In 1386 in Sighisoara - a small town located in Transylvania, a man was born who left an indelible mark on history. Vlad Tepes, 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 the Middle Ages.
Vlad III, about whom numerous bloody legends have been 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 passed easily and cloudlessly, which would be quite predictable for a real prince of blood - the future ruler of Wallachia. At the age of twelve, Vlad III, along with his younger brother, were sent as hostages to the Turkish sultan, where he was held until the age of 17, which in all likelihood had a negative impact on his psyche.
At the age of 17, after his release, Vlad Tepes, whose biography has since become very changeable, with the help of the Turks first seizes power and reigns in Wallachia under the name of Vlad III. The Middle Ages were distinguished by numerous wars, and the young ruler did not manage to hold the throne for a long time - the henchman of Janos Hunyadi, the ruler of Hungary, overthrew him. But he shows excessive independence, loses the patronage of his Hungarian ruler, 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 begins, in which Vlad III fully manifests his talent as a commander. But, despite all his bravery and cruelty (and by that time there were numerous bloody legends about him) Tepes is defeated - mainly because the Turkish army significantly outnumbers 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 conspiracy with the Turks, and imprisons him.
Vlad III is released more than 10 years later, and he even manages to re-capture the capital of Wallachia, but after a while Vlad the Tepes, whose biography is associated with many deaths, dies under mysterious circumstances … Not otherwise, someone has saved for him an aspen stake:) The life of Tepes was cut short in 1476.
Bloody legends or terrible reality?
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It should be noted that Bram Stoker's character, Count Dracula, whose biography is very mysterious, is only a faint resemblance to his prototype. Vlad Tepes embodies all the atrocities of the Middle Ages - from the dungeons of the Spanish Inquisition to sophisticated Turkish torture.
Contemporaries feared him no less than a supernatural being - a basilisk. Even if a small part of the bloody legends about him is a reality, Vlad III has earned the right to be called a vampire, because in order to be he it is not necessary to drink blood - it is enough to shed it abundantly …
The most grandiose massacre was staged by Vlad Tepes 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. A curse is evidently gravitating over this holiday - suffice it to recall the confrontation between Catholics and Huguenots in France and the famous St. Bartholomew's Night.
There is also a legend about one of Tepes's mistresses, who tried to deceive him by declaring her pregnancy. It remains only to 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 do not 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 diverse - chopping off heads, boiling, burning, ripping off the skin or ripping open the bellies was a common thing for Vlad Tepes. But to all of the above, the ruler preferred to impale the disagreeable, thanks to which he got his nickname - Tepes - "the impaler". But the perverse methods of reprisal were due not only to the sadistic inclinations of the ruler, such executions pursued other goals. For example, there is a legend that a bowl made of gold stood at the fountain in the very center of the capital of Wallachia. Anyone could get drunk from it, but no one dared to steal the cup - the citizens knew that Tepes dealt with the thieves especially cruelly.
Vlad Tepes also had a kind of sense of humor. Like the occultist Count Cagliostro, he loved hoaxes - he drank steaming mulled wine in the cold, which frightened his courtiers to death, who believed that the ruler was drinking warm human blood …
Count Dracula, whose biography inspired Bram Stoker, gave rise to not only bloody legends. The Lord was no stranger to some justice. Once, a passing merchant complained to Tepes that his van had been robbed at night, and a significant amount of gold had disappeared. Naturally, Vlad Tepes could not stand such insolence - theft was punished very cruelly, and all forces were thrown into the search for the criminal, whom they found overnight.
The stolen gold was thrown to the merchant, and one extra coin was planted with him. What happened to the thief, I think is understandable, given the habits of Dracula. In the morning the merchant came to thank the sovereign - he said that the thieves not only returned all the gold, but even planted one extra coin. Tepes grinned 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 the hospitable Wallachia.
Many bloody legends about Dracula tell that Vlad the Tepes had a habit of having breakfast among the 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 (nobles were seated somewhat higher). It was not enough for Dracula to just deal with the unwanted, he carefully watched that the stakes were not sharpened, which would lead to profuse blood loss and quick death. And the blunt stake provided his victim with a painful agony, which could last for 4 - 5 days.
Vlad Tepes, whose biography is diverse, strove to show everyone his independence. Once the envoys of the Turkish Sultan arrived at the court. The unlucky Turks refused to take off their hats at all (faith does not allow or something). The enraged ruler ordered his subjects to nail turbans to the heads of the Turks, which was immediately done. However, small nails were used for this procedure.
How the bloody vampire legends appeared
An aspen stake, a bunch of garlic and, of course, what movie about vampires does without these paraphernalia? Sunlight is also positioned as a good means of fighting evil spirits, but few people thought why.
The origins for the creation of the legend of the vampires, as well as their fear of sunlight, was a mysterious disease of the Middle Ages. It manifested itself in the fact that a person could not tolerate direct sunlight, from which the skin was covered with age spots, which caused quite severe pain.
The disease is called "porphyria" - the body of a person affected by this ailment is unable to independently produce red blood cells. The disease is rare, and in those days representatives of the aristocracy were exposed to it - this is where the thread stretches 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 to eat raw meat in order to restore the blood balance of the body.
Another source attributes the emergence of the vampire legends to a certain 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 apartment and doomed to starvation.
By the way, in the Middle Ages there was a belief that the one who drinks young blood recovers his strength and prolongs his life. Who knows how many representatives of the aristocracy of those times resorted to this method of rejuvenation? They had plenty of opportunities …
