Dracula, First Name Vlad

Portrait of Vlad III Dracula – The Ambras Castle Portrait

Most of us in touch with the Western world are familiar with the fictional character Dracula, the king/father of all/only/oldest/alpha vampire.  What I find most compelling about the literature surrounding this "Dracula" is the man who inspired it all, a man called Vlad and nicknamed "The Impaler" posthumously (or Wladislaus Dragwlya, vaivoda partium Transalpinarum formally).  Put simply, Vlad was one bad dude; he was a man who inspired fear and obedience; he was the godfather of medieval horror stories; and he was the paragon of icy ruthlessness.

Vlad III ruled as Voivode of Wallachia three times, in 1448, from 1456 to 1462, and in 1476 (Wallachia came under new management quite often in the mid-to-late 1400s, often switching between the same two rulers multiple times).  Vlad's father was Vlad II Dracul; he received the surname "Dracul" after being initiated into the Order of the Dragon, a organization founded in 1408 by King Sigismund of Hungary to gain favor from the Catholic Church and thereby protect against invasion from the Ottomans by promoting and protecting Christianity in the realms of the members.  Vlad The Impaler (or Vlad Tepes in Romanian) was initiated into the order as well at age five.

Vlad III first came to the throne after his father was killed in a rebellion of boyars (next in rank to the prince) in league with the Hungarian regent John Hunyadi.  Immediately following the rebellion, the Ottomans invaded and placed Vlad III on the throne to prevent Wallachia from falling in line with Hungary, but Vlad's first rule was cut short when Hunyadi reinvaded and placed his ally Vladislav II on the throne, and so Vlad III fled to Moldavia where he lived under the protection of his uncle.

But the Ottomans were growing and after the fall of Constantinople, they began expanding across the Carpathians.  While Hyunadi concerted a counter-attack on the Ottomans in Serbia, Vlad marched on Wallachia and reconquered his land, supposedly killing Vladislav II in hand-to-hand combat.

Vlad found his country in a state of lawlessness and economic disparity.  His solution was both the iron fist and reconstruction.  Vlad made efforts to rebuild villages and implemented strict punishment for crimes such as thievery.  He grew his army and formed a militia.

But there would ultimately be trouble with the Ottomans.  Sultan Mehmed II sent envoys to instruct Vlad to pay the tax on non-muslims, but Vlad refused, for doing so would be an admission that Wallachia was a part of the Ottoman Empire, and Vlad intended to keep Wallachia as independent as possible.  Vlad's response to the envoys was to have them killed for not raising their hats (which were turbans); his method for having them killed was having their turbans nailed to their heads.  Such actions eventually led to war and Vlad was defeated by his younger brother Radu cel Frumos (Radu the Handsome) and was captured and held prisoner by the Hungarians.  After Radu's death in 1475, Vlad declared himself again the ruler of Wallachia, and ascended the throne in 1476; however, he was assassinated only two months into his third reign.

And now what you've been waiting for:  So far the only devilish thing you've heard about Vlad from me is that he nailed the turbans of Ottoman envoys to their heads (which, granted, is not a way most would like die).  So, what makes Vlad III become Vlad the Impaler?  During his lifetime, Vlad created a reputation for himself as a true sadist.  He thoroughly enjoyed torturing and killing his enemies.  He killed somewhere between 40,000 and 100,000 people (comparable to the European witch hunts).  

Vlad's favored method of torture (naturally) was impalement, and supposedly he enjoyed dipping his bread in the blood of his dying or dead foes.  He once used thousands of rotting corpses to frighten off the Ottoman army, who undoubtedly felt they'd been ordered to march into the gates of hell.  In a similar instance, Vlad once frightened off Sultan Mehmed II with the sight of 20,000 impaled corpses at Vlad's capital.  He kept torture chambers and extensive dungeons beneath his castles, and he was known to personally visit certain special prisoners.

Much of Vlad's evils; however, could be attributed to exaggeration and character assassination attempts by political rivals of his time.  Nevertheless, word of Vlad's Satan-esque reign managed to travel across Europe and eventually reach Bram Stoker, who was then inspired to write Dracula; Bram Stoker, by the way, had never set foot in Romania.


Much of the material for this post is adopted from Wikipedia's well-written article on Vlad The Impaler which can be found here.