Vlad III Tepes (Dracula) - ruler of Wallachia (born about 1431 - death 1476)
Vlad Dracula (Dracul) is a real historical person of the 15th century. The biography of Lord Dracula is interesting, tragic and based on information that is contained in Serbian, Polish, Byzantine and even Russian chronicles. The great Moscow sovereign Ivan III ordered to record the history of the sovereign Dracula, nicknamed Tepes (precisely the ruler, not the count!) For the edification of his descendants. Many historians believe that these notes were carefully studied in his youth by John Vasilyevich IV, who later received the nickname Terrible.
The famous humanist and poet, Cardinal Aeneas Piccolomini (1405-1464), while traveling across Europe, personally met with Vlad Dracula. In his essay "Cosmography" the cardinal describes his appearance as follows: "A man of average height, with a high forehead and a face sharply tapering towards the chin."
To this description, we add that Vlad III Tepes and all other representatives of the Dracullest family, including those who are now alive, have never suffered from pallor and other ailments of vampires. Vlad himself was not really tall, but he had tremendous physical strength. He had a large aquiline nose, broad shoulders and a thick neck. On his head was a lush head of dark hair. According to the chroniclers, Vlad was an excellent rider and had an excellent command of melee weapons. In his younger years, he became the winner of the prestigious knightly tournament in Nuremberg in Germany.
Vlad's ancestors came to Romania and Moldavia from Hungary in the 13th century. They adopted the language and faith of the new homeland, becoming its rulers. In the center of Chisinau there was a monument to the Lord of Moldova Mircea the Old - the grandfather of Vlad II. Wallachia was founded in 1290.
Exactly 100 years later, the illegitimate son of the ruler Mircea was born, who was named Vlad. He was distinguished by courage and bravery in the battles that thundered every now and then in those parts. The people called him Dracula, and in this nickname there is not even a hint of mysticism: Vlad II Dracula was in the secret knightly order of the Dragon, or rather, even the defeated dragon. There is nothing secret that would not become obvious: many, including the Turks, learned about the order.
At the end of 1431, Vlad II had a son, who was also named Vlad in honor of his father.
"The Wallachian dog has become old and does not listen well to its owner," said the Sultan to the viziers, throwing a green silk cord onto the golden dish.
Promotional video:
It was a sentence. Vlad II became ruler of Wallachia, taking the throne of his father, who died at the request and sentence 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 maliciously. - So that he does not intend against the padishah, let him give his son hostage!"
So, while still a boy, the future Vlad III Dracula, later nicknamed Tepesh (“tepesh” in Russian means “stake”), became a hostage of the Sultan.
In those days, in order to keep the vassals ready to rebel in obedience, the Turks took their children hostage and executed them with cruel death at the first manifestations of their parents' rebellion. Often the boys were first castrated, and then sent to the harem and only after a while were killed. The hostage's life was constantly hanging by a thread. I had a chance to leave my father's house and receive education at the court of the Sultan.
For a long 7 years, outwardly maintaining humility, the young man languished in captivity and only after the death of his father and elder brother was he released.
- You will take the place of a parent, - letting Vlad go, the grand vizier nodded graciously to him. - Don't make mistakes if you want to keep your life and power.
He did not know that not so much time would pass and the young Wallachian ruler, who had learned the lessons of Turkish cruelty well, would terrify the Muslims and receive from them the nickname Kazykly - the Piercer!
God, what kind of freedom is this! The recent hostage, who mourned the death of his father, was released under escort on condition that he remained submissive to the Ottomans and paid tribute. Vlad went home with the officials assigned to him, spies and guards. But, finding himself in his hometown of Segisoara - on the territory of modern Romania, Dracula immediately threw off the mask of obedience: 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 boy 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 Yalomirtsi River. At the same time, ruler Vlad III was actively involved in the internal affairs of his state.
From the Turks Vlad adopted the cruel method of execution by impaling. Historical chronicles note: Dracula's executioners achieved such a virtuoso art (if cruel 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 did not sit down to the end, like on a skewer, and the victim could not die quickly.
Soon, Vlad gathered in the palace for a feast all the boyars along with their families - in total, according to the chroniclers, there were up to 500 guests. We were feasting in Tirgovishte. Allegedly, Vlad III was celebrating his accession to the throne. During the feast, when the wine flowed like a river, the ruler, with an innocent air, slyly asked the order of the drunken 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 are all killed, like my father and elder brother. They were killed because you constantly conspired and sold yourself to the Turks with giblets, becoming blind executors of their will. Traitors! Now a new nobility will appear in my state! Hey guards! Take them all!
Those who are older, regardless of the floor, the ruler ordered to be impaled. The rest he gathered in the courtyard of his palace-castle and gloomily told them:
- Walk under escort to Poenri. There, build a fortress on top of a hill over the river. Whoever survives, let him consider himself lucky. Build day and night. A count awaits the negligent!
In fact, Vlad III sent the enemy boyars to hard labor.
The ruler sincerely believed: all citizens must work for the good of their homeland, and therefore those who could not do this - the poor, the beggars, the sick and the thieves - did not favor.
Once the ruler addressed the city beggars - cripples and 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 grumbled in response, Vlad III suggested:
- Come to me, become my guests.
Brothers of beggars, beggars, petty thieves and cripples were treated to glory in a large barn. When the "guests" got drunk, Vlad quietly left and gave a symbolic signal to the palace guard. The warriors drilled by him quickly boarded up the windows and doors, and then set fire to the shed from 4 corners. A high flame rose quickly, 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 the enemy spies in one of the old castles and burned it along with the traitors. This version is more believable - the small Orthodox Wallachia had enough enemies. As if between the millstones it was squeezed by the Muslim Ottoman Empire on the one hand and the Catholic Kingdom of Hungary on the other.
Foreigners who visited Wallachia wrote with surprise that "there is no crime in the country." During all the years of Vlad III's reign, a large golden cup stood on the square of his capital, from which anyone could drink the spring water. They were afraid to steal in panic, knowing what fate awaits the thief - stake! Vlad Dracula, nicknamed Tepes, did not spare the thieves. It may seem strange, but the ruler enjoyed the love and trust of the people. He saw in him a defender, and the new boyars, created by the ruler to replace the executed traitors, stood behind their ruler a mountain.
In particular, Vlad did not like the Turks. Chroniclers mention a case when the emissaries of the Sultan who came to him, the ruler strictly ordered:
- Bare your heads! You are in the palace of the Orthodox ruler of Wallachia.
- You know better than others: faith in Allah does not allow us to do this.
- Do you believe so earnestly 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 gentleman slapped in his palms - Take them! Let the executioner nail their turbans to their heads!
The ruler preferred mass executions to single executions. Moreover, he ordered to arrange stakes in the form of different patterns, and most often - circles. He especially loved executions during feasts. The ruler sat at the table, laden with food and goblets of wine, and admired how the condemned writers writhed on stakes in pain.
But Vlad did not forget about other types of executions: he ripped off the skin from the criminals, threw them into boiling water. Decapitated, blinded. Strangled, hung, 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 deprived of virginity, unfaithful wives and unchaste widows. They often had their genitals cut out and their breasts cut off. One such unfortunate woman, on the orders of the ruler, was first cut off her chest, then tore her skin off and put on a stake in the main square, and put her skin off next to the executioner's bench.
However, Dracula not only eradicated crime and "pressed to the nail" libertines. He defended his subjects with all his might from the violence of the even more cruel Turks-enslavers.
Russian chroniclers speak more kindly about Dracula than German and, of course, Turkish ones. Wallachia and Muscovy sent diplomatic missions to each other, mostly of Orthodox priests. Ivan III was flattered that the Wallachian prince personally wrote him letters 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 me bring his head on a platter!
The Turks could not tolerate the neglect of their power, which had already conquered a significant part of Europe! Soon, a twenty-thousand-strong janissary army advanced to the possessions of Vlad III, against which Dracula could put up half as many fighters. But they burned with hatred for the enslavers, and the ruler managed not only to learn the language of the enemy, but also to learn all his strengths and weaknesses. The Turks knew practically nothing about him as a military leader, while he had an outstanding military talent. The ruler occupied several well-fortified mountain fortresses and took control of the main passes.
He sent a select squad 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 ruler rejoiced.
In the morning axes rattled - they cut the stakes and hammered them into the walls of Tirgovishte. The tied janissaries were put on stakes. Belyuk-bashi, officers of the janissary corps received the last honors: their stakes were gilded with ocher.
- To Wallachia! - growled Mehmed II, having learned about the fate of the Janissaries. - On a hike! Spare no one, and put the Wallachian ruler 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 inappropriate moments for the enemy - at crossings or at night. The 40,000-strong Turkish army retreated, and Vlad managed with small losses.
In the third campaign, the sultan sent 250,000 soldiers to Vlad III the Impaler: more than the population of Wallachia, including women and children. The sovereign against the enemy put up an army of 40,000. Dracula avoided large-scale clashes, preferring guerrilla tactics. He personally carried out reconnaissance and mostly made do with the forces of his guard. Dressing up in Turkish clothes, Vlad Tepes and his comrades flew into the enemy camp at night, set fires on fire, chopped down the Turks. Panic began, the Turks sleepily killed their own, and Vlad's guard disappeared into the darkness.
Once, after a particularly bloody raid on the camp, the elite Turkish cavalry rushed in pursuit of a detachment of night Wallachian "werewolves", and the entire Ottoman army moved after the vanguard. When dawn broke, a terrible sight appeared in the eyes of the Turkish soldiers. 7,000 of their horsemen, led by the noble commander Yunus-bey, were riding 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 a terrible picture, known in history as "The forest of those planted on stakes." A whole forest of stakes grew in front of the city, on which Vlad planted about 20,000 Turks.
In the sultry air, the stench of the bodies of the executed people decaying in the sun spread far.
“It is impossible to take the country away from a husband capable of such acts,” said the shocked sultan.
As always, betrayal played its nefarious role. The Turks retreated, but did not retreat. Their fourth campaign against Wallachia nevertheless ended in the defeat of the ruler.
Everyone betrayed Dracula: both mercenaries and Transylvanians, who swore allegiance. The Moldovans were in no hurry to help. Even his brother Radu took part in the campaign against Wallachia as part of the Turkish army.
Many boyars, who had recently stood behind the ruler of the mountain, joined the Turks. They drove Vlad into the Poenri fortress. The prince's wife preferred death to the shame of captivity and threw herself from a high tower. The Turks captured the fortress, but Vlad was able to escape through the underground passage.
For his time, Vlad III Tepes was a brilliantly educated person: he spoke Turkish, Hungarian, Latin, German and Russian, read books, possessed a lively pen and loved philosophy. Finding no other way out, Dracula went to seek help from the King of Hungary, Matthias Corvinus.
Seeing the worried Wallachian ruler, who was defeated in a bloody struggle with the Turks, Matiash 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 detail by the Russian diplomat Fyodor Kuritsyn, a clerk of the Grand Duke Ivan III. The first period of bondage, Vlad spent in a dungeon, where he showed one of his many talents: he worked boots that the guard sold on the market. This substantially supplemented the meager diet of a noble prisoner.
Clerk Kuritsyn testifies: Vlad was in prison for many years and staunchly adhered to the Orthodox faith, although Matthias kept persuading him to accept Catholicism, promising freedom, the return of the throne and the hand of his cousin. The Russian chronicler associates Dracula's release with the fact that he nevertheless accepted "Latin charm" (Catholicism). However, recent studies prove that Vlad did not betray Orthodoxy! The mercy of Matthias can be easily explained: the king of Hungary, receiving money from the Pope for the war with the infidels, abused the "misuse". He freed an ardent fighter against Islam in order to rake in the heat with his hands.
According to Western chroniclers, Dracula sharpened twigs with a knife in the dungeon and planted rats, mice and birds on them. Allegedly having gained freedom after 4 years (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 Moldavians, Vlad invaded Wallachia and was able to seize power again. When the Allies returned home, the Turks found the moment right and attacked Wallachia. The ruler staunchly resisted, but died in the battle of Bucharest in about 1480, 46 years old. Allegedly, he became a victim of his own masquerade - as usual disguised as a Turk, the ruler went to reconnaissance, and when he returned, his soldiers took him for an enemy spy and killed him, piercing him with spears.
The boyars cut off Vlad III's head to save their heads (at least, that is the legend), and sent it as a gift to the Turkish sultan. This subsequently 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 that Dracula is alive! Archaeologists who carried out excavations at the altar of the church in the Snatov Monastery, where Vlad III Tepes is supposedly buried, did not find his body in the crypt. But in a secret crypt they found a skeleton with a crown on the skull and a necklace depicting a dragon. Dracula? But which one?
The castle on the banks of the Arjesh River, where Dracula lived, is believed to be cursed. Wolves howl around him at night, and a host of bats live in the ruins.
But there is another version of the fate of Vlad III Dracula, which was presented by some chronicles of Western Europe.
According to this version, the fateful 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 conquered. Knowing Vlad personally, the Pope believed that only he was suitable for the role of the 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 a cousin to the Pope in his place.
War is always a big expense! The Pope gave the king's cousin a huge amount, with a request to transfer it to Vlad, so that he would arm the assembled troops and move them against the Turks. The cousin vowed to do it exactly. Who knows how the fate of world history would turn if the dreams of Pius II came 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 father to create a conspiracy against Vlad. Having managed to deceive the suspicious and distrustful ruler, he overthrew him from the throne, making a palace coup. But he did not dare to execute Tepes, so he imprisoned him in the fortress, putting a strong guard.
Like any villain who usurped the throne, the new ruler was constantly looking for excuses for himself. He again began to pay tribute to the Turks, and in 1464 ordered the release of a book about what a terrible villain Vlad Dracula is. 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, there were practically no secular books published - typographic publications were usually of a religious nature. The new ruler, in fear of his deposed brother and in a desire to justify himself in the eyes of his contemporaries and descendants, despised all the rules of honor and moral prohibitions. Not to mention faith and conscience. He published in 1463, while Vlad Tepes was still alive, the book The History of Voivode Dracula. It said that the ruler bathed in the blood of victims to preserve his youth and strength.
Lampoon went for a walk in Europe, spreading Vlad's dark glory to various countries. The author reproduced Vlad's portraits, and later historians found them in museums in Vienna, Budapest, Nuremberg, Berlin. No wonder they say - a drop hollows a stone! The new ruler achieved his goal: the image of Tepes as a formidable warrior of the Turks eventually faded in the memory of people.
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. Only thanks to the efforts of the usurper, the image of the cruel ruler Dracula remained in folklore.
Yes, Vlad III Tepes took many secrets to his grave! Now many museums are filled with the attributes of "vampirism", and Satanists consider Dracula their spiritual father. This is complete historical and religious ignorance, lack of knowledge. In fact, the ruler of Wallachia passionately believed, was an Orthodox person, erected churches and monasteries.
It is characteristic that the Turkish and German chroniclers aggravated the dark sides of the character and the rule of Dracul, while the Romanian ones, on the contrary, whitewashed him. The Russians, on the other hand, understand that the ruler of a small country at the turn of the Christian world boldly resisted the military Muslim expansion. And alone, not counting on someone's help. Thanks to Vlad Tepes, the people of Romania, its language and culture, and the Orthodox faith have survived. Perhaps it was not by chance that he became the favorite hero of Ivan the Terrible?
How Vlad III Tepes was turned into a vampire
How did it happen that the name Dracula became a household name for characters in novels and horror films?
It all began 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. Turkey has long lost its former power and turned into an ordinary, rather backward country.
And Europe was suddenly seized by the fashion for mediums and all sorts of otherworldly horrors - theaters simply chased plays where the action took place in ancient castles with ghosts and other nerve-tickling effects. Gentlemen and 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 the journalist and playwright Brem Stoker. He had a lively pen, a violent gloomy fantasy, he easily guessed what the public and the owners of theaters needed. “Bloody” dramas and novels came out in batches from his pen. Stoker got rich on evil spirits, ghosts and the like.
Once in Vienna, he heard about the story of Lord Vlad Dracula. Stoker threw wars and victories, cunning and long captivity at once, but turned the ruler Dracula into a count, endowing the features of a bloody maniac, psychopath and vampire! This became the finest hour of Bram Stoker - with his light hand, the image of a terrible bloodsucker who lured innocent creatures into the castle and killed guests went to walk around the world.
Other authors did not lag behind - did the vampire belong to Stoker alone ?! Everyone wanted to make a fortune out of vampires and ghosts. The books were sold in large editions, 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 TV screens and replicating on videotapes and disks. The old scary tale-lie turned out to be wonderfully tenacious!
But do they remember the real ruler Vlad, not invented by idle scribblers? Remember! In Romania, it turns out, there is even a special society "Dracula", which unites admirers of his idol.
In the town of Bran, lost in the picturesque Carpathian mountains (it is also the ancient Brosov, or Brasov), on a high rocky hill rises the castle of the legendary Vlad Tepes, made of strong wild stone. Over the past 600 years, the banner of enemy foreign conquerors has never fluttered over it! Now in the castle is a museum, where tourists like to come to see where and how the almost fabulous despot 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 Vlad Dracula that was filmed by Hollywood filmmakers when creating a world famous film.
The castle has a bad reputation among the local population. They say that at night in halls and long passages, floorboards creak and suddenly the shadow of a cruel and unhappy ruler appears. And woe to the one 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. On credible accounts, he saw the ghost of Dracula and even spoke to him.
N. Nikolaev