Vlad the Impaler-Dracula, between history and mythology
Myth and history
During his rule in Wallachia in 1448, 1456–1462, and 1476, Vlad Tepes, also known as Vlad Drăculea (or Dracula by foreigners), was given the name Dracula.
Modern mythology has it that he was born in Sighisoara, in the Voivodeship of Transylvania. He is said to have been the son of Vlad Dracul and a noblewoman from Transylvania.
Wallachia had a brief period of independence from the Ottoman Empire during his rule (the empire of the Turks).
Vlad the Impaler gained his infamous reputation for his brutality and his practice of impaling his adversaries.
Vlad, commonly known as Vlad the Impaler, was a monarch of unquestionably horrible brutality. He had a propensity for impaling his opponents or anyone who defied him throughout the kingdom. This earned him the nickname “Vlad the Impaler.”
It is reported that as soon as he became the monarch in the year 1456, he issued an order for the thieves and beggars to be picked up, confined them in a home, and then set fire to them after feeding on them.
He impaled noblemen who were disloyal or in rebellion against him.
“It was an awful kind of torture (torture, physical pain, and immense suffering): a huge spike (sharp stake) was driven into the ground, or a small tree was chopped down and thinned, and the captive was crucified in a manner of speaking in this stake.
The man was exposed (laid out in plain sight) until he gave up his soul, and ravens ate his eyes after the stake had been smeared with tallow (fat) and inserted through the bottom slowly so as not to cause immediate death; the stake should not pierce the liver or the heart, but should come out through the neck, near the head; it is a terrible thing to say; the stake was smeared with fat; it was inserted slowly;
Once again, it was a dreadful event that was well known, and there was a rumor that Tepes had impaled thousands upon thousands of victims.
One thing that can’t be overlooked is that the 15th century was a ruthless and heartless time in Europe.”
It is stated that Vlad Tepes used the kind of torture known as the stake , which would have been sufficient to make him renowned.
As a result of his battles with the merchants of Brasov, they propagandistically portrayed him as a prince (ruler) whose techniques were demonic. In other words, they circulated the information that he used these methods.
The Ottomans took control of Constantinople, now known as Istanbul, and threatened the rest of Europe when they defeated the last forces of the Byzantine Empire in 1453. The title “Byzantine Empire” refers to the vestiges of the Roman Empire, which had its capital at Constantinople.
The Ottoman Empire came to dominate a large portion of the Balkan Peninsula, including present-day Serbia, a part of Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, and Greece. The Ottoman Empire expanded westward but stopped at the gates of Vienna, where their attempt to lay siege to the city and take it by force failed (unsuccessful, failed). In this historical setting, Vlad the Impaler fought to defend his reign and his country by employing against his adversaries the methods of deterrence (a set of military means designed by their destructive power) specific to the era. These methods included the use of executions as well as exemplary and intimidating tortures.
The origin of the nicknames “Dracula” and “The Impaler,” respectively.
His grandfather, Vlad Dracula, was a member of the Dragon Order, and his father followed in his footsteps. The Order is one of the oldest existing Catholic noble orders, whose purpose is to serve the faith and help their neighbor), or the Teutonic Knights (which is a German Catholic religious order that was formed in the late 12th century), is an organization whose purpose is to serve the faith and help their neighbor. During the Middle Ages, the Order was a religious-military organization that participated in the crusades. Teutonic Knights were recognized by their white robes decorated with a cross.
On pages 131 and 132 of A Short Illustrated History of the Romanians, written by Neagu Djuvara.
It was a military-religious organization, and the King of Hungary at the time, Sigismund of Luxembourg, was responsible for laying the groundwork for it in 1387.
The Order’s mascot was a dragon, and its primary mission was to protect Christianity and advance the Crusade during the time of the Crusades against the Ottoman Turks. The appellation “the Dragon” was given to Vlad Tepes’s father .
“Only one of Mircea the Elder’s sons, Vlad Dracul, Vlad the Impaler’s father, is worthy of mention here, and that is Vlad the Impaler. Mircea was appropriately referred to as the Great. Why did they refer to him as “the dragon”? Not because people likened him to Satan or because the nation adored him. Neither of those things. Because Sigismund of Luxembourg, who I have shown was King of Hungary and then Emperor — a king who was relatively favorable to us once he had not persecuted the Orthodox in Transylvania — Sigismund of Luxembourg had a certain sympathy for this son of Mircea and took him into an order of knights, a feudal order he had founded called the Order of the Dragon, and gave him the name “the Dragon,” he was given the nickname When Vlad became king of Wallachia, he was so proud of his membership in this Order of knights that he had the image of the Dragon, from which he got the famous name Vlad Dracul, or Dragon, stamped on coins and carved as his symbol. This is where the term “Dracula” comes from. Because of this, he and his sons were given the moniker Dracula or Drăculea. Because of this, people from other countries refer to Vlad the Impaler as Dracula.”
The many deaths by impalement that he ordered led to his being given the epithet “epes,” which translates to “the wolf.” Prince Tepes was his title among the Turks as well. This name has been preserved in Romanian history ever since it was mentioned for the first time in a Wallachian chronicle in the year 1550. The term “Wallachians” was a name that was given to the Romanians living on the left and right sides of the Danube during the Middle Ages by other peoples. Wallachia was also a name that was given to Wallachia by outsiders.
The Dominator of Wallachia
In the winter of 1436, Vlad Dracul, the father of Vlad the Impaler, assumed the throne of Wallachia and moved his court to Targoviste. Vlad the Impaler was named after him. Following his father’s footsteps, Vlad Dracula, also known as Vlad Tepes, settled there for six years. In 1442, he and his younger brother Radu the Handsome were taken captive by the Turkish Sultan (the ruler of Turkey) for political reasons;
Vlad III and his brother were held as hostages for several years before being released. This time spent in prison was critical to Vlad’s leadership development and eventual ascent to power.
A war fought against the Ottoman Empire.
In 1459, Tepes disobeyed the Turks’ demand that he pay tribute, defined as an obligation (in money or commodities) imposed by a conquering force on a vanquished nation and paid on set dates (10,000 galbeni annually). A movement endorsed by the Pope and in which the king of Hungary, Matthias Corvinus, was to play a significant role, was the cause of this insurrection. Vlad the Impaler formed an alliance with Matthias Corvinus in this political environment, most likely towards the beginning of the year 1460. This was something that the Ottomans would have tried to prevent from happening.
The Impaler, Vlad the “laid his hopes on the assistance of the King of Hungary, Matthias Corvinus, to whom he was also connected. Matthias’s wife was a cousin of Vlad’s wife. Hence the two were linked. After Vlad refuses to pay the yearly harassment (tax), the latter travels over the Danube and launches a disastrous invasion of Bulgaria. In 1462, Sultan Mohammed II, the same ruler who had previously conquered Constantinople, traveled to Wallachia to punish Vlad and retake control of the region. Vlad the Impaler is left to fend for himself with his little army since King Matthew provides him with no assistance. One night, he musters the courage to assault the Sultan’s camp, but he cannot locate the Sultan’s tent in time to murder him. After that, he disappears into the mountains, taking the uncultivated land with him. The Sultan is appalled by what he sees on the road to Targoviste: a forest of spikes hanging the bodies of Turks who were captured in battle a year before. The Turkish chronicler writes of shock and the Sultan’s appreciation for a gentleman capable of such crimes. This admiration comes from the Sultan’s belief that the Sultan was a gentleman. The Sultan withdrew to Braila, handed up control of the city of Targoviste, which served as his seat (the location where the sovereign lived), and then fled the nation, leaving behind a vast force starving to death.”
The Sultan and his army retreat, but he leaves Vlad’s brother, Radu the Handsome, in the country. Radu the Handsome gradually succeeds in attracting to his side the boyars who supported Vlad the Impaler, telling them that “Vlad’s policy is disastrous for the country, that the Christian neighbors do not help us, neither the Hungarian, nor the Pole, nor even Stephen of Moldavia.”
In light of these circumstances, he recommends that the land be handed up to the Turks, who will not transform it into a pashalac (a province of the Ottoman Empire administered by a pasha). Instead, he will merely ask for an annual tribute in exchange. After being abandoned by the nobility, Vlad the Impaler travels to Transylvania, hoping to receive assistance from King Matthew. However, King Matthew did not back him because of the poor reputation he established by impaling many Saxon merchants (part of the colonized German population in the 17th century). XII-XIII in some regions of Transylvania). As a direct result, King Matthew does not assist and instead decides to imprison him in “his stronghold for twelve years.”
Around this time, legend has it that Vlad’s wife committed suicide by jumping over a cliff at a high point to escape the Turkish prison where she was being held captive. Utilizing a hidden route through the mountain, Vlad was able to evade the assault that was being launched on his stronghold. He could make it to Transylvania with the assistance of several farmers from the nearby hamlet of Arefu. He was then introduced to King Matthew Corvinus of Hungary. However, Matthew put him under arrest and incarcerated him in the capital city of Hungary, Visegrad.
In 1475, Vlad was officially recognized as the Prince of Wallachia for the third time; nevertheless, his rule was relatively brief. At the end of December 1476, he was killed, and it is believed that the boyars who dreaded his retribution were the ones who carried out the assassination. This was the end of a remarkable man known as Vlad the Impaler, whose reputation was marred by the fact that accounts of his savagery were widely disseminated across the globe.
A tale told in prose or poetry that contains amazing or miraculous aspects to explain the genesis of anything (a thing, a creature, etc.), the unique characteristics of an event (historical or mythological), a hero (mythical or natural), or a phenomenon is known as a legend. Because Vlad the Impaler was such an incredible historical person, many myths and tales have sprung up around his life and times; nevertheless, we must be careful to differentiate between actual, verifiable facts and those that are purely imaginary (born of imagination).
England during the 19th century. Because of the book’s popularity, Transylvania is now often thought of in conjunction with the fictitious character Dracula.
The Irish author Bram Stoker had access to specific Saxon engravings from the 15th century that was housed in the Royal Library in London and was also part of the collection of the British Museum. In these engravings, Vlad the Impaler is portrayed as a monstrous vampire who feeds on human blood and is a great lover of cruelty. Bram Stoker used these images as inspiration for his novel “Dracula.” He most likely also had access to Johann Christian von Engel’s History of Moldavia and the Romanian Country, which portrays Vlad Tepes as a bloodthirsty tyrant. This most likely inspired him to base his fictional character, Dracula, on the prince of the Romanian Country inspired him to create the feeling of Dracula.
Several writers, including Matei Cazacu and Dumitru Peligrad, have hypothesized that Bram Stoker had a close connection with a Hungarian professor at the University of Budapest and that this individual may have provided Stoker with knowledge about Vlad Tepes. The Vlad Draculea of history, who lived from 1431 to 1476, has no genuine link to the present literary myth of the vampire that is Bram Stoker’s novel. He drew from various sources to develop a multifaceted figure, including personal experiences, traditional tales, and historical allusions.
Most of Vlad’s political adversaries, mostly Saxons, took advantage of the “devil” connotation of the term “devil” to cast a negative light on the reputation of the ruler. Therefore, the connection between the two definitions of the term, Dragon and devil, and the moniker Dracula might explain why Bram Stoker identified Vlad III as the Impaler with vampirism. The official garb of the Order of the Dragon, which consisted of a black cape worn over a red coat and was only worn on Fridays in remembrance of the Passion of Jesus Christ, was an essential component of the Order of the Dragon was a source of inspiration for Bram Stoker when he was developing his demonic character. It was also Bram Stoker’s inspiration to link this European folk tale with a creature native to South America, namely the bat.
The character of Dracula is a Transylvanian count who owns a castle on a high clifftop overlooking the river valley that meanders through the Principality of Transylvania. The book of the same name was written in 19th century by an Irishman named Bram Stoker. He is often mistaken for Vlad the Impaler, a Wallachian ruler who reigned over the castle in the Principality of Wallachia, which is now a ruin. Because Bram Stoker’s depiction of Dracula’s castle is identical to just one court in Transylvania, the name “Dracula’s Castle” is often used to refer to Bran Castle. The author of the novel Dracula describes the castle belonging to the Count as being perched on the brink of a terrifying cliff .
Bram Stoker never visited Romania. When explaining Dracula’s made-up castle, he begins with a presentation of Bran Castle, which was accessible in England during the late 19th century. Bran Castle is the only castle that resembles the one shown in the engraving included in the first edition of the book Dracula. This engraving depicts the court as it appears in the novel. It is generally accepted that Stoker based Dracula’s castle on an image of Bran Castle that Charles Boner created.
The character of Dracula, in the form in which he is known to modern audiences, is entirely made up.
His name comes from a moniker given to Vlad the Impaler, who ruled Romania from 1456 to 1462 and again from 1467. For political reasons, historians of the period depict him as a harsh and murderous dictator. His name came from that nickname. The Irish author Bram Stoker is responsible for creating the character of Count Dracula, who makes his debut in the book “Dracula,” written in 1897 and first published in England. In its original form, the name Dracula has nothing even somewhat terrifying. It comes from the name of a crusader group known as the Organization of the Dragon, with which both Vlad the Impaler and his father, Vlad Dracul, were linked. Vlad Dracul was a member of this Order. Transylvanian folklore and beliefs about ghosts and vampires are primarily responsible for the development of the remaining aspects of the Dracula tale.
The fictional character of Count Dracula, created by Bram Stoker, is a centuries-old vampire who is a nobleman from Transylvania. It is said that he makes his home among the crumbling remains of a castle located in the Carpathian Mountains. Count Dracula has the chance to demonstrate his pride in his noble culture, which is his favorite (like favorite) interest in his past when he has conversations with the character Jonathan Harker. Stoker has avoided making any authentic historical connections between his fictional character Count Dracula and the historical figure of Vlad the Impaler as much as possible in his novel. Stoker was hesitant (restrained) about any proximity of his hero to an actual historical character; hence the Count of Transylvania is not likely to be Prince Vlad Tepes of Wallachia.
Belief in the presence of evil spirits, sometimes known as ghosts or undead, was prevalent not just among the communities around Bran but also farther beyond. It refers to individuals who seem to be alive, sometimes known as the undead, and who had a regular life by day. However, as night fell and they went to sleep, the spirit departed their bodies and haunted the rest of the villagers from midnight until the first cockcrow, robbing them of their abilities. “They span the centuries multiplying their victims, spreading evil in the world,” Stoker says, “they immortals (undead, vampires) suffer from the affliction of immortality.” “Immortals” refers to both undead and vampires. These legends eventually gave rise to the figure known as Dracula. The historical truth of Bran Castle should not be confused with the formation of Count Dracula in Bram Stoker’s book when tourists visit the castle.
Dracula has always been and will continue to be a fictional figure.
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