For many Westerners, Wallachia and Transylvania are somewhere in the world where Dracula lives and garlic is used against vampires.
Few people know the story of Prince Vlad Tepes or that of the Eastern Romans, in short, the Romanians. Actually, the story of Dracula as a vampire was derived from the novel by an obscure English novelist born in Dublin in 1847, Bram Stoker, who published the book Dracula in 1897.
The name of the character he was inspired by came out by chance from reading a book he found in a library, which was about the Wallachian Princes and had been written by a former British consul in Bucharest in 1820.
On the other hand, in the 1800s there was already quite widespread literature about vampires and mysteries related to them one of the first books was undoubtedly Castle of Otranto and then we find many others. Significant Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu.
Vampires are also particularly connected with the orthodox tradition of the living dead. In fact, many stories and legends were written about Prince Dracula, especially in German and Slavic languages, but there is no record that Stoker had consulted them. (see 1986 book)
In any case, the novel was a resounding success, and a play came out in the same year, while in 1899 the American edition of the novel was a best seller.
The advent of cinema gave new success to the novel, which was produced into a 1922 film under the name Nosferatu.
Since then there have been a great many producers who have exploited this strand, and there are probably many more to come.
But who was really the Wallachian prince Vlad Tepes known as Dracula ?
In what period did he live and how did he acquire this reputation as a bloodthirsty prince?
The three decades of Vlad Tepes’ history are linked to the most crucial event in the destiny of the Romanian people, which coincided with the fall of Constantinople on May 29, 1453 and also represented the final and definitive moment of the option between West and East.
Romania, or rather the Romanian people still divided between three principalities of which two were independent (Wallachia and Moldavia) and one was part of the Hungarian crown (Transylvania). The principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, the last bastions of European and Christian civilization came into competition with the other defender of Christianity: Hungary.
The fall of Constantinople was preceded by a huge emigration especially of Byzantine priests and intellectuals north of the Danube.
The Romanians of Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania rejected Westernization through Catholicism while the Latin language and culture grew stronger, creating the cultural phenomenon known as Byzantium after Byzantium or post-Byzantinism.
What was the situation like in the Balkan East?
The Selciuchid Turks after consolidating their eastward expansion into Persia, Azerbaijan, Anatolia and Iraq in the 10th and 11th centuries had begun their battle toward the west where there was still a strong Turkish presence leading expansionism toward Europe and coinciding with the end of the Crusades in the Holy Land.
The first battles with the Romanians came as early as 1339, and by 1354 Thrace with Gallipoli (see simile) was in Turkish hands.
This was followed by decades of fighting in the Balkans where the Turks inflicted several defeats on Christian coalitions.
When Vlad was born in 1431 in Sighisoara, his father, also named Vlad, was awarded the Order of the Dragon in Nuremberg by Sigismund I of Luxembourg Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
This honor was given to those who had distinguished themselves in the fight against the Turks. Hence the nickname DRACUL (dragon) for him and his descendants.
Actually for the son Vlad we refer more to Dracul=devil as is the translation in the Romanian language.
Four years earlier in 1427 there had been the conquest of Serbia by Ottoman armies vainly opposed by the combined armies of Serbia, Hungary, Transylvania and Wallachia.
In 1443 Vlad at age 12 and his brother Radu the handsome were hostages of the Turks in Adrianople where Vlad would remain until 1448.
Meanwhile, Turkish pressure resumed with greater force throughout the Balkans with the conquest of Greece and the vassalage of Wallachia and other principalities.
Prince Iancu of Hunedoara, awarded the title “defender of Christendom,” meanwhile became governor of Hungary.
In Europe, the situation is as follows: in Spain the anti-Arab reconquest is n taking place; France and d England end the Hundred Years’ War in 1453, while the Franco-Burgundian conflict persists; Italy, on the other hand, is divided by papal disputes; in 1448 in Hungary the Hungarian-Polish dynastic union ends with the death of Vladislav III Jagello.
The new strong position of Iancu of Hunedoara became explicit in 1447 with the tragic death he gave, as a traitor because he had signed a peace treaty with the Turks, to Vlad Dracul (beheaded) and his son Radu the handsome (blinded) father and brother of Vlad.
In 1448 Turkish rule over the Balkans with the exception of Albania was completed, and Vlad Dracula Tepes was placed by them on the throne of Wallachia, where he reigned for two months (I KINGDOM).
A coalition of pretenders to the throne and boyars overthrew Vlad Tepes’ reign and he had to begin a long pilgrimage to neighboring countries. Important was in 1450 his stay in Buda where he met the greats of Europe.
Meanwhile, in 1451 the Hungarians also signed a treaty with the Turks, who after two years in 1453 conquered Constantinople.
With the death of Iancu of Hunedoara in 1456, his son Mattea Corvinus ascended the throne of Hungary.
In the same year Vlad Dracul Tepes’ second reign began in Wallachia thanks to the help of the Hungarians who deposed the ruler Vladislav who had become a vassal of the Turks. (II KINGDOM)
A year later in 1457 the situation of the rulers of the anti-Ottoman thrones in the Balkans was as follows: Stephen the Great in Moldavia, Skenderberg in Albania, and Vlad and Matthias Corvinus in Wallachia and Hungary, respectively.
Former bishop of Trieste Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini who became pope under the name Pius II launched an anti-Ottoman crusade during the Council of Mantua in 1459.
In fact, after the period of the great crusades for the liberation of the holy land in the 12th and 13th centuries, several popes had promoted European campaigns and crusades against the Turks without, however, meeting with great success in membership because Europe, although very concerned about the pressure in the Balkans was divided by great internal struggles.
This crusade was joined by Matthias Corvinus’ Hungary, the Romano-Germanic Empire and some western minors.
But above all who adheres and who will actually support it almost single-handedly is Vlad Tepes Dracula. His response to Pope Pius II was, “I cannot let the Turks conquer you through our homeland. We are your brothers and believers.”
So while Matthias Corvinus was receiving funds from the papacy to fight against the Turks Vlad Tepes began the fight in 1461alone, succeeding in liberating all the Danubian and Pontic territories.
Therefore this crusade, called by the papacy remained purely Romanian and Orthodox.
Vlad’s successes, however, overshadowed the position of Mattius Corvinus, who despite his kinship, Vlad had married his sister, imprisoned him in 1462 and with various conditions of imprisonment held him until 1474.
Pressure from the Turks, however, and the insistence of Vlad’s cousin, Stephen the Great of Moldavia, succeeded in convincing Matthias Corvinus to release Vlad, who resumed his throne in November 1476 for the third time. In December, however, of the same year he falls mortally wounded during a battle against the Turks.
This is the story or rather a summary of the news report.
But important is to see who Prince Vlad Dracul Tepes was and how he also behaved during his reign or in battles.
To better define him we will take some of his words handed down from autograph writings or historians of the time.
Vlad Tepes called himself a Christian prince and by God’s grace lord of Wallachia and duke of the Almasului and Faragasului areas.
Vlad declared that the state, for him, was all the territories inhabited by Romanians and their king was to be revered as such by both Christian princes and sultans. (first vision of a Romanian state)
In his letter to the citizens of Brasov (a city founded two centuries earlier by the Teutonic Knights) in 1456 he declares, “You must keep in mind that when a man or king is powerful and strong, then he can make peace as he wishes, but when he is without power one stronger than he dominates him and will do with him as he pleases.”
In fact, some historians compare Vlad Tepes to Macchiavelli’s Prince.
His life tempered by Turkish and Christian captivity made him a profound connoisseur of his enemies and a careful and ruthless manager of power.
A power to achieve which he had no qualms about alternately deceiving Christian and Turkish rulers whose plans he pretended to pander to.
On the other hand, neither of them had been tender toward her or her family members.
In the international arena he skillfully maintained his own independence and originality of alliance at a time when the struggle for power in Europe was marked by bloody conflicts.
He was an acquaintance and contemporary of such greats as the aforementioned Matthias Corvinus, Stephen the Great, Skenderberg Kastriota and Muhammad II, the conqueror of Constantinople.
His stated goals were:
1) remake an anti-Ottoman alliance of Romanian principalities.
2) together with the Hungarians, out of common interest, make a line of defense on the Danube
3) To become the advanced defense bastion of all European anti-Ottoman initiatives.
4) to coalesce in an anti-Turkish action that we can call Romanian all the peoples subjected to Turkish domination (even the Muslim ones)
However, it is perhaps on the level of vision and management of the state that we can find the full meaning of its reality and legend.
First and foremost in his concept of justice. Which was for Vlad Tepes the main weapon to stop rebellions, betrayals, and foreign interference in the internal problems of his state.
It must also be premised that the Roman traditions of the army leader and the Eastern traditions of the right of life and death converged in him.
And it was clear that only death could be the penalty for anyone who challenged his absolute power or even undermined his image by violating the laws.
On the other hand, these customs were not too different from those of his Christian or Muslim contemporaries.
His philosophy in a society that was in any case cruel and divided, dominated by Boers, and where abuse, exploitation, treachery, and slavery was still widely practiced, was that of the “new men” criterion: Where all were equal before the law (whether Boers, monks, priests, or men i streets) .
For treason, dishonesty, laziness, theft, stupidity, and prostitution there were drastic measures among which the death penalty excelled, both for those who had done it and for the very communities that had aided or covered up the offenders.
During his reigns he also mercilessly liquidated entire villages that were guilty of treason to the enemy.
But perhaps it was his economic vision that most created his reputation as a ruthless prince. In fact, without any concessions, he created a customs protectionist system that severely penalized the powerful Saxon merchants of Transylvania, who under his reigns could no longer enrich themselves from the trade they unscrupulously did with the various belligerents.
His was the first customs war in Balkan history where he prevented Wallachia from being a convenient transit for trade that was detrimental to the local economy.
To maintain power and to enforce the laws he used a personal guard made up of mercenaries and a sophisticated system of intelligence and spies.
Punishments were exemplary, and above all, sparing no expense, impalement was practiced. That was carried out in public and the bodies were left on poles until they became skeletons.
This wide use of impalement, moreover of Eastern derivation, earned him the name Tepes = impaler.
From this we can also infer another aspect of the prince’s power strategy, which through psychological warfare tended to convey fear and the ruthless punishment given to lawbreakers.
In Romanian historiography, however, Vlad Tepes is remembered above all as a great military leader. In fact he reorganized the army formed on the one hand by mercenaries who also constituted his personal guard and on the other by conscripts who were also stimulated to individual training.
He rationalized armaments and ruled, “Whoever wants to think about death, do not come with me but stay here,” that is, do not participate in the war.
He was very generous to those who were wounded from the front but relentless with those who presented wounds from behind due to fleeing in front of the enemy.
In a world in which treachery was the order of the day his soldiers taken prisoner preferred to die amid torture rather than betray so be sure of the punishment they and their relatives would suffer.
Militarily he adopted two systems that of the strategic offensive based mainly on the secret preparation of the attack and the surprise and unpredictability of the attack.
The other system that we can call strategic defense was committed to a series of fortifications and logistic bases that he built on the frontiers and within the state, to drawing within the frontiers the enemy under conditions favorable to his armies, and finally to attacking the retreating enemy army.
The most characteristic military initiatives in its history have all been based on:
incursions
punishment raid
demonstration shipments
diversions
surprise attacks
quick shifts
night attacks
attacks against camps
disguises
killing of enemy staffs
also essential in his battles was the use of psychological warfare with propaganda, disinformation of the enemy, sound effects and terrifying visuals such as the sight of thousands of impaled Turks.
A profound connoisseur of languages and cultures, Turkish, Hungarian and German he was certainly one of the greatest statesmen in the history of Romania and the Balkans.
People began to write about him already during his lifetime-the first manuscripts are dated in 162, and after his death as early as 1480 the first libel was written.
It is important to analyze the sources of his stories, which were always shrouded in legend.
The first people who wrote about Vlad Tepes Dracul were the Saxons of Transylvania in German, and of course such accounts were conditioned by the great conflict the Wallachian prince had with them as his economic policies harmed their interests and his reprisals were certainly ruthless.
The medium of language and the political relations of the Saxons with the Germans and Hungarians meant that such narratives had a great and immediate resonance in Europe and especially in Gutemberg’s Germany.
On the content of such stories we can agree with a Romanian historian or historian who was certainly not soft on the figure of Vlad Dracul, Ion Bodgan who said, “The Germanic narratives about Tepes are neither a semi-record that tell only true facts nor are they fables in which only fantasy predominates: they are both.
One fact is certain that the German-language tales about Dracula it appears as a sadistic and insane tyrant, and this is a fact of obvious negative propaganda about the character.
The Slavic-language narratives about Vlad Tepes are certainly fewer in number and appear at a later stage than the first ones in German and undoubtedly have a different character and certainly not a negative one since the Wallachian prince appears more of a Lord who was certainly ruthless but also just who punished offenders regardless of their rank.
These stories were also widely circulated throughout the Slavic world.
The Romanian narratives about Vlad Tepes Dracul, as opposed to the German and Slavic ones were handed down only orally and naturally give a positive version of the Wallachian prince who comes to be a defender of Romanity, of injustices even if his methods were harsh his motives always justified his fiercest actions.
Italians include the nuncio Nicolò di Modrussa, Bonfini and Enea Silvio Piccolomini himself among those who wrote about Vlad Tepes Dracul. In addition< Venetian, Austrian, Hungarian, and of course Byzantine and Turkish chroniclers were among the contemporaries of Prince Wallachian those who most reported the exploits of the legendary leader.In particular among the narratives 48 with the different variants dealing with the most significant episodes ranging from the death of his father Vlad Dracul to the death of Prince Vlad Tepes Dracul have been catalogued.
In the final I want to tell you some narratives in the different versions.
Let’s start with the Germans.
X
One day a captain who had been ordered by Tepes to burn down a village called Col dea failed because of the villagers’ resistance.
He went to Prince Wallach and told him : “I could not do what you ordered me to do.”
Immediately Tepes gave the order to impale the captain.
XIII
It tells of mothers who were impaled with babies at the breast sucking milk.
XV
One day some gypsies went to beg Tepes to pardon one of them accused of theft. Tepes had the miscreant boiled and his friends eat the meat.
There are several stories that tell that Tepes in actions against entire villages ” had the inhabitants cut down like cabbages.”
XXIV
Saw a man in a short shirt (probable suit) asked him if he had a wife. He had his wife brought to him and asked her what you do for your husband, She answered, I wash, cook and spin wool. Tepes had her impaled since she had not made her husband a long shirt.
XXVIII
On hearing that two monks were going around the country he had them called before him to find out what was being said about him: The first monk (full of fear) said, “It is said of you only a great good ee that you are a believer and so I think so too.”
The second monk, who was called later, although he was afraid, thought that one day pur must die and so he would tell the truth. And so he did and told him that ” it is said that you are the greatest tyrant that exists on earth. And I have not heard anyone speak well of you.”
And Tepes said “You have told me the truth and therefore I let you live” the other was impaled
XXIX
In another little story it is told that in a village he had all the children fried and had their flesh eaten by their mothers and all the women had their breasts cut off, which he had their husbands eat and finally impaled everyone.
XXXI
During a market fair he had some people put money in the merchants’ huts at night and others he took from them. The next day he went to the market and to those who told him they had been robbed he gave them their money back while to those who despite having found money kept quiet he had them impaled.
ROMANIAN STORIES.
A Florentine merchant had 160 galenes (medieval currency) stolen when he went to Vlad Dracul the prince told him to rest assured that they would find the thief and his money. The next day he sent for him and returned the money, but the merchant when he numbered it realized that he had received an extra galen so he went back to the prince and returned it to him. Vlad said “if you would not have done so I would have impaled you as I impaled the thief.
Moral:
This is how Tepes behaves with his subjects, with believers and with nonbelievers.
III
The sultan sent an army against him with merchant boyars at the forefront, which was destroyed and all were impaled. Then the sultan sent a much more powerful army and Vlad Dracul retreated among the mountains. Then one evening disguised as a Turkish officer he entered the sultan’s camp and came to his tent and threw a spear at him, striking him dead. Then he went outside and began shouting “Get him, get him “Thus he created a great confusion among the Turks who began to fight each other.
Moral: Unfortunately, there was a mistake because he had killed not the sultan but a pasha who was in his tent.
Turkish and Byzantine stories.
For small sins he gave great pains and had no pity for anyone neither for women nor children.
Called Kazikli (the impaler) and in some stories the Turks manage to make him escape. Even the soldiers were terrified of him.
And now the Slavic-language stories translated from Ion Bogdan’s 1898 book of the original 1500 manuscripts.
I
Ambassadors from the Turkish emperor came to him and after they bowed without taking off their headgear Vlad Dracul asked, “Why do you behave like this you came from a great emperor and brought him shame” They replied that this is the custom of their emperor. Vlad said, “Then I would like to strengthen this custom so that you become stronger,” and he ordered his men to bring iron nails and drive them into the heads of the ambassadors, whom he then dismissed, saying, “Go and tell your emperor that if he is used to this we are not and that next time he should not bring his ways since we reject them.
II
The Turkish emperor was enraged by this and started a war against Tepes with a large army. In turn Tepes rallied his own and attacked the Turks encamped during the night, massacring a good portion of them. After that since his army was less numerous he retreated. When he inspected his men he gave noble title and great honors to those wounded in the face and front and had those wounded in the back impaled.
III
Once the Turkish emperor sent an ambassador to collect the tribute due. Tepes hosted the ambassador very well and showed him all the money and said, “I not only want to give it to the emperor personally but I want to be able to serve him with all my property and my army. You tell him that I am going to him so he must order his whole country not to do me or my men any harm. I will come right after you.” The emperor hearing that Vlad wanted to put himself in his service was also pleased because he was at war with the countries of the east and gave orders to let him pass and treat him well.
Vlad after 5b days of walking through Turkish territory returned and began ravaging cities and towns capturing and killing many Turks who were then impaled and burned. He did not spare even the children. He freed the Christians who had been captured and held in slavery. Later he freed the Turkish nobles, who had been spared, and said to them,” Go and tell the emperor. I have served him as well as I could. If my service is still needed by him I am gladly at his disposal. The emperor distraught with shame was unable to do anything to him.
IV
He was feared by Tepes in his country because it was known that he did not tolerate any wickedness, cleverness or injustice so everyone knew that whoever would do this did not stay alive, indifferent whether he was a lord, a priest or a poor man. At a place in the country there was a spring of good, fresh water and many people went to drink that water. Tepes had a large and beautiful golden cup made and put it at this spring and everyone drank the water from the cup and put it back in its place. And out of fear no one dared to steal it during his whole reign.
V On women
If a woman proved unfaithful to her man he ordered her shame to be cut off and tied naked in the center of the marketplace. The same fate befell widows and young ladies who did not keep their virginity. Some had their breasts cut off, others were skinned and eventually all naked were impaled until they became skeletons.
VII
Once an ambassador from a noble family came from the Hungarian Prince Mathias. Tepes invited him to sit at the table together with him among the corpses. In front of the ambassador was a large, thick, very tall and all-golden pole. Tepes asked the ambassador why he thought he had made this pole different. This full of fear replied, “Master I think that a noble man, with power has erred and you want to give him a death with honors.” “It is so,” replied Tepes _ I did it for you. The ambassador said,” If I have done something for which I deserve death, you are the master of my life and if I have to die it is not your fault but mine.” Tepes smilingly said that if he had not answered in this way, he would surely find himself, with all honors, impaled. He dismissed him, giving him a gift and said, “You can be an ambassador without fearing anything, others who dare not until they have first learned how one must speak to great princes.”
VIII
Vlad Tepes was having lunch under the impaled bodies that were so many that they looked like a forest. In front of him stood one of his subjects who was in his service turning his head and grimacing. Vlad asked him why he was doing that and the man said, “Master I cannot stand this smell of corpses.” Then Vlad ordered him to be impaled, saying, “That way you will be on high and the stench will not reach you.”
IX
Once he gave orders that all the old people, those sick from any disease, the crippled, the blind, etc. should come to him so he would make them happy. Poor people from all over the principality gathered with the hope of a better life. Tepes built a large house especially for them and ordered that they be given plenty to eat and drink. And there was great feasting and much merriment. Then Tepes went to them and asked if they would like anything else. The people replied, “Master do as God advises His Majesty.” Then Tepes ordered the house to be boarded up and set on fire. Then he turned to his court of rich nobles and boyars and said, “Do you know why I did this? First so that these will no longer be a burden on their families, and then because in my country no one should be poor but everyone should be rich. I have done a good work to these people so that they may be freed from poverty and disease.”
XII
Walking through the streets of his kingdom he met a peasant with a dirty and broken smock and asked him. “Do you have a wife? The peasant replied, “Yes your majesty” “Then take me to your house” Tepes told him. After seeing that his wife was young and full of health, he asked the farmer, “Do you grow flax?””Yes master I have a lot of it” and showed it to him. Then Tepes said to his wife, “Why are you so lazy and neglect your husband who has to plow the land, sow, harvest so that you don’t lack anything? You were supposed to see to it that your husband lacks nothing, take good care of him, and that he always wears neat and clean clothes, Instead you don’t even wash his shirt, even though you are young and full of health. If your husband goes around like this, it is only your fault.”
He ordered that the woman’s hands be cut off first and the body be impaled.
XVII
How the end of Vlad Tepes Dracul is said to have occurred.
At the end of a battle against the Turks, who came to conquer Wallachia, Vlad Tepes went to the top of a hill to see in the valley the bodies of the dead Turks and the escape of those left behind. A group of his men believing that he was a Turk attacked him and wounded him with the sword. Vlad realizing that he was about to be killed by his own mortally wounded five of them but could not save himself because the others killed him anyway.
Here ends the story but mostly my lecture although the myth of this hero, defender of Western culture (for current Romanian historiography) and the legendary vampire (for Western consumerism) certainly does not end here as the two myths continue to coexist and in Romania itself a few years ago a world congress of associations on Dracula was held and as from the beginning and for 5 centuries until today his true or fictionalized story has always interested people of all languages and cultures I believe that the universality of the character will continue to interest all future generations as well.
knight-officer Dr. Ervino Curtis
(Speech at opening on Vlad Tepes Dracula exhibition)
