20 little-known facts about Vlad Tepes, known as the bloodthirsty Count Dracula

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Vlad III, also known as Vlad the Impaler or simply Dracula, was a legendary commander-prince of Wallachia. He ruled the principality three times - in 1448, from 1456 to 1462 and in 1476, during the beginning of the period of the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans. Dracula became a popular folkloric character in many countries of Eastern Europe thanks to his bloody battles and the defense of Orthodox Christianity from the Ottoman invasion. And at the same time, he is one of the most popular and bloody figures in the history of pop culture. The blood-chilling legends about Dracula are known to almost everyone, but what was the real Vlad the Impaler.

1. Small homeland

The real historical prototype of Dracula was Vlad III (Vlad the Impaler). He was born in the city of Sighisoara, Transylvania in 1431. Today, a restaurant has been built on its former birthplace, which attracts thousands of tourists from all over the world every year.

2. Order of the Dragon

Dracula's father was called Dracul, which means "dragon". Also according to other sources, he had the nickname "devil". He received a similar name because he belonged to the Order of the Dragon, which fought against the Ottoman Empire.

3. The father was married to the Moldavian princess Vasilisa

Although nothing is known about Dracula's mother, it is assumed that at that time his father was married to the Moldavian princess Vasilisa. However, since Vlad II had several mistresses, no one knows who was Dracula's real mother.

4. Between two fires

Dracula lived in a time of constant war. Transylvania was on the border of two great empires: the Ottoman and Austrian Habsburgs. In his youth he was imprisoned, first by the Turks and later by the Hungarians. Dracula's father was killed, and his older brother Mircea was blinded with red-hot iron stakes and buried alive. These two facts greatly influenced how vile and vicious Vlad became later.

5 Constantine XI Palaeologus

It is believed that the young Dracula spent some time in Constantinople in 1443 at the court of Constantine XI Palaeologus, a legendary character in Greek folklore and the last emperor of Byzantium. Some historians suggest that it was there that he developed a hatred of the Ottomans.

6. The son and heir of Mikhn the evil

It is believed that Dracula was married twice. His first wife is unknown, although she may have been a Transylvanian noblewoman. She gave birth to Vlad a son and heir, Michn the evil. Vlad married a second time after serving a sentence in Hungary. The second wife of Dracula was Ilona Siladyi, the daughter of a Hungarian nobleman. She bore him two sons, but neither of them became a ruler.

7. Nickname "Tepes"

The nickname "Tepes" in translation from Romanian means "kolshchik". It appeared 30 years after Vlad's death. Vlad III earned his nickname "Tepes" (from the Romanian word țeapă 0 - "stake") because he killed thousands of Turks in a terrible way - by impaling them. He learned about this execution as a teenager, when he was a political hostage of the Ottoman Empire in Constantinople.

8. Worst enemy of the Ottoman Empire

It is believed that Dracula is to blame for the deaths of more than one hundred thousand people (most of them are Turks). This made him the worst enemy of the Ottoman Empire.

9. Twenty thousand rotting corpses frightened the Sultan

In 1462, when there was a war between the Ottoman Empire and Wallachia, ruled by Dracula, Sultan Mehmed II fled with his army, horrified at the sight of twenty thousand rotting corpses of Turks impaled on stakes on the outskirts of the capital of Vlad's principality, Targovishte. During one battle, Dracula retreated to the nearby mountains, leaving behind the captives impaled on stakes. This forced the Turks to stop chasing, since the sultan could not stand the stench of decaying corpses.

10. The birth of a legend

The staked corpses were usually displayed as a warning to others. In this case, the corpses were white, because the blood completely flowed from the wound on the neck. It was from here that the legend began that Vlad Tepes was a vampire.

11. Scorched earth tactics

Dracula also became known for the fact that when retreating, he burned villages along the way and killed all local residents. Such atrocities were committed so that the soldiers of the Ottoman army had no place to rest and that there were no women whom they could rape. In an attempt to clear the streets of the capital of Wallachia, Targovishte, Dracula invited all the sick, vagabonds and beggars to one of his houses under the pretext of a feast. At the end of the feast, Dracula left the house, locked it outside and set it on fire.

12. The head of Dracula went to the sultan

In 1476, 45-year-old Vlad was eventually captured and beheaded during the Turkish invasion. His head was brought to the Sultan, who put it on display on the fence of his palace.

13. Remains of Dracula

It is believed that archaeologists who were looking for Snagov (a commune near Bucharest) in 1931 found the remains of Dracula. The remains were transferred to the historical museum in Bucharest, but later they disappeared without a trace, leaving the secrets of the real prince Dracula unanswered.

14. Dracula was very religious

Despite his cruelty, Dracula was very religious and surrounded himself with priests and monks throughout his life. He founded five monasteries, and his family founded more than fifty monasteries in 150 years. Initially, the Vatican praised him for defending Christianity. However, the church subsequently expressed its disapproval of Dracula's cruel methods and ended the relationship with him.

15. Enemy of Turkey and friend of Russia

In Turkey, Dracula is considered a monstrous and vile ruler who executed his enemies in a painful way, purely for his own pleasure. In Russia, however, many sources consider his actions to be justified.

16. Transylvanian subculture

Dracula enjoyed immense popularity in the second half of the twentieth century. More than two hundred films have been made with Count Dracula, more than any other historical figure. At the center of this subculture is the legend of Transylvania, which has become almost synonymous with the land of the vampires.

17. Dracula and Ceausescu

Former Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu (1965-1989) used Dracula in his campaign. More specifically, he referred to Vlad's patriotism in his speech to Hungarians and other ethnic minorities in Transylvania.

18. There are no vampires in Romania

Contrary to popular belief, vampires are not part of Romanian folklore and the word is not even found in the Romanian language. The word comes from the Serbian "Vampyr".

19. "Like frogs"

According to the book Finding Dracula, Vlad had a very strange sense of humor. The book tells how his victims often jerked on the stakes "like frogs." Vlad thought it was funny, and once said about his victims: "Oh, what a great grace they show."

20. Fear and the golden cup

In order to prove how much the inhabitants of the principality feared him, Dracula placed a golden bowl in the middle of the town square in Targovishte. He allowed people to drink from it, but the golden cup had to remain in place at all times. Surprisingly, during the entire period of Vlad's reign, the golden cup was never touched, although sixty thousand people lived in the city, most in conditions of extreme poverty.

Those who are planning a trip to Hungary, as well as those who are just getting to know this country, will be interested to see 25 stunning aerial views of Budapest.