The name Dracula conjures up a myriad of dark images in our minds, late night horror movies of vampires & vampire hunters, dark forests in romania, and tyranical leaders capable of all sorts of evil acts. here is some background information on the dracula from which Bram Stroker - and Jeanna Kalogridis - were inspired.
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Prince Vladamir Tepes, born in 1431, died in 1476, ruler of the lands now known as Romania. Vlad Tepes was born in the town of Sighisoara in Transilvania (now known as Northern Romania in 1431 & later came to rule the area os Southern Romania known as Wallachia. The word "tepes" in roman means "impaler" - and Vlad was so named that because of his penchant for impalement as a means of punishing his enemies. Impalement was a particularly fgruesome form of execution, wherein the victim was impaled between the legs, to put it politely- upon a large, sharpened stake the width of a burly mans arm. Vlad especially enjoyed madd executions, where several victims were impaled at once, and their stakes hoisted upright, as they hung suspended above the ground, the weight of their bodies would slowly drag them downwards causing the sharpened end of the stake to pierce their internal organs. In order to better enjoy these mass specticles, Vlad routinely ordered a banquet table set up in front of his victims and would order a leisurely supper amid the pitiful sights and sounds of the dying. In addition to his title of "impaler", Vlad was also known as Dracula, which means "son dragon", - orginally this title came about because his father (also named Vlad), belonged to the order of the dragon, an order formed by the holy roman emperor S igismund for the purpose of defeating the turks. The elder Vlad used the dragon symbol on his coins and went by the name Dracul (dragon or devil) -- hence the diminutive "a" on his sons name, Dracula. As the younger Vlad's talent for torture became known, however, the name Dracula came to be enterperated more and more as the sinister "son of the devil". At the same time that Vlad became otorious for his sadism, he was also respected by his subjects for his fierce campaigns against the turks, he was a respected warrior and ruler, who liberated no crime against his people and during her reign, erected several monasteries, however, despite Vlad's political ambilion, the turbulent political atmosphere of the times took its toll on his reign, he was overthrown twice (he ruled for a brief time in 1448 and again from 1456-1462, and only for a short matter of weeks in the year he died, 1476) ultimately, Dracula died violently (according to rumor, at the hands of one of his men, who was actually a turkish spy) He was buried at one fo the monasteries he patronized, on the island of Snagov. Contrary to popular belief, Dracula's castle does not exsist in Transilvania, the crumbling ruins still stand in the Northern Wallachin town of Tirgouiste. |
