dracula
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Yes, there was a real Dracula, and he was a true prince of darkness. He was Prince Vlad III Dracula, also known as Vlad Tepes, meaning "Vlad the Impaler." The Turks called him Kaziglu Bey, or "the Impaler Prince." He was the prince of Walachia, but, as legend suggests, he was born in Transylvania, which at that time was ruled by Hungary.
According to legend, Walachia was founded in 1290 by a Transylvanian named Radu Negru, or Rudolph the Black. Dracula's grandfather, Prince Mircea the Old, reigned from 1386 to 1418. He fought to keep Walachia independent from the Turks but was forced to pay tribute to them. He and his descendants continued to rule Walachia, but under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey).
The throne of Walachia was not necessarily passed from father to son. The prince, or voivode, was elected by the country's boyars, or land-owning nobles. This caused fighting among family members, assassinations, and other unpleasantness. Eventually the royal House of Basarab was split into two factions -- Mircea's descendants, and the descendants of another prince named Dan II. Dan's descendants were called the Danesti.
Mircea had an illegitimate son, Vlad, born around 1390. He grew up in the court of King Sigismund of Hungary, first probably as a hostage and later as a page. Sigismund, who became the Holy Roman Emperor in 1410, founded a secret fraternal order of knights called the Order of the Dragon to uphold Catholicism and defend the empire against Turkey. Vlad was admitted to the Order, probably in 1431. The boyars of Walachia started to call him Dracul, meaning "dragon." Vlad's second son would be known as Dracula, or "son of the dragon." Dracul also meant "devil." So some of Dracula's enemies called him "son of the devil."
Sigismund made Vlad the military governor of Transylvania, a post he held from 1431 to 1435. During that time he lived in the town of Sighisoara or Schassburg. You can still visit the citadel there and even the house where Vlad's son Dracula was born. Today there's a restaurant on the second floor. There's also a mural in the house that may depict Vlad Dracul.
Young Dracula
Dracula was born in November or December of 1431. His given name was Vlad. He had an older brother, Mircea, and a younger brother, Radu the Handsome. Their mother may have been a Moldavian princess or a Tranyslvanian noble. It is said that she educated Dracula in his early years. Later he was trained for knighthood by an old boyar who had fought the Turks.
Dracula's father was not content to remain a mere governor forever. During his years in Transyvlania, he gathered supporters for his plan to seize Walachia's throne from its current occupant, a Danesti prince named Alexandru I. In late 1436 or early 1437 Vlad Dracul killed Alexandru and became Prince Vlad II.
Vlad was a vassal of Hungary and also had to pay tribute to Hungary's enemy, Turkey. In 1442 Turkey invaded Transylvania. Vlad tried to stay neutral, but Hungary's rulers blamed him and drove him and his family out of Walachia. A Hungarian general, Janos Hunyadi (who may have been the illegitimate son of Emperor Sigismund) made a Danesti named Basarab II the prince of Walachia.
The following year Vlad regained the throne with the help of the sultan of Turkey. In 1444 he sent his two younger sons to Turkey to prove his loyalty. Dracula was about 13. He spent the next four years in Adrianople, Turkey as a hostage.
In 1444 Hungary went to war with Turkey and demanded that Vlad join the crusade. As a member of the Order of the Dragon, Vlad was sworn to obey this summons. But he didn't want to anger the Turks, so he sent his eldest son, Mircea, in his place. The Christian army was demolished at the Battle of Varna, and Vlad and Mircea blamed Janos Hunyadi.
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.
Since Vlad and Mircea were dead, and Dracula and Radu were still in Turkey, Hunyadi was able to put a member of the Danesti clan, Vladislav II, on the Walachian throne. The Turks didn't like having a Hungarian puppet in charge of Walachia, so in 1448 they freed Dracula and gave him an army. He was seventeen years old.
It seems that Dracula's little brother Radu chose to remain in Turkey. He had grown up there, and apparently remained loyal to the sultan. -
Dracula's Reign
With the help of his Turkish army, Dracula seized the Walachian throne. However, he only ruled for two months before Hunyadi forced him into exile in Moldavia. Again Vladislav II became Walachia's prince.
Three years later Prince Bogdan of Moldavia was assassinated and Dracula fled the country. By now Vladislav II had become a supporter of Turkey, and Hunyadi was sorry he had put him on the throne. Everyone switched sides - Dracula became Hunyadi's vassal, and Hunyadi now supported Dracula's attempt to regain his throne. In 1456 Hunyadi invaded Turkish Serbia while Dracula invaded Walachia. Hunyadi was killed, but Dracula killed Vladislav II and took back his throne.
He established his capital at Tirgoviste - you can still see the ruins of his palace there. And nearby a statue of Vlad Tepes still stands. He is considered an important figure in Romanian history because he unified Walachia and resisted the influence of foreigners.
But it's Dracula's cruelty that most non-Romanians remember. After becoming prince, Dracula supposedly invited many beggars and other old, sick and poor people to a banquet at his castle. When his guests had finished eating their meal and drinking a toast to him, Dracula asked them, "Would you like to be without cares, lacking nothing in this world?"
Yes, they said enthusiastically.
So Dracula had the castle boarded up and set it on fire. Nobody made it out alive - and that was the end of their problems, as he had promised. "I did this so that no one will be poor in my realm," he said.
According to another story, he invited 500 boyars to a banquet and asked them how many princes had ruled in their lifetimes. They said they had lived through many reigns. Shouting that this was their fault because of their plotting, Dracula had them all arrested on the spot. The older ones were impaled; the others were marched 50 miles to Poenari where they were forced to build a mountaintop fortress. They worked a long time; when their clothes fell off, they worked naked. Most of them died, of course. And of course Dracula seized the boyars' property and passed it out to his supporters. In that way he created a new nobility, loyal to him.
(The ruins of the Poenari fortress can still be seen. You have to climb nearly 1,500 steps and cross a little bridge to reach it. It's now called Castle Dracula, but several places are called that. Another "Castle Dracula" is Bran Castle, near the town of Brasov. Although Dracula may have stayed there occasionally, it certainly wasn't his home.)
Dracula liked to set up a banquet table and dine while he watched people die. His favorite form of execution was impalement. It was slow; people could take days to die. He liked to impale many people at once, arranging the stakes in fancy designs. Nothing was too brutal for Dracula - he enjoyed having people skinned, boiled alive, etc. He prided himself on making the punishment (supposedly) fit the crime.
By 1462, when he was deposed, he had killed between 40,000 and 100,000 people, possibly more. He always thought up some excuse for these executions. He killed merchants who cheated their customers. He killed women who had affairs. Supposedly he had one woman impaled because her husband's shirt was too short. He didn't mind impaling children, either. Afterwards he would display the corpses in public so everyone would learn a lesson. It's said that there were over 20,000 bodies hanging outside his capital city. Of course, the stories about Dracula's cruelty might have been exaggerated by his enemies.
Despite all this, Dracula's subjects respected him for fighting the Turks and being a strong ruler. He's remembered today as a patriotic hero who stood up to Turkey and Hungary. He was the last Walachian prince to remain independent from the Ottoman Empire. He was so scornful of other nations that when two foreign ambassadors refused to doff their hats to him, he had the hats nailed to their heads. He was opposed to the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches because he thought foreigners, operating through the churches, had too much power in Walachia. He tried to prevent foreign merchants from taking business away from his citizens. If merchants disobeyed his trade laws, they were, of course, impaled.
Dracula created a very severe moral code for the citizens of Walachia. You can guess what happened to anyone who broke the code. Thieves were impaled, even liars were impaled. Naturally there wasn't a lot of crime in Walachia during his reign.
To prove how well his laws worked, Dracula had a gold cup placed in a public square. Anyone who wanted to could drink from the cup, but no one was allowed to take it out of the square. No one did.
A visiting merchant once left his money outside all night, thinking that it would be safe because of Dracula's strict policies. To his surprise, some of his coins were stolen. He complained to Dracula, who promptly issued a proclamation that the money must be returned or the city would be destroyed. That night Dracula secretly had the missing money, plus one extra coin, returned to the merchant. The next morning the merchant counted the money and found it had been returned. He told Dracula about this, and mentioned the extra coin. Dracula replied that the thief had been caught and would be impaled. And if the merchant hadn't mentioned the extra coin, he would have been impaled, too.
Dracula Overthrown
In 1462 Dracula attacked the Turks to drive them out of the Danube River valley. Sultan Mehmed II retaliated by invading Walachia with an army three times larger than Dracula's. Dracula was forced to retreat to his capital, Tirgoviste. He burned his own villages and poisoned wells on the way so that the Turkish army wouldn't have any food or water.
When the sultan reached Tirgoviste, he saw a terrifying scene, remembered in history as "the Forest of the Impaled." There, outside the city, were 20,000 Turkish prisoners, all impaled. The sultan's officers were too scared to go on - Dracula had won again.
Although the sultan retreated, Dracula's little brother Radu did not. The Turks had provided him with an army in hopes that he could seize Dracula's throne. Many of Dracula's boyars abandoned him to join Radu. Radu's army pursued Dracula to his fortress at Poenari. Dracula's wife was so frightened that she threw herself from the upper battlements. The Turks seized the castle, but Dracula managed to escape through a secret tunnel. There were still some peasants around he hadn't impaled, and they helped him flee from Walachia.
He went to the new king of Hungary, Matthias Corvinus, for help. Instead the king had him imprisoned in a tower. Dracula remained in Hungary while Radu ruled Walachia as a puppet for the Turks. After the first four years he was allowed to move into a house. He became a Catholic to please the Catholic Hungarians. He ingratiated himself with the Hungarian royal family, and even married one of its members (possibly the king's cousin).
But he was still the same old Dracula. He impaled rats and birds for fun. Once a thief broke into his house and a Hungarian captain followed him to arrest him. Dracula didn't kill the thief - he killed the officer. Why? Because the officer was a gentleman, and should have known not to enter a house uninvited. -
The Death of Dracula
In 1473, Dracula's brother Radu lost the Walachian throne to a member of the Danesti clan, Basarab the Old. Radu died of syphilis in January of 1475, and in 1476 Dracula invaded Walachia with the help of Moldavia and Transylvania. They drove Basarab out of the country, and Dracula again became Walachia's prince. Most of Dracula's army then went home to Transylvania.
The Turks attacked a few months later. Dracula was killed while fighting near Bucharest in December 1476. Some say he died at the hands of a Turkish assassin posing as a servant, or that he was accidentally killed on the battlefield by his own men because he had disguised himself as a Turk to confuse the enemy. The sultan displayed Dracula's head on a pike in Constantinople to prove that he was dead. His body was buried at the island monastery of Snagov, which he had patronized. But excavations in 1931 failed to turn up any sign of his coffin!
And that is the story of the real Prince Dracula.
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Books About Dracula
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Book categories: Vlad the Impaler, Dracula, More Novels, Turkey, Romania, Videos
Vlad III
Dracula: Prince of Many Faces: His Life and Times by Radu R. Florescu and Raymond T. McNally is a chilling biography of Vlad Dracula. (UK)
In Search of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampires, also by Raymond T. McNally and Radu Florescu. This book explains the connections between the real Dracula and Bram Stoker's fictional vampire.
Vlad III Dracula: The Life and Times of the Historical Dracula by Kurt W. Treptow. A scholarly biography. Out of print, but may be available. (UK)
Bram Stoker's Dracula
Dracula by Bram Stoker. The 1897 novel that immortalized Dracula. (UK)
Dracula: Sense and Nonsense by Elizabeth Miller. The author, an expert on Bram Stoker's novel, believes Stoker did not base his Dracula character on Vlad the Impaler. (UK) -
Vald the impaler had a very sick way of impaling his victims...
he had the giant sticks oiled and then the victim was placed on the top of the stick....then the victim would slowly slide down the stake...slowly suffering and dying...and Vald loved it!!
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Touching on this topic...Dracula was best protrayed by Christopher Lee..
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didn't Vlad have his dinner while his victims were impaled? he dipped his bread in their blood...
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Very er hor...Originally posted by the Bear:didn't Vlad have his dinner while his victims were impaled? he dipped his bread in their blood...
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For any aspiring would-be vampires in S'pore..
This Blood Drinker's Resource Page might teach you a few lessons on blood drinking... -
Do vampires really exist?
The answer to this question depends on your definition of the word vampire. If you feel that vampires are the creatures depicted in movies such as Near Dark and in books such as Dracula and Interview With A Vampire, then I would have to say no. To date, I have not met or even heard of a varafiable creature such as that.
If on the other hand, you beleive that vampires are people who are basically normal with the exception of one or two abnomalities such as hypersensitivity to light, heightened psychic abilities, and the physical need to consume blood, then my answer would be yes.
Do vampires really drink blood?
Some, but not all, real vampires do drink blood. This does not mean that they drain the bodies of those they drink from. The majority of vampires whom I have met that do admit to drinking blood state that they consume the equivalence of a shotglass full of blood during a single feeding. This amount is not exact as some prefer to drink less, but it does seem to be the maximum amount consumed.
Do vampires really die if they are exposed to the sun?
I have never heard of any real vampires who burst into flames or crumbled into dust from exposure to the sun. Some vampires do have a severe sensitivity to sunlight as well as certain forms of artificial light. This sensitivity can cause several different problems for the vampire. First it can cause the individual to be more susceptible to sunburn, sunstroke, and certain other sun related malodies. Second, it often causes the individual to suffer a form of day blindness, similar to snow blindness.
Are vampires really repelled by garlic?
Although some vampires prefer not to eat garlic, I have never seen one unable to enter a room because of it's presence. Some vampires suffer digestive problems which are aggravated by the consumption of garlic. Others have a hypersensitivity to flavor or smell, which may cause them to be put off by the strong flavored and highly aromatic herb.
Do religious items such as crucifixes really ward off vampires?
Real vampires, the ones I have met, belong to all religious and non-religious denominations. There are Christians and Muslims, atheists and agnostics. Religious items, such as crucifixes and holy water do not repel vampires nor do they cause harm to vampires.
Can vampires really change into other animals?
Shapeshifting is a phenomenon discussed in many shamanic religions, and therefore not exclusive to vampirism. Native American folklore speaks of people capable of assuming the shape of animals, thereby connecting with the spirit of that animal. Although I do not claim to be an authority on the subject of shapeshifting, none of the vampires I have met have claimed to have the ability.
Are vampires really immortal?
I have met vampires who claim they will have a longer lifespan than normal people. I have also read texts claiming that there are documented cases of vampiric persons who have shown slower aging than normal people. None of this indicates however, that vampires are immortal. Vampires do seem to have a stronger immune system than normal people, but as far as my research has uncovered thus far, they do die.
Do vampires really hunt unsuspecting victims?
I have heard of some vampires who do prey on unsuspecting persons, but they are most often psychic vampires whose attacks leave the "victim" with no greater harm than a feeling of exhaustion. Blood drinking vampires have a vast wealth of resources available to them for the aquisition of their needed sustenance. Most whom I have met rely on donors, persons willing to allow the vampire to drink their blood. In addition, there are butcher shops, bloodbanks, and blood merchants.
Do vampires really sleep in coffins?
Although I am quite sure that some extremely eccentric vampires may participate in this type of activity, those whom I have met do not. They sleep in normal beds, limited only by their preference of traditional matresses over waterbeds.
Do vampires cast a reflection in mirrors?
As far as I have learned, all vampires do indeed cast a reflection. In fact, I know of one female vampire who spends a great deal of time in front of the mirror, much like any normal female. Vampires also photogragh well, thereby dismissing the theory that they arent able to be seen except headon.
Can you really kill a vampire by driving a stake through it's heart?
The answer to this is really an issue of common sense. Think to yourself... "how many living things CAN have a stake (wooden or otherwise) driven through their hearts and still live? With that in mind, rest assured that silver bullets, decapitation, and burning will also effectively dispatch a vampire, just as they would any other living thing.
Are there any documented cases listing vampirism as a medical disease?
Vampirism is often cited as a symptom of both physical and psychological diseases. The cases determine those who show certain attributes, such as an aversion to sunlight as displaying "vampiric" tendencies. They do not consider these persons to be actual vampires however. To the best of my knowledge, there are noactual documented cases of vampirism as a medically accepted form of disease. -
I got this Lamb's Blood Pudding recipe off a self procliamed vampire's webby...
Lamb's Blood Pudding
Lamb's blood is considered (by the Scots at least) to be the sweetest blood of all!
Blood (essential item!)
Cream
Salt
Spice Mint
Chives OR
young onions, minced small
Fat
Take as much blood as with half a munchkin of cream will fill an ashet; mix the blood and cream together and run through a cheesecloth. Season with salt and spices, a sprig of mint and chives OR minced young onions; mince the fat; mix all together and fire in the oven or frying pan.
yucks! gross to the max!![/u] -
black pudding?
it's actually quite nice to eat
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Originally posted by the Bear:black pudding?
it's actually quite nice to eat 
Bear is a vampire
Eh bro...so whn you are going to the Beach Rd creepy shop with rat? -
a vampyr bear
not going.. dunno when i go past there or go there.. was looking for a toilet when i had lunch there one day.. came across that shop...Originally posted by PaJeRoMiNi Ver 1.0: Bear is a vampire
Eh bro...so whn you are going to the Beach Rd creepy shop with rat? -
Actually this makes me wonder...
Remember the discussion we had about the El Chupacabras, the goat sucker, in the thread abt Cryptozoology..
could be vampires (not the mythological ones but the medically diagnosed ones) who have killed the goats and extracted their blood for themselves!![/u] -
How big was it huh?Originally posted by the Bear:a vampyr bear
not going.. dunno when i go past there or go there.. was looking for a toilet when i had lunch there one day.. came across that shop... -
I can't stand the thought of consuming blood man....yuck...
you know some people like to eat pig's blood...the squarish ones....i find that disgusting too....taste nice meh? -
very small... the little hole-in-the-wall type...
as for blood, nice to eat.. but then, i'll eat anything edibleOriginally posted by PaJeRoMiNi Ver 1.0:How big was it huh? -
Hmm...one of these days I'll go down and take some pix....if the owner doesn't run after me with a chopper like XLN that is...Originally posted by the Bear:very small... the little hole-in-the-wall type...
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bring a flash.. it's very dark and dingyOriginally posted by PaJeRoMiNi Ver 1.0:Hmm...one of these days I'll go down and take some pix....if the owner doesn't run after me with a chopper like XLN that is...
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Wonder if they sell aphrodisiacs there....hmm..Originally posted by the Bear:bring a flash.. it's very dark and dingy
Tiger whip anyone? -
y christopher lee??
Lee Ming Shun? -
oh i love the movie dracula.. quite an old one starring keanu reeves (!) and winoa ryder (if i din get tt wrong) wif the veri nice song "love song for vampire" (not dracula?) by annie lennox!
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Originally posted by NeonTetra:y christopher lee??
Lee Ming Shun?
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Oh i get it!Originally posted by NeonTetra:y christopher lee??
Lee Ming Shun?
You mean Lee Ming Sun..no lah...the Christopher Lee from the states lah...the one playing Saruman in LOTR 2...
I can't imagine Lee Ming Shun playing Dracula...kakak...looks so funny... -
Originally posted by wuming78:oh i love the movie dracula.. quite an old one starring keanu reeves (!) and winoa ryder (if i din get tt wrong) wif the veri nice song "love song for vampire" (not dracula?) by annie lennox!
