A Look at The Fascination Behind Vlad Tepes

Just who was this peculiar Vlad Tepes Dracula? An explorer of the further realms of experience, a demon to some and Angel to others. Nevertheless he was the fifteenth century ruler of Romania. Bram Stoker based his Dracula novel on Vlad Tepes. His real history is perhaps more interesting than any vampire story.

Vlad was born in 1431 in the town of Sighisoara. He was the second son of the Prince of Wallachia, Vlad Dracul. Dracul, his father was the ruler of a country called Wallichia. He was also a member of The Order of the Dragon. This organization was a group of Slavic rulers and warlords who vowed to uphold the Christian faith by fighting the Turks. Dracul was unable to secure the throne fully. He eventually created a powerful union by marrying Eupraxia. Eupraxia was the sister to the ruler of Moldavia. Vlad Dracul later had an alliance with the Turks and betrayed his own people by attacking his Wallachia. The Sultan of the Turks was to take Vlad captive because he couldnt be trusted. However, he worked it out so Radu and Vlad his sons would be taken instead. Vlad Dracula was taken captive at an early age by the Turks from 1444-1448. They were to be taken to the Sultan Mehemet, while their father Vlad Dracul bargained to have them released. After being let go his father was assassinated, which is what prompted Vlad Dracula to commit his first major act of revenge.

Vlad had a brutal manor of how he would terrorize his enemies. This is how he received the nickname of Tepes which means the impaler. This is generally how he is known today Vlad the Impaler. He went after the boyer family, who he held responsible for his fathers death. Not only did he go after the boyers, he also went after the churches. The Orthodox and the Roman Catholic, each were very powerful in his territory.

Vlad the Impaler used a brutal foreign policy which was more terrorist than a policy. The merchants of Transylvania were thought to not have been following his policy and used impalement to enforce his will. He looted the Church of Saint Bartolomeu, burned a section of Brasov, and Impaled numerous other people. This raid was pictured in anti-Dracula prints showing him dining among the impaled bodies. (tvlad_i.html) A more in depth look into this mans iniquity would show he is know for his human cruelty. Impalement was Draculas fancied technique of execution and torture. Impalement is one of the worst ways to die and probably the most ghastly pain wise. Vlad usually would attach a horse to each of the victims legs and slowly force a sharpened stake into the body. The stake was generally oiled at the end and was made sure not to be too sharp. If the stake was too sharp then the victim would die too quickly. The stake was ordinarily inserted in the body through the posterior end and was forced through the body until emerging out the victims mouth. There are other instances where the stakes were inserted in other orifices of the body or in the abdomen and chest. Small children were impaled on the stakes that were already forced through their mothers. Some records that were kept at the time insinuated that the victims were hung upside down from the stakes they were impaled with. The pain from this was so very painful, and sometimes were endured for a period of hours or days. He would arrange the stakes in patterns in the outskirts of town. These shapes were usually concentric circles to make a target. The height if the stake the victim was on indicated the status or rank of the individual. (jyu.fi/`karnorr/vlad.html) This estranged individual had many different tortures that he used like he was commanding Hells torture chamber. Cutting off limbs, nails in heads, blinding, burning, cutting off noses and ears, strangulation, mutilation of sexual organs, scalping, skinning, and sometimes boiling alive. So who was immune from this warlords evil terror? Actually, no one was. He would go after anyone that his mood suited. Women and children, peasants and lords, ambassadors from foreign countries and merchants no one was safe. (jyu.fi/`karnorr/vlad.html) To make his point more clear Vlad would wipe out the old boyer class in Wallachia. They had repeatedly undermined Draculas power. Vlad had finally made it his goal to get his throne on secure grounds, so he executed the boyers and appointed a loyal group of peasants to take there place.

During his reign, Vlad moved to Bucharest and built a fortress of the city. The strong outer walls and the Transylvanian Alps made this city very secure. The castle however was faced with many difficulties. His army was faded away, and he decided to escape through a secret tunnel into the Carpathian mountains to Transylvania. His wife was reported to have committed suicide before the Turks over ran the castle. Vlad turned himself in to the new king of Hungry, Mattias Corvinus, who arrested him. While Vlad was imprisoned at the Hungarian capitol, he seemed to live under what would be considered comfortable terms. This was about 1466, and by 1475 he appeared to be the next best candidate for the Wallachian throne. In the summer of 1475 he was once again the prince of Wallachia. Soon after his return to the throne he moved away with the army to fight in Siberia. When Vlad returned home he fought against the Turks with the king of Moldavia. The Wallachians Gathered up their courage and found an assassin to which Vlad would meet the closing to his fear inspiring reign of terror. His death was in the year 1476, he died at the age of forty five. In his forty five years he had ended the lives of about 40,000 people. The highest number of deaths by one person before modern times. There were many stories associated with Vlad Tepes Dracula as well. These stories are very commonplace in Europe and were what made him the legend of who he was. Many feared and scorned him for what he did, the others were interested in what he did and looked at him as a hero at the time. The first story is

The Golden Cup. Dracula was known for his strong justice and punishment, thieves did not dare practice in his domain. Dracula was so confident in his power that he placed a golden cup in the town square. Throughout his entire reign the cup remained untouched. The power to wield must be incredible to not have anyone steal at all in his land. The Lazy Woman Once Dracula noticed a man working in the field while wearing a caftan that was too short for him. The prince asked the man if he had a wife, and the man replied that he had. Dracula brought the woman before him and asked her what she did during the day. She stated that she would wash, bake, and sew. The prince pointed out that her husbands caftan was too short and said that is was evidence of her laziness and dishonesty. The then had the woman impaled on a stake despite her husbands protesting. The husband said the he was satisfied with her and didnt want that to happen. She was impaled and Dracula ordered another peasant woman to marry the man. She was forced to work hard as to not end up like the previous woman. I found this story to be very interesting that he would have a woman killed for such a trivial thing. The next story was quite thought inspiring to me. The Burning of the Sick and Poor Dracula believed that the people all worked for the common good. When he noticed that the poor were becoming very numbered in his land, he decided to have a feast in his hall. He said No one shall go hungry in my land. It was a great feast, the poor and crippled came and ate all they could handle. They partied late into the night and Dracula made an appearance to them. He asked if there was anything they wanted, or if they wanted to be free from all cares and have perfect tranquillity. They all replied yes. So basically he had the hall boarded up and burned them all to death. None of the people excepted their fiery deaths.

So, why did Bram Stoker choose Vlad Tepes Dracula for his novel? I do not truly believe that we will ever know. He was friends with a professor from Buda-Pest, it may have been suggested through him. The vampire myths and stories were flooded in that area. Maybe he wanted to add a touch a realism to his character. Vampires were all over the European continent, or if not their stories were. Vlad was probably the next best thing to a real one.