DRACULA

        The famous writer Bram Stoker based the character of his greatest novel on a man who also was called Dracula.  Dracula's real name was Vlad II Dracul, and he was born in 1431 in the fortified city of Sighisoara, Transylvania.  Dracul in Rumenian means "dragon", but also "devil". He was called like this probably because he was always wearing a bright armor with a dragon on it, which was a sign of belonging to a special Dragon Order for bravery against Muslims. His son, Vlad III, was named Draculia, which means "son of the dragon", but therefore also "son of the devil".

Nowadays, a restaurant has been built over the land where the ancient house where Vlad was born was located. There's a plaque, reminding that once Prince Vlad II, father of Vlad Tepes, who lived there from 1431 to 1436.The castle of Bran in Transylvania, used nowadays as a museum, dates back to the XIV century. According to the tradition, it's been for a long time the residence of Vlad III of Valachia, well known as "Draculia", Dracula.

Vlad Tepes received the crown of Valachia after 8 long years. A few days before Christmas 1447,  his father Vlad II got killed with all his escort while he was crossing an impervious area of Transylvania. Vlad III at the time was only 17 years old. He found out that his father's palace had been claimed by Vladislav II, but one day, taking advantage of Vladislav being away, Vlad managed with a slight of hand to take the crown back. It was the half of the XV century.  Unfortunately, the absence of his rival Vladislav didn't last long.Dracula realized that he couldn't face Vladislav's army, so he escaped in Moldova, where his uncle Bogdan was in charge as King.  After 3 years Bogdan was overthrown from someone within his palace, and Dracula together with his cousin Stefano, son of the overthrown king, was forced to run away once again.

Valachia was in the hands of Daces, Moldova was in the hands of the usurper Aron, Transylvania was in the hands of Hunyadi.  Dracula chose to gain Hunyadi's protection, but his was a smart political move. As a matter of fact, after taking part in the incursions against the Turks, crusades in the Balcans,and battles also between christian princes, where he gained himself the nickname of Vlad Tepes ( which means "Vlad the Impaler"), Hunyadi brought Vlad with him to the Hungarian court, in the castle of Buda.

There he was introduced to the  Asburgic high society, and to Mattia Corvino, firstborn of his new master, destined to become in a short time king of Hungary.

Vlad Tepes devised torments that "not even the persecutors of christianity, from Herod to Nero, to Diocleziano and other pagan emperors ever even thought of ".

This is the judgement of Vlad's contemporary people, although in those days it was necessary to be merciless, instead of hiding his crimes, Vlad was bragging about them, and kept record of them in an accurate manner. For instance, in a letter addressed to the King of Hungary, he expressed all his pride for killin "men and women, old people and children" along the Danube, down to the heart of Bulgaria.  It was because of his cruel and bloody actions that he became famous as a "bloodthirsty vampire".

It is not completely confirmed,but it is believed that, as well as other noble people of his time, Vlad was probably drinking the blood of his victims or bathing in it, so to try and make his life last longer.Antropofagy is one of the frequent horrors in Vlad's stories.

Chronicles talk about a lover, during the 2nd kingdom of Dracula, around 1451. There's no mention of love, but many underline how much Dracula was attracted by young girls from the villages, of a much lower rank than his. He was so obsessed with it that he was chasing them during his night walks.

One day, Prince Vlad appeared to be into a much deeper sadness than usual, so his lover thought about cheering him up, by telling him that she was pregnant.

"It's a lie!", Dracula roared.

"It's the truth, my lord", his woman said.

"No, it's not true at all, and i'll prove this to you!".

Saying this, he took his sword from his side, and with a quick move he ripped her belly open.  She fell on the floor with a rattle, in tears.  He stared at her while she was dying. Then he walked out of the room, saying indifferently "See? I told you it wasn't true!". This is how the Rumenian chronicles describe the happening.  If a woman of his court was recognized as an adulteress, Vlad III was ordering that "her genitals were mutilated and that she was scoarched alive", according to a russian manuscript from 1490.  Another horrible description comes fromm the San Gallo manuscript, and concerns the impaling of mothers and newborns.

It is mentioned how Dracula "had some children roasted, and forced the mothers to eat them", and how the husbands were forced to eat the breasts of their wives, before being impaled themselves.

Already in 1460 a good part of the territory was in Vlad's hands.  As every ruler, Vlad had some impossible utopies himself. One of them was the illusion of defeating poverty in his kingdom.  He tried to do this his own way, that is exterminating with an ambush all poor people in one night.  In another occasion, Vlad ordered to a group of 300 young men to eat each other "until no one was left ". He spared only the lives of the strongest ones, and took them in his army to fight against the Turks.

The fantasy of the prince was endless.  Vlad used to personally oversee the work of his soldiers, so that the death of the condemned was very slow, beyond obscene.

He used to get the points of the poles rounded, so that they would go through the bodies without damaging any vital organs.  Vlad used to be very fond on mass executions, as they were allowing him to dispose of wide areas where to arrange artistically the poles, according to a planned scheme of himself.  His hosts in a few occasions risked to get impaled themselves.

After his death his body was never found. This fact as well lies at the origins of the myth of Vampires (or strigoia as the valachians say, ogoljen in Bohemian, vukodlak in Serbian ), immortal, damned for eternity because of their evilness.  In reality it is possible that Vlad may have been torn in pieces by the Turks, still incredulous about having really killed him. Torn in pieces and beheaded,according to the chronicles, but there's no proof that things really went that way.  More compatible with legends and traditions, and mopre historically plausible, would be the possibility that Vlad's body was buried in a nearby monastry, on a little island of the Snagov lake (the prince's summer mansion was located there ), about 50 kilometres north of Bucarest, or in another sacred place of Transylvania or Valachia.  The researches for the grave of Dracula focused on the Snagov lake. There, a skeleton of a man wrapped in a red cloak in rags was found.  According to the originary colour of the fabric, and to the silver buttons, it could be very possible that the suit is similar to the one Dracula wears in his full-figure portrait in Ambras.

All the findings though mysteriously disappeared not long after from the historical museum of Bucarest, where they were brought for ulterior tests, before it could have been possible to study any details.  The skeleton had a ring, and those who saw it swear that on the turquoise some sort of mysterious animal, very close-looking to a dragon, was engraved.  Maybe it could have been the coat-of-arms of the order of the Dragon, which Vlad's family was decorated with.  On the island on Snagov lake, by now touristic goal for all those who are very fond of mysteries, only the alleged grave of Dracula remained.  We still couldn't find out whether the body lying in that grave is actually the real Dracula's body,or only a hoax.

Maybe the real Dracula goes visiting his own grave every once in a while, joining the crowds of tourists that everyday arrive in Snagov, in the deceitful way he used to be, without anyone's knowledge.

by Giorgio Pastore
Translated by "Sionnach"