Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
many Dracula enthusiasts from all around the world intend to underline this event.
Of course, almost everybody has heard about this nosferatu: through movies
featuring Max Schreck, Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee or Gary Oldman; in
several books - among which the recent Vampire Chronicles of Anne Rice; or even
in bedtime stories told to us in our childhood. We all have an idea of who or what
the Count is. However, on the other hand, Vlad Tepes Dracula, the historical
figure who inspired Bram Stoker for his novel, is definitely less known. The
centennial of the gothic masterpiece provides us with a good pretext to dive back into
the life of this machiavellian fifteenth century leader - an initiative that will enable
us to better appreciate the work of Stoker. Vlad Tepes was born in November or
December 1431, in the fortress of Sighisoara, Romania. His father, Vlad Dracul,
at that time appointed military governor of Transylvania by the emperor
Sigismund, had been inducted into the Order of the Dragon about one year before.
The order - which could be compared to the Knights of the Hospital of St. John or
even to the Teutonic Order of Knights - was a semimilitary and religious society,
originally created in 1387 by the Holy Roman Emperor and his second wife,
Barbara Cilli. The main goals of such a secret fraternal order of knights was
mainly to protect the interests of Catholicism, and to crusade against the Turks.
There are different reasons why this society is so important to us. First, it
provides an explanation for the name "Dracula;" "Dracul," in Romanian language,
means "Dragon", and the boyars of Romania, who knew of Vlad Tepes' father
induction into the Order of the Dragon, decided to call him "Dracul." "Dracula,"
a diminutive which means "the son of Dracul," was a surname to be used ultimately
by Vlad Tepes.
A second major role of this Order as a source of inspiration for Stoker's evil
character is the Order's official dress - a black cape over a red garment - to be
worn only on Fridays or during the commemoration of Christ's Passion.
In the winter of 1436-1437, Dracul became prince of Wallachia (one of the three
Romanian provinces) and took up residence at the palace of Tirgoviste, the princely
capital. Vlad Tepes followed his father and lived six years at the princely court.In
1442, for political reasons, Dracula and his younger brother Radu were taken
hostage by the Sultan Murad II; Dracula was held in Turkey until 1448, while
his brother Radu decided to stay there until 1462. This Turkish captivity surely
played an important role in Dracula's upbringing; it must be at this period that he
adopted a very pessimistic view of life. Indeed, the Turks set him free after
informing him of his father's assassination in 1447 - organized by Vladislav II.
He also learned about his older brother's death - Mircea was the eldest legitimate
son of Dracul - and how he had been tortured and buried alive by the boyars of
Tirgoviste.
At 17 years old, Vlad Tepes Dracula, supported by a force of Turkish cavalry
and a contingent of troops lent to him by pasha Mustafa Hassan, made his first
major move toward seizing the Wallachian throne. But another claimant, no other
than Vladislav II himself, defeated him only two months later. In order to secure
his second and major reign over Wallachia, Dracula had to wait until July of
1456, when he had the satisfaction of killing his mortal enemy and his father's
assassin. Vlad then began his longest reign - 6 years - during which he committed
many cruelties, and hence established his controversed reputation.
His first major act of revenge was aimed at the boyars of Tirgoviste for the
killing of his father and his brother Mircea. On Easter Sunday of what we believe
to be 1459, he arrested all the boyar families who had participated to the princely
feast. He impaled the older ones on stakes while forcing the others to march from
the capital to the town of Poenari. This fifty-mile trek was quite grueling, and
those who survived were not permitted to rest until they reached destination.
Dracula then ordered them to build him a fortress on the ruins of an older outpost
overlooking the Arges river. Many died in the process, and Dracula therefore
succeeded in creating a new nobility and obtaining a fortress for future emergencies.
What is left today of the building is identified as Castle Dracula. Vlad became
quite known for his brutal punishment techniques; he often ordered people to be
skinned, boiled, decapitated, blinded, strangled, hanged, burned, roasted, hacked,
nailed, buried alive, stabbed, etc. He also liked to cut off noses, ears, sexual
organs and limbs. But his favorite method was impalement on stakes, hence the
surname "Tepes" which means "The Impaler" in the Romanian language. Even the
Turks referred to him as "Kaziglu Bey," meaning "The Impaler Prince." It is
this technique he used in 1457, 1459 and 1460 against Transylvanian merchants
who had ignored his trade laws. The raids he led against the German Saxons of
Transylvania were also acts of proto-nationalism in order to protect and favour the
Wallachian commerce activities.
There are many anecdotes about the philosophy of Vlad Tepes Dracula.
He was for instance particularly known throughout his land for his fierce
insistence on honesty and order. Almost any crime, from lying and stealing to
killing, could be punished by impalement. Being so confident in the effectiveness of
his law, Dracula placed a golden cup on display in the central square of
Tirgoviste. The cup could be used by thirsty travelers, but had to remain on the
square. According to the available historic sources, it was never stolen and
remained entirely unmolested throughout Vlad's reign. Dracula was also very
concerned that all his subjects work and be productive to the community. He looked
upon the poor, vagrants and beggars as thieves. Consequently, he invited all the
poor and sick of Wallachia to his princely court in Tirgoviste for a great feast.
After the guests ate and drank, Dracula ordered the hall boarded up and set on
fire. No one survived.
In the beginning of 1462, Vlad launched a campaign against the Turks along the
Danube river. It was quite risky, the military force of Sultan Mehmed II being
by far more powerful than the Wallachian army. However, during the winter of
1462, Vlad was very successful and managed to gain many victories.
To punish Dracula, the Sultan decided to launch a full-scale invasion of
Wallachia. Of course, his other goal was to transform this land into a Turkish
province and he entered Wallachia with an army three times larger than Dracula's.
Finding himself without allies, Vlad, forced to retreat towards Tirgoviste, burned
his own villages and poisoned the wells along the way, so that the Turkish army
would find nothing to eat or drink. Moreover, when the Sultan, exhausted, finally
reached the capital city, he was confronted by a most gruesome sight: thousands of
stakes held the remaining carcasses of some 20,000 Turkish captives, a horror
scene which was ultimately nicknamed the "Forest of the Impaled." This terror
tactic deliberately stage-managed by Dracula was definitely successful; the scene
had a strong effect on Mehmed's most stout-hearted officers, and the Sultan,
tired and hungry, admitted defeat (it is worth mentioning that even Victor Hugo, in
his Legende des Siecles, recalls this particular incident). Nevertheless, following
his retreat from Wallachian territory, Mehmed left the next phase of the battle to
Vlad's younger brother Radu, the Turkish favorite for the Wallachian throne. At
the head of a Turkish army and joined by Vlad's detractors, Radu pursued his
brother to Poenari castle on the Arges river.
According to the legend, this is when Dracula's wife, in order to escape Turkish
capture, committed suicide by hurling herself from the upper battlements, her body
falling down the precipice into the river below - a scene exploited by Francis Ford
Coppola's production. Vlad, who was definitely not the kind of man to kill himself,
managed to escape the siege of his fortress by using a secret passage into the
mountain. Helped by some peasants of the Arefu village, he was able to reach
Transylvania where he met the new king of Hungary, Matthias Corvinus.
However, instead of providing some help, Matthias arrested Dracula and
imprisoned him at the Hungarian capital of Visegrad.
It was not until 1475 that Vlad was again recognized as the prince of Wallachia,
enjoying a very short third reign. In fact, he was assassinated toward the end of
December 1476.
We do not know exactly why Bram Stoker chose this fifteenth century Romanian
prince as a model for his fictional character. Some scholars have proposed that
Stoker had a friendly relationship with a Hungarian professor from the University
of Budapest, Arminius Vambery (Hermann Vamberger) , and it is likely that this
man gave Stoker some information about Vlad Tepes Dracula. Moreover, the fact
that Dr. Abraham Van Helsing mentions his "friend Arminius" in the 1897 novel
as the source of his knowledge on Vlad seems to support this hypothesis. It should
also be kept in mind that the only real link between the historical Dracula (1431-
1476) and the modern literary myth of the vampire is in fact the 1897 novel;
Stoker made use of folkloric sources, historic references and some of his own life
experiences to create his composite creature. On the other hand, it is worth
mentioning that Vlad Dracula's political detractors - mainly German Saxons -
made use of the other meaning of the Romanian word "Dracul" - "Devil" - in
order to blacken the prince's reputation. Could the association of the words
"Dragon" and "Devil" in Romanian language explain an earlier link between Vlad
Tepes and vampirism?
Today, as Romania opens itself to the tourism industry, many "Dracula Tours
are being offered throughout the country. Two months ago, the author of this article
attended one of them, organized by Bravo Group and designed by the
Transylvanian Society of Dracula. This particular Tour includes the most
important historical places related with Vlad Tepes, such as 15th century town of
Sighisoara - Vlad's birth place; the Snagov Monastery - where, according to
legend, Vlad is said to have been buried after his assassination; Castle Bran -
which has been in the past erroneously described by officials of the Romanian
Tourist Ministry as Castle Dracula; the Poenari fortress; the village of Arefu -
where many Dracula legends are still told; the city of Brasov - where Vlad led
raids against the German Saxons; and, of course, Curtea Domneasca - Dracula's
palace in Bucharest. The Tour also covers the folklorical aspects of the fictional
Dracula. For instance, one will find oneself eating the meal Jonathan Harker ate
at The Golden Crown in Bistrita, and sleeping at Castle Dracula Hotel - built no
so long ago on the Borgo Pass, approximately where the fictional castle of the
Count is supposed to be. If you have another trip to the Bahamas planned for next
Christmas and are a fan of Stoker's literary work, maybe should you reconsider
your decision?Vlad III the Impaler
Vlad III, called "Vlad the Impaler" (that is, Vlad Ţepeş, pronounced [ tsepeʃ]
in Romanian; also known as Vlad Dracula or simply Dracula, in Romanian
Drăculea; 1431 – December 1476), was a Wallachian (Romanian) voivode. His
three reigns were in 1448, 1456–1462, and 1476. Vlad the Impaler is known for
the exceedingly cruel punishments he imposed during his reign. In the English-
speaking world, Vlad III is best known for (possibly) inspiring the name of the
eponymous vampire in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula.[4]
As prince, Vlad maintained an independent policy in relation to the Ottoman
Empire, and in Romania he is viewed by many as a prince with a deep sense of
justice[5] and a defender of Wallachia against Ottoman expansionism.
Names
His Romanian surname Draculea, is derived from his father's title Dracul,
meaning affiliation to and/or descent from "Dracul" (see Vlad II Dracul); the
latter was a member of the Order of the Dragon created by Emperor Sigismund.
Vlad's family had two factions, the Drăculeşti and the Dăneşti. The word
"dracul" means "the Devil" or "demon" in modern Romanian but in Vlad's day also
meant "dragon", and derives from the Latin word Draco, also meaning "dragon".
His post-mortem moniker of Ţepeş (Impaler) originated in his preferred method
for executing his opponents, impalement — as popularized by medieval
Transylvanian pamphlets. In Turkish, he was known as "Kazıklı Voyvoda"
(pronounced [kɑzɯk ɫɯ]) which means "Impaler Prince". Vlad was referred to as
Dracula in a number of documents of his times, mainly the Transylvanian Saxon
pamphlets and The Annals of Jan Długosz.
Wallachian royalty and family background
The crown of Wallachia was not passed automatically from father to son;
instead, the leader was elected by the boyars, with the requirement that the Prince-
elect be of nominally Basarab princely lineage (os de domn — "of voivode bones",
"of voivode marrow"), including out of wedlock births. This elective monarchy often
resulted in instability, family disputes and assassinations. Eventually, the
princely house split between two factions: the descendants of Mircea the Elder,
Vlad's grandfather; and those of another prince, Dan II (Dăneşti faction). In
addition to that, as in all feudal states, there was another struggle between the
central administration (the prince) and the high nobility for control over the country.
To top it off, the two powerful neighbors of Wallachia, the Kingdom of Hungary
and the Ottoman Empire, were at the peak of their rivalry for control of
southeastern Europe, turning Wallachia into a battle ground.
His father, Vlad II Dracul, born around 1395, was an illegitimate son of Mircea
the Elder, an important early Wallachian ruler. As a young man, he had joined
the court of Sigismund of Luxemburg, Holy Roman Emperor and King of
Hungary, whose support for claiming the throne of Wallachia he eventually
acquired. A sign of this support was the fact that in 1431 Vlad II was inducted
into the Order of the Dragon (Societas Draconis in Latin), along with the rulers
of Poland and Serbia. The purpose of the Order was to protect Eastern Europe
and the Holy Roman Empire from Islamic expansion as embodied in the campaigns
of the Ottoman Empire.
Wishing to assert his status, Vlad II displayed the symbol of the Order, a
dragon, in all public appearances, (on flags, clothing, etc.). The old Romanian
word for serpent (Cf. drac) is nowadays the most common and casual reference to
the devil — while the people of Wallachia did give Vlad II the surname Dracu
(Dracul being the more grammatically correct form), any connection with a dark
power was most likely coincidental. His son Vlad III would later use in several
documents the surname Drăculea. Through various translations (Draculea,
Drakulya) Vlad III eventually came to be known as Dracula (note that this
ultimate version is a neologism).
Vlad II Dracul finally became prince of Wallachia in 1436. With the help of the
Turks (where he also had connections) he regained the throne in1443 and until
December 1447 when he was assassinated by means of scalping ("scalping", for the
Turks, meant cutting the edges of the face and pulling the face's skin off, while the
person was still alive and conscious[citation needed]) on the orders of John
Hunyadi, regent of Hungary.During his reign he tried to maneuver between his
powerful neighbors, opposing various initiatives of war against the Ottoman, which
finally attracted the irritation of the Hungarian side, who accused him of
disloyalty and removed him in 1442.
The identity of Vlad Dracula’s mother is somewhat uncertain, the most likely
variant being that she was a Moldavian princess, niece or daughter of Moldavian
prince Alexandru cel Bun. In some sources she is named Chiajna — Princess.
Vlad seems to have had a very close relationship with Moldavia: he spent several
years there after his father’s death; he left with his presumed cousin Stephen the
Great to Transylvania, and helped the latter gain the crown as Prince of
Moldavia in 1457 and was later helped by Stephen to return to the throne of
Wallachia in 1476.
Vlad III seems to have had three brothers. The oldest was Mircea II, born
before 1430, and who briefly held his father's throne in 1442, and who was sent by
Vlad Dracul in 1444 to fight in his place during the crusade against the Turks
that ended with the Varna defeat. Mircea II was an able military leader, and
fought some successful yet small campaigns against the Ottomans prior to his
capture along with his father in 1447. Mircea II, captured by the boyars, had his
eyes burned out, after which he was buried alive. Vlad IV, also known as Vlad
Călugarul (Vlad the Monk), was born around 1425 to 1430, and was Vlad's
half-brother. Vlad the Monk spent many years in Transylvania waiting for a
chance to get the throne of Wallachia, trying a religious career in the meantime,
until he became prince of Wallachia (1482). Radu, known as Radu cel Frumos
(Radu the Handsome), the youngest brother, was also Vlad’s rival as he
continuously tried to replace Vlad with the support of the Turks, to which he had
very strong connections. Radu seems to have been also favoured by the Turkish
Sultan Mehmed II.
From his first marriage, to a Wallachian noble woman, Vlad III apparently had
a son, later prince of Wallachia as Mihnea cel Rău, and another two with his
second wife, a relative of Matthias Corvinus of Hungary.
Biography Early years
Vlad was very likely born in the citadel (a military fortress) of Sighişoara in
Transylvania, during the winter of 1431. He was born as the second son to his
father Vlad Dracul and his mother Princess Cneajna of Moldavia. He had an
older brother named Mircea and a younger brother named Radu the Handsome.
Although his native country was Wallachia to the south, the family lived in exile in
Transylvania as his father had been ousted by pro-Ottoman boyars. In the same
year as his birth, his father, Vlad Dracul, could be found in Nuremberg, where he
was vested into the Order of the Dragon. At the tender age of five, young "Vlad"
was also initiated into the Order of the Dragon.
Hostage of the Ottoman Empire
Vlad's father was under considerable political pressure from the Ottoman sultan.
Threatened with invasion, he gave a promise to be the vassal of the Sultan and
gave up his two younger sons as hostages so that he would keep his promise. These
years were influential in shaping Vlad's character; he was often whipped by his
Ottoman captors for being stubborn and rude. Here is where he learned his torture
tactics. He developed a well-known hatred for Radu and for Mehmed, who would
later become the sultan. According to McNally and Florescu, he also distrusted his
own father for trading him to the Turks and betraying the Order of the Dragon
oath to fight them.
Brief reign and exile
Vlad's father was assassinated in the marshes near Bălteni in December of 1447
by rebellious boyars allegedly under the orders of John Hunyadi. Vlad's older
brother Mircea was also dead at this point, blinded with hot iron stakes and buried
alive by his political enemies at Târgovişte. To protect their political power in the
region, the Ottomans invaded Wallachia and the Sultan put Vlad III on the
throne as his puppet ruler. His rule at this time would be brief; Hunyadi himself
invaded Wallachia and ousted him the same year. Vlad fled to Moldavia until
October of 1451 and was put under the protection of his uncle, Bogdan II.
Turning tides
Bogdan was assassinated by Petru Aron, and Vlad, taking a gamble, fled to
Hungary. Impressed by Vlad's vast knowledge of the mindset and inner workings of
the Ottoman Empire as well as his hatred of the new sultan Mehmed II, Hunyadi
pardoned him and took him in as an advisor. Eventually Hunyadi put him forward
as the Kingdom of Hungary's candidate for the throne of Wallachia.
In 1456, Hungary invaded Serbia to drive out the Ottomans, and Vlad III
simultaneously invaded Wallachia with his own contingent. Both campaigns were
successful, although Hunyadi died suddenly of the plague. Nevertheless, Vlad was
now prince of his native land.
Main reign (1456–62)
Vlad's actions after 1456 are well documented. He seems to have led the life of all
the other princes of Wallachia, spending most of his time at the court of
Târgovişte, occasionally in other important cities, such as Bucharest, drafting
laws, meeting foreign envoys and presiding over important judicial trials. He
probably made public appearances on relevant occasions, such as religious holidays
and major fairs. As a pastime he probably enjoyed hunting on the vast princely
domain, with his friends. He made some additions to the palace in Târgovişte (out
of which Chindia Tower is today the most notable remainder), reinforced some
castles, like the one at Poienari, where he also had a personal house built nearby.
He also made donations to various churches and monasteries, one such place being
the monastery at Lake Snagov where he is supposed to have been buried[citation
needed].
The early part of Vlad’s reign was dominated by the idea of eliminating all
possible threats to his power, mainly the rival nobility groups, i.e. the boyars.
This was done mainly by physical elimination, but also by reducing the economic
role of the nobility: the key positions in the Prince’s Council, traditionally
belonging to the country’s greatest boyars, were handed to obscure individuals, some
of them of foreign origin, but who manifested loyalty towards Vlad. For the less
important functions, Vlad also ignored the old boyars, preferring to knight and
appoint men from the free peasantry.
A key element of the power of the Wallachian nobility was their connections in the
Saxon-populated autonomous towns of Transylvania, so Vlad acted against these
cities by eliminating their trade privileges in relation with Wallachia and by
organizing raids against them. In 1459, he had 30,000 of the German settlers
(Saxons) and officials of the Transylvanian city of Kronstadt who were
transgressing his authority impaled.
Since the death of Vlad's grandfather (Mircea the Elder) in 1418, Wallachia
had fallen into a somewhat anarchical situation. A constant state of war had led to
rampant crime, falling agricultural production, and the virtual disappearance of
trade. Vlad used severe methods to restore some order, as he needed an economically
stable country if he was to have any chance against his external enemies.
Vlad III was also constantly on guard against the adherents of the Dăneşti
clan. Some of his raids into Transylvania may have been efforts to capture would-
be princes of the Dăneşti. Several members of the Dăneşti clan died at Vlad's
hands. Vladislav II of Wallachia was murdered soon after Vlad came to power in
1456. Another Dăneşti prince, suspected to have taken part in burying his brother
Mircea alive, was captured during one of Vlad's forays into Transylvania.
Rumors (spread by his enemies) say thousands of citizens of the town that had
sheltered his rival were impaled by Vlad. The captured Dăneşti prince was forced
to read his own funeral oration while kneeling before an open grave before his
execution.
Personal crusade
Following family traditions and due to his old hatred towards the Ottomans, Vlad
decided to side with the Hungarians. To the end of the 1450s there was once again
talk about a war against the Turks, in which the king of Hungary Matthias
Corvinus would play the main role. Knowing this, Vlad stopped paying tribute to
the Ottomans in 1459 and around 1460 made a new alliance with Corvinus. This
angered the Turks, who attempted to remove him. They failed, however; later in
the winter of 1461 to 1462 Vlad crossed south of the Danube and devastated the
area between Serbia and the Black Sea.
There are several variants of Vlad III the Impaler's death. Some sources say he
was killed in battle against the Ottoman Empire near Bucharest in December of
1476. Others say he was assassinated by disloyal Wallachian boyars just as he
was about to sweep the Turks from the field or during a hunt. Other accounts have
Vlad falling in defeat, surrounded by the bodies of his loyal Moldavian bodyguards
(the troops loaned by Prince Stephen III of Moldavia remained with Vlad after
Stephen Báthory returned to Transylvania). Still other reports claim that Vlad,
at the moment of victory, was struck down by one of his own men. There are
accounts that Vlad's body was decapitated by the Turks and his head was sent to
Istanbul and preserved in honey, where the sultan had it displayed on a stake as
proof that Kazıklı Bey was finally dead. However, Romanian historian and Vlad
biographer Matei Cazacu suggests in a 2005 British documentary on Vlad's life
(David Paradine Productions Ltd) that the Turks removed the scalp of their
victims' heads rather than behead them. Vlad's remains were discovered buried at
the entrance of a church by a grandfather of Radu Florescu.[citation needed]
Legacy
The legacy and the legend of Vlad Ţepeş is mostly the result of different stories
about him. The Romanian, German, and the Russian stories all have their origins
in the 15th century. Besides the written stories the Romanian oral tradition
provides another important source for the life of Vlad the Impaler: legends and
tales concerning the Impaler have remained a part of folklore among the Romanian
peasantry. These tales have been passed down from generation to generation for five
hundred years. Through constant retelling they have become somewhat garbled and
confused and they have gradually been forgotten in later years. However, they still
provide valuable information about Dracula and his relationship with his people.
[10] Many of the tales contained in the pamphlets are also found in the oral
tradition, though with a somewhat different emphasis. Among the Romanian
peasantry, Vlad Ţepeş was remembered as a just prince who defended his people
from foreign aggression, whether those foreigners were Turkish invaders or German
merchants. He is also remembered as a champion of the common man against the
oppression of the boyars. National poet of Romania Mihai Eminescu wrote the
memorable verses "Unde eşti tu, Ţepeş Doamne, ca punând mâna pe ei, Să-i
împarţi în două cete: în smintiţi şi în mişei" (where are you, lord Ţepeş, to get
them and split them into two gangs, fools and rascals"). Vlad's fierce insistence on
honesty is a central part of the oral tradition. Many of the anecdotes contained in
the pamphlets and in the oral tradition demonstrate the prince's efforts to eliminate
crime and dishonesty from his domain. Presidential candidate Traian Băsescu
referred to Vlad Ţepeş and his method of punishing illegalities in his anticorruption
discourse during the election campaign of 2004.
However, despite the more positive interpretation, the Romanian oral tradition also
remembers Vlad as an exceptionally cruel and often capricious ruler. There are
several events that are common to all the pamphlets, regardless of their nation of
origin. Many of these events are also found in the Romanian oral tradition.
Specific details may vary among the different versions of these anecdotes but the
general course of events usually agrees to a remarkable extent. For example, in
some versions the foreign ambassadors received by Vlad Ţepeş at Târgovişte are
Florentine, in others they are Ottoman (McNally and Florescu believe he may have
done this to both nationalities at different times). The nature of their offense
against the Prince also varies from version to version. However, all versions agree
that Vlad, in response to some real or imagined insult (perhaps because they
refused to remove them in Vlad's presence), had their hats nailed to their heads.
Some of the sources view Vlad's actions as justified; others view his acts as crimes
of wanton and senseless cruelty.
Atrocities
The reputation of Vlad Ţepeş was considerably darker in Western Europe than in
Eastern Europe and Romania. In the West, Vlad III Ţepeş has been
characterized as an exceedingly cruel madman. The number of his victims ranges
from 40,000 to 100,000.
Much of the information about his atrocities and cruelty comes from the German
stories written about him, which were for the most part politically, religiously and
economically inspired propaganda against Vlad Ţepeş. Although some of the
stories have some basis in reality, most of them are either fictional or exaggerated.
According to the German stories the number of victims he had killed was at least
80,000. In addition to the 80,000 victims mentioned he also had whole villages
and fortresses destroyed and burned to the ground.[12] These numbers are most
likely exaggerated. For example in one episode in the German stories Vlad impaled
600 merchants from Braşov and confiscated all their goods. A document written by
Vlad’s rival Dan III in 1459 mentions the merchants number who were impaled to
be forty-one. It is highly unlikely that a rival of Vlad’s would have reduced the
number of Vlad's victims.
The atrocities made by Vlad in the German stories include impaling, torturing,
burning, skinning, roasting, and boiling people, feeding people human flesh (their
friends or relatives), cutting off limbs, drowning, and nailing of hats to the heads
of people. His victims included men and women of all ages, religions and social
classes, children and babies. The exaggeration of cruelties in the German stories is
quite clear when compared to the Russian or the Romanian stories about Vlad
Ţepeş from which the meaningless violence and cruel atrocities are almost absent.
The exaggerated and propagandistic view is especially clear in one sentence in the
stories: He caused so much pain and suffering that even the most bloodthirstiest
persecutors of Christianity like Herodes, Nero, Diocletius and all other pagans
combined hadn’t even thought of.
In the memoirs of the Serbian Janissary Konstantin Mihailović, it is
documented by Mihailović that the Ottomans feared Vlad III, and Mihailović
goes into great detail about how Vlad III would often cut off the noses of Turkish
soldiers, sending them to Hungary to boast of how many of the enemy he had
killed. Mihailović also documents that the Ottomans were fearful of Wallachian
attacks at night. He does allude to the famed "forrest of the impaled", where Vlad
III was alleged to have lined the roadways with thousands of impaled Turkish
soldiers. However, Mihailović did not actually see this. He was with the army at
that time, but was in the rear portion of the Ottoman army, recounting it based on
the word of others.
The actions taken by Vlad Ţepeş must be viewed in the light of the standards and
morality of his time. Most of the actions taken by Vlad can be justified on moral
grounds or they had a utilitarian purpose or in some cases both.[15] Most of the
tortures done by Ţepeş in the different stories were actually normal punishments in
that time. It is also common sense to think that if Vlad really was a bloodthirsty
tyrant and a madman, the Hungarian king would not have had him marry a
relative of his and put him on the throne of Wallachia.
Impalement was Ţepeş's preferred method of torture and execution. His method of
torture was a horse attached to each of the victim's legs as a sharpened stake was
gradually forced into the body. The end of the stake was usually oiled, and care
was taken that the stake not be too sharp; else the victim might die too rapidly from
shock. Normally the stake was inserted into the body through the anus and was
often forced through the body until it emerged from the mouth. However, there were
many instances where victims were impaled through other bodily orifices or through
the abdomen or chest. Infants were sometimes impaled on the stake forced through
their mother's chests. The records indicate that victims were sometimes impaled so
that they hung upside down on the stake.[16]
As expected, death by impalement was slow and painful. Victims sometimes
endured for hours or days. Vlad often had the stakes arranged in various geometric
patterns. The most common pattern was a ring of concentric circles in the outskirts
of a city that constituted his target. The height of the spear indicated the rank of
the victim. The corpses were often left decaying for months.
There are claims that thousands of people were impaled at a single time. One
such claim says 10,000 were impaled in the Transylvanian city of Sibiu (where
Vlad the Impaler had once lived) in 1460. Another allegation asserts that during
the previous year, on Saint Bartholomew's Day (in August), Vlad the Impaler
had 30,000 of the merchants and officials of the Transylvanian city of Braşov
that were breaking his authority impaled. One of the most famous woodcuts of the
period shows Vlad the Impaler feasting amongst a forest of stakes and their grisly
burdens outside Braşov, while a nearby executioner cuts apart other victims.
An old Romanian story says that Vlad left a gold cup in the middle of the
street, then returned to pick it up the next day since no one touched it, as people
were so afraid to commit crimes during his reign due to these horrific means of
torture and capital punishment.
Many have attempted to justify Vlad's actions on the basis of nascent nationalism
and political necessity. Most of the merchants in Transylvania and Wallachia were
Saxons who were seen as parasites, preying upon Romanian natives of Wallachia,
while the boyars had proven their disloyalty time and time again (Vlad's own father
and older brother were murdered by unfaithful boyars). His actions were likely
driven by one or more of three motives: personal or political vendettas, and the
establishment of iron-fisted law and order in Wallachia.
Vlad Ţepeş is alleged to have committed even more impalements and other tortures
against invading Ottoman forces. It was reported that an invading Ottoman army
turned back in fright when it encountered thousands of rotting corpses impaled on
the banks of the Danube. It has also been said that in 1462 Mehmed II, the
conqueror of Constantinople, a man noted for his own psychological warfare tactics,
returned to Constantinople after being sickened by the sight of 20,000 impaled
corpses outside Vlad's capital of Târgovişte. Many of the victims were Turkish
prisoners of war Vlad had previously captured during the Turkish invasion. The
total Turkish casualty toll in this battle reached over 40,000. The warrior sultan
turned command of the campaign against Vlad over to subordinates and returned to
Constantinople, even though his army had initially outnumbered Vlad's three to one
and was better equipped.
Almost as soon as he came to power, his first significant act of cruelty may have
been motivated by a desire of revenge as well as a need to solidify his power. Early
in his reign he gave a feast for his boyars and their families to celebrate Easter.
Vlad was well aware that many of these same nobles were part of the conspiracy
that led to his father's assassination and the burying alive of his elder brother,
Mircea. Many had also played a role in the overthrow of numerous Wallachian
princes. During the feast Vlad asked his noble guests how many princes had ruled
during their life times. All of the nobles present had outlived several princes. One
answered that at least thirty princes had held the throne during his life. None had
seen less than seven reigns. Vlad immediately had all the assembled nobles
arrested. The older boyars and their families were impaled on the spot. The
younger and healthier nobles and their families were marched north from Târgovişte
to the ruins of Poienari Castle in the mountains above the Argeş River. Vlad the
Impaler was determined to rebuild this ancient fortress as his own stronghold and
refuge. The enslaved boyars and their families were forced to labour for months
rebuilding the old castle with materials from another nearby ruin. According to the
stories, they labored until the clothes fell off their bodies and then were forced to
continue working naked. Very few of the old gentry survived the ordeal of building
Vlad's castle.
Throughout his reign, Vlad systematically eradicated the old boyar class of
Wallachia. The old boyars had repeatedly undermined the power of the prince
during previous reigns and had been responsible for the violent overthrow of several
princes. Apparently Vlad Ţepeş was determined that his own power be on a modern
and thoroughly secure footing. In place of the executed boyars, Vlad promoted new
men from among the free peasantry and middle class; men who would be loyal only
to their prince. Many of Vlad's acts can be interpreted as efforts to strengthen and
modernize the central government at the expense of the decaying feudal powers of
nobility carried over from the Middle Ages.[citation needed]
The German stories about Vlad Ţepeş
The German stories circulated first in manuscript form in the late 15th century and
the first manuscript was probably written in 1462 before Vlad’s arrest.[17] The
text was later printed in Germany and had major impact on the general public
becoming a best-seller of its time with numerous later editions adding and
alternating the original text. In addition to the manuscripts and pamphlets the
German version of the stories can be found in the poem of Michel Beheim. The
poem called Von ainem wutrich der heis Trakle waida von der Walachei (“Story of
a Bloodthirsty Madman Called Dracula of Wallachia”) was written and
performed at the court of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor during the winter
of 1463.[18]
To this day four manuscripts and 13 pamphlets are found as well as the poem by
Michel Beheim. The surviving manuscripts date from the last quarter of the 15th
century to the year 1500 and the found pamphlets date from 1488 to 1559-1568.
Eight of the pamphlets are actually incunabulum because they were printed before
1501. The German stories about Vlad Ţepeş consist of altogether 46 short episodes,
although none of the manuscripts, pamphlets or the poem of Beheim have all of the
episodes in them. All of the Stories start with the episode telling how the old
governor (meaning John Hunyadi) had Vlad's father killed and how Vlad and his
brother renounced their old religion and swore to protect and uphold the Christian
faith. After this the order of the episodes differs in the different manuscripts and
editions of the pamphlets. The title of the German stories varies in different
manuscripts, incunabulum and pamphlets with mainly three different titles with
variations.[19]
The German stories about Vlad Ţepeş were written most likely for political
reasons, especially to blacken the image of the Wallachian ruler. The first version
of the German text was probably written in Braşov by a Saxon scholar. According
to some researchers the writer of the text did little else than mirror the state of mind
of the Saxons in Braşov and Sibiu who had borne the brunt of Vlad’s wrath in
1456-1457 and again in 1458-1459 and 1460. Against this political and cultural
backdrop it is quite easy to understand the hostility towards Vlad Ţepeş. Although
there is historic background for the events described in the German stories, some of
them are either exaggerated or even fictitious. The Hungarian king Mathias
Corvinus is also said to have had a part in the blackening of the image of Vlad
Ţepeş. Corvinus had received large subsidies from Rome and Venice for the war
against the Ottomans, but because of a conflict with Emperor Frederick III of the
Holy Roman Empire he couldn’t afford the military support for the fight. By
making Vlad a scapegoat Corvinus could justify his reasons for not taking part in
the war against the Ottomans. He arrested Vlad and used a forged letter where
Vlad announced his loyalty to the Sultan, as well as the horror stories about Vlad,
to justify his actions to the Pope. In 1462 and 1463 the court in Buda fostered the
dissemination of the negative legend of Vlad in central and Eastern Europe, and
capitalized on the horrors attributed to him.[20] The purpose of the stories soon
changed from propaganda to literature and became very popular, best-sellers of
their time, in the German world in the 15th and 16th centuries. Part of the reason
for this success was the newly invented printing press, which allowed the texts to
filter to a wide audience.
Vlad's atrocities against the people of Wallachia were usually attempts to enforce
his own moral code upon his country. According to the pamphlets, he appears to
have been particularly concerned with female chastity. Maidens who lost their
virginity, adulterous wives, and unchaste widows were all targets of Vlad's cruelty.
Such women often had their sexual organs cut out or their breasts cut off. They
were also often impaled through the vagina on red-hot stakes that were forced
through the body until they emerged from the mouth.[16] One report tells of the
execution of an unfaithful wife. The woman's breasts were cut off, then she was
skinned and impaled in a square in Târgovişte with her skin lying on a nearby
table. Vlad also insisted that his people be honest and hard-working.[citation
needed] Merchants who cheated their customers were likely to find themselves
mounted on a stake beside common thieves. Vlad also viewed the poor, sick and
beggers as thieves. One horrific tale tells of him inviting all the sick and poor in the
area to a large dinner only to have them locked inside and the building burned.
Another famous story tells of Vlad Tepes, after seeing a man with a missing
button, tells the man to take him to his house. The man, believing that Vlad Tepes
wished to give him a good supper and maybe a new shirt, invited him welcomlingly.
When they arrived, Vlad Tepes immediatly walked to the man's wife and asks her
why he had a missing button. She responded that they were poor and could not
affored to buy any buttons. Enraged, Vlad Tepes cut off the woman's hands as a
sign to those around to never let a man go about so poorly.
The Russian stories about Vlad Ţepeş
The Russian or the Slavic version of the stories about Vlad Ţepeş called Skazanie
o Drakule voevode (Tale about Voivode Dracula) is thought to have been written
sometime between 1481 and 1486. Copies of the story were made from the 15th
century to the 18th century. There are some twenty-two extant manuscripts about
Vlad in Russian archives.[21] The oldest one is from the year 1490 and it ends as
following: First written in the year 6994 (meaning 1486), on 13 February; then
transcribed by me, the sinner Elfrosin, in the year 6998 (meaning 1490), on 28
January. The Tale about Voivode Dracula is neither chronological nor consistent,
but mostly a collection of anecdotes of literary and historical value concerning Vlad
Ţepeş. There are 19 episodes or anecdotes in the Tale about Voivode Dracula and
they are longer and more constructed than the German stories. The Tale itself can
be divided into two sections. The first 13 episodes are more or less non chronological
events and are most likely closer to the original folkloric oral tradition about Vlad.
The last six episodes are thought to have been written by a scholar who had the idea
of collecting the anecdotes because they are chronological and seem to be more
structured. The Tale about Voivode Dracula starts with a short introduction and
then with the story about the nailing of hats to ambassadors heads and it ends with
the death of Vlad Ţepeş and information about Vlad’s family.[22]
Out of the 19 episodes there are ten that are almost the same as in the German
stories.[23] Although there are similarities between the Russian and the German
stories about Ţepeş there is a clear distinction with the attitude towards Vlad
Ţepeş in these stories.
Unlike in the German stories the Russian stories tend to give a more positive
image of Vlad. He is seen as a great ruler, a brave soldier and a just sovereign.
There are also tales about atrocities but even most of them seem to be justified as
the actions of a strong one-man ruler. Out of the 19 episodes only four seem to be
exaggerated with violence.
Some elements of the episodes of the Tale about Voivode Dracula were later added
to Russian stories about Ivan IV of Russia.
The nationality and identity of the original writer of the Tale about Voivode
Dracula is disputed. The two most plausible explanations are that the writer was
either a Romanian priest or a monk somewhere in Transylvania or a Romanian or
Moldavian from the court of Stephen the Great in Moldova. One theory is also
that the writer would have been a Russian diplomat named Fedor Kuritsyn but it
is very unlikely that we can find a name to the real writer of the Tale.