The Real Dracula
Saturday, October 31, 2009 | Karen Howes 
For Halloween, I thought I'd write about Dracula. Not the Eurotrash movie character who sleeps in a coffin and has a cheesy accent, but the real man on whom this legend is based.
Yup, there was a real Dracula.
He wasn't a vampire, or even a count, but a 15th century prince from what is now Romania. He was plenty scary in his own way, but far more interesting.
Vlad Dracula was born in Tirgoviste, Wallachia (what is now southern Romania) in 1431, the second of three legitimate sons born to Prince Vlad Dracul. The name "Dracul" has a double meaning-- it means "dragon", but it also means "devil"; the addition of the "a" at the end of the name means "son of." This would do nothing to improve Dracul's son's reputation later in life.
When Vlad Dracula was just 11 years old, he and his younger brother Radu were sent by their father to Turkey to basically live as "good faith" hostages. The Ottoman Turks really controlled the Balkans at this time, and puppet rulers like Vlad Dracul were expected to pay tribute and cowtow to the Sultan. Sometimes they would hold the children of these princes as collateral. The children were given education and treated well... so long as their fathers remained cooperative and didn't do anything stupid, like try to rebel against the Turks.
Little Radu would grow to be a weak, easily-led man, and his unusually good looks would attract the attentions of the apparently bisexual Sultan Mehmed; Radu, later known as Radu the Handsome, would become his consort. Vlad, by contrast, was awkward-looking and difficult-- his captors didn't like him nearly as much as they liked Radu. The differences in the way they were treated, as well as their differences in temperament, would cause them to hate each other and be enemies as adults.
By the time he was seventeen, Vlad was a commander in the Turkish army; his leadership qualities hadn't gone unnoticed. Whatever Vlad had to endure as a prisoner of the Turks made him diamond-hard, but what he learned during this time would come in very handy later: knowledge of Turkish culture, religion, military tactics, and language.
In 1448, he was released from Turkish captivity when his father Dracul and elder brother Mircea were killed. There was no longer any reason to keep him, now that Dracul was dead. Radu chose to remain in Turkey, but Vlad vowed to avenge his father and brother. He blamed the nobles of his land, whom he believed betrayed his father, and would exact brutal payback.
That same year, when he was still just an adolescent, Vlad briefly reclaimed the Wallachian throne. This was his first reign, which didn't even last a year. He would be on the throne twice more, and would spend a good bit of his time off the throne in prison.
Vlad Dracula ruled with an iron fist-- along with several wooden stakes. His preferred method of dealing with enemies, criminals, and people he regarded as deadbeats was to have them publicly impaled; for this reason he is better known as Vlad Tepes-- the Impaler. This system proved extremely effective for keeping order and lowering the crime rate to nothing. He had a peeve against lazy people, people who didn't work (like beggars), liars, and thieves. Such people usually ended up on the wrong end of a sharp stake.
Dracula, unlike his father, was not willing to cowtow to the Turks, refusing to pay tribute to them. This incurred the wrath of Sultan Mehmed, who thought he would send his army to the Wallachian capital of Tirgoviste and take over. Imagine the horror of the Turkish army when, upon arriving at Timpa Hill (only 60 miles away from the city), they found a seemingly endless string of impaled bodies, in various stages of decomposition. Dracula had ordered his Turkish prisoners to be killed and placed here, shrewdly figuring this would discourage the army from moving forward. It worked; the army turned and fled.
Dracula was also an excellent and innovative military tactician; he employed germ warfare, sending soldiers who had the plague to mingle with the Turks at their camps. He used a "scorched earth" policy, destroying land and crops and poisoning wells so that Turkish armies pursuing them would have nothing to eat or drink. He would reward soldiers who fought bravely and punish those displaying cowardice.
Vlad Dracula himself participated in battle, often disguising himself as a Turk. This tactic, while clever, proved fatal for him; in 1476, not long after his third and final reign had begun, he was killed in battle, likely by one of his own men who mistook him for an enemy soldier. Dracula was 45 years old.
While Vlad Dracula may not have been a nice guy (today he would be charged with countless war crimes and human rights violations), he did single-handedly keep Eastern Europe free of Turkish rule. He was really the only ruler who heeded the Pope's exhortion to fight the Ottomans, and he wasn't even Roman Catholic at the time (he converted from Romanian Orthodoxy to Roman Catholicism about a year before his death, out of sheer political necessity).
In the late 19th century, Vlad Dracula would be the inspiration for an Englishman by the name of Bram Stoker who visited Romania...
Hope everyone has a happy and safe Halloween.
Reader Comments (13)
He would have created a thriving wooden stake business environment!
May I remind everyone that this is actually All Hallows Eve, the beginning of the observance of All Saints Day. This will be followed on Monday by All Souls Day, so in these two days and the preceding evening we are strongly reminded of the communion of saints, the continuity of the Church from earth right on into heaven. This is a concept of great reassurance for those who believe, and it is something that we should speak about loudly and clearly.
Every year, I intend to put up a Halloween post about the real Dracula, but somehow never get around to doing that post.
However, this year, after Halloween, I'll have a video about it. The post will go up on November 2, and I'll link to this post.
Oops! Meant to say a video about Charles Martel. But I"m linking to this post at the end of it.
Allow me to introduce myself, I am Count Gregori from Castle Krieger. I love the smell of chocolate candy in the morning.
Okay enough of this nonsense. May you all remember and pray for the souls of the dearly departed. G-d bless.
Great one. Nice diversion, and historical.
"He had a peeve against lazy people, people who didn't work (like beggars), liars, and thieves."
So do i, and to be quite honest, i can think of a few fat, parasitical leftists i'd like to impale. :)
Thanks for sharing that bit of history with us Karen.
pass the candy corn girl!:)
Dr. D, a much-needed reminder. Thanks!
AOW, thanks. Can't wait to read it.
Bishop, that was cute. God bless you too!
Matt, thanks. I have to take a break from political, cultural, and religious insanity sometimes.
MK, I feel the same way. Not that I would actually impale them... unless they really deserved it, heh heh... and you're welcome.
Angel, here you go. :-)
Hope you all had a happy and safe All Hallow's Eve.
Came from AOW's blog, great site you have. The Dracula story was quite interesting. I showed it to my wife, she has a fasciantion with vampires, etc.
Thanks for the history lesson:) Vampires are all the rage now so it's cool to read where the inspiration came from. I hope you had a nice Halloween!
Chuck, thanks so much! You're welcome here anytime.I also wondered why we never made movies about the REAL Dracula-- as you said, he'd be far more interesting.
Brenda, glad you enjoyed it. I did have a good Halloween, hope you did too!
Never confuse the two with Romanians though.
I once quipped "Hey, there's a new Dracula movie coming out" (referring to 'Van Helsing') to my very Romanian godmother and she spent the next 45 minutes or so lecturing me on the *real* Dracula.
LOL, Constantine., I can understand that. He's still considered a national hero in Romania. :-P