Birthplace of Dracula. Dracula. The true story of the Count. Appearance of Vlad Dracula

Briefly about the article: Who doesn't know Dracula, the great and terrible vampire of all times? But the historical prototype of this character was, if you look at it, an unremarkable ruler, albeit quite cruel. The consequences of “black medieval PR” led to the emergence of a lot of legends and speculation about Vlad, but we will try to abstract from the obviously far-fetched details and tell you about the real events in the life of the “king of the vampires.”

Son of the Dragon

VLAD III PESH

He had an energetic, original face, a thin nose and some special, strangely shaped nostrils; an arrogant high forehead, and hair that grew sparingly and at the same time in thick tufts near the temples; very thick eyebrows, almost meeting on the forehead. The mouth, as far as I could see under the heavy mustache, was determined, even cruel in appearance, with unusually sharp white teeth protruding between the lips, the bright color of which was striking in its vitality in a man of his age. But what was most striking was the extraordinary pallor of his face.

Bram Stoker, "Dracula"

Will you be able to recognize Vlad Dracula if, God forbid, you suddenly meet him on the street? After all, as you know, he is an imposing aristocrat in a long cloak with blood-red lining, with pale skin and jet-black hair... Or a disgusting creature with long teeth and leathery wings? Black wolf, bat, thick fog? Finding ourselves in the past, we would be very surprised to find the real Dracula - an unprepossessing, thin man with suspiciously bulging eyes, when looking at whom we want to check if the wallet is in place, and not run away shouting “Help! A vampire!".

We continue the series of articles about historical figures who became especially famous thanks to books of the science fiction genre. In previous issues we talked about Robin Hood and the Count of Saint-Germain. Today we will meet Dracula himself!

Rating - count!

Vlad III Dracula(November or December 1431 - December 1476) - an ordinary historical figure, the ruler of the Principality of Wallachia, located in the south of modern Romania. Contemporaries gave Vlad the nickname Tepes ( Ţepeş- “impaler”) and the glory of a tyrant who outdid King Herod and Nero in atrocities. With the light hand of Bram Stoker, he turned into a vampire - the textbook Count Dracula, in whose image and likeness all current bloodsuckers are invented (for example, Count Strahd from the Ravenloft universe in the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons).

The real Dracula was first and foremost a military leader. He fought for the independence of Wallachia from the Ottoman Empire (the Turks called him Kazikli Bey, that is, “Prince the Impaler”). In his homeland, he is still revered as a Christian knight who resisted Islamic expansion. The nickname Tepes “stuck” to Vlad only after his death (hardly any of the Romanians dared to call him that to his face). Here, ill-wishers made a special effort, exaggerating Dracula’s habit of executing his enemies by impalement (a common thing for that time) and spreading rumors about incredible bloody orgies. Stoker drew inspiration from these unproven stories. In addition, stories about Vlad’s gastronomic quirks played a certain role - he allegedly loved to eat bread, dipping it in blood (probably pork).

With fire and sword

The Crown of Wallachia was not inherited. The ruler was elected by the boyars. The only requirement for candidates was noble birth ( os de domn- “the flesh and bone of the governor”), even an illegitimate child could become a ruler. Therefore, the political situation in the country was unstable - dynastic feuds and coups broke out every now and then. Everything was further complicated by the fact that Wallachia was located between warring neighbors - the Hungarian and Ottoman Empires, who “pulled the blanket over themselves” and tried in every possible way to take possession of a strategically important region.

Vlad III was not born in Wallachia, but in the small Transylvanian city of Sighisoara. Just at that time, the boyars - allies of Turkey - overthrew his father, Vlad II, and put their man at the helm of the principality.

The father of the future “vampire” was a clever politician and constantly maneuvered between Hungary and Turkey. To enlist the support of Sultan Murad, he gave him his two youngest sons - Vlad and Radu - as hostages. Here their destinies divided. Vlad was kept in the underground dungeon of the Egrigez fortress and was treated very poorly.

After the boyars killed his father in 1448, Vlad III was released from captivity and, moreover, placed by the Turks on the empty throne of Wallachia as a “puppet ruler.” However, the Hungarians were not satisfied with such arrangements - they sent an army to Wallachia, and Vlad, having learned about it, prudently hid in Moldova.

After the death of the Moldavian ruler Bogdan, Vlad, risking his life, fled to hostile Hungary. By some miracle, he managed to make peace with the local regent, Janos Hunyandi, and even enlist his support. With the help of the Hungarians, in 1456 Vlad drove the Turks out of Wallachia and reigned there for 6 years.

This was the main, longest period of his reign, when Vlad, according to some sources (for example, “The Tale of Dracula the Voivode” by clerk Fyodor Kuritsyn), destroyed up to 100,000 people - that is, about 20% of the population of his country - and earned the nickname “Tepesh” . That's what the chronicles say. How could it really be?

Internal affairs

Vlad's residence was located in the city of Targovishte. In addition to wars with the Turks and reprisals against conspirators, Dracula was engaged in quite ordinary affairs. He traveled to Bucharest on embassy business. He made laws. Met with ambassadors. Handled the most complicated litigation. He started the construction and reconstruction of several castles. He probably appeared in public on holidays and hunted in his free time.

Not trusting the aristocrats, Vlad recruited commoners into his army, personally knighting them. He deprived German settlements of trading privileges (this was the source of income for his political competitors) and launched devastating campaigns against them. That is why in German chronicles Dracula was called wutrich- “furious”, “monster”, “fierce”.

The economy of Wallachia was undermined by constant changes of rulers and incessant wars. Agriculture withered away, trade almost ceased, and the crime rate exceeded all imaginable limits. In such conditions, Vlad III had to resort to the most brutal measures. He exemplarily executed bandits and drowned peasant revolts in blood.

External Affairs

Following family tradition, Vlad entered into an alliance with Hungary against Turkey (he was also pushed to this by the fact that his brother Radu lived with the Turks, who dreamed of taking the throne). Pope Pius II promised to give money for the war with the Ottoman Empire. The Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus guaranteed military support. However, when it came down to it, they left Dracula alone with the formidable Muhammad II, the conqueror of Constantinople.

In 1459, Vlad stopped paying tribute to the Turks, conscripted the entire combat-ready male population into the army, crossed the Danube and slaughtered 20,000 people on the territory of the Ottoman Empire. In response, Sultan Muhammad II invaded Wallachia with an army of sixty thousand (historians sometimes talk about 200,000 - but this figure is clearly overestimated). Realizing that he would have no chance in an open conflict, Dracula allowed the Turks to capture Targovishte and began a guerrilla war.

His famous “night raid” on the Sultan’s camp went down in history - Vlad with 7,000 soldiers launched a desperate sortie, destroyed up to 15,000 enemies, almost made his way to the tent of Muhammad himself (to disguise the governor and a group of his bravest people dressed as Turks) and received a lung head injury. Frightened, the Sultan hastily left Wallachia, leaving Rada the Beautiful in his place.

Targeted attacks on the enemy army, demonstrative reprisals against captured Turks and the “scorched earth” tactics earned Vlad the fame of a brave and wise commander. But miracles do not happen - in 1462, Dracula was forced to retreat to the allied Hungary, losing Wallachia to his “Turkish” brother Radu.

Here Vlad was overtaken by betrayal. The Hungarian king Matthias decided to pocket the pope's money (40,000 guilders) allocated for the war, and blamed his vassal for the failures at the front. He fabricated letters from Dracula to the Sultan, where the governor allegedly asked for peace and offered assistance in the war with Hungary.

The original letters were “lost”; only copies in Latin, written in a manner completely uncharacteristic of Dracula, have reached us. Then all the chronicles suddenly began to describe in unison the sadistic habits of a veteran of the Turkish war. As a result, he was convicted and placed in prison.

Vlad spent about 12 years there and regained his freedom only by marrying Matthias’ cousin (some historians believe that it was not right for the princess to marry a prisoner, so he was released 4 years after his imprisonment) and converting to Catholicism. The latter fact infuriated the Orthodox Church - which is why Russian chronicles denounce Dracula as a “devil” and an “apostate.”

Having accumulated strength, in 1475 Vlad recaptured Wallachia from his brother, but his position remained very weak. His subjects remembered well the ways in which he restored order in the country. When the Turks launched another attack, Dracula was able to gather only 4,000 men and, naturally, lost the battle.

There are several versions of his death. According to one, he was killed by the boyars who went over to the side of the Sultan. According to another, more common one, Dracula fell in battle with the Turks - and the governor was stabbed in the back by one of his own soldiers.

Who is right?

Who really is this Dracula - a hero or a tyrant? It is impossible to give a definite answer, because, if you think about it, he was both. Yes, of course, Dracula ruled with an iron fist, trying in every possible way to intimidate his enemies. He was characterized by sophisticated oriental cruelty, which he saw enough of in his youth “visiting” the Sultan. Vlad dealt with traitors and invaders in such a way that even the bloodthirsty Turks felt sick. This was his blood revenge for his father and brother.

However, by the standards of the Middle Ages, such behavior can hardly be called out of the ordinary. For example, Vlad’s cousin, the Moldavian prince Stefan impaled two thousand people - but at the same time went down in history under the nicknames “Great” and “Saint”. Dracula's terrible reputation as a “medieval Hitler” is the result of massive “black PR” organized by his countless envious people and ill-wishers who wanted to discredit Vlad in front of the whole world.

Unthinkable deeds and ferocious jokes were attributed to him. He allegedly ordered stakes to be placed (their height depended on the rank of the executed person - the higher, the more noble) in a kind of “forest” and feasted there, enjoying the groans of the unfortunate. The babies were impaled on top of their mothers on the same stake. The victims had their limbs cut off, nails driven into their heads, their genitals cut out, their skin removed and scalded with boiling water.

Legends say that Dracula ordered a golden goblet to be placed by the fountain in the main square of Targovishte so that everyone could drink from it. According to the law of the principality, theft was punishable by death, so no one dared to steal this jewel.

When 160 ducats were stolen from the cart of an overseas merchant, Dracula ordered not only to find the thief, but also to secretly give the merchant 161 ducats. The next day the thief was caught and impaled, and the merchant discovered an extra coin and honestly reported it to Vlad. He explained to the merchant that this was a test. If the merchant had hidden it, he would have sat on a stake next to the thief.

No less famous is the story of the ambassadors who refused to take off their hats (turbans) in the presence of Dracula. He ordered their hats to be nailed to their heads. Having met a peasant dressed in a short caftan in a field, Tepes ordered his “lazy” wife to be executed (despite the man’s protests), and appointed him a new one, ordering her to take proper care of her wife.

One day Dracula declared that there should be no poor or hungry people in his state. He invited all the beggars and cripples to a luxurious feast, and when they had eaten, he set fire to the building where the celebration took place, fulfilling his promise literally.

* * *

Vlad III was a man of his time. An ordinary, unremarkable feudal lord, whom we would never have heard of - if not for his “vampire” career. Even there is a lot of speculation in it - for example, there are rumors that Dracula’s grave in the Snagov Monastery turned out to be empty (desecrated, filled with donkey bones). That he was not beheaded in vain - after all, at that time this was how they dealt with vampires. Sometimes everything seemed the other way around - they say, Dracula himself fought with vampires and other evil spirits, impaling them, as expected.

After so many years, it is difficult to distinguish truth from lies. And is it really necessary, this truth? After all, the historical value of Dracula lies not in his true appearance, but in how we imagine him today. Ask anyone - who is Dracula? - and you will understand that we should be grateful to those who in ancient times weaved a web of occult myths around Vlad the Impaler. Otherwise, now we would be dealing with yet another unknown prince, and the world of fantasy would be deprived of the most famous vampire in the world.

Vlad the Impaler was born approximately in 1429 or 1431 (the exact date of birth, as well as death, is unknown to historians). He came from the Basarab family. His father, Vlad II Dracul, was a Wallachian ruler who ruled a region in modern-day Romania. The mother of the child was the Moldavian princess Vasilika.

Family and famous nickname

Vlad III Tepes spent the first seven years of his life in the Transylvanian city of Sighisoara. His family's house housed a mint. It minted gold coins with the image of a dragon on them. For this, Vlad's father (and later himself) received the nickname "Dracul". In addition, he was enrolled as a knight in the Order of the Dragon, created by the Hungarian king Sigismund I. In his youth, the son was also called "Dracul", but later this form changed to the more famous - "Dracula". The word itself belongs to the Romanian language. It can also be translated as "devil".

In 1436, Vlad's father became the ruler of Wallachia and moved the family to the then capital of the principality of Targovishte. Soon the boy had a younger brother - Radu the Handsome. Then the mother died, and the father married a second time. Another brother of Dracula, Vlad the Monk, was born into this marriage.

Childhood

In 1442, Vlad III Tepes went on the run. His father quarreled with the Hungarian ruler Janos Hunyadi. The influential monarch decided to place his protege Basarab II on the Wallachian throne. Realizing the limitations of his own strength, Dracula's parent went to Turkey, where he was going to ask for help from the powerful Sultan Murat II. It was then that his family fled the capital so as not to fall into the hands of Hungarian supporters.

Several months have passed. The spring of 1443 arrived. Vlad II came to an agreement with the Turkish Sultan and returned to his homeland with a powerful Ottoman army. This army displaced Basarab. The Hungarian ruler did not even resist this coup. He was preparing for the upcoming Crusade against the Turks and rightly believed that it was necessary to deal with Wallachia only after defeating his main enemy.

The Hunyadi War ended with the Battle of Varna. The Hungarians suffered a crushing defeat in it, King Vladislav was killed, and Janos himself ingloriously fled from the battlefield. Peace negotiations followed. The Turks, as victors, could impose their demands. The political situation changed dramatically, and Dracula's father decided to defect to the Sultan. Murat agreed to become the patron of the Wallachian ruler, however, in order to ensure his loyalty, he demanded that valuable hostages be sent to Turkey. They were chosen to be 14-year-old Vlad Dracula and 6-year-old Radu.

Life with the Ottomans

Dracula spent four years in Turkey (1444-1448). It is traditionally believed that it was during this period that his character underwent irreversible changes. Returning to his homeland, Vlad Dracula became a completely different person. But what could have caused these changes? The opinions of biographers of the Wallachian ruler were divided on this matter.

Some historians claim that in Turkey, Dracula was forced to convert to Islam. Torture could indeed have a negative impact on the psyche, but there is not a single evidence of it in credible sources. It is also assumed that Tepes experienced great stress due to the harassment of the heir to the Ottoman throne, Mehmed, towards his brother Radu. The historian of Greek origin Laonik Chalkokondylos wrote about this connection. However, according to the source, these events took place in the early 1450s, when Dracula had already returned home.

Even if the first two hypotheses are true, Vlad III Tepes truly changed after he learned about the murder of his own father. The ruler of Wallachia died in the fight against the Hungarian king. By sending his sons to Turkey, he hoped that peace would finally come to his country. But in fact, the flywheel of the war between Christians and Muslims was only spinning up. In 1444, the Hungarians again went on a Crusade against the Turks and were again defeated. Then Janos Hunyadi attacked Wallachia. Dracula's father was executed (his head was cut off), and in his place the ruler of Hungary installed his next protege - Vladislav II. Vlad's older brother was dealt with even more cruelly (he was buried alive).

Soon news of what happened reached Turkey. The Sultan gathered a formidable army and defeated the Hungarians in the Battle of Kosovo. The Ottomans contributed to the fact that in 1448 Vlad III Tepes returned to his homeland and became a Wallachian prince. As a sign of mercy, the Sultan presented Dracula with horses, money, magnificent clothes and other gifts. Radu remained to live at the Turkish court.

Short reign and exile

Dracula's first Wallachian reign lasted only two months. During this time, he only managed to begin an investigation into the circumstances of the murder of his relatives. The Romanian prince learned that his father was betrayed by his own boyars, who at the decisive moment defected to the Hungarians, for which the new government showered them with various favors.

In December 1448, Dracula had to leave the capital of Wallachia, Targovishte. Recovering from the defeat, Hunyadi announced a campaign against Tepes. The Gospodar's army was too weak to successfully resist the Hungarians. Having soberly assessed the situation, Dracula disappeared into Moldova.

This small country, like Wallachia, was ruled by its princes. The rulers of Moldavia, who did not have significant forces, were forced to agree to Polish or Hungarian influence. Two neighboring states fought each other for the right to be overlords of a small principality. When Dracula settled in Moldova, the Polish party was in power there, which guaranteed his safety. The overthrown ruler of Wallachia remained in the neighboring principality until, in 1455, Peter Aron, a supporter of the Hungarians and Janos Hunyadi, established himself on the throne.

Return to power

Fearing that he would be handed over to his sworn enemy, Dracula left for Transylvania. There he began to gather the people's militia in order to retake the Wallachian throne (which was then again occupied by the Hungarian protege Vladislav).

In 1453, the Turks captured the Byzantine capital of Constantinople. The fall of Constantinople again aggravated the conflict between Christians and Ottomans. Catholic monks appeared in Transylvania and began to recruit volunteers for a new crusade against the infidels. Everyone except the Orthodox were taken to the holy war (they, in turn, went to Tepes’s army).

Dracula in Transylvania hoped that the Wallachian prince Vladislav would also go to liberate Constantinople, which would make his task easier. However, this did not happen. Vladislav was afraid of the appearance of the Transylvanian militia on his borders and remained in Targovishte. Then Dracula sent spies to the Wallachian boyars. Some of them agreed to support the applicant and help him with the coup d'état. In August 1456, Vladislav was killed, and Tepes was proclaimed ruler of Wallachia for the second time.

Shortly before that, the Turks again declared war on Hungary and besieged Belgrade, which belonged to it. The fortress was saved. The crusade, which was supposed to end with the liberation of Constantinople, turned towards Belgrade. And although the Turks were stopped, a plague epidemic began in the Christian army. Nine days before Dracula came to power in Wallachia, his opponent Janos Hunyadi, who was in Belgrade, died from this terrible disease.

Prince and nobility

Vlad's new reign in Wallachia began with the execution of the boyars responsible for the deaths of his brother and father. Aristocrats were invited to a feast dedicated to Easter. There they were given a death sentence.

According to legend, right during the solemn feast, Dracula asked the boyars sitting at the same table with him how many Wallachian rulers they found alive. None of the guests could name less than seven names. The question was ominous and symbolic. The incredible turnover of rulers in Wallachia spoke only of one thing: the nobility here is ready to betray their prince at any moment. Dracula could not allow this to happen. He took the throne quite recently, his position was still precarious. In order to gain a foothold at the helm of power and demonstrate his determination, he carried out demonstration executions.

Although the ruler was unpleasant to know, he could not get rid of it completely. Under Tepes, there was a council of 12 people. Every year the ruler tried to update the composition of this body as much as possible in order to include enough people loyal to himself.

Dracula's Domain

Vlad's first priority on the throne was to deal with the taxation system. Wallachia paid tribute to Turkey and the authorities needed a stable income. The problem was that after Dracula’s accession to the throne, the principal treasurer of the principality fled from Wallachia to Transylvania. He took with him a register - a collection where all the data on taxes, taxes, villages and cities of the state was entered. Because of this loss, the principality initially experienced financial problems. The next treasurer was found only in 1458. The new cadastre, necessary to restore the tax system, took three years to prepare.

On the territory that belonged to Dracula there were 2,100 villages and 17 more cities. At that time there was no population census. Nevertheless, historians, with the help of secondary data, managed to restore the approximate number of the prince’s subjects. The population of Wallachia was about 300 thousand people. The figure is modest, but in medieval Europe there was practically no demographic growth. Regular epidemics interfered, and Dracula’s century was especially rich in bloody events.

The largest cities of Tepes were Targovishte, Campulung and Curtea de Arges. They were the actual capitals - the princely courts were located there. The Wallachian ruler also owned the profitable Danube ports, which controlled trade in Europe and the Black Sea region (Kilia, Braila).

As mentioned above, Dracula's treasury was replenished mainly through taxes. Wallachia was rich in livestock, grain, salt, fish, and wineries. In the dense forests that occupied half the territory of this country, there was a lot of game. From the east, spices (saffron, pepper), fabrics, cotton and silk, rare for the rest of Europe, were delivered here.

Foreign policy

In 1457, the Wallachian army went to war against the Transylvanian city of Sibiu. The initiator of the campaign was Vlad III Tepes. The history of the campaign is vague. Dracula accused the city residents of helping Hunyadi and quarreling him with his younger brother Vlad the Monk. Having left the lands of Sibiu, the Wallachian ruler went to Moldova. There he helped his longtime comrade Stefan, who supported Dracula during his exile, ascend to the throne.

All this time, the Hungarians did not stop their attempts to re-subdue the Romanian provinces. They supported a challenger named Dan. This rival of Dracula settled in the Transylvanian city of Brasov. Soon Wallachian merchants were detained there and their goods were confiscated. Dan's letters are the first to mention that Dracula liked to resort to the cruel torture of impalement. It was from her that he received his nickname Tepes. From Romanian this word can be translated as “ringer”.

The conflict between Dan and Dracula escalated in 1460. In April, the armies of the two rulers met in a bloody battle. The Wallachian ruler won a convincing victory. As a warning to his enemies, he ordered the already dead enemy soldiers to be impaled. In July, Dracula took control of the important city of Fagaras, which had previously been occupied by Dan's supporters.

In the fall, an embassy from Brasov arrived in Wallachia. He was received by Vlad III the Impaler himself. The prince's castle became the place where a new peace treaty was signed. The document applied not only to the Brasovians, but also to all Saxons living in Transylvania. Prisoners on both sides were freed. Dracula promised to join an alliance against the Turks, who threatened the possessions of Hungary.

War with the Ottomans

Since his homeland was Romania, Dracula was Orthodox. He actively supported the church, gave it money and defended its interests in every possible way. At the expense of the prince, a new monastery of Comana was built near Giurgiu, as well as a temple in Targshor. Tepes also gave money to the Greek Church. He donated to Athos and other Orthodox monasteries in the country captured by the Turks.

Vlad III Tepes, whose biography during his second reign turned out to be so closely connected with the church, could not help but fall under the influence of Christian hierarchs, who convinced the authorities in any European country to fight against the Turks. The first sign of the new anti-Ottoman course was the agreement with the Transylvanian cities. Gradually, Dracula became more and more inclined towards the need for war with the infidels. The Wallachian Metropolitan Macarius carefully pushed him to this idea.

It was impossible to fight the Sultan with the forces of one professional army. There simply were not enough people living in poor Romania to equip an army as colossal as the Turks thought it was. That is why Tepes armed the townspeople and peasants, creating an entire people's militia. Dracula in Moldova managed to get acquainted with a similar defense system of the country.

In 1461, the Wallachian ruler decided that he had enough resources to talk with the Sultan on equal terms. He refused to pay tribute to the Ottomans and began to prepare for an invasion. The invasion actually took place in 1462. An army of up to 120 thousand people, led by Mehmed II, entered Wallachia.

Dracula did not allow the Turks to carry out the war according to his scenario. He organized a partisan struggle. Wallachian troops attacked the Ottoman army in small detachments - at night and suddenly. This strategy cost the Turks 15 thousand lives. Moreover, Tepes fought according to scorched earth tactics. His partisans destroyed any infrastructure that could be useful to the invaders in a foreign land. The executions so beloved by Dracula were not forgotten either - impalement became the worst nightmare of the Turks. As a result, the Sultan had to leave Wallachia with nothing.

Death

In 1462, shortly after the end of the war with the Ottoman Empire, Dracula was betrayed by the Hungarians, who deprived him of his throne and imprisoned his neighbor for twelve years. Formally, Tepes ended up in prison on charges of collaborating with the Ottomans.

After his release, when it was already 1475, he, left without power, began to serve in the Hungarian army, where he held the position of royal captain. In this capacity, Vlad took part in the siege of the Turkish bastion of Sabac.

In the summer of 1476, the war with the Ottomans moved to Moldavia. Stephen the Great, whose friend Dracula, continued to rule there. The year Tepes was born fell on a time of troubles, when events of enormous scale took place at the junction of Europe and Asia. Therefore, even if he wanted to return to peaceful life, he would not have been able to do so.

When Moldavia was saved from the Turks, Stefan of Moldova helped Dracula re-establish himself on the Wallachian throne. Targovishte and Bucharest were ruled at that time by pro-Ottoman Lajot Basarab. In November 1476, Moldavian troops captured the key cities of Wallachia. Dracula was proclaimed prince of this unfortunate country for the third time.

Soon Stefan's troops left Wallachia. Tepes had a small army left. He died in December 1476, just a month after establishing his power. The circumstances of his death, like Dracula's grave, are not known for certain. According to one version, he was killed by a servant bribed by the Turks, according to another, the prince died in battle against the same Turks.

Bad reputation

Today, Vlad Dracula is much better known not for the historical facts of his life, but for the mythical image that developed around his personality after the death of the prince. We are talking, of course, about the famous Transylvanian vampire, who adopted the name of the Wallachian ruler.

But how did this character come about? The most incredible rumors circulated about the real Dracula during his lifetime. In Vienna in 1463, a pamphlet was written and published about him, in which Tepes was described as a bloodthirsty maniac (facts about executions by impalement and other evidence of numerous Romanian wars were used). The same collection included the poem “On the Villain,” written by Michael Beheim. The work insisted that Tepes was a tyrant. The executions of girls and children were mentioned. Vlad III Tepes himself, married to Ilona Sziladyi, had three sons: Michael, Vlad and Mikhnia.

In 1480 "The Tale of Dracula the Voivode" appeared. It was written in Russian by clerk Fyodor Kuritsyn, who worked in the embassy department under Ivan III. He visited Hungary, where he was on an official visit to King Matthias Corvinus to conclude an alliance against Poland and Lithuania. In Transylvania, Kuritsyn collected several stories about Dracula, which he later used as the basis for his story. The work of the Russian clerk differed from the Austrian pamphlet, although it also contained scenes of cruelty. However, the image of Dracula gained real worldwide fame much later - at the end of the 19th century.

Stoker's image

Today, only Romania itself seems to know about this: Dracula was not a vampire or a count, but the ruler of Wallachia in the 15th century. For most people around the globe, his name is associated only with the undead. The idea that Vlad III the Impaler drank blood was made popular by the Irish writer Bram Stoker (1847 - 1912). With his novel Dracula, he transformed the historical character into the category of a mythical creature and a popular hero of mass culture.

The image of a vampire, one way or another, is in every pagan culture and religion. Generally speaking, it can be called a “living corpse” - a dead creature that maintains its life by drinking the blood of its victims. For example, among the ancient Slavs a ghoul was considered a similar creature. Stoker was fond of mysticism and decided to take advantage of the notoriety of the real Dracula for his novel about a vampire. The writer also called him Nosferatu. In 1922, this word was included in the title of an epoch-making horror film by Friedrich Murnau.

The image of Dracula has become a classic for the entire world cinema and the horror genre. Throughout the 20th century, the industry returned again and again to Stoker's story about the Transylvanian Count (according to the Guinness Book of Records, 155 feature-length films were made). However, there are only a dozen films dedicated to Tepes, who lived in the 15th century.

Interesting facts from the life of Vlad Dracula

Vlad III Tepes (Dracula) - ruler of Wallachia (born approximately 1431 - died 1476)

Vlad Dracula (Dracul) is a real historical figure of the 15th century. The biography of Lord Dracula is interesting, tragic and based on information contained in Serbian, Polish, Byzantine and even Russian chronicles. The great Moscow sovereign Ivan III ordered to write down the history of the ruler Dracula, nicknamed Tepes (namely the ruler, not the count!) for the edification of his descendants. Many historians believe that these notes were carefully studied in his youth by Ivan Vasilyevich IV, who later received the nickname Grozny.

The famous humanist and poet Cardinal Aeneas Piccolomini (1405–1464), while traveling around Europe, personally met with Vlad Dracula. In his work “Cosmography,” the cardinal describes his appearance as follows: “A man of average height, with a high forehead and a face that sharply tapers towards the chin.”

To this description we will add that Vlad III Tepes and all other representatives of the Draculeshty family, including those living today, never suffered from pallor or other vampire ailments. Vlad himself was not really tall, but he had enormous physical strength. He had a large aquiline nose, broad shoulders and a thick neck. There was a lush head of dark hair on his head. According to chroniclers, Vlad was an excellent horseman and was excellent at wielding bladed weapons. In his younger years, he became the winner of the prestigious jousting tournament in Nuremberg in Germany.

Vlad's ancestors came to Romania and Moldova from Hungary in the 13th century. They adopted the language and faith of their new homeland, becoming its rulers. In the center of Chisinau there was a monument to the ruler of Moldavia, Mircea the Old, the grandfather of Vlad II. Wallachia was founded in 1290.

Exactly 100 years later, the illegitimate son of the ruler Mirce was born, who was named Vlad. He was distinguished by his courage and bravery in the battles that raged in those parts every now and then. The people nicknamed him Dracula, and in this nickname there is not even a hint of mysticism: Vlad II Dracula was a member of the secret knightly order of the Dragon, or rather, the defeated dragon. There is nothing secret that would not become obvious: many people learned about the order, including the Turks.

At the end of 1431, Vlad II had a son, who also received the name Vlad in honor of his father.

“The Wallachian dog has become old and does not obey its owner,” the Sultan told the viziers, throwing a green silk cord onto a golden dish.
It was a sentence. Vlad II became the ruler of Wallachia, taking the throne of his father, who died at the request and verdict of the Turkish Sultan.

“Let's see if the dragon knights will help the new Wallachian ruler in battles with the warriors of Islam,” the Grand Vizier laughed sarcastically. “So that he doesn’t plot against the padishah, let him give his son as a hostage!”

So, while still a boy, the future Vlad III Dracula, later nicknamed Tepes (“Tepes” translated into Russian means “stake”), became a hostage of the Sultan.

In those days, in order to keep vassals always ready to rebel in obedience, the Turks took their children hostage and executed them with cruel death at the first manifestations of disobedience of their parents. Often the boys were first castrated, and then sent to the harem and only after a while they were killed. The hostage's life was constantly hanging in the balance. I had the opportunity to leave my father's house and be raised at the court of the Sultan.

For 7 long years, outwardly maintaining humility, the young man languished in captivity and only after the death of his father and older brother received freedom.

“You will take the place of your parent,” the Grand Vizier nodded favorably as he released Vlad. – Don’t make mistakes if you want to save life and power.

He did not know that not much time would pass and the young Wallachian ruler, who had well learned the lessons of Turkish cruelty, would begin to instill panic in the Muslims and receive from them the nickname Kazykly - the Piercer!

God, what freedom this is! A recent hostage, mourning the death of his father, was released under escort on the condition of maintaining submission to the Ottomans and paying tribute. Vlad went home along with the officials, spies and guards assigned to him. But, once in his hometown of Seguisoara - on the territory of modern Romania, Dracula immediately threw off his mask of humility: he expelled all the Turks and, on pain of death, forbade them to appear in his possessions. This turned out to be not empty bravado of a 19-year-old youth who was eager for revenge!

Dracula chose the city of Brasov as his stronghold and began to prepare for a long and bloody war. His other stronghold was in Tirgovishte, which stood on the high bank of the Yalomirtsy River. At the same time, Gospodar Vlad III was actively involved in the internal affairs of his state.

From the Turks, Vlad adopted the cruel method of execution - impalement. Historical chronicles note: Dracula’s executioners achieved such virtuoso art (if brutal murders can be called art) that the stake passed through the human body, minimally touching the internal organs. The victim suffered for a long time before dying. To prolong the agony, a special crossbar was nailed to the stake so that the body would not completely sit down, like on a skewer, and the victim would not die quickly.

Soon Vlad gathered all the boyars together with their families for a feast in the palace - in total, according to chroniclers, there were up to 500 guests. They feasted in Tirgovishte. Allegedly, Vlad III celebrated his accession to the throne. During the feast, when the wine flowed like a river, the ruler, with an innocent look, slyly asked the order of the tipsy guests:

- Tell me, boyars, how many rulers have you decided?
- A lot, sir! – the guests began to vying with each other. – Not one or two.
“Great,” Dracula grinned. And he shouted angrily: “They were all killed, like my father and older brother.” Killed because you constantly plotted and sold yourself wholeheartedly to the Turks, becoming blind executors of their will. Traitors! Now a new nobility will appear in my state! Hey guards! Take them all!

The ruler ordered those who were older, regardless of gender, to be impaled. He gathered the rest in the courtyard of his palace-castle and gloomily told them:
- You will go on foot under escort to Poenri. There, build a fortress on the top of the hill above the river. Whoever survives should consider himself lucky. Build day and night. A count awaits the careless!

In fact, Vlad III sent his enemy boyars to hard labor.

The Lord sincerely believed that all citizens must work for the good of their homeland, and therefore did not favor those who could not do this - the poor, the beggars, the sick and thieves.

One day the ruler addressed a speech to the city beggars - the crippled and the beggars:
– Do you want to get rid of the oppressive feeling of hunger forever and not chatter your teeth from the cold?
Hearing how the beggars and cripples murmured approvingly in response, Vlad III suggested:
- Come to me, become my guests.
A brotherhood of poor beggars, petty thieves and cripples were treated to glory in a large barn. When the “guests” got pretty tipsy, Vlad quietly went out and gave a signal to the palace guards. The soldiers he had trained quickly boarded up the windows and doors, and then set fire to the barn from 4 corners. A high flame quickly rose and dry boards crackled in the fire. The roar of the fire drowned out the screams of those burned alive.

According to the version of other chroniclers, the ruler gathered enemy spies in one of the old castles and burned it along with the traitors. This version is more plausible - small Orthodox Wallachia had enough enemies. As if between millstones, it was squeezed by the Muslim Ottoman Empire on one side and the Catholic kingdom of Hungary on the other.

Foreigners who visited Wallachia wrote with surprise that “there is no crime in the country.” All the years of the reign of Vlad III, in the square of his capital there was a large golden cup from which anyone could drink spring water. They were terrified of stealing, knowing what fate awaited the thief - stake! Vlad Dracula, nicknamed Tepes, did not spare thieves. This may seem strange, but the ruler enjoyed the love and trust of the people. He saw him as a protector, and the new boyars, created by the ruler to replace the executed traitors, stood up for their ruler.

In particular, Vlad did not favor the Turks. Chroniclers mention a case when the ruler strictly ordered the Sultan’s envoys who arrived to him:

- Bare your heads! You are in the palace of the Orthodox ruler of Wallachia.
“You know better than others: our faith in Allah does not allow us to do this.”
– Do you believe so fervently that you are ready to suffer for your faith and the prophet?
“Yes,” the Turks answered firmly, not knowing what the padishah’s vassal was planning.
- Hey, guards! - the ruler clapped his hands - Take them! Let the executioner nail their turbans to their heads!

The ruler preferred mass executions to single executions. Moreover, he ordered the stakes to be placed in the form of different patterns, and most often - circles. He especially loved executions during feasts. The Lord sat at a table laden with dishes and goblets of wine, and admired how the condemned were writhing in pain on the stakes.

But Vlad did not forget about other types of execution: he skinned criminals alive and threw them into boiling water. Beheaded, blinded. Strangled, hanged, cut off noses, ears, genitals and limbs. After the executions, the bodies were put on public display.

Dracula treated female chastity with special “trepidation.” The victims of his cruelty were girls deflowered, unfaithful wives and unchaste widows. Often their genitals were removed and their breasts were cut off. One such unfortunate woman, by order of the ruler, first had her breasts cut off, then her skin was torn off and impaled on a stake in the main square, and her flayed skin was placed next to her on the executioner’s bench.

However, Dracula not only eradicated crime and “pinned down” the debauchees. He did his best to protect his subjects from the violence of the even more cruel Turk enslavers.

Russian chroniclers talk more kindly about Dracula than German and, of course, Turkish ones. Wallachia and Muscovy sent diplomatic missions to each other, mostly consisting of Orthodox priests. Ivan III was flattered that the Wallachian prince personally wrote letters to him in Church Slavonic.

1462 - Vlad III Dracula unexpectedly attacked the Turks and drove them out of the Danube Valley.

– Is our former hostage showing disobedience? – Having learned about this, Sultan Mehmed II, nicknamed the Conqueror, grinned. “Let them bring me his head on a platter!”

The Turks could not tolerate neglect of their power, which had already conquered a large part of Europe! Soon, a twenty-thousand-strong Janissary army advanced to the possessions of Vlad III, against which Dracula could field half as many fighters. But they burned with hatred for the enslavers, and the ruler managed not only to study the enemy’s language, but also to learn all his strengths and weaknesses. The Turks knew practically nothing about him as a military leader, while he had extraordinary military talent. The Gospodar occupied several well-fortified mountain fortresses and took control of the main passes.

He sent a select detachment of daredevils to meet the Ottomans, ordering them to capture the Turkish vanguard at any cost. Soon the brave men returned and brought the captured Janissaries. The Lord rejoiced.

In the morning, axes began to sound, stakes were sharpened and driven into the walls of Tirgovishte. The bound Janissaries began to be impaled on stakes. Belyuk-bashi, officers of the Janissary corps received the last honors: their stakes were gilded with ocher.

- To Wallachia! - Mehmed II growled when he learned about the fate of the Janissaries. - Go on a hike! No one will be spared, and the Wallachian ruler will be put on a chain like a dog.

But the ruler managed to prepare well for the invasion of the Turks. Having placed detachments along the route of the Ottoman army, he attacked at the most inopportune moments for the enemy - at crossings or at night. The 40,000-strong Turkish army retreated, and Vlad suffered few losses.

On the third campaign, the Sultan sent 250,000 soldiers against Vlad III the Impaler: more than the population of Wallachia, including women and children. The ruler fielded an army of 40,000 against the enemy. Dracula avoided large-scale clashes, preferring guerrilla tactics. He personally carried out reconnaissance and mostly made do with the forces of his guard. Dressing in Turkish clothes, Vlad the Impaler and his comrades raided the enemy camp at night, lit fires, and chopped down the Turks. Panic began, the sleepy Turks killed their own, and Vlad’s guards disappeared into the darkness.

Once, after a particularly bloody raid on the camp, selected Turkish cavalry rushed after a detachment of night Wallachian “werewolves”, and the entire Ottoman army moved after the vanguard. When dawn broke, a terrible sight met the eyes of the Turkish warriors. 7,000 of their horsemen, led by the noble commander Yunus Bey, sat not on horses, but... on stakes. In the same battle formation in which Vlad was pursued.

Retreating to the capital, Dracula burned villages and poisoned wells.
Approaching Tirgovishte, the Sultan saw an eerie picture, known in history as “Forest of stakes.” A whole forest of stakes grew in front of the city, on which Vlad planted about 20,000 Turks.

The stench of the bodies of those executed, decomposing in the sun, spread far in the sultry air.

“It is impossible to take the country away from a husband capable of such acts,” said the shocked Sultan.

As always, betrayal played a vile role. The Turks retreated, but did not retreat. Their fourth campaign against Wallachia ended in the defeat of the ruler.

Everyone betrayed Dracula: both the mercenaries and the Transylvanians who swore allegiance. The Moldovans were in no hurry to provide help. Even Radu’s brother took part in the campaign against Wallachia as part of the Turkish army.

Many boyars, who had recently stood up for the ruler, joined the Turks. They drove Vlad into the Poenri fortress. The prince's wife chose death over the shame of captivity and threw herself from a high tower. The Turks captured the fortress, but Vlad was able to escape through an underground passage.

For his time, Vlad III Tepes was a brilliantly educated man: he spoke Turkish, Hungarian, Latin, German and Russian, read books, had a quick pen and loved philosophy. Finding no other way out, Dracula went to seek help from the King of Hungary, Matthias Corvinus.

Seeing the troubled Wallachian ruler, defeated in the bloody struggle with the Turks, Matthias was delighted - now Vlad is in his hands! He arrested him and ordered him to be imprisoned.

The years of Dracula's imprisonment were described in more detail by the Russian diplomat Fyodor Kuritsyn, clerk of Grand Duke Ivan III. Vlad spent the first period of captivity in prison, where he showed another of his many talents: he made boots, which the guard sold at the market. This significantly supplemented the meager diet of the noble captive.

Deacon Kuritsyn testifies: Vlad remained in prison for many years and steadfastly adhered to the Orthodox faith, although Matthias constantly persuaded him to accept Catholicism, promising freedom, the return of the throne and the hand of his cousin. The Russian chronicler connects Dracula's release with the fact that he nevertheless accepted “Latin charm” (Catholicism). However, recent research proves: Vlad did not betray Orthodoxy! Matthias's mercy is explained simply: the king of Hungary, receiving money from the Pope for the war against the infidels, abused “misuse.” He freed an ardent fighter against Islam so that he could rake in the heat with his hands.

According to Western chroniclers, even in prison, Dracula sharpened twigs with a knife and impaled rats, mice and birds on them. Allegedly having gained freedom 4 years later (according to other sources, only 14 years later), he married the king’s sister and lived in an ordinary house.

1476 - having received the help of the Transylvanians and Moldovans, Vlad invaded Wallachia and was again able to seize power. When the allies returned home, the Turks found the moment opportune and attacked Wallachia. The Lord resisted steadfastly, but died in the battle of Bucharest around 1480, at the age of 46. Allegedly, he became a victim of his own masquerade - habitually dressed as a Turk, the ruler went on reconnaissance, and when he returned, his soldiers mistook him for an enemy spy and killed him by piercing him with spears.

The boyars cut off the head of Vlad III to save their own heads (at least that's the legend), and sent it as a gift to the Turkish Sultan. This later gave birth to a belief: vampires die from a wasp stake and the separation of the head from the body. But Romanian peasants still believe today that Dracula is alive! Archaeologists who carried out excavations at the altar of the church in the Snatovsky monastery, where Vlad III Tepes was allegedly buried, did not find his body in the crypt. But in a secret crypt they found a skeleton with a crown on its skull and a necklace with the image of a dragon. Dracula? But which one?

The castle on the banks of the Arges River, where Dracula lived, is believed to be cursed. Wolves howl at night around it, and a host of bats live in the ruins.

But there is another version of the fate of Vlad III Dracula, which was outlined by some chronicles of Western Europe.

According to this version, the fatal role in the life of the ruler was played by the same Aeneas Piccolomini, who from the moment of their first meeting managed to become Pope Pius II. He wanted to go down in history as the head of the church, under whom Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulcher would be recaptured. Knowing Vlad personally, dad believed that only he was suitable for the role of leader of the troops in the new crusade against the infidels. The pope invited him to Rome, but the ruler was extremely reluctant to leave his possessions and sent his cousin to the pope in his place.

War is always a big expense! The Pope gave the Gospodar's cousin a huge sum, with a request to transfer it to Vlad, so that he would arm the assembled troops and move them against the Turks. The cousin swore to do everything exactly. Who knows how the fate of world history would have turned out if the dreams of Pius II had come true? Vlad was a very talented commander and fiercely hated the Turks! But Fate does things in its own way and chooses historical paths itself.

The cousin used the money he received from his dad to create a conspiracy against Vlad. Having managed to deceive the suspicious and distrustful ruler, he overthrew him from the throne, carrying out a palace coup. But he did not dare to execute Tepes, so he imprisoned him in a fortress, placing a strong guard.

Like any scoundrel who usurped the throne, the new ruler was constantly looking for excuses for himself. He again began paying tribute to the Turks, and in 1464 he ordered the publication of a book about what a terrible villain Vlad Dracula was. Some real facts were interspersed on the pages of the book with outright lies; the artists hired by the new ruler made naturalistic illustrations that made an indelible impression on their contemporaries.

Until that time, practically no secular books were published—printing publications were usually of a religious nature. The new ruler, in fear of his overthrown brother and in the desire to justify himself in the eyes of his contemporaries and descendants, disdained all the rules of honor and moral prohibitions. Not to mention faith and conscience. In 1463, while Vlad the Impaler was still alive, he published the book “The History of Voivode Dracula.” It said that the ruler bathes in the blood of victims to preserve his youth and strength.

Lampoon went for a walk around Europe, spreading the dark glory of Vlad to various countries. The author reproduced portraits of Vlad, and later historians discovered them in museums in Vienna, Budapest, Nuremberg, and Berlin. It’s not for nothing that they say – a drop breaks a stone! The new ruler finally achieved his goal: the image of Tepes as a formidable warrior of the Turks faded over time in people’s memory.

In addition, the famous Dracula turned out to be not immortal - he died and was buried in a monastery surrounded by lakes, not far from modern Bucharest. Buried and forgotten for many centuries. It was only thanks to the efforts of the usurper that the image of the cruel ruler Dracula remained in folklore.

Yes, Vlad III the Impaler took many secrets to his grave! Now many museums are filled with attributes of “vampirism”, and Satanists consider Dracula to be their spiritual father. This is complete historical and religious illiteracy, lack of knowledge. In fact, the ruler of Wallachia believed passionately, was an Orthodox man, and built churches and monasteries.

It is characteristic that Turkish and German chroniclers aggravated the dark aspects of Dracule’s character and rule, while Romanian ones, on the contrary, whitewashed him. The Russians understand that the ruler of a small country at the turn of the Christian world boldly resisted military Muslim expansion. And alone, without counting on anyone's help. Thanks to Vlad Tepes, the people of Romania, its language and culture, and the Orthodox faith were preserved. Perhaps it was no coincidence that he became a favorite hero?

How Vlad III the Impaler was made into a vampire

How did it happen that the name Dracula became a household name for characters in novels and horror films?

It all started at the end of the 19th century, almost 400 years after the death of Vlad III. The first electric lamps were already burning, the telegraph was working, steamships and battleships were sailing across the seas. Türkiye has long lost its former power and has turned into an ordinary, rather backward country.

And Europe was suddenly swept by a fashion for mediums and all sorts of otherworldly horrors - theaters were simply chasing plays where the action took place in ancient castles with ghosts and other nerve-tickling effects. Gentlemen publishers did not lag behind, demanding from the authors bloody dramas with a bloody slant.

Demand dictates supply: the “gold mine” was actively developed by journalist and playwright Brem Stoker. He had a quick pen, a wild, dark imagination, and he easily guessed what the public and theater owners needed. “Bloody” dramas and novels came out from his pen in batches. Stoker got rich from evil spirits, ghosts and similar evil spirits.

Once in Vienna he heard about the story of the ruler Vlad Dracula. Stoker immediately discarded wars and victories, cunning and long captivity, but turned the ruler Dracula into a count, endowing him with the traits of a bloody maniac, psychopath and vampire! This became Bram Stoker's finest hour - with his light hand, the image of a terrible bloodsucker began to walk around the world, luring innocent creatures into the castle and killing guests.

Other authors did not lag behind - did the vampire belong to Stoker alone?! Everyone wanted to make a fortune from vampires and ghosts. The books sold in large quantities, and the audience died at the performances. Later, the “vampiriad” began to be filmed - first in silent films, later in sound and color, and now on television screens and replicated on video cassettes and disks. The old terrible fairy tale-lie turned out to be surprisingly tenacious!

But do they remember the real Lord Vlad, not invented by idle scribblers? Remember! In Romania, it turns out, there is even a special society “Dracula”, uniting admirers of their idol.

In the town of Bran (also known as ancient Brosov, or Brasov), lost in the picturesque Carpathian mountains, on a high rocky hill rises the castle of the legendary Vlad the Impaler, made of strong wild stone. Over the past 600 years, the banner of enemy foreign conquerors has never flown over it! Now the castle is a museum where tourists like to come to see where and how the despot who became almost fabulous lived, the sworn enemy of the Turkish enslavers, who at the same time terrified his subjects. By the way, it was this real castle of the ruler Vlad Dracula that Hollywood filmmakers filmed when creating the world famous film.

The castle has a bad reputation among the local population. They say that at night the floorboards creak in the halls and long passages and the shadow of a cruel and unhappy ruler suddenly appears. And woe to anyone who gets in the way of the ghost. Therefore, there were few daredevils who would dare to spend the night in the halls of the famous castle-museum.

Believe it or not, one of them was the infamous Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. According to completely credible evidence, he saw the ghost of Dracula and even spoke to him.

Count Dracula is a character known to perhaps everyone. Today we invite you to take a closer look at this hero and find out whether he really existed.

First mentions

The name Count Dracula was first used in 1897 in a novel by Irish writer Abraham "Bram" Stoker. This was the name of the main antagonist of the work - an evil vampire-bloodsucker who lives in a gloomy castle and cannot stand daylight. In reality, such a person did not exist, and the famous Romanian prince, Prince of Wallachia, Vlad III Tepes, became a kind of prototype for the hero of the book. Translated from Romanian, “tepesh” means “impaler.” This nickname didn't just arise out of nowhere. When dealing with his enemies, the count ordered them to be impaled on stakes. As a result, the victim could suffer for hours, and sometimes days. “Draco” is translated from Latin as “devil,” so the name of Count Dracula, as the prototype of the main villain of Stoker’s novel, is not unreasonable.

The Story of Dracula

As mentioned earlier, Vlad III was a tough ruler, fought with the boyars for the centralization of power, and went on campaigns against the Turks. It is known that the ruler allowed the peasants to arm themselves in order to increase the possibility of resistance to the hated Turkish raids. As a result of the refusal to pay tribute to the Turkish Sultan, a large army of the Ottoman Empire tried to enter the principality, but their advance was successfully stopped, not without the help of the population.

Legends about the Muntyansky governor

Being a strict but fair ruler, Count Dracula aroused fear and respect of his subjects. There are several stories that are documented by records in archives and chronicles or orally transmitted by the inhabitants of those regions from generation to generation. The most famous of them tells the story of a merchant who was robbed at the market. A thief stole a merchant's wallet. He complained to Vlad III Tepes. The thief was quickly found and, in the traditional way for the ruler, was punished by impaling him. And the wallet was thrown to the merchant, adding one extra coin. Having counted the contents, the merchant informed the ruler that there was extra money there. Count Vladislav Dracula grinned and said: “If you had kept silent, you would have been sitting next to your offender!” Another story tells that in those days there were many beggars in Romania. Count Dracula gathered them all together in a large hall, fed them, gave them something to drink, and after a hearty dinner asked the question: “Do you want to stop your worldly torment?” Many answered in the affirmative, after which the ruler ordered the hall filled with people to be set on fire. Another story tells of a golden bowl placed near a fountain right in the city. Anyone could drink water from it, and no one even thought of stealing it. Probably the population of Wallachia was very frightened by public executions, and no one wanted to die by being impaled.

Where did the legendary ruler live?

On a modern map you will not find Wallachia, the principality that was once ruled by Vlad III the Impaler. Today it is part of the modern European country of Romania. Wallachia was located in the south of the Carpathians, reaching the Danube River. This region is very picturesque and has wonderful beautiful nature. You will remember the charm of the mountains, rivers, and fresh air for a long time if you decide to go to this area. One of the places that is highly recommended to visit is the city of Brasov. It is here that the famous castle of Count Dracula, Bran, is located. Historians have no evidence that it was the permanent residence of Vlad the Impaler. However, the information that while visiting the Principality of Transylvania, Count Dracula stayed at Bran Castle cannot be refuted. Tourists who have been here claim that groans and screams can be heard in the corridors and rooms of the building, and in the morning the smell of blood is in the air. Thus, for such a modern state as Romania, Count Dracula to this day is a means of replenishing the treasury.

The exploits of the Romanian prince

If you stop thinking about Dracula as a vampire for a moment and turn to encyclopedias and archives for historical information, it will become clear that Vlad III Tepes was a rather stubborn, strict, but competent commander, a true patriot. Born in 1430 (some historians say 1431), he became the main contender for the throne of Wallachia, whose territory was claimed by Catholic Hungary and the Muslim Ottoman Empire. Already at the age of thirteen, Count Vladislav Dracula takes part in the Battle of Varna. At seventeen, with the help of the Turks, he ascends to the throne of Wallachia. But he does not manage to rule for long. Only in 1456 Tepes took the place of ruler for a long time. After four years, he decides to stop paying tribute to the Ottoman Empire. Sultan Mehmet, personally acquainted with Vlad III the Impaler, was surprised by this act and sent a huge army to deal with the apostate prince. To the surprise of the Sultan, small Wallachia, headed by a bloodthirsty ruler, gave a serious rebuff to the Janissary army. Count Dracula's castle was besieged by hordes of enemies, but the attacks were repulsed, and as a result the Turks had to return home empty-handed.

Display in early cinema

In modern films, thanks to the advent of computer special effects, Count Dracula has changed and began to look even more terrifying. A worthy film is Bram Stoker's Dracula from 1997, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The film retells the book by an Irish writer. The role of the main protagonist was played by Gary Oldman. The film's cast is quite impressive: Anthony Hopkins and Keanu Reeves fit into their roles perfectly. The most recent film is “Count Dracula” released in 2014. The plot in it somewhat departed from the classic horror film. There is a love story and a story about the dashing campaigns of the Romanian commander, who protects his native land from the Turkish invaders. And in this interpretation, he received his unearthly power from an ancient vampire. In addition, in the 2014 movie “Count Dracula” there are inconsistencies related to the marital status and names of the count’s children.

Dracula in modern cinema

In modern films, thanks to the advent of computer special effects, Count Dracula has changed and began to look even more terrifying. A worthy film is Bram Stoker's Dracula from 1997, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The film retells the book by an Irish writer. The role of the main protagonist was played by Gary Oldman. The film's cast is quite impressive: Anthony Hopkins and Keanu Reeves fit into their roles perfectly. The most recent film is “Count Dracula” released in 2014. The plot in it somewhat departed from the classic horror film. There is a love story and a story about the dashing campaigns of the Romanian commander, who protects his native land from the Turkish invaders. And in this interpretation, he received his unearthly power from an ancient vampire. In addition, in the 2014 movie “Count Dracula” there are inconsistencies related to the marital status and names of the count’s children.

Role in modern culture

In recent decades, Western culture has increasingly influenced us. It was once alien to us, but today many of its features have become firmly established in our lives. Thus, various holidays came to us from the West, which were not previously celebrated in our area. One of them is Halloween (All Hallows' Eve). Traditionally, on this day, people celebrating it dress up in carnival costumes. A necessary requirement for the outfit is a “horrible” or “mystical” theme. The Count Dracula costume occupies a leading position in the ranking of Halloween costumes. Moreover, it is quite simple and consists of a long cloak with a standing collar and fangs. Thus, a person wearing such a costume will look like Dracula the vampire from the movie and have the appearance of a bloodsucker familiar to our eyes.

Considering the time in which Count Dracula lived, there is no photo of this legendary character. However, there are paintings and frescoes with his images. For fans of this theme, the outfit of Vlad III the Impaler on a festive evening will make an indelible impression. And true connoisseurs of the genre and history will only confirm its irresistible appearance.

Vampire or not?

As far as we know, a vampire is someone who drinks the blood of others. Count Dracula gained the image of a bloodsucker thanks to the novel and subsequent films based on it. The prototype of the book's hero, Vlad III Tepes, was not convicted of drinking human or anyone else's blood. However, being a strict and sometimes cruel ruler of his lands, he often punished and executed people who were guilty of even small things. And the executions were terrible and demonstrative, so that others would be discouraged from repeating the atrocities. Perhaps because of these bloody massacres, the image of the vampire Dracula is associated with the image of the Romanian medieval prince. In any case, regardless of whether he drank blood or not, today the most famous vampire in the world is Dracula, created by a writer from Ireland, whom the reader first met back in 1897. Vlad Tepes became the prototype of a hero, nothing more. Therefore, you should not believe in the supernatural powers of the Prince of Wallachia, even despite the very vivid biography of this ruler, his exploits and legends about him.

A few final words

Vlad III Tepes Dracula lived more than five hundred years ago, and his memory is still alive. The “blame” for this is Count Dracula, photos, videos and other materials about whom have filled the media space today. The famous character created a whole movement in cinema and art. And today, every year, films and TV series are released where the main characters are bloodthirsty bloodsuckers. The vampire Dracula inspired hundreds of historians to want to find out some useful and interesting information about the ruler of Wallachia in the 15th century - Prince Vlad III. Thus, some of the historical gaps have been filled.

In 1386, in Sighisoara, a small town located in Transylvania, a man was born who left an indelible mark on history. Vlad the Impaler, better known as Count Dracula, a descendant of the ruler of Wallachia, Basarab the Great, became famous not so much for his talent as a commander, but for his gloomy cruelty, unprecedented even for.

Vlad III, about whom numerous bloody legends were formed, became the prototype of one of the main characters in Bram Stoker's novel - he is known as Count Dracula, whose biography is to some extent similar to the fate of Tepes.

It cannot be said that his youth was easy and cloudless, which would be quite predictable for a real prince of the blood - the future ruler of Wallachia. At the age of twelve, Vlad III, together with his younger brother, was sent as hostages to the Turkish Sultan, where he was kept until he was 17 years old, which in all likelihood negatively affected his psyche.

At the age of 17, after his release, Vlad the Impaler, whose biography has since become very changeable, with the help of the Turks for the first time seizes power and reigns in Wallachia under the name of Vlad III. The Middle Ages were distinguished by numerous wars, and the young ruler failed to hold the throne for a long time - the protege of Janos Hunyadi, the ruler of Hungary, overthrew him. But he shows excessive independence, loses the patronage of his Hungarian overlord, and Vlad Tepes regains the throne with the support of Hunyadi himself.

Of course, this turn of events did not suit Turkey, and in 1461 a war began, in which Vlad III fully demonstrated his talent as a commander. But, despite all his courage and cruelty (and by that time there were numerous bloody legends about him), Tepes was defeated - mainly because the Turkish army significantly outnumbered his troops. Vlad III abandons the defeated army and wants to find refuge in the possessions of the Hungarian king, but he accuses his former ally of conspiring with the Turks and imprisons him.

Vlad III is released more than 10 years later, and he even manages to recapture the capital of Wallachia, but after some time, Vlad the Impaler, whose biography is associated with many deaths, dies under mysterious circumstances... Surely, someone had something in store for him aspen stake :) Tepes's life was cut short in 1476.

Bloody legends or terrible reality?

It should be noted that Bram Stoker's character, Count Dracula, whose biography is very mysterious, is only a weak resemblance of his prototype. Vlad Tepes embodies all the atrocities of the Middle Ages - from the dungeons of the Spanish Inquisition to the sophisticated Turkish torture.

His contemporaries feared him no less than Even if a small part of the bloody legends composed about him are reality, then Vlad III earned the right to be called a vampire, because in order to be one it is not necessary to drink blood - it is enough to shed it copiously...

Vlad the Impaler carried out the most grandiose massacre in 1460 - then in one of the cities of Transylvania about 30,000 people were simultaneously impaled. This massacre took place on the feast of St. Bartholomew. Over this holiday, apparently - just remember the confrontation between Catholics and Huguenots in France and the famous St. Bartholomew's Night.

There is also a legend about one of Tepes’ mistresses, who tried to deceive him by declaring her pregnancy. One can only be surprised at the courage of the woman who continued to insist on her own, after Vlad warns her that he does not tolerate lies. The ending of the story is tragic - Tepes rips open her stomach and shouts “I warned you that I don’t like lies!”

Count Dracula, whose biography gave rise to numerous bloody legends, did not complain about the lack of imagination; his methods of dealing with enemies were varied - cutting off heads, boiling, burning, skinning or ripping open bellies was commonplace for Vlad the Impaler. But to all of the above, the ruler preferred to impale those he disliked, which is why he received his nickname - Tepes - “impaler”. But the perverted methods of execution were determined not only by the sadistic inclinations of the ruler; such executions also pursued other goals. For example, there is a legend that near the fountain in the very center of the capital of Wallachia stood a bowl made of gold. Anyone could drink from it, but no one dared to steal the cup - the subjects knew that Tepes dealt with thieves especially cruelly.

Sometimes the count liked to joke...

Vlad Tepes also had a certain semblance of a sense of humor. Just as he loved hoaxes - he drank steaming mulled wine in the cold, which scared his courtiers to death, who believed that the ruler was drinking warm human blood...

Count Dracula, whose biography inspired Bram Stoker, gave rise to more than just bloody legends. The Lord was no stranger to some justice. One day, a passing merchant complained to Tepes that his van had been robbed at night, and a significant amount of gold was missing. Naturally, Vlad Tepes could not tolerate such insolence - theft was punished very cruelly, and all efforts were thrown into searching for the criminal, who was discovered overnight.

The stolen gold was thrown to the merchant, and along with it one extra coin was planted. I think it’s clear what happened to the thief, considering Dracula’s habits. In the morning, the merchant came to thank the ruler - he said that the thieves not only returned all the gold, but even tossed one extra coin. Tepes smiled gloomily and said that if the merchant had kept silent about this coin, he would have been sitting on a stake next to the thief. Presumably, after such a statement, the merchant hastened to leave hospitable Wallachia.

Many bloody legends about Dracula tell that Vlad the Impaler had a habit of having breakfast among dead and dying people impaled on stakes. These stakes differed in both colors and geometric shapes - by these signs it was always possible to distinguish a commoner from a noble nobleman (noblemen were seated somewhat higher). It was not enough for Dracula to simply deal with the undesirables; he carefully ensured that the stakes were not sharpened, which would lead to heavy blood loss and quick death. A blunt stake provided his victim with painful agony, which could last for 4 to 5 days.

Vlad Tepes, whose biography is varied, sought to show everyone his independence. One day, envoys of the Turkish Sultan arrived at the court. The unlucky Turks completely refused to take off their hats (faith does not allow it or something else). The angry ruler ordered his subjects to nail turbans to the heads of the Turks, which was immediately carried out. However, small nails were used for this procedure.

How did bloody legends about vampires appear?

An aspen stake, a bunch of garlic and, of course, crucifix - what movie about vampires would be complete without this paraphernalia? Sunlight is also considered a good means of fighting evil spirits, but few people have thought about why.

The origins for the creation, as well as their fear of sunlight, were one mysterious disease of the Middle Ages. It manifested itself in the fact that a person could not tolerate direct sunlight, from the effects of which the skin became covered with pigment spots, which caused quite severe pain.

The disease is called “porphyria” - the human body affected by this disease is not able to independently produce red blood cells. The disease is rare, and in those days representatives of the aristocracy were susceptible to it - that’s where the thread reaches to Count Dracula (who, by the way, did not suffer from porphyria). In order not to experience pain, a person was forced to appear on the street only at night or eat raw meat in order to restore the blood balance of the body.

Another source attributes the origin of vampire legends to a medieval aristocrat who believed that her youth would last forever if she took regular baths filled with the blood of young girls. These girls were taken to her castle and killed. This continued until one victim managed to escape and tell the ruler of those lands about what was happening in the gloomy castle. The Countess was imprisoned in her apartments and doomed to starvation.

By the way, in the Middle Ages there was a belief that those who drink young blood restore their strength and prolong their life. Who knows how many representatives of the aristocracy of those times resorted to this method of rejuvenation? They had plenty of opportunities...

admin this clip will probably be on topic... especially if you like the group ARIA