 1477 that Dracula’s death was known in Western Europe (McNally103). Dracula’s body was
supposedly buried in Snagove monastery, which Dracula helped rebuild when
he was alive. However, Dracula’s tomb has never been found despite
many efforts.
The Legend Continues The exact location of Dracula’s grave has never been found, even after an extensive archeological investigation in the 1930’s. Romanian, Russian, and German legends claim that Dracula was reborn, and the reason why his coffin has never been found is because he always carries it with him. A version of this legend is found in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In the novel, Count Dracula always brings his coffin with him, wherever he moves. Some of Dracula’s enemies associated him with “the son of the Devil”, as it is one of the two meanings of Dracula’s name. This was used to blacken his reputation and is the meaning which closely relates to today’s idea of Dracula. The fact that Vlad
the Impaler used to dine among his forest of impaled people, mixed with
the falsity that he feasted on the blood of his victims, as well as animals,
led to vampire associations. The necessity for blood is associated
with all vampires, not just Dracula. Therefore, many stories of Dracula
portray him as a horrible vampire who commits devilish deeds.
Conclusion Vlad Tepes (the Impaler) a.k.a. Dracula is an historical figure whose influence has continued for over 500 years. The real Vlad evolved into a character of folklore, and is found in legends from Romania, Russia, and Germany. Vlad was notorious for his cruelty, and his deeds are known throughout the region of Romania and beyond its borders. Stories have been written and handed down for generations. During the 1820s, there was a vampire craze in Western Europe encouraged by the novels of Polidari, Prest, Irving, and Le Fanu (McNally 154). Bram Stoker, writing in the late 19th century, was influenced by these earlier works, and also by the revival of the Gothic horror novel. Stoker’s contact with a Hungarian scholar provided him with data on Transylvanian folklore. This inspired his use of Vlad the Impaler as the basis for his character, Dracula, and of Transylvania as a far off mysterious and mythical setting. The actual character of Dracula came to Stoker in a nightmare. It was not, however, an isolated creation of a character, but a complex combination of various elements found in Western European literature. The belief in vampires is one of the most universal themes in human cultures. Stories, worldwide, resemble each other (McNally 162), which indicates that vampires are a common symbol. The symbol appears to be one of the Jungian archetypes, which are part of the collective unconscious. The vampire symbol implies something vague and hidden. Perhaps by allowing vampires (or Darcula) to symbolically walk among the living through horror stories and films, the “shadow self “ Dracula can remain under control. It could also be a way for human beings to try to come to terms with the real horrors in history, committed by rulers such as Vald the Impaler, as well as Nero, and Hitler. Dracula has, therefore, assumed the status of a universal archetype. The fascination with
Dracula has continued throughout the last century, and he is still as popular
today. Numerous novels, movies, and even television series have been
created based on the Dracula persona. It is remarkable that a 500
year old historical figure has evolved into a present day cultural phenomenon.
It is, however, the mythological Dracula who has attained the real fame,
as now he overshadows the historical figure.
(c) Copyright Tavishe Coulson - April 21st, 2001. Works Cited Axinte, Adrian. Dracula:
Between Myth and Reality
Boissel, François.
The Dracula-myth in Transylvania
Florescu, Radu and Raymond T. McNally. Dracula: A Biography of Vlad the Impaler 1431 – 1476. New York, New York: Hathorn Books Inc., 1973. Leblanc, Benjamin
H. Vlad Dracula: An Intriguing Figure in the Fifteenth Century
Marigny, Jean. Vampires: Restless Creature of the Night. New York, New York: Harry N Abrams, Inc., 1994. Mascetti, Manuela Dunn. Vampire: The Complete Guide to the World of the Undead. London, England: Labyrinth Publishing, 1992. McNally, Raymond T. and Radu Florescu. In Search of Dracula: A History of Dracula and Vampires Completely Revised. New York, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994. |