In what century did Vlad the Impaler live? Magic planet

Almost six centuries ago, such a person as the Wallachian ruler (prince) Vlad the Impaler appeared in history, and since that time the ominous shadow of his gloomy reputation has been following him. Sometimes it even seems that we are not talking about a person, but about a real fiend of hell, which, through a misunderstanding, came to earth. For most, he is known as the “terror on the wings of the night,” a bloodthirsty vampire, a dictator who impaled people for the most insignificant offense, and this list can be continued for a very, very long time. Vlad the Impaler in the minds of people is a terrible monster that has no equal before him. Or maybe... maybe Vlad Tepes was an ordinary figure for his era, possessing different personal qualities, just among which his cruelty was by no means the most important last place? All sorts of horror films are being made about Count Dracula and books are being written that chill the blood. There are still heated debates about the identity of this Wallachian prince, many attempts are being made to find out the relationship between myths and reality, fiction and truth in the stories about this man. But almost every time we try to understand Vlad the Impaler and his life, from which we are separated by almost six centuries, then unconsciously, and sometimes even intentionally, new myths and legends are created about Count Dracula.
Who exactly was Vlad the Impaler, and why did he get the position of the “main and famous vampire”? Who in reality was the person who became the embodiment of a vampire for millions of moviegoers and readers? In the count's homeland, Romania, he is usually considered a champion of “real justice,” a defender and savior of his homeland. One of the researchers expressed this strange state of affairs as follows: “The well-known Vlad the Impaler, Count Dracula, Wallachian patriot and sadist.”
The mysteries of this personality begin as soon as we try to find out full name, the nickname and title of our hero. Some chronicles with full confidence call the Wallachian prince Vlad III, while others - with no less confidence - Vlad IV. And they are not talking about son and father ( serial number Tepes's father, whose name was also Vlad, varies accordingly), but about one prince. Considering the time that has passed since their death, such discrepancies should be little surprising... But no one confuses the numbers of the much more numerous French Louis kings!
The count's year of birth and date have not been precisely established. Vlad Tepes-Dracula was most likely born in 1431 or 1430 (some researchers even call 1429 or 1428), when the father of the future “vampire”, Vlad Dracul, one of the contenders for the Wallachian throne, with the support of the emperor of the “Holy Roman Empire” Sigismund of Luxembourg, was in Sighisoara, a Transylvanian city near the border with Wallachia.
In popular science literature, the birth of Vlad the Younger is often associated with the moment of Vlad the Elder’s entry into the Order of the Dragon, where his father was accepted on February 8, 1431, by order of Emperor Sigismund, who then also occupied the throne of Hungary. But in reality, this is either just a coincidence or an attempt by individuals to invent such a coincidence. There are plenty of similar fictional and sometimes real coincidences in the life of Vlad the Impaler-Dracula. Any such coincidence should be treated with great caution.
So, the father of Vlad III, the ruler and prince of Wallachia Vlad II (although according to some historical documents after all, Vlad III), while in his youth at the court of the emperor of the “Holy Roman Empire”, really became a member of the Order of the Dragon, and the order was prestigious - its adherents were obliged to imitate the Christian Saint George in his ongoing struggle with evil spirits, which in those days times was associated with the armies of the Turkish Sultan, creeping into Europe from modern Anatolia. It was precisely after his entry into the Order of the Dragon that Vlad’s father received the nickname Dragon (Dracul), which was later inherited by the hero of this story. Moreover, this was the name given not only to Vlad, but also to his two brothers Radu and Mircho. Therefore, it has not yet been established whether such a nickname was associated with the idea of ​​evil spirits or vice versa. As a constant reminder of this vow, the knights wore an image of the dragon that George killed, hanging with outstretched wings and a broken back on the cross.
But here Vlad II greatly overdid it: he not only appeared with the sign of the order in front of his subjects, but also minted coins with the image of a dragon, and he even depicted dragons on the walls of churches under construction. In the eyes of his people, Vlad II looked like a dragon worshiper, and the people adopted the nickname given to him in the order - Vlad Dracul (Dragon). In “The Tale of Dracula the Voivode” the author writes directly: “in the name of Dracula in the Vlash language, and in ours - the Devil. Just as he is evil-wise, as is his name, so is his life.”
There are documents in which this nickname was used by foreign rulers when officially titling Vlad III when he was the ruler of Wallachia. Tepes usually signed documents with the signature “Vlad, son of Vlad” indicating all his possessions and titles, but there are two letters known where he signed “Vlad Dracul”. From this it follows that he bore the name Dracula with pride and did not find it offensive to himself.
The nickname Tepes (Tepes, Tepez or Tepesh - variations are allowed in Romanian transcription), which has such a terrible meaning (in Romanian “Piercer”, “Impaler”, “Impaler”), was not used by Romanians during his lifetime. But even before Vlad’s death, the Turks used it. In Turkish sound this nickname sounds like “Kazıkli”. According to the surviving information, it seems that the Wallachian ruler did not object at all to such a nickname. After the death of the prince, the nickname was translated from Turkish and everyone began to use it, and under it Vlad entered world history.
There is a portrait of a formidable “vampire” preserved in the Tyrolean castle of Ambras. But historians have doubts: it is unlikely that he was exactly the way Tepes was depicted by the medieval artist. Vlad's contemporaries admitted that, unlike his brother Rad, called the Handsome, he was not noted for beauty. But he was very strong physically, an excellent swimmer and rider.
But whether he was a feisty sadist or a brave and uncompromising hero who had no right to pity - everyone has their own truth. Let's look at history.
The Principality of Wallachia in those days was that very small state, which, as the wise Lord Bolingbroke noted from “A Glass of Water,” stands no chance if two large ones claim its territory at once. In this case, the interests of Catholic Hungary, which was attacking Orthodoxy, and the Muslim Porte, which was laying claim to world dominion, converged in Wallachia. Wallachia was a region sandwiched between Turkish possessions from the south (especially after 1453, when Byzantium fell, crushed by the Turks) and Hungary from the north.
In addition, hidden behind the back of little Wallachia was rich Transylvania (or Semigradye), which belonged to Hungary, where crafts rapidly developed, a branch of the Great Silk Road passed, and self-governing cities founded by the Saxons grew. The Semigrad merchants were interested in the peaceful coexistence of Wallachia with the aggressor Turks. Transylvania was a kind of buffer territory between the Hungarian and Wallachian lands.
The originality of the geopolitical position of Wallachia, as well as its religious specificity (the professing of Orthodoxy by the people and sovereigns) contrasted it with both Muslim Turkey and the Catholic West. This led to extreme instability in military policy. The rulers either marched with the Hungarians against the Turks, or let the Turkish armies enter Hungarian Transylvania. The Wallachian rulers more or less successfully used the struggle of the superpowers for their own purposes, gaining the support of one of them in order to overthrow the protege of the other with the next palace coup. It was in this way that Vlad the Elder (father) ascended the throne, with the help of the Hungarian king, overthrowing his cousin. However, Turkish pressure increased, and the alliance with Hungary achieved little. Vlad the Elder recognized Wallachia's vassal dependence on the Porte.
Such coexistence was achieved according to the traditional scenario for that time: the princes sent their sons to the court of the Turkish Sultan as hostages, who were treated well, but in case of rebellion in the vassal state they were immediately executed. The sons of the Wallachian ruler became such a guarantor of obedience: Radu the Handsome and Vlad, who would earn his not so innocent nickname later.
Meanwhile, Vlad Sr. continued to maneuver between two fires, but in the end he was killed along with his son Mircho either by the Hungarians or by his own boyars.
In addition, when speaking about the horrors inextricably linked with the name of Dracula, one should remember the state of the country and the system of power that existed there. Sovereigns were elected to the throne from the same family, but the choice was not determined by any specific principles of succession to the throne. Everything was decided solely by the balance of power in the circles of the Wallachian boyars. Since any member of the dynasty could have many both legitimate and illegitimate children, any of whom became a contender for the throne (it would have been possible for one of the boyars to put it on it!), the consequence of this was a fantastic leapfrog of rulers. A "normal" transfer of power from father to son was rare. It is clear that when the presumptuous ruler sought to consolidate his powers, terror was put on the agenda, and its targets were both the ruler’s relatives and the all-powerful boyars.
There were terrorist reigns, so to speak, both before and after Vlad III. Why, then, did what happened under him become part of oral traditions and literature as having surpassed everything conceivable and inconceivable, going beyond the limits of the most cruel expediency? The actions of this ruler, widely reproduced in written works of the 15th century, are truly blood-chilling.
The very life of Vlad (in Romanian legends he is also Voivode Tepes) seems to be a constant transition from one extreme situation to another. At the age of thirteen, he was present during the defeat of the Wallachian, Hungarian and Slavonian troops by the Turks in the battle of Varna, then spent years in Turkey as a hostage given by his father (it was then that he learned Turkish). At seventeen, Vlad learns about the murder of his father and older brother by boyars from the “Hungarian” party. The Turks free him and place him on the throne.
From Turkish captivity, Vlad returned to his homeland a complete pessimist, fatalist and with the full conviction that the only driving forces politics are served by force or the threat of its use.
He did not last long on the throne for the first time: the Hungarians overthrew the Turkish protege and placed their own on the throne. Vlad was forced to seek asylum from his allies in Moldova. However, another four years pass, and during the next (now Moldavian) unrest, the ruler of this country, a supporter of Vlad, who hospitably received him in Moldova, dies. A new escape - this time to the Hungarians, the true culprits of the death of Dracula's father and brother, and four years of stay in Transylvania, near the Wallachian borders, greedily biding his time.
In 1456, the situation finally turned out favorably for the fugitive ruler. IN once again Dracula takes the throne with the help of the Wallachian boyars and the Hungarian king, dissatisfied with his previous protégé. Thus began the reign of Vlad the Impaler in Wallachia, during which he became a hero of legends and committed most of his deeds, which still cause the most controversial assessments.
In the fourth year of his reign, Dracula immediately stops paying tribute to the Turks and gets involved in a bloody and unequal war with the Sultan's Porte. To successfully wage any war, and even more so with such a formidable rival, it was necessary to strengthen one’s power and restore order in one’s own state. Tepes began to implement this program in his characteristic style.
The first thing that, according to the historical chronicle, Vlad did when he established himself in the then capital of Wallachia, the city of Targovishte, was to find out the circumstances of the death of his brother Mircho and punish the perpetrators. He ordered his brother’s grave to be opened and became convinced that, firstly, he was blinded, and secondly, he turned over in his grave, which proved the fact of burial alive. According to the chronicle, Easter was just celebrated in the city and all the residents dressed up in their most best clothes. Seeing evil hypocrisy in this behavior, Tepes ordered all the inhabitants to be put in chains and sent to hard labor to restore one of the castles intended for him. There they had to work until their formal clothes turned into rags.
The story sounds psychologically quite reliable, and the document it contains seems trustworthy. This is not a pamphlet written by Vlad's enemies, but a good work compiled by a dispassionate chronicler, and almost simultaneously with the events that took place.
However, let us ask ourselves: is it possible to believe this story described in the chronicle?
Power in Wallachia was seized by Vlad on August 22, 1456, after the reprisal of his rival, whose death occurred on August 20. What does Easter have to do with it, since it was heading towards autumn?
It seems more plausible to assume that these events relate to Vlad’s first accession to the throne in 1448, immediately after the death of his brother. However, then he ruled only two autumn months - from October to early December, that is, there could be no Easter holiday either.
It turns out that we are dealing with a legend that has somehow distorted reality and linked together various incidents that were initially in no way connected with each other. Although, perhaps, some of the details included in the chronicle correspond to reality. For example, the episode with the opening of Mircho’s grave. Such an event could actually have happened, as early as 1448, when Tepes became ruler for the first time.
What is certainly confirmed by the mentioned chronicle is the fact that legends about the reign of Vlad the Impaler began to take shape almost immediately with the beginning of this reign. By the way, although all these stories contained descriptions of various cruelties committed by Vlad, their general tone was rather enthusiastic. They all agreed that Tepes was as soon as possible brought order to the country and achieved its prosperity. However, the means that he used in this case cause far from unanimous delight in our time.
Since the second accession of Dracula, something unimaginable has been happening in the country. By the beginning of his reign, there were about 500 thousand people under his rule (including the areas adjacent to Wallachia and controlled areas of Transylvania). In six years (1456-1462), not counting the victims of the war, over 100 thousand were destroyed by Dracula’s personal order. Is it possible for a ruler, even a medieval one, to destroy a fifth of his subjects for such a good living? Even if in some cases one can try to put some rational basis behind terror (intimidating the opposition, tightening discipline, etc.), the numbers still raise new questions.
The origin of the legends about Dracula requires explanation. Firstly, the activities of Vlad the Impaler were depicted in a dozen books - first handwritten, and after Gutenberg's invention, printed, created mainly in Germany and in some other European countries. They are all similar, so they apparently rely on one common source. The most important sources in this case are the poem by M. Beheim (a German who lived at the court of the Hungarian king Matt Corvinus in the 1460s), as well as German pamphlets distributed under the title “On One Great Monster” at the end of the same century.
Another group of collections of legends is represented by manuscripts in Russian. They are close to each other, similar to German books, but in some ways they differ from them. This is an ancient Russian story about Dracula, written in the 1480s, after the Russian embassy of Ivan III visited Wallachia.
There is also a third source - oral traditions that still exist in Romania, both directly recorded by the people and processed by the famous storyteller P. Ispirescu in the 19th century. They are colorful, but controversial as a support for the search for truth. The fabulous element layered in them over several centuries of oral transmission is too great.

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, long nose, a protruding lower lip, large glass eyes that hid the prince’s feelings.

It was with the 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. There were many in the Middle Ages big rivers and small rivers, but there were clearly no 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 remember 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 various types of weapons from childhood. 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 "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 a fairly 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 of Tepes’s character, which determined the goodwill of the people, was 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 of domestic 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. For the slightest offense, not only ordinary citizens, but also fairly wealthy ones were punished. 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 portrays the ruler and his life in the most negative tones. It’s more difficult with Russian sources. They do not abandon the depiction of Vlad's cruelty, but they try to give it more noble explanations than the German ones, and emphasize the emphasis so that the same actions look 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 from 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 and martyrdom 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 against 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 a 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. Within 12 many 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 gathered a large army from Hungarian mercenaries to go to war with 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.

In view modern man Dracula is associated with a bloodthirsty and powerful vampire. This is the prince of darkness who rules over all the bloodsuckers of the world. Mere mortals cannot defeat him, since they do not have the strength and capabilities to do so. Nobody knows the whereabouts of the bloodthirsty prince. We only know that he sleeps in a coffin, is afraid of sunlight, and is active at night. No one knows his army, which does dirty deeds, turning people into blood-sucking creatures. This is such creepy information associated with this mysterious person.

However, it should be noted that such data did not fall from the sky and were not born in the fevered imagination of individual representatives of the human race. They have very specific historical sources, and the prince of darkness himself lived on Earth in human form 500 years ago. His name was Vlad the Impaler, and he had the most noble origin.

Biography of Dracula

At the end of autumn 1431, in the city of Sighisoara, in the center of Transylvania (historical region of Romania), a son was born to the Wallachian ruler Vlad II. They named him Vlad in honor of his father. The baby had a noble origin, since his paternal grandmother belonged to the Batory family. These were powerful Hungarian magnates who played a prominent role in the lands of Eastern Europe. There is practically no information about the baby's mother. We only know that her name was Snezhka.

The Principality of Wallachia was public education. It was located in the south of modern Romania and was a tasty morsel for the Ottoman Empire. At the beginning of the 15th century, the principality became dependent on the Turks. Therefore, it became a rule to hand over princely children as hostages. Vlad was no exception. At the age of 12, he and his younger brother ended up in Turkey, where they lived for 4 years as a hostage.

Apparently the boy was treated poorly in captivity, as he became nervous and hot-tempered. At the age of 17, the Turks placed Vlad at the head of the principality. But he remained the ruler for a little more than 2 months. He was expelled by the Hungarian governor Janos Hunyadi. Vlad was forced to go to the ruler of Moldova, who was his uncle. However, in 1452, his uncle was killed as a result of unrest, and young man sheltered by the Hungarians.

The Lord of Wallachia negotiates with the Turks

Government activities

In 1456, the Hungarian and Wallachian nobility placed Vlad on the throne, and he became the ruler of Wallachia. They began to call him Vlad III, but his reign young man lasted only 6 years. During this time, the new ruler proved himself to be a tough ruler.

There were 500 thousand people under his command. Among them there were not only honest people, but also criminals. But Vlad III did not understand such things as forgiveness, mild or conditional punishment. For any criminal offense he was impaled. If a person stole a loaf of bread or stabbed a neighbor during a quarrel, there was one punishment. The offender was taken by the arms and placed on a wooden stake with a blunt end. The unfortunate man died in agony, while others looked on.

And what’s amazing is that crime in the principality has come to naught. In the capital Targovishte, on the central square near a reservoir of water, a golden cup stood around the clock. Anyone could drink from it. But it never occurred to anyone to take this cup with them, although it cost a lot of money. At the same time, there was no security nearby. These are the miracles that happened in the Principality of Wallachia.

As for foreign policy, it was aimed at fighting the Ottoman Empire. A decisive step was the refusal to pay tribute to the Turkish ruler. This happened in 1461. Vlad III, who by this time had received the nickname Tepes(the cutter), showed amazing tenacity and will. He did not succumb to the cowardly entreaties of his commanders, but began to prepare for an enemy invasion.

It happened the next year. A 100,000-strong Turkish army crossed the border of the principality. It was headed by Sultan Mehmed II himself. It seemed that nothing could withstand such a powerful armada. All the allies of Vlad the Impaler, who swore allegiance to him, suddenly stopped responding to his calls for help. They left the ruler alone in the face of enormous danger.

The situation became critical, but the ruler of Wallachia did not lose heart. He conscripted all men over 15 years of age into the army. By his order, residents of cities and villages that were on the path of the Turkish army left their homes and went into the interior of the country, taking livestock and food with them. The dwellings themselves and the lands around were put on fire. As a result, the Turks found themselves in complete ashes on their way. Accordingly, the enemies could not replenish food supplies.

Intensified partisan detachments, which regularly attacked Turkish patrols and brought them significant damage. The captured enemies were immediately impaled. No one was spared. All this gradually struck terror into the hearts of the Turks. The fighting ardor of the enemies faded, but these were “flowers”.

The invaders tried the “berries” on the night of June 17, 1462. This is the so-called " night attack", which went down in world history. The Turkish army approached Targovishte and set up a camp, but the siege did not work out. With a detachment of 7 thousand people, Vlad Tepes unexpectedly attacked the Turkish camp. Panic arose in the enemy camp, 15 thousand Turkish soldiers died. The rest The forces hastily retreated from the capital of the principality and went to the border. The military aggression failed.

The Turks placed Tepes's brother at the head of their demoralized army. That guy's name was Radu. He was also a hostage in Turkish captivity and experienced all the bitterness of humiliation. But he did not have enough moral strength to oppose his enemies. He became their ally, and even persuaded the Moldavian prince Stefan to come over to his side. He opposed Vlad III and forced him to retreat to Transylvania.

The Hungarian monarch was there with his army Matthias Corwin. With the ruler of Wallachia he had the most friendly relations. Therefore, Tepes trusted the Hungarian completely. But he unexpectedly ordered Vlad’s arrest for secretly conspiring with the Turks.

It must be said that already in those years the subjects called the ruler of Wallachia Dracula. This nickname translates as "son of the dragon." The fact is that the father of the young ruler was at one time a member of the knightly Order of the Dragon. It was considered an elite community of Hungarian knights. It was created in 1408 by the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund I of Luxembourg.

Charge of treason

And so a man of noble blood, a winner over the Turks, the head of state finds himself in prison, and he is charged with treason and betrayal. Those arrested talk about intercepted letters to the Turkish Sultan. Allegedly, Dracula asked Mehmed II to forgive him and offered his help in the war with Hungary and its king Matthias Corvinus.

The charges are very serious. Vlad is taken to the capital of Hungary, Buda, and put in prison. He spends 12 long years there without trial or investigation. The man was in prison, but they didn’t even show him the letters that he allegedly wrote. Subsequently, historians examined copies of these letters. They were written on Latin and in a manner unusual for the ruler of Wallachia. Naturally, there were no signatures. But the originals were not found. This is not surprising, since they, apparently, never existed.

Why did the king of Hungary accuse his friend and ally of treason? After many years, it turned out that the Pope allocated a very large sum of money to Matthias Corvinus to conduct military operations with the Turks who profess Islam. However, the king spent most of this money on his own needs. And he conducted military operations sluggishly, with small forces and without victories.

But he needed to justify himself in the eyes of the head of the Catholic Church. That is why he blamed all military failures on Vlad III. The king presented him as a traitor who transferred all strategic plans to the enemy’s camp. Hence the continuous defeats. However, the Pope was not born yesterday. He was a man wise with life experience. Therefore, he sent his assistant Nicolas Modrussa to Hungary to conduct an impartial investigation.

Such an investigation was carried out. Dracula was interrogated, but he denied all accusations. However, the Hungarian king added fuel to the fire. He told the representative of the Catholic Church about the terrible atrocities that the ruler of Wallachia committed in his lands. On his orders, tens of thousands of innocent people were tortured. Beggars were burned alive and monks were impaled. And the foreign ambassadors had their hats nailed to their heads because they did not take them off in Vlad’s presence.

However, this statement was not subsequently confirmed by any other evidence. In sparsely populated Europe, people were killed by the tens of thousands, and no one even heard about it. Therefore, it can be argued that all of Matthias Corwin's statements were lies. He passed off the ruler’s harshness as pathological cruelty. But Vlad Tepes was not a fanatic. He punished people, but for a reason. Moreover, the punishment was quite severe even by the standards of that time.

This is how Dracula's atrocities were imagined

Last stage of life

During the 12 years that the ruler of Wallachia served in prison, many events happened. The main thing was that the new ruler of the Principality of Radu completely fell under the influence of the Turks. This caused great alarm in Rome. The Catholic Church needed a man who could stand up to the Muslims. Therefore, Vlad was released from prison, and a crusade against the Ottomans was declared. But in order to earn freedom, the former ruler had to renounce Orthodoxy and accept Catholic faith. He also married cousin Hungarian king.

In 1476, Vlad Tepes marched against the Turks as part of the Hungarian army. As a result of this, Wallachia was liberated. All over Transylvania, people joyfully greeted the former ruler, who, judging by denunciations, committed terrible atrocities in these lands some 14 years ago.

In November 1476, the winner was again proclaimed ruler. But this time the reign turned out to be very short. In December of the same year, Vlad III died mysteriously. There is a version that traitors killed him, cut off his head, put it in honey to preserve it, and delivered it to the Turkish Sultan. He ordered it to be exhibited in the square in Constantinople. And the headless body was taken by the monks of the nearest monastery and buried in the chapel. Thus ended the life of a man who later became the most bloodthirsty mystical villain ever born in the fevered imagination of people.

Transformation of Dracula into a vampire

Based on all of the above, we can conclude that Dracula was not a villain, but a patriot of his homeland. In both domestic and foreign policy he was guided by the interests ordinary people. However, immediately after his death, an opinion began to form that former ruler Wallachia was pathological personality. But who spread such statements?

All of them came from people close to the Hungarian royal court. The Russian embassy in Hungary, as well as the embassies of other countries, received information from the same sources. Accordingly, distorted and deliberately false information spread throughout Europe. He also contributed to the bloodthirsty image folklore. People picked up rumors and gossip, and terrible legends were born that made their blood run cold.

Already at the beginning of the 20th century, when everything mystical and mysterious was in fashion in Europe and America, Count Dracula entered the arena. It was an opportunistic image born from the imagination of an Irish novelist Bram Stoker. He wrote the novel "Dracula", which sold a huge number of copies.

Later, the bloodthirsty image was picked up by film directors. And why not, if it brings money. Spectators watched films about vampires, became numb with horror, and Vlad the Impaler finally turned into a terrible creature who has been terrorizing people for 500 years.

Of course, those who do not believe in vampires understand that this is all fiction. And those who believe? They take all information at face value. At one time in Europe, even at the official level, they believed that vampires existed. Then they became unsure of this and calmed down. But there remain some individuals who are sincerely convinced that bloodsuckers are not a myth or fairy tale, but a cruel reality.

It should be noted here that everyone is free to think as they see fit. But history must be objective. And in relation to the ruler of Wallachia, Vlad III, obvious injustice was committed. He was not a bloody usurper. This is a tough but fair ruler who cares about the good of the nation.

However, convincing people is much more difficult than convincing them. That is why we are reaping the fruits of those intrigues that are already nearly 500 years old. We pay tribute to obvious scoundrels and hate decent and honest people. There is absolutely nothing more to say here. Life is often unfair, which in no way detracts from the beauty of existence itself, in which, fortunately, there is no place for bloody vampires.

The article was written by Maxim Shipunov

Vlad the Impaler was born around 1429 or 1431 ( exact date birth, as well as death, is unknown to historians). He came from the Basarab family. His father, Vlad II Dracul, was a Wallachian ruler who ruled a region in modern-day Romania. The mother of the child was the Moldavian princess Vasilika.

Family and famous nickname

The first seven years of his life Vlad III Tepes spent in the Transylvanian city of Sighisoara. His family's house housed a mint. It minted gold coins with the image of a dragon on them. For this, Vlad's father (and later himself) received the nickname "Dracul". In addition, he was enrolled as a knight in the Order of the Dragon, created by the Hungarian king Sigismund I. In his youth, the son was also called "Dracul", but later this form changed to the more famous - "Dracula". The word itself belongs to the Romanian language. It can also be translated as "devil".

In 1436, Vlad's father became the ruler of Wallachia and moved the family to the then capital of the principality of Targovishte. Soon the boy had a younger brother - Radu the Handsome. Then the mother died, and the father married a second time. Another brother of Dracula, Vlad the Monk, was born into this marriage.

Childhood

In 1442, Vlad III Tepes went on the run. His father quarreled with the Hungarian ruler Janos Hunyadi. The influential monarch decided to place his protege Basarab II on the Wallachian throne. Understanding the limitations own strength, Dracula's parent went to Turkey, where he was going to ask for help from the powerful Sultan Murat II. It was then that his family fled the capital so as not to fall into the hands of Hungarian supporters.

Several months have passed. The spring of 1443 arrived. Vlad II came to an agreement with the Turkish Sultan and returned to his homeland with a powerful Ottoman army. This army displaced Basarab. The Hungarian ruler did not even resist this coup. He was preparing for the upcoming Crusade against the Turks and rightly believed that it was necessary to deal with Wallachia only after defeating his main enemy.

The Hunyadi War ended with the Battle of Varna. The Hungarians suffered a crushing defeat in it, King Vladislav was killed, and Janos himself ingloriously fled from the battlefield. Peace negotiations followed. The Turks, as victors, could impose their demands. The political situation changed dramatically, and Dracula's father decided to defect to the Sultan. Murat agreed to become the patron of the Wallachian ruler, however, in order to ensure his loyalty, he demanded that valuable hostages be sent to Turkey. They were chosen to be 14-year-old Vlad Dracula and 6-year-old Radu.

Life with the Ottomans

Dracula spent four years in Turkey (1444-1448). It is traditionally believed that it was during this period that his character underwent irreversible changes. Returning to his homeland, Vlad Dracula became a completely different person. But what could have caused these changes? The opinions of biographers of the Wallachian ruler were divided on this matter.

Some historians claim that in Turkey, Dracula was forced to convert to Islam. Torture could indeed have a negative impact on the psyche, but there is not a single evidence of it in credible sources. It is also assumed that Tepes experienced great stress due to the harassment of the heir to the Ottoman throne, Mehmed, towards his brother Radu. The historian of Greek origin Laonik Chalkokondylos wrote about this connection. However, according to the source, these events took place in the early 1450s, when Dracula had already returned home.

Even if the first two hypotheses are true, Vlad III Tepes truly changed after he learned about the murder of his own father. The ruler of Wallachia died in the fight against the Hungarian king. By sending his sons to Turkey, he hoped that peace would finally come to his country. But in fact, the flywheel of the war between Christians and Muslims was only spinning up. In 1444, the Hungarians again went on a Crusade against the Turks and were again defeated. Then Janos Hunyadi attacked Wallachia. Dracula's father was executed (his head was cut off), and in his place the ruler of Hungary installed his next protege - Vladislav II. Vlad's older brother was dealt with even more cruelly (he was buried alive).

Soon news of what happened reached Turkey. The Sultan gathered a formidable army and defeated the Hungarians in the Battle of Kosovo. The Ottomans contributed to the fact that in 1448 Vlad III Tepes returned to his homeland and became a Wallachian prince. As a sign of mercy, the Sultan presented Dracula with horses, money, magnificent clothes and other gifts. Radu remained to live at the Turkish court.

Short reign and exile

Dracula's first Wallachian reign lasted only two months. During this time, he only managed to begin an investigation into the circumstances of the murder of his relatives. The Romanian prince learned that his father was betrayed by his own boyars, who at the decisive moment defected to the Hungarians, for which the new government showered them with various favors.

In December 1448, Dracula had to leave the capital of Wallachia, Targovishte. Recovering from the defeat, Hunyadi announced a campaign against Tepes. The Gospodar's army was too weak to successfully resist the Hungarians. Having soberly assessed the situation, Dracula disappeared into Moldova.

This small country, like Wallachia, was ruled by its princes. The rulers of Moldavia, who did not have significant forces, were forced to agree to Polish or Hungarian influence. Two neighboring states fought each other for the right to be overlords of a small principality. When Dracula settled in Moldova, the Polish party was in power there, which guaranteed his safety. The overthrown ruler of Wallachia remained in the neighboring principality until, in 1455, Peter Aron, a supporter of the Hungarians and Janos Hunyadi, established himself on the throne.

Return to power

Fearing that he would be handed over to his sworn enemy, Dracula left for Transylvania. There he began to collect militia in order to re-occupy the Wallachian throne (which was then once again occupied by the Hungarian protege Vladislav).

In 1453, the Turks captured the Byzantine capital of Constantinople. The fall of Constantinople again aggravated the conflict between Christians and Ottomans. Catholic monks appeared in Transylvania and began to recruit volunteers for a new crusade against the infidels. Everyone except the Orthodox were taken to the holy war (they, in turn, went into the army to Tepes).

Dracula in Transylvania hoped that the Wallachian prince Vladislav would also go to liberate Constantinople, which would make his task easier. However, this did not happen. Vladislav was afraid of the appearance of the Transylvanian militia on his borders and remained in Targovishte. Then Dracula sent spies to the Wallachian boyars. Some of them agreed to support the applicant and help him with the coup d'état. In August 1456, Vladislav was killed, and Tepes was proclaimed ruler of Wallachia for the second time.

Shortly before that, the Turks again declared war on Hungary and besieged Belgrade, which belonged to it. The fortress was saved. The crusade, which was supposed to end with the liberation of Constantinople, turned towards Belgrade. And although the Turks were stopped, a plague epidemic began in the Christian army. Nine days before Dracula came to power in Wallachia, his opponent Janos Hunyadi, who was in Belgrade, died from this terrible disease.

Prince and nobility

Vlad's new reign in Wallachia began with the execution of the boyars responsible for the deaths of his brother and father. Aristocrats were invited to a feast dedicated to Easter. There they were given a death sentence.

According to legend, right during the solemn feast, Dracula asked the boyars sitting at the same table with him how many Wallachian rulers they found alive. None of the guests could name less than seven names. The question was ominous and symbolic. The incredible turnover of rulers in Wallachia spoke only of one thing: the nobility here is ready to betray their prince at any moment. Dracula could not allow this to happen. He took the throne quite recently, his position was still precarious. In order to gain a foothold at the helm of power and demonstrate his determination, he carried out demonstration executions.

Although the ruler was unpleasant to know, he could not get rid of it completely. Under Tepes, there was a council of 12 people. Every year the ruler tried to update the composition of this body as much as possible in order to include enough people loyal to himself.

Dracula's Domain

Vlad's first priority on the throne was to deal with the taxation system. Wallachia paid tribute to Turkey and the authorities needed a stable income. The problem was that after Dracula’s accession to the throne, the principal treasurer of the principality fled from Wallachia to Transylvania. He took with him a register - a collection where all the data on taxes, taxes, villages and cities of the state was entered. Because of this loss, the principality initially experienced financial problems. The next treasurer was found only in 1458. The new cadastre, necessary to restore the tax system, took three years to prepare.

On the territory that belonged to Dracula there were 2,100 villages and 17 more cities. At that time there was no population census. Nevertheless, historians, with the help of secondary data, managed to restore the approximate number of the prince’s subjects. The population of Wallachia was about 300 thousand people. The figure is modest, but in medieval Europe there was practically no demographic growth. Regular epidemics interfered, and Dracula’s century was especially rich in bloody events.

The largest cities of Tepes were Targovishte, Campulung and Curtea de Arges. They were the actual capitals - the princely courts were located there. The Wallachian ruler also owned the profitable Danube ports, which controlled trade in Europe and the Black Sea region (Kilia, Braila).

As mentioned above, Dracula's treasury was replenished mainly through taxes. Wallachia was rich in livestock, grain, salt, fish, and wineries. In the dense forests that occupied half the territory of this country, there was a lot of game. From the east, spices (saffron, pepper), fabrics, cotton and silk, rare for the rest of Europe, were delivered here.

Foreign policy

In 1457, the Wallachian army went to war against the Transylvanian city of Sibiu. The initiator of the campaign was Vlad III Tepes. The history of the campaign is vague. Dracula accused the city residents of helping Hunyadi and quarreling him with his younger brother Vlad the Monk. Having left the lands of Sibiu, the Wallachian ruler went to Moldova. There he helped his longtime comrade Stefan, who supported Dracula during his exile, ascend to the throne.

All this time, the Hungarians did not stop their attempts to re-subdue the Romanian provinces. They supported a challenger named Dan. This rival of Dracula settled in the Transylvanian city of Brasov. Soon Wallachian merchants were detained there and their goods were confiscated. In Dan's letters, for the first time, there are references to the fact that Dracula liked to resort to brutal torture impalement It was from her that he received his nickname Tepes. From Romanian this word can be translated as “ringer”.

The conflict between Dan and Dracula escalated in 1460. In April, the armies of the two rulers met in a bloody battle. The Wallachian ruler won a convincing victory. As a warning to his enemies, he ordered the already dead enemy soldiers to be impaled. In July, Dracula took control of the important city of Fagaras, which had previously been occupied by Dan's supporters.

In the fall, an embassy from Brasov arrived in Wallachia. He was received by Vlad III the Impaler himself. The prince's castle became the place where a new peace treaty was signed. The document applied not only to the Brasovians, but also to all Saxons living in Transylvania. Prisoners on both sides were freed. Dracula promised to join an alliance against the Turks, who threatened the possessions of Hungary.

War with the Ottomans

Since his homeland was Romania, Dracula was Orthodox. He actively supported the church, gave it money and defended its interests in every possible way. At the expense of the prince, it was built near Giurgiu. new monastery Komana, as well as the temple in Tyrgshor. Tepes also gave money to the Greek Church. He donated to Athos and other Orthodox monasteries in the country captured by the Turks.

Vlad III Tepes, whose biography during the second reign turned out to be so closely connected with the church, could not help but fall under the influence of the Christian hierarchs, who convinced the authorities of any European country fight against the Turks. The first sign of the new anti-Ottoman course was the agreement with the Transylvanian cities. Gradually, Dracula became more and more inclined towards the need for war with the infidels. The Wallachian Metropolitan Macarius carefully pushed him to this idea.

It was impossible to fight the Sultan with the forces of one professional army. There simply were not enough people living in poor Romania to equip an army as colossal as the Turks thought it was. That is why Tepes armed the townspeople and peasants, creating an entire people's militia. Dracula in Moldova managed to get acquainted with a similar defense system of the country.

In 1461, the Wallachian ruler decided that he had enough resources to talk with the Sultan on equal terms. He refused to pay tribute to the Ottomans and began to prepare for an invasion. The invasion actually took place in 1462. An army of up to 120 thousand people, led by Mehmed II, entered Wallachia.

Dracula did not allow the Turks to carry out the war according to his scenario. He organized a partisan struggle. Wallachian troops attacked the Ottoman army in small detachments - at night and suddenly. This strategy cost the Turks 15 thousand lives. Moreover, Tepes fought according to scorched earth tactics. His partisans destroyed any infrastructure that could be useful to the interventionists in a foreign land. The executions so beloved by Dracula were not forgotten - impalement became bad dream Turk. As a result, the Sultan had to leave Wallachia with nothing.

Death

In 1462, shortly after the end of the war with the Ottoman Empire, Dracula was betrayed by the Hungarians, who deprived him of his throne and imprisoned his neighbor for twelve years. Formally, Tepes ended up in prison on charges of collaborating with the Ottomans.

After his release, when it was already 1475, he, left without power, began to serve in the Hungarian army, where he held the position of royal captain. In this capacity, Vlad took part in the siege of the Turkish bastion of Sabac.

In the summer of 1476, the war with the Ottomans moved to Moldavia. Stephen the Great, whose friend Dracula, continued to rule there. The year Tepes was born was time of troubles, when events of enormous scale took place at the junction of Europe and Asia. Therefore, even if he wanted to return to peaceful life, he would not have been able to do this.

When Moldavia was saved from the Turks, Stefan of Moldova helped Dracula re-establish himself on the Wallachian throne. Targovishte and Bucharest were ruled at that time by pro-Ottoman Lajot Basarab. In November 1476, Moldavian troops captured the key cities of Wallachia. Dracula was proclaimed prince of this unfortunate country for the third time.

Soon Stefan's troops left Wallachia. Tepes had a small army left. He died in December 1476, just a month after establishing his power. The circumstances of his death, like Dracula's grave, are not known for certain. According to one version, he was killed by a servant bribed by the Turks, according to another, the prince died in battle against the same Turks.

Notoriety

Today Vlad Dracula is much more famous historical facts his life, but in the mythical image that developed around his personality after the death of the prince. It's about, of course, about the famous Transylvanian vampire, who adopted the name of the Wallachian ruler.

But how did this character come about? The most incredible rumors circulated about the real Dracula during his lifetime. In Vienna in 1463, a pamphlet was written and published about him, in which Tepes was described as a bloodthirsty maniac (facts about executions by impalement and other evidence of numerous Romanian wars were used). The same collection included the poem “On the Villain,” written by Michael Beheim. The work insisted that Tepes was a tyrant. The executions of girls and children were mentioned. Vlad III Tepes himself, married to Ilona Sziladyi, had three sons: Michael, Vlad and Mikhnia.

In 1480 "The Tale of Dracula the Voivode" appeared. It was written in Russian by clerk Fyodor Kuritsyn, who worked in the embassy department under Ivan III. He visited Hungary, where he was on an official visit to King Matthias Corvinus to conclude an alliance against Poland and Lithuania. In Transylvania, Kuritsyn collected several stories about Dracula, which he later used as the basis for his story. The work of the Russian clerk differed from the Austrian pamphlet, although it also contained scenes of cruelty. However, the image of Dracula gained real worldwide fame much later - at the end of the 19th century.

Stoker's image

Today, only Romania itself seems to know about this: Dracula was not a vampire or a count, but the ruler of Wallachia in the 15th century. For most people around the world to the globe his name is associated only with the undead. The idea that Vlad III the Impaler drank blood was made popular by the Irish writer Bram Stoker (1847 - 1912). With his novel "Dracula" he transferred the historical character into the category mythical creature and a popular hero of popular culture.

The image of a vampire, one way or another, is in every pagan culture and religion. Generally speaking, it can be called a “living corpse” - a dead creature that maintains its life by drinking the blood of its victims. For example, among the ancient Slavs similar creature was considered a ghoul. Stoker was fond of mysticism and decided to take advantage of the notoriety of the real Dracula for his novel about a vampire. The writer also called him Nosferatu. In 1922, this word was included in the title of an epoch-making horror film by Friedrich Murnau.

The image of Dracula has become a classic for the entire world cinema and the horror genre. Throughout the 20th century, the industry returned again and again to Stoker's story about the Transylvanian Count (according to the Guinness Book of Records, 155 feature-length films were made). At the same time, there are only a dozen films dedicated to Tepes, who lived in the 15th century.

Without exaggeration, the most famous vampire of all time can be considered the legendary Count Vlad the Impaler (Tepes) Dracula.

Vlad Tepes was born in 1431 in Transylvania, in the tiny town of Sighisoara. His father was a member of the Order of the Dragon, which is why he received the nickname Dracula. The history of Count Dracula's family is quite tragic. His older brother was captured by the Turks and burned alive by them, and the younger Tepes went over to the side of the enemy and fought against his relatives.

Whether Vlad the Impaler was actually a vampire cannot be established, but according to the story of Dracula, he turned into one of the most terrible and bloody rulers.

Castle of Vlad the Impaler - Dracula

Count Dracula punished his enemies and all those who were guilty in one favorite way - he impaled them. The stories of the atrocities of Vlad the Impaler were so terrible that people began to associate the count’s name with the Romanian word “dracul”, which means “devil”.

Vlad Tepes took the Wallachian throne in 1443 after the death of his father and older brother. Count Dracula was distinguished by cunning and cunning. One of the legends tells how Dracula deceptively lured a Turkish detachment into an ambush. At the same time, a preliminary agreement was reached between him and the Turks on a meeting and peace negotiations. Despite the agreement, Vlad Tepes captured the Turks, ordered them to be stripped naked and impaled. He then gave the order to burn them alive.

Vlad Tepes destroyed not only his enemies. His own subjects also became his victims; no one was immune from possible reprisals. The count suspected absolutely everyone of treason. One day, his soldiers detained a group of merchants traveling with a trade caravan through the land of Wallachia. By order of Vlad the Impaler, they were all arrested and burned.

Portrait of Count Dracula

In 1462, driven by atrocities and constant fear During their lives, the boyars overthrew the tyrant. The Wallachian Count Dracula spent 20 years in captivity. However, the need for Vlad the Impaler to participate in the war against the Ottoman invaders forced the boyars to release him.

The exact causes and time of death of the bloody tyrant Dracula have not been established. Some sources talk about the betrayal of a group of his associates, who killed their master. According to other sources, Vlad the Impaler, after defeat in the Battle of Bucharest, disguised himself as a Turk and tried to escape. However, he failed, and by order of Sultan Mehmed II, he was executed in Istanbul by cutting off his head, after which the ruler ordered his head to be impaled and put on public display.

It is known for certain that Dracula was buried in the Snagov monastery, not far from the city of Bucharest, the capital of Romania.

The barbaric fantasy of Vlad the Impaler was not limited to impalement and burning people alive. Count Dracula tried to come up with more and more new ways of torture and killing. By order of Tepes, nails were torn out, ears and heads were torn off. If there were not enough stakes to carry out executions, Dracula ordered the condemned to be blinded and then strangled or boiled alive in hot oil. The tyrant himself experienced great pleasure from contemplating the torment of his victims.

Count Dracula as a vampire.

In the truest sense of the word, Dracula was not a vampire. In any case, no evidence of his consumption of human blood was found. He gained fame as a great bloodsucker thanks to the literary imagination of the famous English writer Bram Stoker. It was he who forced Count Dracula to rise from the grave and turn into an immortal bloodsucker.

In 1994, not far from the small town of Chelyakovitsy, located in the Czech Republic, a strange burial dating back to the beginning of the 11th century was discovered. In 11 pits there were 13 bodies, whose hands were tied with leather belts, and aspen stakes were stuck into the heart area. Researchers have determined that the remains belong to men of approximately the same age. None scientific explanation this fact Couldn't find it.