It has already been 120 years since the famous novel by Bram Stoker "Dracula" was published, and the image of the famous vampire began its march across the Earth. But few people know that the first descriptions of the adventures of the famous ghoul hit the pages of the book 530 years ago, and their author was a Russian diplomat.
Vlad Tepes is the most famous vampire in the world. | Photo: nlo-mir.ru
In 1431, a son was born to the ruler (ruler) of Wallachia, Vlad II, who after him headed the principality and went down in history with ill fame. In the chronicles and folk tales, Vlad III Tepes remained a bloodthirsty tyrant who spent many years in battles in the Balkans. His nickname Tepes literally means "impaler", and the generic name Dracula translates as "dragon" and "devil" at the same time. It is believed that he is the most cruel ruler and warrior of medieval Europe, and every modern man knows about Dracula as the prototype of the legendary vampires. There were several important stages on the path of becoming a legendary personality and stories about vampires.
Vlad Dracula is a fierce warrior and ruler of Wallachia. | Photo: lurkmore.to
Even during the life of Vlad Tepes, information appeared about the atrocities he committed, as well as stories that he drank blood. In the 1460s, a pamphlet about Dracula's atrocities in Transylvania was published in Austria, and the Swabian meistersinger Michael Beheim wrote a poem "About the villain who was called Dracul and was the governor of Wallachia." It contains the following lines:
The very first fictional work in prose about the famous bloodsucker was written in Russia.
"The Legend of Dracula the Voivode" is the first work of fiction in Russia, at the end of the 15th century. | Photo: ru.wikipedia.org
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In the mid-1480s, a diplomatic mission from the Moscow prince Ivan III traveled through the territory of Moldova and Hungary. Upon returning home, the manager of the embassy affairs, clerk Fyodor Kuritsyn wrote "The Legend of Dracula the Voivode". This story is the first work of fiction in Russia, which does not carry any useful information: historical or godly. The "Tale …" describes the numerous atrocities of Vlad Dracula and the stories with his participation.
Vlad Dracula watches as they are impaled. | Photo: kulturologia.ru
The author of the story repeatedly emphasizes that Dracula was not just a bloodthirsty sadist, but also a wise ruler who effectively eradicated crime:
"And Dracula hated evil in his land so much that if someone commits any crime, steals, or rob, or deceives, or offends, he cannot escape death."
Vlad the Impaler in front of vagabonds and cripples. | Photo: nlo-mir.ru
Another time, the ruler of Wallachia ordered to gather all the beggars, vagrants, cripples. They were richly fed and then burned alive. Dracula motivated his act as follows:
“… First, let them not bother people, and there will be no beggars in my land, but all will be rich; secondly, I also liberated them: let none of them in this world suffer from poverty or disease."
Gusten Calmet - French abbot and scientist of the 18th century. | Photo: lib.rus.ec
For several centuries, Dracula and his addiction to blood were forgotten. But in 1746 the French abbot Augustin Calmet published his "Treatise on the apparitions of angels, demons and spirits, as well as on ghosts and vampires in Hungary, Moravia, Bohemia and Silesia." The book, published in Paris, in every possible way debunked the existence of "otherworldly" beings. It turns out that in those years, many people sincerely believed in vampires, and among the peasants for two decades already raged "an epidemic of bloodsuckers."
Stake piercing is an effective medieval way of destroying a vampire. | Photo: lib.rus.ec
From the Treatise, you can learn an effective way to kill vampires, which was used by Serbian peasants. They tore apart the grave of the undead, pierced the heart with a stake, burned the body.
With his work, Calmet intended to debunk numerous myths, but the effect was exactly the opposite. In "enlightened" Europe, many believed that since a church minister writes about vampires, they really exist. The treatise became a guide for further researchers of this issue and a source of inspiration for Goethe, Byron, Le Fanu and the author of "Dracula" Bram Stoker.
Dracula's castle in Bran. | Photo: lurkmore.to
In Russia they did not lag behind the West in the literature of the "vampire" genre. In 1834 A. S. Pushkin invented and in "Songs of the Western Slavs" used the Russian analogue of the word vampire - ghoul:
Macabre scene from the production of "The Ghoul". | Photo: teatr-umosta.bisys.ru
A few years later, Alexei Tolstoy wrote the story "The Ghoul", in which he proposed his own version:
"You, God knows why, call them vampires, but I can assure you that their real Russian name is vampire."
The procession of vampire stories continued, but their real "heyday" began after the appearance of the novel "Dracula". Bram Stoker has successfully combined the stories of bloodsuckers and a cruel medieval ruler.