Brief History of Dracula

“His eyes flamed red with devilish passion; the great nostrils of the white aquiline nose opened wide and quivered at the edge; and the white sharp teeth, behind the full lips of the blood dripping mouth, chomped together like those of a wild beast.” (Stoker, Ch.21)

The above excerpt from Bram Stoker's famous vampire novel, Dracula, inspires a sense of terror and the fantastic. The vivid and horrifying portrayal of what, for all intents and purposes, appears as a mad, soulless beast, caring for nothing and thirsting only for blood. A horrifying, but no less, laughable concept, meant only for reading on a dark night, and perhaps worth a tremble or two beneath the bed sheets, late at night, when fancy and pale, wan specters have their ultimate sway. Surely, a creature as base and cruel as this could not truly exist in the real world!

However, the true, real life inspiration behind Stoker's Dracula, Prince Vlad III Tepes, literally meaning `The Impaler,' is no less terrifying or bloodthirsty as his fictionalized characterization. Although, Stoker did draw upon some true, horrifying events that occurred while under the rule of this Wallachian prince, he was not a vampire in the literally sense of the word.

It is hard to determine where, exactly, the myth and fantasy of Bram Stoker's famous novel ends and where the true, mysterious and bloody history of Vlad Dracula begins. Then, who, indeed, was Dracula?

Walachia, during his grandfather's, known as Mircea the Old, time, was bordered by both Hungry and Turkey. Hungry, at that period of history, was in control of Walachia, forcing Mircea to pay them tributes for protection from the bordering Ottoman Turks.

Mircea had a son, Dracula's father, that was educated in Germany and Hungry, and served as a page to the King of Hungry, noted for his creation of the secret `Order of the Dragon,' created to defend Christianity and defend Hungarian territory from the Turks. Vlad earned the privilege of being admitted into this order due to his successful battles against the Turks. He also earned the name `Dracul,' meaning serpent, devil, or the most accepted translation, dragon. Dracula, quite literally, means `Son of Dragon.'

For award of his loyalty to the Hungarian throne and the King, Dracul was given governorship of Transylvania, where Vlad Dracula was born, also the country most associated with the young, would be prince.

However, ambition ceased Dracul, and no longer content with remaining a simple governor, Dracul gathered together friends and enemies to the current ruler of Walachia, Alexandru I, and assassinated him simply to place himself on the throne.

Here, now, accounts differ. According to David Everit's, Hunting Humans, Dracul was marked distinct for his constant allegiance hopping. The Turks invaded, and in an attempt to keep his throne, went over to their side. However, when it appeared that the Hungarian side was at an advantage, he would once more align himself with the Hungarian throne. In an attempt to halt such behavior, the Turks imprisoned his sons in a prison for four years. If rumors about Turkish prisons are true, maybe it is no surprise that Vlad Dracula turned out as he did later in life!

In another account, Florescu and McNally's book, Dracula, Prince of Many Faces, it is implied that Dracul was merely blamed for the Turks invading the Hungarian territory of Walachia, his sons imprisoned for the crime. However, in both accounts, Dracula was indeed forced to spend a good part of his teenage years in a cruel, harsh imprisonment.

After Dracul's death in 1447 or 1448, Dracula was released, only to take after his father's example, favoring either the Turks or the Hungarians side whenever it best suited his interests. However, the Wallachian throne that his father had vacated was not in his reach, since the Hungarians had given it to Vladislav II, who they deemed better suited to their interests then a member of the Tepes family.

However, Vladislav II soon changed his allegiance to Turkey, and the Hungarians, wanting him off the throne they had given him, gave Vlad Dracula an army to go and take back what was his by birth. Vlad was successful in invading Walachia, and had Vladislav killed, and then he took the throne in 1456. “As prince and absolute ruler of his country, he was free to begin his reign of atrocity.” (Everit, 9)

Now, here, is where fantasy and history seem to become collide, providing a dastardly, reprehensible composite of the man, Dracula. However, the events that took place, perhaps greatly exaggerated in the passage of time, even if only a barest hint of it is true, it does not relieve the horror of his crimes and ferocity of his nature.

His first victims were the boyars, the upper class of Wallachian society. They had murdered his brother, Mircea, and he little trusted the dishonest, underhanded dealings that went on behind the scenes at court. An anonymous poet witnessed the carnage wrought first-hand and recorded the event.

After this questioned was posed to the boyars, he then proceeded to have them impaled in the courtyard, the process, of which, he witnessed from above with apparent glee and self-satisfaction. To the ones that had been directly involved in his brother's murder, they met perhaps a worse fate then those of the hapless boyars impaled in the courtyard.

The ones that had assassinated his brother, he had a more brutal plan for. In the midst of an Easter celebration with their families, he had soldiers round the revelers up, women and children included. Outside the walls, as the boyars and their families were marched out, the old and enfeebled were removed from the group of nearly two hundred, and impaled outside the castle walls.

The rest were forced to march nearly fifty miles, a journey that took nearly two days. Once they reached their destination on the Arges River, Dracula then forced them all to begin reconstruction on his castle. No account is given of how many died in the endeavor, but to be sure, the cruelty of Dracula that would drive him to enlist his own people into slavery is evidence enough that very little of the original boyars and their families survived.

Once the boyars were punished and feared their new ruler sufficiently enough to refrain from going behind Dracula's back, he was free to turn his hand at other cruelties and practices that would fascinate and horrify the world, even centuries later.

He believed, apparently, in beautification of his kingdom, and sought to reduce the number of poor. He invited many beggars to dine with him, no set number is agreed upon, but it may well have been over a hundred in attendance. After filling them with food from a grand feast, he asked them if they wanted to live without a care. Agreement wasn't the best course of action, for he had them locked inside and the dining hall set on fire. Therefore giving them all their wishes, for they all died, and the dead have no cares.

Even his diplomatic skills left much to be desired. When Italian ambassadors came to pay court to the Prince, they removed their hats and paid homage to Dracula. However, underneath their hats, they wore skullcaps, and in the custom of that time, they were never allowed to remove them. It is reported that Dracula then said: “In all fairness, I want to strengthen and recognize your customs.” He then had the skullcaps nailed to their heads, making it impossible for them to be removed.

He was not even above punishing lesser `crimes.' He had a dislike of women that often became apparent in his practices. If a woman was accused of adultery or relations with a man outside of marriage, the common punishment was for the woman to be skinned, or impaled through the vagina. The man suffered nothing for the same crimes. It is reported that he once had a woman impaled simply because she had made her husband's trousers a bit too short. The man was awarded with a new spouse.

However, these are crimes that were committed on a lesser magnitude. It was not uncommon for him to have huge groups of people impaled, creating veritable ghastly forests of impaled bodies. In Brasov alone, he had well over a thousand Saxons impaled. Their crimes are not known. He impaled over five hundred noblemen because he did not believe them loyal. The claims were probably not unfounded, because who could, really, want to remain loyal to such a man?

However, admittedly, during his reign, it was relatively free of thieves and liars. The punishment meted out to such was great enough for people not to want to risk it. Dracula was fond of conducting tests to see how honest people in his kingdom were. One instance of this is when a merchant had his purse taken from him, and Dracula ordered that the stolen money be paid back from his very own treasury. Fortune and honesty was with the merchant, for when he counted his money, he found an extra coin and brought it back. If he hadn't, Dracula had assured him, that he would have been punished just as the thief had been. Another test had him leaving a golden cup at a fountain that was a favorite among people in the city where it was left. The golden cup remained untouched. Instant gratification could not even equal the fear instilled in Dracula's people.

These horrors were practiced on a wide magnitude, but neither Hungry nor Turkey intervened, though for sure they had to have known of Dracula's terror-filled reign and despotism.

However, due to his own impertinence, war broke out between him and the Turks at his refusal to continue paying tribute to them. He even had some of his troops invade Turkish territory. However, the Turks just sent an army of greater number into Walachia and Dracula was forced to leave his castle and flee with his army. Behind them, they left thousands of impaled victims, and Dracula did not hesitate to burn entire villages and poison drinking wells to try and turn the Turks back.

The Turks were sickened when they came upon the `Forest of the Impaled,' and turned back, but this victory was not to be Dracula's. The Turks soon took up the pursuit once more, but Vlad managed to escape to Hungry. However, once there, the Hungarians imprisoned him for themselves.

However, he only languished in prison for four years, where, it was noted, he delighted in impaling birds and rats on nails. Perhaps inspiring the bug-eating, insane Renfield in Stoker's novel by such cruel acts and fascination with death that preoccupies said character.

Peace between Hungry and Turkey was always frail at best, and when the two nations were engaged in battle once more, Dracula was released and became an officer in the Hungarian army. Victorious, for the most part, he was allowed to return to Walachia and he once more took the throne, probably to the horror and unrest of it's inhabitants. Even the rule of a puppet king to the Turks was better then Dracula's reign of terror renewed.

However, his second rule was short-lived. Scarcely two months after taking the Wallachian throne, Dracula died. Once more, accounts differ on the manner of his death. Everit claims that he died during a battle with the Turks near Budapest and his head taken back to Constantinople. However, McNally and Florescu maintain that he may have been murdered, his headless corpse and mangled body found in a marsh near Snagov by monks. These same monks placed his remains in the Chapel of Snagov, where they are reputed to still rest today.

Thus is the true nature of Vlad Dracula, immortalized forever in fiction, reviled in history. Perhaps one of the most prolific mass murderer the world has ever known. His victims, at a rough estimate, are numbered at 100,000.

The myth, created by Bram Stoker in 1847, tells of a vampire, a bloodthirsty fiend that rises from the grave at night to feast upon the innocent populace, simply for sustenance. The real life Dracula preyed upon his own people simply for his own enjoyment and to alleviate his blood lust.

Though Stoker's work thrills readers even today, it is nothing compared to the true nature of the beast that bears the name `Son of the Dragon,' and the disgust and revulsion that the world still views his acts with today.