Wallachia Dracula. Vlad III Tepes: biography, interesting facts and legends
Since the beginning of the 20th century, interest in the personality of Vlad III Basarab, the ruler of the Principality of Wallachia, better known in modern times as Count Dracula, a character in Bram Stoker’s novel, has not waned. Dracula is recognized throughout the world as one of the most brutal medieval rulers, but in Romania he is considered a national hero. Who really was the ruler of Wallachia?
Why Dracula?
The legendary nickname "Dracula" was inherited by young Vlad from his father, Vlad II, due to his membership in the Order of the Dragon. This order of chivalry was founded by King Sigismund I of Luxembourg of Hungary in 1408. The task of the order was to protect catholic church from various pagans and heretics, as well as the protection of the Hungarian royal house. According to the order's charter, knights had to wear garters and shields with the image of a golden dragon. Vlad II joined the order in 1431, shortly before its decline, and this gave him the nickname "Dracul" (the Romanian form of the word "dragon"). Soon the image of the dragon appeared on gold coins issued by Vlad II and on numerous heraldic images. Vlad III adopted the nickname from his father, but after some time he added the particle “a” to it at the end, since among the people it was best known in this form.
Life of Dracula
Vlad of the Basarab dynasty was born sometime between 1429 and 1431. The exact date has not been preserved, but historians have established an approximate period based on indirect data, such as the age of his older brother, who is known to have been 13 years old in 1442. In addition, the beginning of Dracula's first reign was established as November 1448, therefore, at that moment he was already of age, since he ruled without a regent. He spent the period from birth until 1436 in the city of Sighisoara, Transylvania. The house has survived to this day and has been turned into a museum. It is located at st. Zhestyanshchikov, 5.
At that time, the Principality of Wallachia, like other European countries, waged endless wars with the Turkish Sultan, as well as with each other. From time to time, alliances and truces were concluded, which did not last long. The closest strategic ally, and, at the same time, rival, was the kingdom of Hungary. King Janos Hunyadi tried to make his protege, Basarab II, ruler of Wallachia. Vlad II did not then have the military ability to interfere with his plans, and resorted to the traditional method for Christian Europe, turning to the Turkish Sultan Murat II for help. Of course, medieval kings and rulers hated the “infidel” Turks, and religious leaders sent curses to them from church pulpits. However, the traditional hatred of their co-religionists was also strong. When there was a threat of loss of power or influence from their Christian "brothers", an alliance with the Turks (if it was possible at that time) was a completely justified decision.
“Differentiated by great fear of God, Dracula, who tirelessly built churches, said that “My service to him before the Almighty is exceptionally great - not a single predecessor of his sent so many saints and great martyrs to God.”
―Vlad III Tepes
Vlad II also could not allow the loss of the throne, even if it would have been taken by the completely Christian ruler Basarab II. In the summer of 1442, Vlad II went for help to the Turkish Sultan Murat II. However, negotiations dragged on for 8 months. At this time, the power of Basarab II was sufficiently strengthened in Wallachia, and little Dracula, along with the rest of the family of Vlad II, was forced to hide. Negotiations with the Sultan ended only in the spring of 1443. Fortunately, Vlad II received the long-awaited opportunity to expel his Christian brethren from Wallachia. Turkish troops helped remove the hated Basarab II, and restore the power of Vlad II. It is clear that the Sultan expected to benefit from such a short-term alliance.
At the same time, another crusade led by Janos Hunyadi against the Turks ended. Dracula's father also participated in peace negotiations. János Hunyadi admitted that Wallachia remained under Turkish influence. In the Middle Ages, such agreements were very often concluded “eternal”, but in this case we were talking only about a 10-year period of validity. It is not surprising that already on August 4, just a few days after the signing of the treaty, the Hungarians began preparing a new crusade against the Turks.
Of course, no sane king or emperor would trust his military and political partners, and predatory expediency dictated the need to immediately begin planning actions against his allies. Therefore, any union had to be supported by something more than just paper, even sealed with numerous official seals and oaths of eternal friendship. Thus, the tradition of "pledge" arose. At the end of July 1444, Vlad III, along with his younger brother Radu, had to go to Turkey as hostages, ensuring the fulfillment of allied obligations on the part of his father. During this period he was approximately 12 years old.
Young Vlad stayed in Turkey for about 4 years, until the fall of 1448. Most historians agree that it was during this period that his famous character was formed. There are several theories about what exactly influenced him in Turkey. They say he was tortured or tried to force him to convert to Islam. There is also a version that his younger brother Radu was sexually abused by Mehmed, the heir to the Turkish Sultan. All this could have made Vlad extremely bitter. But most likely these are myths, since there is no documentary evidence. The temperament of the medieval Turks was indeed harsh, and Vlad received practice from the Turks in effectively strengthening the vertical state power. In fact, rotten liberalism was not characteristic of Vlad from infancy, so the training turned out to be successful, as his political opponents were to see.
At this time, the Hungarians, as usual, thirsty for territorial acquisitions, violated the peace treaty, deciding to combine the useful (another crusade against the “infidels” in the person of the Turkish Sultan) with the pleasant (remove Vlad II, installing in his place another puppet, a prince who ironically also named Vladislav II). The original plan of Janos Hunyadi was a success. Dracula's father and his older brother were beheaded, and thus removed from active political activity. But then the Turkish Sultan finally decided to help the Slav brothers, during the general battle on Kosovo on October 18, 1448, defeating the troops of the Hungarian king. It was this battle that became a key moment in the biography of Vlad II, leading him to success. In November, he became a Wallachian prince, replacing his Hungarian protege (whose further fate is of no interest).
First reign of Dracula
The first period of the reign of the young prince of Wallachia turned out to be relatively short-lived. Returning to Targovishte, the capital of the principality, Vlad showed himself truly good ruler, and carried out political purges among the boyars who supported the Hungarian puppet ruler. During the purges, traditional methods of strengthening centralized power, learned from the Turks, were widely used. Presumably, it was at this time that the decisive character traits of the future Dracula first appeared.
However, the Hungarian king Janos still sought to regain his lost positions in the Wallachian Principality, and Vlad III was forced to leave Targovishte in the same 1448. Political asylum was found in Moldavia, where he remained until about 1455.
“There is a well-known episode when, at the beginning of his reign, Dracula, having called up to 500 boyars, asked them how many rulers each of them remembers. It turned out that even the youngest remembers at least seven reigns. Dracula’s answer was a kind of attempt to put an end to the “unworthy” order, when the boyars turned out to be so much more durable than their overlords: all five hundred “decorated” the stakes dug around Dracula’s castle.”
In 1456, Vlad went to Transylvania, where the opportunity arose to prepare political revenge. At this time, another crusade was going there, this time under the auspices of the Franciscan monks. The basis of the Christian army was to be made up of militias flocking from all over Europe. However, for ideological reasons, the crusaders did not accept Orthodox Christians into their close-knit ranks. It was from among these rejected militias that Vlad recruited his first army. At this time, the Sultan's troops began to blockade Belgrade, and the Franciscan troops went there in order to prevent them. A series of battles that took place in July 1456 between the Turks and the Crusaders allowed Vlad's militia to break into Wallachia unhindered. Some of the Wallachian boyars, led by Mane Udrische, sensed the change in the political situation in time and created a faction supporting Vlad III. Largely thanks to their help, on August 20, 1456, Vlad became the prince of Wallachia for the second time. Thus began the second reign of Dracula, which lasted 6 years. It was during this period that Dracula accomplished most of his exploits, which ensured his immortality in the popular literature of the 20th century.
Second reign of Dracula
Having taken a high position, Vlad again began to cleanse the noble class. The opposition, which at one time contributed to the execution of his father and older brother, was physically eliminated. To add solemnity to this event, a traditional Easter feast was convened, at which agents of Vlad III arrested the short-sighted oppositionists. Some Romanian sources report that their execution took place right during the feast.
The next step that the far-sighted Vlad took was a campaign in Transylvania, which was then an autonomous principality within the Kingdom of Hungary. The campaign, which took place in 1457, had two goals. In addition to the robbery and devastation dear to the hearts of the medieval kings, it was necessary to teach a lesson to the residents of the cities of Sibiu and Brasov, who were making insidious plans to remove Vlad III from his position. They planned to place Vlad’s younger brother, nicknamed “The Monk,” in this place, a weak ruler inclined to an alliance with the Ottoman imperialists. Dracula stopped these anti-state plans, simultaneously destroying 4 large settlements and an unspecified number of small ones in Transylvania.
Separatist tendencies, however, were strong in Brasov, a major regional center in eastern Transylvania. There was a certain Dan, another contender for the Wallachian throne, who, as usual, was supported by the Hungarian king. This position was now occupied by Laszlo Hunyadi, the eldest son of Janos, who died under suspicious circumstances in 1456.
From 1456 to 1458, Dracula was forced to maneuver between the Hungarian kingdom and the Turkish Sultanate, and limited himself to diplomatic pressure on Brasov. During this period, the outskirts of the city were ravaged several times, but Dracula had not yet reached the regional capital itself. The conflict continued to escalate, and in April 1460 a battle finally took place between the troops of Dracula and Dan. The latter was defeated and captured by Dracula. Further fate Dana was quite predictable. Subsequently, Dracula showed weakness unworthy of a true monarch and statesman, limiting himself to just the massive impalement of prisoners of war and civilians, including the elderly and children. The center of the opposition, the city of Brasov, was neither destroyed nor burned. Perhaps this weakness is explained by the fact that Dracula's troops were weakened by losses suffered during the entire previous campaign.
In the fall of 1460, Dracula concluded a peace treaty with Brasov, and some other regions of Transylvania. As usual, the signing of the treaty was accompanied by vows of peaceful cooperation and eternal, unbreakable friendship between peoples. Dracula pledged to defend Transylvania both from Turkish aggressors and from the fraternal Moldovan people. At the same time, Dracula was promised similar support.
During the entire period of Dracula's second reign, his collaboration with the Orthodox Church played a significant role. Thanks to the efforts of Vlad III, several monasteries were founded in Wallachia and temples were built. Some villages, such as Troeneshi and Tisman, were exempted from any duties and assigned to nearby monasteries. Obviously, this was done by the compassionate Vlad in order to alleviate the backbreaking labor of the peasants, weakened by the unbearable volume of taxes that were required to support the numerous liberation campaigns of their ruler. However, the monasteries immediately imposed new duties on the delighted peasants, but this no longer had anything to do with Dracula’s activities.
Dracula's politics in the Middle East
Subsequently, the focus of Vlad's foreign policy interests finally shifted to the Ottoman Empire. Suppressing separatist tendencies among the nobility, Vlad continued to strengthen the vertical of state power. At the same time, the army of the Wallachian state grew and became stronger. Free peasants and townspeople were recruited into the ranks of the armed forces. Despite the formally existing vassal relations, Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II was waiting for an opportunity to invade Wallachia and finally liberate its population from their oppressors. The people willingly joined Dracula’s army, because everyone understood what such liberation would mean for ordinary people.
When the number of troops reached approximately 500 tons, Vlad began to act, plus intelligence reported that the potential number of Ottoman troops ready for invasion was no more than 150 thousand. In 1461, a diplomatic demarche was made - Vlad refused to pay tribute to the Sultan. An army of 150 thousand Turks immediately invaded Wallachia. However, Dracula, in addition to being a skilled diplomat, also proved himself to be an outstanding field commander. In 1462, in a night battle on June 17, Dracula's troops suddenly attacked the Turks, killing about 15,000. Those Ottoman soldiers who were lucky enough to be captured were executed by traditional impalement, and Mehmed II himself managed to escape to Turkey.
Ironically, shortly after the night's battle, a faction of opposing nobles fabricated charges against Dracula that he was a Turkish spy. The accusation was falsified with the help of another Hungarian king, who traditionally disliked Dracula. Thus ended the second reign of Vlad III, he was thrown behind bars, where he spent the next 12 years.
End of career
The long-awaited liberation took place in 1475. The Hungarian king needed Dracula's military talents. Leading one of the units of the Hungarian army, Dracula fought several more battles with the Turks. In November 1476, Vlad returned to Wallachia, where he overthrew Prince Lajota. Grateful residents elected Vlad as their ruler. However, soon after this, the hand of a hired killer ended the life of an outstanding political figure in Wallachia.
Facts about Dracula
There are several historical anecdotes that expressly characterize Vlad and the authority of the power he established. A golden bowl was installed on the fountain in the central square of Targovishte. Any citizen could use it and drink water, but for many years, no one tried to steal it.
One day two wandering monks came to see Vlad. Vlad asked what people were saying about him. One of the monks said that Vlad was praised everywhere, and the second reported numerous curses against him. The first monk was immediately executed by traditional impalement, since Vlad did not like it when people were hypocrites in his presence.
According to another legend, Vlad solved the problem of the poor population in Wallachia. Gathering the above-mentioned contingent in the capital, Vlad gave them a luxurious feast. When the guests had eaten well, Vlad asked them if they wanted to get rid of hunger once and for all. The guests, of course, agreed. After this, Vlad ordered all exits from the building to be locked and burned it down.
Origin of the nickname Tepes
Vlad's second most famous nickname, "The Impaler", actually appeared after his death. It means "Kol" and was given to him by the Turks. And it comes from his favorite type of execution, most often used by Vlad to strengthen power and the state. Impalement had been used before, but Vlad introduced a certain variety to it. For example, the shape of the stake could change. The stake could also be inserted into the defendant through the throat or navel. When to the utmost social justice a nobleman or a high-ranking opposition figure was subjected to, his stake was always higher than ordinary peasants.
Tales of Dracula
In the information vacuum that characterized the Middle Ages, fairy tales and legends about Dracula are often the only source of information about his deeds. The very first legends about Dracula arose among ordinary people, Romanian peasants, for whom he was a hero who freed them from the Turks. Fairy tales were passed down from generation to generation, gradually growing incredible details. Nowadays, it is no longer possible to determine what is real facts and what is outright folk art.
Dracula in cinema
Nowadays, it is estimated that about 270 films have been made about the Wallachian ruler, a figure worthy of the Guinness Book of Records. This number includes approximately 150 full-length films. Most of them are third-rate horror films, created for an audience unencumbered by intelligence and knowledge of history. However, there are films that have been favored by critics and Hollywood.
Dracula's Castle
Bran Castle, nicknamed "Dracula's Castle", is located 30 kilometers from Brasov, being one of the attractions for tourists. According to local legends, Dracula spent a lot of time here from 1456 to 1458. Another, completely implausible, legend tells about the torture to which Dracula was subjected to by the Turks in this castle. Due to the lack of documents, none of the legends can be confirmed. Most likely, cunning Romanian peasants simply invented them to force stupid tourists to leave some of their money in hospitable Bran.
Dracula today
A sober analysis of the facts reliably known about Vlad III leads to clear conclusions. Vlad the Impaler was a typical medieval ruler, brought up according to his time. Perhaps he was excessively cruel to prisoners, peasants and opposition nobles, but this was typical for the vast majority of the then rulers. Times were cruel, and power must be retained at any cost. It would seem that he would remain one of the insignificant, albeit bloody, figures of medieval history. But it was not there!
The interest of the poorly educated masses in the most base and animal manifestations of human nature has long been known, and an accident on the street instantly gathers a crowd of onlookers. Modern pop culture clearly captures this need and encourages it. In the early 20th century, writers such as Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker and Robert Bloch pioneered such exploitation of the popular consciousness by creating the first horror novels. This is where a medieval prince of a small-town scale came in handy, instantly turning into an icon. After the first works about Dracula, a real stream of frankly base literature poured in, with no end in sight. Until the bloody appetite of the public is satisfied, films and books about Dracula will appear, and writers will create more and more perverted and bloody stories about the Wallachian prince, leaving far behind the Romanian peasants who frightened their children with tales of the terrible Vlad the Impaler.
Good day, dear readers. We continue our modest series of articles about this and that. And today we will talk about a rather colorful historical figure. Those who are not particularly fond of such a subject as “history” can safely skip this article. Well, or read selectively. Well, I warned you. Begin…
Our hero today is Vlad III Basarab, but he is better known to the world as Vlad Dracula and Vlad the Impaler (Țepeș) - prince (sovereign) of Wallachia in 1448, 1456-1462 and 1476. Principality of Wallachia (lat. Transalpina) - state formation on the territory of Wallachia, which existed from the mid-14th century to 1859, when it was united with the Principality of Moldova into the United Principality of Wallachia and Moldavia. In the 15th century it fell into vassalage of the Ottoman Empire.
Where did such pseudonyms come from for Vlad III?
All researchers agree that the nickname Dracul (Romanian Dracul, that is, “devil” or “dragon”) was inherited by Vlad III from his father, Vlad II, who was a knight of the Order of the Dragon, created in 1408 by King Sigismund I of Luxembourg of Hungary and Queen Barbara on the model of the Hungarian Order of St. George. The knights of the order wore medallions and pendants with the image of a golden dragon curled into a ring, and Vlad II, when knighted in 1431, also received a medallion (order) with a dragon from the hands of the king.
Having become Prince of Transylvania in 1436, Vlad II placed the image of a dragon on the gold coins that he minted in his own name, as well as on his personal seal and his heraldic shield, which became the reason for the appearance of the family nickname. In his youth, Vlad III was called Dracul, a family nickname without any changes. But later he began to indicate it with the letter “a” at the end, since by that time it had become most famous in this form.
The nickname Tepes appeared 30 years after Vlad's death. This was a translation of the nickname the prince received from the Turks and sounded like Kazykly (Turkish Kazıklı - “stake”). During his lifetime, Vlad III was not called the Impaler either in Wallachia, or in Hungary, or in others European countries. This nickname first appears in Wallachian documents on January 21, 1506, where it is said “Vlad the Voivode, who is called Tepes.” The nickname "Tepes" comes from Rum. țeapă - which means “stake”.
We will talk about the prince’s preferences and his favorite executions a little later, but for now we continue.
So we figured out where the names “Dracula” and “Tepes” came from, and now let’s talk about Vlad III himself.
And this is where things get more interesting. Let's begin with exact date Vlad's birth III Dracula not exactly established. Historians suggest that he was born between 1429–1430 and 1436. All researchers agree that Vlad's childhood from 1431 to the summer of 1436 was spent in Sighisoara, in Transylvania. The house in which Dracula lived with his father, mother and older brother has even been preserved; it is located on the territory of Romania at the address: Sighisoara, st. Zhestyanshchikov, 5. Transylvania, or Erdei, or Semigradye is a historical region in the north-west of Romania. But in the summer of 1436, Dracula's father took the Wallachian throne and did not late autumn the same year he moved his family from Sighisoara to Wallachia. Between August 1437 and August 1439, Dracula had another brother, Radu. Around this time, Dracula's mother died, after which his father remarried.
During 1442 - 1443, Dracula's father lost his throne and was forced to go to Turkey for help. And so in the spring of 1443, Dracula’s father returned from Turkey along with the Turkish army and regained his principality. However, his position remained precarious and, taking advantage of the negotiations on a truce between Janos Hunyadi and the Sultan, he ensured that Wallachia could remain under Turkish influence. At the same time, the Turkish Sultan, wanting to be sure of the loyalty of the “Wallachian governor,” as Dracula’s father was called, insisted on a “pledge.” The word “pledge” meant that the sons of the “voivode” should come to the Turkish court - that is, Dracula, who was 14-15 years old at that time, and his younger brother.
Many researchers note that it was in Turkey that Dracula experienced a serious psychological shock, which left its mark on his personality. There are two popular statements:
The first is that in Turkey Dracula was tortured or tried to convert to Islam, and this led to a change in the character of Dracula.
The second claim is that the changes in Dracula's character are due to the fact that the heir to the Turkish throne, Mehmed, sexually harassed Vlad III's younger brother.
In 1447, Vlad II Dracula was overthrown, his head was cut off by order of Hunyadi, and Dracula's older brother was buried alive.
In the fall of 1448, Dracula, together with Turkish troops lent by the Sultan, regained power. Immediately upon ascending the throne, Dracula begins an investigation into the events surrounding the deaths of his father and brother. During the investigation, he learns that at least 7 boyars were traitors.
Meanwhile, the losers arrived in Transylvania. And on November 10, 1448, Janos Hunyadi, while in Sighisoara, announced that he was starting a military campaign against Dracula, calling him an “illegitimate” ruler. On November 23, Janos was already in Brasov, from where he moved with the army to Wallachia. On December 4, he entered Targovishte, but Dracula had already left by then.
In 1456, Dracula was in Transylvania, where he gathered an army of volunteers to go to Wallachia and retake the throne. In the same year, in the town of Joaju in southwestern Transylvania, an attempt was made on Dracula. The initiators were Janos Gereb de Wingard, who was a distant relative of Janos Hunyadi, and Nicolae de Vizacna, who was in Hunyadi’s service.
In April 1456, a rumor spread throughout Hungary that a Turkish army led by Sultan Mehmed was approaching the southern borders of the state and would march on Belgrade. In July 1456, in a letter addressed to the Transylvanian Saxons, János Hunyadi announced that he had appointed Dracula as protector of the Transylvanian regions.
After this, Janos, already a day and a half away from Belgrade, began preparing to break the Turkish blockade, the ring of which closed on July 4. The militia also followed to Belgrade, which was initially supposed to go to Constantinople, and Dracula’s army stopped on the border of Transylvania with Wallachia.
On July 22, 1456, the Turkish army retreated from the Belgrade fortress, and in early August, Dracula's army moved to Wallachia. Dracula was helped to gain power by a Wallachian boyar, who went over to his side in advance and persuaded several other boyars from the princely council under Vladislav to do the same. On August 20, Dracula became a Wallachian prince for the second time. 9 days earlier (August 11), Janos Hunyadi died of the plague in Belgrade.
Dracula's second reign lasted 6 years and became widely known outside Wallachia.
That's all for the story. And let's talk about why Vlad III was called a vampire and why the name “Impairer” appeared after his death.
There are several hypotheses regarding the reasons for Vlad III’s “vampiricity”.
The first of them is the emergence of similar superstitions from other legends about his “bloodthirstiness.”
With the second, the situation is a little more complicated. Romanians have a belief: an Orthodox Christian who renounces his faith (converts to Catholicism) will certainly become a vampire, and the conversion to Catholicism of Vlad III, who once robbed Catholic monasteries, became a very impressive event for his fellow believers. It is likely that the emergence of this belief is due to the mechanism of a kind of “compensation”: when converting to Catholicism, the Orthodox, although retaining the right to receive communion with the Body of Christ, refused to receive Communion by Blood, since for Catholics double communion is the privilege of the clergy. Accordingly, the apostate had to strive to compensate for the “damage,” and since betrayal of faith does not occur without diabolical intervention, then the method of “compensation” is chosen according to the diabolical prompting. However, there is an opinion that Dracula did not change his faith, as this would lead to the loss of rights to the throne. Well, they seem to have sorted out the “Vampire-Dracula” thing.
Now let’s try to understand why he is considered one of the most cruel rulers? Let's take a closer look at some of the true and not so true stories surrounding this undoubtedly entertaining personality.
ATTENTION PREGNANT AND ESPECIALLY IMPRESSIVE PEOPLE DO NOT READ!!
There is a known case when Tepes called together about 500 boyars and asked them how many rulers each of them remembers. It turned out that even the youngest of them remembers at least 7 reigns. Tepes's response was an attempt to put an end to this order - all the boyars were impaled and dug in around Tepes' chambers in his capital Targovishte.
The following parable story is also known: a foreign merchant who came to Wallachia was robbed. He files a complaint with Tepes. While the thief is being caught and impaled, the merchant is given, on Tepes’ orders, a wallet containing one coin more than it was. The merchant, having discovered the surplus, immediately informs Tepes. He laughs and says: “Well done, I wouldn’t say it—you should sit on a stake next to the thief.”
Tepes discovers that there are many beggars in the country - he convenes the beggars, feeds them to their fill and asks the question: “Wouldn’t they like to get rid of earthly suffering forever?” In response to a positive response, Tepes closes the doors and windows and burns everyone gathered alive.
Another parable is associated with the case when Dracula asked two wandering monks what people were saying about his reign. One of the monks replied that the population of Wallachia reviled him as a cruel villain, and another said that everyone praised him as a liberator from the threat of the Turks and a wise politician. In fact, both testimonies were fair in their own way. And the legend, in turn, has two endings. In the German "version", Dracula executed the former because he did not like his speech. In the Russian version of the legend, the ruler left the first monk alive and executed the second for lying.
According to the evidence of the ancient Russian story, unfaithful wives and widows who violated the rules of chastity, Tepes ordered to cut out the genitals and tear off the skin, exposing them to the point of decomposition of the body and eating it by birds, or to do the same, but first piercing them with a poker from the crotch to the mouth.
Vlad III was also especially inventive in terms of torture and executions. As promised earlier, we will consider this issue in more detail. Many are interested in him much more than the prince’s childhood and growing up.
Many stakes, with people suspended on them, were given various geometric shapes, born of the imagination of Tepes. There were various nuances of executions: one stake was driven through the anus, while Tepes specially ensured that the end of the stake was in no case too sharp - profuse hemorrhage could end the torment of the executed person too soon. The ruler preferred that the torment of the executed person last at least a few days. Others had stakes driven through their mouths and into their throats, leaving them hanging upside down. Still others hung, pierced through the navel, while others were pierced through the heart. Executions were also used in the form of boiling alive in a cauldron, skinning and exposure to birds, strangulation, etc.
Vlad III Tepes sought to compare the height of the stakes with the social rank of those executed - the boyars were impaled higher than the commoners, thus, by the forests of those impaled one could judge social status executed. There is a known case when one day the tyrant ordered his guards to nail the hats of foreign ambassadors to their heads, who refused to take them off when entering the count’s chambers. Mehmed II sent envoys; after learning about this, he went to war against Vlad.
The image of Dracula in literature and cinema.
In 1463, a prose pamphlet was published in Vienna, which was then reprinted 14 more times under different names. The text of the pamphlet changed from edition to edition, but the main plot remained unchanged. Researchers have divided the text of the 1463 pamphlet into 36 episodes, most of which concern Dracula's "deeds" in Transylvania.
At the end of the 1460s, Mastersinger Michael Beheim's poem “On the Villain...”, based on this pamphlet, appeared. From a historical point of view, there is extremely great reason to doubt the accuracy of the information presented in this document.
In 1897, Bram Stoker’s novel “Dracula” was published in London, where the prototype of the main character was the historical Dracula, aka Vlad the Impaler. First Russian edition Stoker's book entitled "The Vampire (Count Dracula)" was published in St. Petersburg in 1913.
Vlad III Dracula, or rather his literary incarnation “Count Dracula”, became one of the first movie villains-heroes back in 1937 in the classic, according to some sources, the first American horror film - “Dracula”. This film also shaped appearance"classic" Dracula: a tall, pale man dressed in 19th-century clothing. 
Subsequently, the legend of a vampire from a small Slavic country no longer left film and television creators all over the world. Some of the most interesting films we can recommend are:
The film "Dracula" (1992) by Francis Ford Coppola. The film is an adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel, but begins with a backstory that uses the Romanian legend of how Vlad the Impaler's mistress threw herself from the tower of the Poenari fortress into the Arges River.
- "Dark Prince. The True Story of Dracula" (2000). The film reproduces the basic facts of the biography of the real Vlad the Impaler, but his death is interpreted in a mystical way.
An interesting fact about the Dracula films. This is one of the first heroes whose “spirals”: in 1922 the film “Nosferatu” was released in Germany. Symphony of Horror" (Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens), which repeated the plot of B. Stoker's novel, but since the authors of the film did not have the rights to use the name Count Dracula, the creators renamed Vlad himself and many other characters.
Dracula in anime.
The great Wikipedia mentions several appearances of Vlad Dracula and his creative reinterpretations, but there are many more:
- Hellsing - the character Alucard is the same Dracula who serves the descendants of Van Helsing.
The Last Seraphim - one of the vampire aristocrats in this anime is the 3rd Progenitor Krul Tepes, who bit the brother of the main character Yuichira Hakuya.
Also, Dracula/Tepes/Nosferatu is mentioned in almost all anime related to the “vampire” theme, the same Strike the Blood. What’s interesting is that Japanese authors quite often separate the concepts of “Dracula” and “Tepes”; for the lower ones, these are different genders or even personalities.
Well, it's time to sum up and finish today's article. Without a doubt, Vlad III Basarab is quite interesting and colorful historical figure. Many people know about him as the most legendary vampire. I hope that I was able to at least slightly expand your views on this person. With this I hasten to say goodbye to you. See you again!
The legend of the "king of the vampires", the prince, is still alive Dracula. In Romania, not far from the Tihut Pass, there are still dilapidated walls of the Poenari fortress. Local residents claim that today the spirit of Vlad III still roams the earth. Neither heaven nor hell accepted him. And therefore he is forced to wander around the world, tormented by a thirst for human blood.
During the day, Dracula hides in the ruins of the fortress. At night he goes out and looks for his victims in the light of the moon. Legend has it that anyone bitten by the prince immediately turns into a vampire, with protruding fangs and small wounds on the neck. But who really was this formidable prince?..
The surroundings of the former castle of the famous prince now seem like quiet corners of paradise. Vlada III, better known as Dracula. And then, in the 15th century, local residents avoided this place, just to avoid falling into the hands of a cruel ruler.
As soon as a man looked at Prince Vlad, fear gradually took over all his thoughts. Indeed, according to historians, he had a terrifying appearance: a narrow face, a long nose, a protruding lower lip, large glass eyes that hid the prince’s feelings.
It was with his bulging eyes that people associated Dracula’s ability to instill fear and horror in his captive through hypnotic influence. It seemed that Dracula's gaze penetrated into the very soul, and its owner could easily find out everything that a person was thinking about. However, many modern scientists believe that this eye shape may be nothing more than a consequence and one of the signs of Graves’ disease, which is often found in residents of mountain villages.
People say: “The face is the mirror of the soul.” Indeed, being the ugliest of the three brothers, Vlad was also distinguished by his cruel and independent disposition. The intent, almost unblinking gaze of cold fish eyes, a contemptuously compressed mouth, a narrow, protruding chin - everything suggests that Prince Dracula was a vain, proud man who hated and despised people.
No taller than average, Vlad III possessed enormous physical strength. So, he could swim across the river without much difficulty. In the Middle Ages there were many large rivers and small rivulets, but there was a clear lack of bridges. A warrior who could not swim well was doomed to death.
Dracula was also known in the 15th century as an excellent artilleryman. This talent of the prince deserves special attention all the more if we recall the fact that in those days - when small and large wars were fought in almost every country - boys were taught horse riding and shooting from childhood. different types weapons. Each young man masterfully wielded weapons. Therefore, earning the fame of a magnificent warrior and horseman was not at all an easy task back then.
The life and death of Vlad Tepes (Tepes), Dracula, are shrouded in a dense veil of mystery. Local residents claim that the grave of the bloody prince is located in the Snagovsky monastery. But more recently, historians have stated that that grave is a cenotaph, that is, a grave without burial.
The time and place of birth of Vlad III is shrouded in mystery. According to some sources, he was born between 1428 and 1431. It was not possible to find more precise information. This is due to the fact that at that time the monastery walls could not protect manuscripts from fire. And since there were countless fires at that time, people and written monuments, including documents, often died from them.
The birthplace of Dracula is determined to be a relatively small house located on Kuznechnaya Street, located in one of the districts of Sighisoara. It still attracts many tourists traveling around Romania.
Historians are not entirely sure that Vlad III was born in that exact place. However, surviving documents indicate that in the 15th century the house belonged to the father of Vlad Tepes, Vlad II Dracul. Dracul translated into Russian means "the Dragon". This means that the old prince was part of the Romanian Order of the Dragon. Members of this organization were once involved in the forcible conversion of “infidels” to Christianity. By the end of the first quarter of the 15th century, Prince Vlad II already had three sons. But only one of them, Vlad, was able to become famous throughout the centuries.
Poenari Fortress
It must be said that in his youth, Prince Vlad III managed to win over the common people and earn their love and respect. Indeed, according to handwritten sources, at that time he was a real knight of the Middle Ages, a man of honor and duty. He was especially distinguished by his ability to lead the course of the battle. The warriors who fought under the command of the talented commander Vlad Tepes always won battles.
Historians of those years recall Dracula as quite democratic statesman. He always opposed the seizure of Romania by foreigners, as well as the division of his native lands. In addition, he directed the activities of the principality primarily towards the development of national crafts and trade. Vlad III paid special attention to the fight against criminals: thieves, murderers and swindlers. At the same time, the most sophisticated and cruel methods of punishing the guilty were chosen.
The people's love for Prince Dracula and his extraordinary popularity among the inhabitants of medieval Wallachia are completely justified. Contemporaries remember him as a people's defender, always at odds with the boyars, who always oppressed the common people. In addition, the military victories won by Vlad III more than redeemed his toughness. Patriotic Romanians were proud of their commander, who knew how to win victories even in a battle that was clearly doomed to lose.
However, the most important quality Tepes's character, which determined the goodwill of the people, became almost fanatical religiosity. At that time, the church had a strong influence on the life of society. The sovereign, having secured the support of the holy fathers, could confidently count on the obedience of the people under his control. “What about the incredible cruelty inherent in Dracula?” - you ask.
The answer is simple: then it was considered a common thing to punish severely, and then go to church to atone for sins and thank God for the blessings of life. Meanwhile, the people mourned those executed, not daring to grumble and resist their master - after all, his power was “sacred.” C'est la vie, the French say in such cases.
For its part, the church was also interested in friendship with the princes. In this case, the complacent ruler could endow the monasteries with land and villages. And in return, he received blessings from the clergyman for various deeds and actions (including cruel and bloody ones). Vlad III usually distributed similar gifts to clergy after another military victory or in a fit of religious feeling (so that God would forgive sins).
Chronicles testify; Wanting to reduce the crime rate in his small state, Prince Vlad Tepes did not spare the guilty and used the most severe methods of punishment. His reprisal was not long in coming. The criminal, as they say, was burned at the stake or executed on the scaffold without trial. The ruler of Wallachia did not spare the gypsies. A fire or a sword also awaited them: according to Tepes, they were all potential thieves, horse thieves, and also vagabonds.
Until now, the content of many gypsy stories boils down to covering those terrible events when Prince Dracula carried out mass executions of gypsies. To some extent, the great ruler of Wallachia achieved the desired result. Chroniclers said that since then crime in the prince’s domains has come to naught. The following example can be given to confirm the words of the medieval historian. If someone found a gold coin on the street, then under no circumstances picked it up. This would mean stealing someone else's property, for which one could pay with one's life.
And how many contradictory rumors are circulating around the construction of the Poenari fortress. It turns out that, having planned the construction, Vlad Tepesh ordered all the wanderers who came to Tirgovista to celebrate Easter to be brought to him by force. After this, he stated that the pilgrims would be able to return to their homes only after they had completed the construction of the fortress. People who knew the harsh character of the Romanian prince did not argue and got to work with enthusiasm, because everyone wanted to return to their native places as soon as possible.
Soon a new castle was built. However, the fortress, built with the help of lies and coercion, did not bring good luck to its owner and could not protect him during the siege of the Turks. When the Turks captured Poenari in 1462, Prince Dracula was forced to flee from the foreigners. The princess who remained in the fortress did not want to become a prisoner of the victors, just like her husband, who became famous for his incredible cruelty. She threw herself down from the high fortress wall and crashed. In memory of her, only the white stones of the destroyed fortress and the second name of Arges remained - “princess river”.
The Romanian prince Vlad III earned his nickname Tepes (Tepes) due to his own cruelty. Translated into Russian, “tepesh” means “to impale.” A similar method of execution, borrowed by Europeans from the Turks, was used quite often by medieval sovereigns. In this case, the stake was either driven into the body of the offender with strong blows hammer, or the condemned person was literally impaled on a stake fixed in the ground. The executioners mastered this type of execution so well that it cost them nothing to drive a stake into the victim’s body so that she would writhe in death throes for at least a week.
It was the method of punishing criminals described above that became Dracula’s favorite. With his help, he successfully resolved issues not only internal, but also foreign policy. The number of people who became victims of such reprisals by the prince alone is measured in several tens of thousands.
It seemed that Dracula's cruelty knew no bounds. Not only gypsies and captured Turks, but also any citizen of Wallachia who committed a crime could be executed. It is in the fear and reluctance to end up on the chopping block or at the stake that the secret of the honesty of the medieval Romanian, mysterious to a modern European, lies. After the news of a new sophisticated execution spread further and further throughout the principality, there were no people willing to try their luck. All citizens preferred to lead the life of sinless righteous people.
It must be admitted that, despite his cruelty, Dracula was a fair judge. Not only ordinary citizens, but also fairly wealthy ones were punished for the slightest offense. The same historical chronicles indicate that seven merchants were impaled on charges of concluding trade agreements with the Turks. Thus, the acquaintance of the Wallachian merchants with the enemies of the Christian faith, the “dirty Turks”, tragically ended in Shesbourg.
The chronicle or chronicle, to which German sources about Dracula go back, was clearly written by Tepes’ ill-wishers and depicts the ruler and his life in the most negative tones. It’s more difficult with Russian sources. They don't shy away from depicting Vlad's cruelty, but they try to give more noble explanations for it than the German ones, and focus attention so that the same actions look both more logical and less dark under the given circumstances.
Here are a few tales from various sources. It is not possible to verify their authenticity:
A foreign merchant who came to Wallachia was robbed. The merchant files a complaint to the ruler. While the thief is caught and impaled, with fate, in general, “in fairness” everything is clear; on the orders of Dracula, a wallet was thrown to the merchant, which contained one more coin than was stolen. The merchant, having discovered the excess, immediately informs Tepes about it. He just laughs at this: “Well done, I wouldn’t say it - you should sit on a stake next to the thief.”
Another example. Vlad Dracula happily feasts, as an ancient Russian author wrote, among the “corpse.” The servant who brings the dishes winces. To the ruler’s question “Why?” it turns out that the servant cannot stand the stench. “Resolution” of Tepes: “So put the servant higher up, so that the stench does not reach him.” And the poor fellow writhes on a stake of unprecedented height.
Dracula’s “diplomacy” is also remarkable. I suggest reading the translation from Old Russian language: “Dracula had such a tradition: when an inexperienced messenger from the king or from the king arrived to him and could not give an answer to Dracula’s insidious questions, he impaled the messenger, while saying: “I am not to blame for your death, but or your sovereign, or you yourself. Do not lay the blame on me. If your sovereign, knowing that you are inexperienced and incompetent, sent you as an ambassador to me, a wise ruler, then your sovereign killed you; personally decided to go, ignorant, then you killed yourself."
An excellent example is the reprisal of Turkish envoys who, according to the tradition of their country, bowed to Dracula without removing their hats. Dracula praised this custom, and in order to further strengthen them in this custom, he ordered the caps to be nailed to the heads of the messengers.
Chroniclers claim that Dracula’s cruel temper was brought up in the palace of the Turkish Sultan. Every year the prince of Wallachia had to transport a certain amount of silver and wood to Turkey. In order for the prince not to forget about his duty, the Sultan ordered the son of Vlad II to be escorted to his palace. So, twelve-year-old Vlad III ended up in Turkey. It was there that he became acquainted with various methods of punishing guilty and disobedient citizens of the state.
Rarely a day passed in Turkey without an execution. Two stories will help readers imagine the whole picture of sad life in medieval Istanbul.
Once there was a trial of two sons of one of the Romanian princes, who did not pay tribute on time. For some reason, at the last moment before the execution, the Sultan “relented” and ordered the boys not to be impaled, but to be blinded. At the same time, blindness was perceived then as the greatest mercy.
The second story tells about the theft of cucumbers - vegetables considered an exotic delicacy in Turkey. One day, the Sultan’s vizier was missing two cucumbers from his garden bed. Then it was decided to rip open the bellies of all the gardeners who worked at the palace. The fifth of them contained a cucumber. The Sultan ordered the culprit to be executed on the block. The rest “could go home to their homes.”
Having learned about Vlad III’s stay in captivity of the Turkish Sultan, where day after day he became an eyewitness to the abuse of people, it is not difficult to guess the reasons for his cruel character from hatred of the Turks. What kind of person could grow out of a twelve-year-old boy who lived in that hell, when every day he saw only one thing: human suffering, the death throes of thousands of executed people and the martyrdom of people.
Naturally, the freedom-loving Slavs did not like dependence on the Turkish Sultan. Father and son - the rulers of Wallachia - firmly believed that someday their principality would be freed from the yoke of Turkey.
Upon returning from captivity, Vlad III decided to free the Wallachians forever from the power of the Turks at any cost. And so, four years after inheriting the princely throne, Tepesh announced to the Turks that he did not intend to pay tribute in the future. Thus, a challenge was made to the Ottoman Empire. Then Sultan Murad sent a small detachment of a thousand horsemen to Wallachia.
However, luck turned away from the Turkish warriors. They were captured and impaled within one day. And for the Turkish aga, who commanded the punitive detachment, Dracula even ordered a special stake to be prepared - with a gold tip.
After Murad learned that his envoys had suffered a shameful defeat, he decided to send an entire army to Wallachia. This was already the beginning of open war between the Ottoman Empire and Wallachia. The final battle between the Turks and the Wallachians took place in 1461. Thanks to the dedication of the Slavs, the Turks were defeated. After this, Prince Vlad 111 went to war against Transylvania, located next to Wallachia. The Transylvanian nobility (mostly the wealthiest merchants) had long been concerned about the violent temper of the owner of the nearby principality.
They decided to get rid of their unpredictable, cruel and capricious neighbor. However, Prince Dracula was ahead of them. As if terrible hurricane He rushed with his army, sweeping away everything in his path. Romanians still remember the five hundred compatriots executed on Chesbourg Square at that terrible time.
Then the victorious prince returned home. However, it was then that danger befell him. Outraged by the excesses of the Wallachians, the trading elite of Transylvania published a pamphlet on behalf of the author, who wished to remain anonymous. Its content boiled down to a retelling of recent events, the capture of Transylvania by Vlad III, his atrocities and cruelty. The anonymous poet also added that the Wallachian prince was supposedly going to attack and conquer the Hungarian principality in the near future. King Dan III of Hungary was furious when he learned of the anger and insolence of the Prince of Wallachia, as well as his intention to seize the state.
After Dracula's fortress was taken by the Turks, its owner decided to flee to Hungary. Arriving there, he found himself a prisoner of King Dan III. For 12 long years, the Grand Duke of Wallachia languished in prison. It was then that he was able to conquer Dan with his obedience and humility. Tepes even converted to Catholicism in order to win over the monarch of the Slavic state.
At last the heart of the good King of Hungary softened, and he released the prisoner. Already free, the prince married the niece of the monarch, and later even collected Hungarian mercenaries big army to go to war against Wallachia and win the throne.
In the fall of 1476, the army of Vlad Tepes approached Wallachia. But, as it later turned out, luck abandoned the commander, famous for his military victories, forever. In the first battle, the Hungarian army was defeated, and Vlad III himself was captured by the Wallachian boyars.
Considering his death at the hands of his former subjects shameful, Tepesh escaped from captivity and was killed by boyar soldiers. However, other sources claim that death suddenly overtook Vlad III when he was already sitting on a horse and intending to escape from Wallachia.
Be that as it may, the body of Prince Vlad III Tepes, Dracula, was subsequently cut by the boyars into many pieces, which were scattered across the field. However, the monks of the Snagovsky monastery, who more than once received generous gifts from the hands of the sovereign, sincerely loved and pitied the prince, who accepted martyrdom. They collected the remains of Dracula and buried them near the monastery.
After the death of the cruel but fair prince, contemporaries more than once argued about where his soul ended up: in heaven or in hell. It was from these ongoing disputes that the now well-known legend was born, which says that the Romanian spirit does not accept either hell or heaven. They say that the rebellious soul of Prince Dracula is still looking for peace and, not finding it anywhere, wanders the earth in search of more and more victims.
Interesting facts from the life of Vlad Dracula
Vlad III Tepes (Dracula) - ruler of Wallachia (born approximately 1431 - died 1476)
Vlad Dracula (Dracul) is a real historical figure of the 15th century. The biography of Lord Dracula is interesting, tragic and based on information contained in Serbian, Polish, Byzantine and even Russian chronicles. The great Moscow sovereign Ivan III ordered to write down the history of the ruler Dracula, nicknamed Tepes (namely the ruler, not the count!) for the edification of his descendants. Many historians believe that these notes were carefully studied in his youth by Ivan Vasilyevich IV, who later received the nickname Grozny.
The famous humanist and poet Cardinal Aeneas Piccolomini (1405–1464), while traveling around Europe, personally met with Vlad Dracula. In his work “Cosmography,” the cardinal describes his appearance as follows: “A man of average height, with a high forehead and a face that sharply tapers towards the chin.”
To this description we will add that Vlad III Tepes and all other representatives of the Draculeshty family, including those living today, never suffered from pallor or other vampire ailments. Vlad himself was really no different tall, however, he possessed enormous physical strength. He had a large aquiline nose, broad shoulders and a thick neck. There was luxuriant hair on his head dark hair. According to chroniclers, Vlad was an excellent horseman and was excellent at wielding bladed weapons. In his younger years, he became the winner of the prestigious jousting tournament in Nuremberg in Germany.
Vlad's ancestors came to Romania and Moldova from Hungary in the 13th century. They adopted the language and faith of their new homeland, becoming its rulers. In the center of Chisinau there was a monument to the ruler of Moldavia, Mircea the Old, the grandfather of Vlad II. Wallachia was founded in 1290.
Exactly 100 years later, the illegitimate son of the ruler Mirce was born, who was named Vlad. He was distinguished by his courage and bravery in the battles that raged in those parts every now and then. The people nicknamed him Dracula, and in this nickname there is not even a hint of mysticism: Vlad II Dracula was a member of the secret knightly order of the Dragon, or rather, the defeated dragon. There is nothing secret that would not become obvious: many people learned about the order, including the Turks.
At the end of 1431, Vlad II had a son, who also received the name Vlad in honor of his father.
“The Wallachian dog has become old and does not obey its owner,” the Sultan told the viziers, throwing a green silk cord onto a golden dish.
It was a sentence. Vlad II became the ruler of Wallachia, taking the throne of his father, who died at the request and verdict of the Turkish Sultan.“Let’s see if the dragon knights will help the new Wallachian ruler in battles with the warriors of Islam,” the Grand Vizier laughed sarcastically. “So that he doesn’t plot against the padishah, let him give his son as a hostage!”
So, while still a boy, the future Vlad III Dracula, later nicknamed Tepes (“Tepes” translated into Russian means “stake”), became a hostage of the Sultan.
In those days, in order to keep vassals always ready to rebel in obedience, the Turks took their children hostage and executed them with cruel death at the first manifestations of disobedience of their parents. Often the boys were first castrated, and then sent to the harem and only after a while they were killed. The hostage's life was constantly hanging in the balance. I had the opportunity to leave my father's house and be raised at the court of the Sultan.
For 7 long years, outwardly maintaining humility, the young man languished in captivity and only after the death of his father and older brother received freedom.
“You will take the place of your parent,” the Grand Vizier nodded favorably as he released Vlad. – Don’t make mistakes if you want to save life and power.
He did not know that not much time would pass and the young Wallachian ruler, who had well learned the lessons of Turkish cruelty, would begin to instill panic in the Muslims and receive from them the nickname Kazykly - the Piercer!
God, what freedom this is! A recent hostage, mourning the death of his father, was released under escort on the condition of maintaining submission to the Ottomans and paying tribute. Vlad went home along with the officials, spies and guards assigned to him. But, once in his hometown of Seguisoara - on the territory of modern Romania, Dracula immediately threw off his mask of humility: he expelled all the Turks and, on pain of death, forbade them to appear in his possessions. This turned out to be not empty bravado of a 19-year-old youth who was eager for revenge!
Dracula chose the city of Brasov as his stronghold and began to prepare for a long and bloody war. His other stronghold was in Tirgovishte, which stood on the high bank of the Yalomirtsy River. At the same time, Gospodar Vlad III was actively engaged in internal affairs of your state.
From the Turks, Vlad adopted the cruel method of execution - impalement. Historical chronicles note: Dracula’s executioners achieved such virtuoso art (if brutal murders can be called art) that the stake passed through the human body, minimally touching the internal organs. The victim suffered for a long time before dying. To prolong the agony, a special crossbar was nailed to the stake so that the body would not completely sit down, like on a skewer, and the victim would not die quickly.
Soon Vlad gathered all the boyars together with their families for a feast in the palace - in total, according to chroniclers, there were up to 500 guests. They feasted in Tirgovishte. Allegedly, Vlad III celebrated his accession to the throne. During the feast, when the wine flowed like a river, the ruler, with an innocent look, slyly asked the order of the tipsy guests:
- Tell me, boyars, how many rulers have you decided?
- A lot, sir! – the guests began to vying with each other. – Not one or two.
“Great,” Dracula grinned. And he shouted angrily: “They were all killed, like my father and older brother.” Killed because you constantly plotted and sold yourself wholeheartedly to the Turks, becoming blind executors of their will. Traitors! Now a new nobility will appear in my state! Hey guards! Take them all!The ruler ordered those who were older, regardless of gender, to be impaled. He gathered the rest in the courtyard of his palace-castle and gloomily told them:
- You will go on foot under escort to Poenri. There, build a fortress on the top of the hill above the river. Whoever survives should consider himself lucky. Build day and night. A count awaits the careless!
In fact, Vlad III sent his enemy boyars to hard labor.
The Lord sincerely believed that all citizens must work for the good of their homeland, and therefore did not favor those who could not do this - the poor, the beggars, the sick and thieves.
One day the ruler addressed a speech to the city beggars - the crippled and the beggars:
- Do you want to get rid of it forever? oppressive feeling hunger and not chatter your teeth from the cold?
Hearing how the beggars and cripples murmured approvingly in response, Vlad III suggested:
- Come to me, become my guests.
The brotherhood of poor beggars, petty thieves and cripples were treated to glory in a large barn. When the “guests” got pretty tipsy, Vlad quietly came out and gave symbol palace guards. The soldiers he had trained quickly boarded up the windows and doors, and then set fire to the barn from 4 corners. A high flame quickly rose and dry boards crackled in the fire. The roar of the fire drowned out the screams of those burned alive.
According to the version of other chroniclers, the ruler gathered enemy spies in one of the old castles and burned it along with the traitors. This version is more plausible - small Orthodox Wallachia had enough enemies. As if between millstones, it was squeezed by the Muslim Ottoman Empire on one side and the Catholic kingdom of Hungary on the other.
Foreigners who visited Wallachia wrote with surprise that “there is no crime in the country.” All the years of the reign of Vlad III, in the square of his capital there was a large golden cup from which anyone could drink spring water. They were terrified of stealing, knowing what fate awaited the thief - stake! Vlad Dracula, nicknamed Tepes, did not spare thieves. This may seem strange, but the ruler enjoyed the love and trust of the people. He saw him as a protector, and the new boyars, created by the ruler to replace the executed traitors, stood up for their ruler.
In particular, Vlad did not favor the Turks. Chroniclers mention a case when the ruler strictly ordered the envoys of the Sultan who arrived to him:
- Bare your heads! You are in the palace of the Orthodox ruler of Wallachia.
“You know better than others: our faith in Allah does not allow us to do this.”
– Do you believe so fervently that you are ready to suffer for your faith and the prophet?
“Yes,” the Turks answered firmly, not knowing what the padishah’s vassal was planning.
- Hey, guards! - the ruler clapped his hands - Take them! Let the executioner nail their turbans to their heads!
The ruler preferred mass executions to single executions. Moreover, he ordered the stakes to be placed in the form of different patterns, and most often - circles. He especially loved executions during feasts. The Lord sat at a table laden with dishes and goblets of wine, and admired how the condemned were writhing in pain on the stakes.
But Vlad did not forget about other types of execution: he skinned criminals alive and threw them into boiling water. Beheaded, blinded. Strangled, hanged, cut off noses, ears, genitals and limbs. After the executions, the bodies were put on public display.
Dracula treated female chastity with special “trepidation.” The victims of his cruelty were girls deflowered, unfaithful wives and unchaste widows. Often their genitals were removed and their breasts were cut off. One such unfortunate woman, by order of the ruler, first had her breasts cut off, then her skin was torn off and impaled on a stake in the main square, and her flayed skin was placed next to her on the executioner’s bench.
However, Dracula not only eradicated crime and “pinned down” the libertines. He did his best to protect his subjects from the violence of the even more cruel Turk enslavers.
Russian chroniclers talk more kindly about Dracula than German and, of course, Turkish ones. Wallachia and Muscovy sent diplomatic missions to each other, mostly consisting of Orthodox priests. Ivan III was flattered that the Wallachian prince personally wrote letters to him in Church Slavonic.
1462 - Vlad III Dracula unexpectedly attacked the Turks and drove them out of the Danube Valley.
– Is our former hostage showing disobedience? – Having learned about this, Sultan Mehmed II, nicknamed the Conqueror, grinned. “Let them bring me his head on a platter!”
The Turks could not tolerate neglect of their power, which had already conquered a large part of Europe! Soon, a twenty-thousand-strong Janissary army advanced to the possessions of Vlad III, against which Dracula could field half as many fighters. But they burned with hatred for the enslavers, and the ruler managed not only to study the enemy’s language, but also to learn all his strong and weak sides. The Turks knew practically nothing about him as a military leader, while he had extraordinary military talent. The Gospodar occupied several well-fortified mountain fortresses and took control of the main passes.
He sent a select detachment of daredevils to meet the Ottomans, ordering them to capture the Turkish vanguard at any cost. Soon the brave men returned and brought the captured Janissaries. The Lord rejoiced.
In the morning, axes began to sound, stakes were sharpened and driven into the walls of Tirgovishte. The bound Janissaries began to be impaled on stakes. Beluk-bashi, officers of the Janissary corps received the last honors: their stakes were gilded with ocher.
- To Wallachia! - Mehmed II growled when he learned about the fate of the Janissaries. - Go on a hike! No one will be spared, and the Wallachian ruler will be put on a chain like a dog.
But the ruler managed to prepare well for the invasion of the Turks. Having placed detachments along the route of the Ottoman army, he attacked at the most inopportune moments for the enemy - at crossings or at night. The 40,000-strong Turkish army retreated, and Vlad suffered few losses.
On the third campaign, the Sultan sent 250,000 soldiers against Vlad III the Impaler: more than the population of Wallachia, including women and children. The ruler fielded an army of 40,000 against the enemy. Dracula avoided large-scale clashes, preferring guerrilla tactics. He personally carried out reconnaissance and mostly made do with the forces of his guard. Dressing in Turkish clothes, Vlad Tepes and his comrades raided the enemy camp at night, lit fires, and chopped down the Turks. Panic began, the sleepy Turks killed their own, and Vlad’s guards disappeared into the darkness.
Once, after a particularly bloody raid on the camp, selected Turkish cavalry rushed after a detachment of night Wallachian “werewolves”, and the entire Ottoman army moved after the vanguard. When dawn broke, a terrible sight met the eyes of the Turkish warriors. 7,000 of their horsemen, led by the noble commander Yunus Bey, sat not on horses, but... on stakes. In the same battle formation in which Vlad was pursued.
Retreating to the capital, Dracula burned villages and poisoned wells.
Approaching Tirgovishte, the Sultan saw an eerie picture, known in history as “Forest of stakes.” A whole forest of stakes grew in front of the city, on which Vlad planted about 20,000 Turks.
The stench of the bodies of those executed, decomposing in the sun, spread far in the sultry air.
“It is impossible to take the country away from a husband capable of such acts,” said the shocked Sultan.
As always, betrayal played a vile role. The Turks retreated, but did not retreat. Their fourth campaign against Wallachia ended in the defeat of the ruler.
Everyone betrayed Dracula: both the mercenaries and the Transylvanians who swore allegiance. The Moldovans were in no hurry to provide help. Even Radu’s brother took part in the campaign against Wallachia as part of the Turkish army.
Many boyars, who had recently stood up for the ruler, joined the Turks. They drove Vlad into the Poenri fortress. The prince's wife chose death over the shame of captivity and threw herself from a high tower. The Turks captured the fortress, but Vlad was able to escape through an underground passage.
For his time, Vlad III Tepes was a brilliantly educated man: he spoke Turkish, Hungarian, Latin, German and Russian, read books, had a quick pen and loved philosophy. Finding no other way out, Dracula went to seek help from the King of Hungary, Matthias Corvinus.
Seeing the troubled Wallachian ruler, defeated in the bloody struggle with the Turks, Matthias was delighted - now Vlad is in his hands! He arrested him and ordered him to be imprisoned.
The years of Dracula's imprisonment were described in more detail by the Russian diplomat Fyodor Kuritsyn, clerk of Grand Duke Ivan III. Vlad spent the first period of captivity in prison, where he showed another of his many talents: he made boots, which the guard sold at the market. This significantly supplemented the meager diet of the noble captive.
Clerk Kuritsyn testifies: Vlad long years stayed in prison and steadfastly adhered to the Orthodox faith, although Matthias constantly persuaded him to accept Catholicism, promising freedom, the return of the throne and the hand of his cousin. The Russian chronicler connects Dracula's release with the fact that he nevertheless accepted “Latin charm” (Catholicism). However, recent research proves: Vlad did not betray Orthodoxy! Matthias's mercy is explained simply: the king of Hungary, receiving money from the Pope for the war against the infidels, abused “misuse.” He freed an ardent fighter against Islam so that he could rake in the heat with his hands.
According to Western chroniclers, even in prison, Dracula sharpened twigs with a knife and impaled rats, mice and birds on them. Allegedly having gained freedom 4 years later (according to other sources, only 14 years later), he married the king’s sister and lived in an ordinary house.
1476 - having received the help of the Transylvanians and Moldovans, Vlad invaded Wallachia and was again able to seize power. When the allies returned home, the Turks found the moment opportune and attacked Wallachia. The Lord resisted steadfastly, but died in the battle of Bucharest around 1480, at the age of 46. Allegedly, he became a victim of his own masquerade - habitually dressed as a Turk, the ruler went on reconnaissance, and when he returned, his soldiers mistook him for an enemy spy and killed him by piercing him with spears.
The boyars cut off the head of Vlad III to save their own heads (at least that's the legend), and sent it as a gift to the Turkish Sultan. This later gave birth to a belief: vampires die from a wasp stake and the separation of the head from the body. But Romanian peasants still believe today that Dracula is alive! Archaeologists who carried out excavations at the altar of the church in the Snatovsky monastery, where Vlad III Tepes was allegedly buried, did not find his body in the crypt. But in a secret crypt they found a skeleton with a crown on its skull and a necklace with the image of a dragon. Dracula? But which one?
The castle on the banks of the Arges River, where Dracula lived, is believed to be cursed. Wolves howl at night around it, and a host of bats live in the ruins.
But there is another version of the fate of Vlad III Dracula, which was outlined by some chronicles of Western Europe.
According to this version, the fatal role in the life of the ruler was played by the same Aeneas Piccolomini, who from the moment of their first meeting managed to become Pope Pius II. He wanted to go down in history as the head of the church, under whom Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulcher would be recaptured. Knowing Vlad personally, dad believed that only he was suitable for the role of leader of the troops in the new crusade against the infidels. The pope invited him to Rome, but the ruler was extremely reluctant to leave his possessions and sent his cousin to the pope in his place.
War is always a big expense! The Pope gave the Gospodar's cousin a huge sum, with a request to transfer it to Vlad, so that he would arm the assembled troops and move them against the Turks. The cousin swore to do everything exactly. Who knows how the fate of world history would have turned out if the dreams of Pius II had come true? Vlad was a very talented commander and fiercely hated the Turks! But Fate does things in its own way and chooses historical paths itself.
The cousin used the money he received from his dad to create a conspiracy against Vlad. Having managed to deceive the suspicious and distrustful ruler, he overthrew him from the throne, committing palace coup. But he did not dare to execute Tepes, so he imprisoned him in a fortress, placing a strong guard.
Like any scoundrel who usurped the throne, the new ruler was constantly looking for excuses for himself. He again began paying tribute to the Turks, and in 1464 he ordered the publication of a book about what a terrible villain Vlad Dracula was. Some real facts were interspersed on the pages of the book with outright lies; the artists hired by the new ruler made naturalistic illustrations that made an indelible impression on their contemporaries.
Until that time, practically no secular books were published—printing publications were usually of a religious nature. The new ruler, in fear of his overthrown brother and in the desire to justify himself in the eyes of his contemporaries and descendants, disdained all the rules of honor and moral prohibitions. Not to mention faith and conscience. In 1463, while Vlad the Impaler was still alive, he published the book “The History of Voivode Dracula.” It said that the ruler bathes in the blood of victims to preserve his youth and strength.
Lampoon went for a walk around Europe, spreading the dark glory of Vlad throughout various countries. The author reproduced portraits of Vlad, and later historians discovered them in museums in Vienna, Budapest, Nuremberg, and Berlin. It’s not for nothing that they say – a drop breaks a stone! The new ruler finally achieved his goal: the image of Tepes as a formidable warrior of the Turks faded over time in people’s memory.
In addition, the famous Dracula turned out to be not immortal - he died and was buried in a monastery surrounded by lakes, not far from modern Bucharest. Buried and forgotten for many centuries. It was only thanks to the efforts of the usurper that the image of the cruel ruler Dracula remained in folklore.
Yes, Vlad III the Impaler took many secrets to his grave! Now many museums are filled with attributes of “vampirism”, and Satanists consider Dracula to be their spiritual father. This is complete historical and religious illiteracy, lack of knowledge. In fact, the ruler of Wallachia believed passionately, was Orthodox person, erected churches and monasteries.
It is characteristic that Turkish and German chroniclers aggravated the dark aspects of Dracule’s character and rule, while Romanian ones, on the contrary, whitewashed him. Russians treat with the understanding that Vladyka small country at the turn of the Christian world, he boldly resisted the military Muslim expansion. And alone, without counting on anyone's help. Thanks to Vlad Tepes, the people of Romania, its language and culture, and the Orthodox faith were preserved. Perhaps it was no coincidence that he became a favorite hero?
How Vlad III the Impaler was made into a vampire
How did it happen that the name Dracula became a household name for characters in novels and horror films?
It all started in late XIX century, almost 400 years after the death of Vlad III. The first electric lamps were already burning, the telegraph was working, steamships and battleships were sailing across the seas. Türkiye has long lost its former power and has turned into an ordinary, rather backward country.
And Europe was suddenly swept by the fashion for mediums and all sorts of otherworldly horrors - theaters were simply chasing plays where the action took place in ancient castles with ghosts and other nerve-tickling effects. Gentlemen publishers did not lag behind, demanding from the authors bloody dramas with a bloody slant.
Demand dictates supply: “ gold mine"was actively developed by journalist and playwright Brem Stoker. He had a quick pen, a wild, dark imagination, and he easily guessed what the public and theater owners needed. “Bloody” dramas and novels came out from his pen in batches. Stoker got rich from evil spirits, ghosts and similar evil spirits.
Once in Vienna he heard about the story of the ruler Vlad Dracula. Stoker immediately discarded wars and victories, cunning and long captivity, but turned the ruler Dracula into a count, endowing him with the features bloody maniac, psychopath and vampire! It has become finest hour Bram Stoker - with his light hand, the image of a terrible bloodsucker began to walk around the world, luring innocent creatures into the castle and killing guests.
Other authors did not lag behind - did the vampire belong to Stoker alone?! Everyone wanted to make a fortune from vampires and ghosts. The books sold in large quantities, and the audience died at the performances. Later, the “vampyriad” began to be filmed - first in silent films, later in sound and color, and now on television screens and replicated on video cassettes and disks. The old terrible fairy tale-lie turned out to be surprisingly tenacious!
But do they remember the real Lord Vlad, not invented by idle scribblers? Remember! In Romania, it turns out, there is even a special society “Dracula”, uniting admirers of their idol.
In the town of Bran, lost in the picturesque Carpathian mountains (also known as ancient Brosov, or Brasov), on a high rocky hill rises the castle of the legendary Vlad the Impaler, made of strong wild stone. Over the past 600 years, the banner of enemy foreign conquerors has never flown over it! Now there is a museum in the castle, where tourists like to come to see where and how the despot who became almost fabulous lived, the sworn enemy of the Turkish enslavers, who at the same time terrified his subjects. By the way, it was this real castle of the ruler Vlad Dracula that Hollywood filmmakers filmed when creating the world famous film.
The castle has a bad reputation among the local population. They say that at night the floorboards creak in the halls and long passages and the shadow of a cruel and unhappy ruler suddenly appears. And woe to anyone who gets in the way of the ghost. Therefore, there were few daredevils who would dare to spend the night in the halls of the famous castle-museum.
Believe it or not, one of them was the infamous Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. According to completely credible evidence, he saw the ghost of Dracula and even spoke to him.
Vlad III, also known as Vlad the Impaler or simply Dracula, was a legendary military prince of Wallachia. He ruled the principality three times - in 1448, from 1456 to 1462 and in 1476, during the beginning of the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans. Dracula became a popular folklore character in many Eastern European countries due to his bloody battles and defense of Orthodox Christianity against the invading Ottomans. And at the same time he is one of the most popular and bloody figures in the history of pop culture. The blood-chilling legends of Dracula are known to almost everyone, but what was the real Vlad the Impaler like?
1. Small Motherland
The real historical prototype of Dracula was Vlad III (Vlad the Impaler). He was born in Sighisoara, Transylvania in 1431. Today on his former place birth, a restaurant was built, which annually attracts thousands of tourists from all over the world.
2. Order of the Dragon
Dracula's father was called Dracul, which means "dragon". Also, according to other sources, he had the nickname "devil". He received a similar name because he belonged to the Order of the Dragon, which fought the Ottoman Empire.
3. Father was married to the Moldavian princess Vasilisa
Although nothing is known about Dracula's mother, it is assumed that his father was married to the Moldavian princess Vasilisa at the time. However, since Vlad II had several mistresses, no one knows who Dracula's real mother was.
4. Between two fires
Dracula lived in a time of constant war. Transylvania was located on the border of two great empires: the Ottoman and Austrian Habsburgs. As a young man he was imprisoned, first by the Turks and later by the Hungarians. Dracula's father was killed, and his older brother Mircea was blinded with red-hot iron stakes and buried alive. These two facts greatly influenced how vile and vicious Vlad later became.
5.Constantine XI Palaiologos
It is believed that the young Dracula spent some time in Constantinople in 1443 at the court of Constantine XI Palaiologos, a legendary character in Greek folklore and the last emperor of the Byzantine Empire. Some historians suggest that it was there that he developed his hatred of the Ottomans.
6. Son and heir Mikhnya is evil
It is believed that Dracula was married twice. His first wife is unknown, although she may have been a Transylvanian noblewoman. She bore Vlad a son and heir, the evil Mikhny. Vlad married a second time after serving his prison sentence in Hungary. Dracula's second wife was Ilona Szilágyi, the daughter of a Hungarian nobleman. She bore him two sons, but neither of them became a ruler.
7. Nickname "Tepes"
The nickname "Tepes" translated from Romanian means "piercer". It appeared 30 years after Vlad's death. Vlad III earned his nickname "Tepes" (from the Romanian word țeapă 0 - "stake") because he killed thousands of Turks in a grisly manner - impalement. He learned about this execution back in adolescence, when he was a political hostage of the Ottoman Empire in Constantinople.
8. The worst enemy of the Ottoman Empire
It is believed that Dracula is responsible for the deaths of more than one hundred thousand people (most of them Turks). It made him worst enemy Ottoman Empire.
9. Twenty thousand rotting corpses frightened the Sultan
In 1462, during the war between the Ottoman Empire and Dracula's Wallachia, Sultan Mehmed II fled with his army, horrified by the sight of twenty thousand rotting Turkish corpses impaled on stakes on the outskirts of Vlad's capital, Targovishte. During one battle, Dracula retreated into the nearby mountains, leaving behind him imprisoned prisoners. This forced the Turks to stop their pursuit, since the Sultan could not stand the stench of decaying corpses.
10. Birth of a legend
Impaled corpses were usually displayed as a warning to others. At the same time, the corpses were white, because the blood completely flowed out from the wound on the neck. This is where the legend came from that Vlad the Impaler was a vampire.
11. Scorched earth tactics
Dracula also became known for the fact that during his retreat, he burned villages along the way and killed all the local residents. Such atrocities were committed so that the soldiers of the Ottoman army had no place to rest and so that there were no women whom they could rape. In an attempt to cleanse the streets of the Wallachian capital Targovishte, Dracula invited all the sick, vagabonds and beggars to one of his houses under the pretext of a feast. At the end of the feast, Dracula left the house, locked it from the outside and set it on fire.
12. Dracula's head went to the Sultan
In 1476, 45-year-old Vlad was eventually captured and beheaded during the Turkish invasion. His head was brought to the Sultan, who put it on public display on the fence of his palace.
13. Remains of Dracula
It is believed that archaeologists who were searching for Snagov (a commune near Bucharest) in 1931 found the remains of Dracula. The remains were transferred to the historical museum in Bucharest, but later they disappeared without a trace, leaving the secrets of the real Prince Dracula unanswered.
14. Dracula was very religious
Despite his cruelty, Dracula was very religious and surrounded himself with priests and monks throughout his life. He founded five monasteries, and his family founded more than fifty monasteries over 150 years. He was initially praised by the Vatican for defending Christianity. However, the church subsequently expressed its disapproval of Dracula's brutal methods and ended its relationship with him.
15. An enemy of Turkey and a friend of Russia.
In Turkey, Dracula is considered a monstrous and vile ruler who executed his enemies in a painful way purely for his own pleasure. In Russia, many sources consider his actions to be justified.
16. Transylvanian subculture
Dracula enjoyed enormous popularity in the second half of the twentieth century. More than two hundred films featuring Count Dracula have been made, more than any other historical figure. At the center of this subculture is the legend of Transylvania, which has become almost synonymous with the land of vampires.
17. Dracula and Ceausescu
Strange sense of humor. | Photo: skachayka-programmi.ga
According to the book "In Search of Dracula", Vlad had a very strange sense of humor. The book tells how his victims often twitched on the stakes “like frogs.” Vlad thought it was funny, and once said of his victims: “Oh, what great grace they show.”
20. Fear and the Golden Cup
In order to prove how much the inhabitants of the principality feared him, Dracula placed a golden cup in the middle of the city square in Targovishte. He allowed people to drink from it, but the golden cup had to remain in its place at all times. Surprisingly, during the entire reign of Vlad, the golden cup was never touched, although sixty thousand people lived in the city, most in conditions of extreme poverty.
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