Count Dracula

Prince Vlad III of Wallachia

1431-1476

(1476-?)

On a cold December day in 1431, in the country of Transylvania, a legend was born. Legendary to his countrymen as a patriot and ruler, Vlad Dracula became the epitomy of evil and darkness to those who crossed him. This is his story.

Vlad Dracula was the original model for Count Dracula and with some very good reason. Dracula (meaning son of the Dragon, a title which his father held) was a cruel and merciless leader. Many people referred to him as Vlad Tepes, meaning Vlad the Impaler. His enemies, however, including the Saxon Germans most often referred to him as Dracula....in this case meaning son of the devil, as dragon and devil essentially meant the same thing. . The Turks called him "Kaziglu Bey" or "Impaler Prince".

Life in Draculas time was stark contrast to our own. He lived in a cruel, unforgiving land virtually surrounded by cruel unforgiving enemies. Even the politics of his time were strangely ruthless. Perhaps this led to his inhuman ways, or at least fueled the fire. We will never know.

It was the time of the Ottoman Empire. The Turkish led Ottomans were still battling fiercely with the remains of the Christian Byzantine Empire to their west. The principle players in this war , Turkey and Hungary, found themselves with a few minor things in their way..mainly Moldavia, Transylvania and Wallachia. These three countries were forever playing pawn to the great superpowers of their day. It was from this turmoil that Vlad Dracul (Dracula's Father) rose through the ranks of the army of Christian Soldiers, sworn to defend the land and the cross. As a boy, Vlad had served as a page to Sigismund, King of Hungary who later went on to become the Holy Roman Emporer in the year 1410. Sigismund formed a secret society called the "Order of the Dragon" into which only the bravest and most noble warriors were admitted. Vlad was a shew in. The Nobles quickly began calling him Dracul, for his association with the order. Costumes for the secret society to wear on Holy Days consisted of a black cape draped over red garments...sound familiar?

It was about this time that Dracula was born. He and his two brothers, Mircea and Radu, were educated by their mother who was most likely a Transylvanian noble woman. After a brief education, Dracula was sent off to learn the ways of the knights..trained by one of the old Boyers, or nobleman, of the land. Vlad Dracul was now the militairy governor of Transylvania and would stop at nothing until attaining a throne.

With his years in Transylvania, Dracul was able to persuade some hand picked supporters in a bid to overthrow the Prince of Wallachia and usurp his throne. Sometime around 1437, when Dracula was about six, his father murdered Prince Alexandru and seized the throne. The dye was now cast for the young Dracula's life. The best that could be said of it was it was interesting.

Things may have gone well for Prince Vlad II for a few years. About seven years after his coronation Turkey invaded Transylvania and the furious Hungarian Boyors kicked Vlad off of his throne and forced him to leave the country, naming Basarab II the new prince of Wallachia. In two short years Vlad returned, unhappy and owing the Turks for his re-emergance to royalty. As a sign of goodwill, he gave them his two youngest sons as hostages, Vlad (Dracula) and his younger brother Radu.

Dracula was about thirteen when he was taken hostage by the Turks. It is thought that he was most likely mistreated very inhumanely at their hands. Even so, he spent the next four years in Andrianople as a prisoner of the Ottomans.

In 1444 Hungary went to war with Turkey and demanded that Vlad join in the holy crusade. As a member of the order of the dragon he was sworn to do so. Rather than risk the rage of the turks, he sent his eldest son Mycea into battle for him. The Christian armies were decimated at the Battle of Varna. Vlad and Mycea blamed an Hungarian General, Janos Hunyadi, who was also responsible for replacing him on the throne two years earlier. Any goodwill among the Boyars was lost.

In 1447 Vlad and Mircea were murdered. Mircea was killed by the boyars and merchants of the Walachian city Tirgoviste. There are different stories about how he died - he may have been tortured and burned, or buried alive. Apparently his father died at the same time. Some say that the assassinations were organized by Hunyadi.

After the untimely deaths Prince Vlad II and his son, Hunyadi was once again able to put his own appointee on the throne of Wallachia. This time the ruler would be Vladislav the II. The Turks, wary of Hungarian appointees to the throne, released Dracula at the age of seventeen, gave him an army and pointed him toward home. Needless to say he was NOT in a good mood.

Draculas Reign of Terror

Dracula, four years of captivity behind him, led his army against the throne of Wallachia and won the day. His victory was short lived however, lasting only two weeks before he was again driven back by his mortal enemy Hunyadi who once more returned Vladislav II to the throne. During his exile in Moldavia, again the political situation changed. Three years after his short reign Prince Bolgdan of Moldavia was assinated and Dracula was forced to flee the country. At the same time the Prince of Wallachia, Vladislav II, proved to be much more loyal toward the Turks than the Hungarians and Hunyadi decided that perhaps Vladislav was not the best choice after all. He picked Dracula as his new vassal and led an army against Turkish Serbia in 1456 where he was promptly killed. Dracula led his army against Wallachia, killed Vladislav and took back the throne.

Dracula established his castle at Tirgoviste. A statue still stands in the town where the ruins of his castle can be found. He was considered a hero for unifying Wallachia and standing up to his enemies. To some he was truly a monster.

One of the first atrocities Dracula supposedly commited involved beggars, thieves and all poor and infirmed. he invited them to a sumptuous banquet at his castle. Wine flowed like water and food was supplied in plenty. At the end of the festivities after toasting their host, the beggars were asked if they would like to "be without cares, lacking nothing of this world". Naturally they all said yes, whereupon he had the banquet room boarded up and set afire. Not one man, woman or child made it out alive. The Prince simply stated that he delivered on his promise and that he wanted to have no poor or hungry in HIS kingdom. This was just the beginning.

Dracula's next banquet involved 500 Boyars. (nobleman) In Wallachia the Boyars were ultimately responsible for who sat on the throne. This was a very unique politic of the time. The Boyars were asked how many Princes had ruled during their lifetimes. They all agreed that there had been many. The furious Dracula had them all arrested on the spot, stating it was THEIR fault for the problems of Wallachia and the constant warring. The elderly of them were summarily impaled. The others were marched to a high cliff where they were forced to manually build a castle for the Prince. They worked as slaves until the castle was finished and many of them died. The result of this was Castle Dracula. The lands of these Boyars was seized and given to a new set of Nobles who would be loyal to the Prince. Dracula was now firmly seated on the throne of Wallachia and intended to remain there.

Dracula's rule was ruthless with no room for mercy. Transgressors were punished supposedly to fit the crime. Most of these punishments involved impalement which was his favorite form of death. Many times he would impale dozens at a time, arranging the stakes in ornate designs and even eating amongst them at a banquet table. Some legends say he did indeed drink the blood and eat the flesh of the impaled. Those stories, however, are unconfirmed. Anyone criticizing this "hobby" would most undoubtedly find themselves among the next batch of impaled...a slow, tortourus and horrible death which often took days. Transgressors were also skinned, burned or boiled alive on less frequent occasions. When two foreign ambassadord refused to doff their hats to him, he had the hats nailed to their heads.

By 1462, when he was deposed, Dracula had slaughtered between 40,000 and 100,000 men women and children. Many of these executions were on flimsy charges at best. Merchants were killed for cheating customers. Women were executed for adultery. Afterwards these corpes were displayed in public. Some legends say as many as 20,000 at a time hung outside the capital on stakes. Thieves, Liars, and anyone who broke the LEAST of the laws was impaled. There was not a lot of crime in Wallachia during his rule. He was extremely proud of this which brought about the famous "golden cup". Dracula had a golden cup placed in the town square as a drinking cup for the entire town. No one ever dared steal it or even think about it.

One time a visiting merchant, thinking himself safe, left his money outside all night and it was stolen. He complained to Dracula who issued a proclamation that if the moeny was not returned the next day the entire city would be destroyed. That night Dracula secretly had the money returned plus one extra coin. The next morning the happy merchant reported to Dracula that the money had been returned plus one extra gold piece. The prince replied that the thief had been caught and would be impaled. He also added that if the merchant had not mentioned the extra coin he would be impaled next to him.

Because of this strict policy people felt a bit safer, not from the stake but from thieves and murderers. Dracula's love for impalement bordered on obsession. Incidentally, isn't it somewhat ironic that the only thing that supposedly kills him is a stake in the heart?

The Overthrow

In 1462 Dracula launched another another major campaign against the Turks in an attempt to drive them from the Danube Valley. The Turkish Sultan, Mehmed the III responded by invading Wallachia with an army three times larger than the Wallachians. Dracula was forced to retreat back to his capital of Tirgoviste, employing on of the first real "scorched earth" campaigns often used in later wars. The prince burned villages, slaughtered cattle, poisoned wells and left nothing for the Turks to live on from his land.

When the Turks finally did reach Tirgoviste they saw a famous and unbelievably gruesome sight since called the "forest of the impaled". Twenty thousand Turkish prisoners hung dead or dying outside the city walls in a huge forest of impalement stakes. Mehmed's Generals were understandably terrified and it is said that it was The Sultan himself who stated "How could anyone defeat such a devil?". Mehmed turned his armies around and headed home.

Oddly enough although all of his enemies could not do Dracula in, it took his own little brother to accomplish it. Radu, always somewhat lenient toward the Turks was provided an army by them in order to overthrow his brother. Radu chased Dracula to his fortress at Poenari where the Turks layed seige to the castle. Abandoned by the Boyars, betrayed by his brother and trapped it seemed over for prince Vlad. His wife, fearful of the Turks threw herself from the upper battlements, but somehow Dracula escaped once again. This time the Prince utilized a secret tunnel and the help of a few remaining peasents to evade the massive army which was even then swarming over his defensesl.

Dracula, homeless and alone went to the new Hungarian King, Matthius Corvinus for aid. He wound up imprisoned in the castle tower. For 12 years Radu ruled Wallachia as a puppet for the Turks and Dracula remained in exile in Hungary. After a few years, however, The Prince was able to ingratiate himself among the Royal family, even marrying one of its members. By this time he had been allowed free of the tower and was even given his own house. Domestic bliss was not something The Prince ever truly sought it seems. He continued his impaling hobby, with rats and birds mostly. He's reported to have murdered an army officer who chased a thief into Dracula's house because the officer was a gentleman and was not invited in. Twelve years in exile had not calmed the angry Dracula, and when Radu died in 1474 he made another bid for his throne.

In 1476 Dracula invaded Walachia with the help of Moldavia and Transylvania. He successfully drove the new King (Basrab The Old) from the country and regained his old throne. A few months later the Turks attacked once more and Vlad Dracul III, The Dragon Prince was killed while fighting a battle near Bucharest. The details as to his death are very sketchy. Some accounts have him assasinated by his own Boyars; others say he was killed by his own troops by accident. In either case his head was taken back to Turkey and displayed there on a pike as proof of his death.

His body was taken by loyal Wallachians and buried in his beloved island monastery of Snagov which he patronized. The tomb is still there, and the monks there speak of him with reverence and respect. Indeed all Romania heralds him as a hero. Dracula was a harsh and cruel ruler, perhaps a product of his times, and if you choose to believe..a vampire.

Oh, in conclusion...excavations undertaken in the 1930's on Dracula's gravesite yielded nothing..no corpse. The grave is empty. Where is Dracula? You decide.

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