Dracula
The
library collection of the British museum in London is a storehouse of arcane
knowledge and it was here that the concept of Dracula originated in 19th
century Irish author, Bram Stoker. Stoker spent his time combing through
numerous volumes concerning medicine, the occult, as well as the history and
geography of Eastern Europe.
Today,
the world's most famous vampire has been undead for over one hundred years.
American
historian, Raymond McNally came across Stoker's sources; Stoker found a book,
in which Vlad Tepes had been discussed, also known as Vlad The Impaler.
Therefore he composed his major character around Tepes. The Romanian prince and
Dracula became one. The shocking and frightening history of the wild prince is
in that book, shows the cruelty of his nature. It illustrates how the prince
impaled people and roasted them, boiling their heads, next to the heads of
cattle; of sheep; how he skinned them alive and hacked them into pieces, then
drank their blood.
In
Bram Stoker's novel, Dracula travels to England, intent on dominating the
world. Stoker looked for the optimal places in which to set his novel. He
combed papers and diaries; researched accounts of Jack The Ripper who shocked
the British public by brutally cutting up and murdering prostitutes, and whose
identity was never known. At the turn of the century horror tales were popular,
Stoker knew that if his vampire tale had a contemporary setting it would be
devoured by the public.
There
were popular vampire tales before Dracula. Many of them were set in Austria,
and Bram Stoker originally wanted his story to be set in that region. Stoker
then became influenced by Transylvanian superstitions, the Carpathian
mountains, and he moved his setting to 'the land beyond the forest'. He described
it as a bleak mountainous region, difficult to reach, infested with ghosts.
500
years ago Vlad Tepes, the historical Count Dracula, ruled this region. Even
today the people of the area. honor his memory. Not far from his fortress lies
the town of Sighiesoara. The locals may never have read Stoker's book, but they
know about the original count Dracula who is revered as a great warrior. A
monument was erected in Dracula's birthplace in his honour. According to the
local people, he brought peace and stability to the region. The town is
essentially unchanged since Dracula's time.
In
Dracula's era, times were hard. The Ottomans had set out to dominate Wallachia.
At the birthplace of Vlad, is a fresco of the only recognized likeness of his
father, Vlad Dracul. The word 'Dracula' has two meanings, 'devil' and 'dragon'.
Dracula is, 'son of Dracule'. Vlad Dracul got his name from an affiliation with
'The Order Of The Dragon', founded by the Emperor of Luxembourg.
Romania
in the fifteenth century was caught between Islam and Christendom. The Ottoman
armies attacked Wallachia and Transylvania. Dracul often negotiated with the
Ottomans, but his son, Vlad Tepes, fought them back ferociously. Although the
Sultan's army was three times the size of Vlad Dracul's, Vlad Tepes defeated it
with a combination of barbarity and cunning.
Vlad
showed himself a master of psychological warfare. As the sultan approached
Târgovieste, the capital of Wallachia, he witnessed a sight so terrible, it
caused his armies to retreat.
The
Sultan said, 'what can I do to anybody who commits such atrocities? The forest
of the impaled - as it became known - was the site of a gruesome war crime.
Twenty thousand people, were impaled. The technique was successful; the Sultan
and his army retreated for good. The sufferers consisted of Turkish war
prisoners and Dracul's political challengers. From then on Vlad Tepes became
'the impaler'. It is true that Vlad Tepes was a barbaric leader, though his
ruthlessness was a political instrument of power. This technique of impalement
prevented his enemies from defeating him,so frightened they were by the
prospect of such a horrible fate. Armies of men turned back in horror.
Count
Dracula's actions need to be understood within the context of history. The
penalty for crime in the middle-ages was especially severe. Life was cheap, and
even small offences were penalized harshly. The high courts had such terrible
methods of execution that Dracula's deeds were quite the norm, though none the
less horrendous for that. In Western Europe, among the most hideous punishments
for theft or murder was to be broken on the wheel. When a culprit was condemned
to being broken on the wheel, he was laid on the ground, his arms and legs
spread apart, while the executioner hurled a wagon wheel with such ferocity
that he often died before being tied to the spokes. An iron blade was
connected, and the wheeled or broken person taken outside the city. The wheel
was then mounted on a post and the victim left to the dogs.
Torture
was frequent back then, and an effective tool of inquisition. The longer the
implicated person stayed silent, the more gruesome the torture. The execution
depended on the offence. Impaling was a medieval kind of execution where the
detainee was raised upon a sharpened spike, and with heavy weights affixed to
his arms and legs the spike slowly penetrated the victim's body until it
reached his heart and killed him. Nonetheless this was a rare practice, sawing
in half, or impaling the guilty person was hardly ever used before Vlad.
Vlad
did not confine his cruelty to his enemies, his subjects were also tyrannised
for minor infringements such as not paying their taxes. Vlad thought nothing of
impaling children. If it was political expedience or pure sadism, the fact
remains that count Dracula was a hideously cruel and barbaric despot. Dracula's
descendent, a great-granddaughter now into the 27th generation, believes the
loss of his wife made Dracula turn bitter. When Dracula's wife, Elizabeth,
received false information about his death, she killed herself by throwing
herself out of the castle, and plunging into the icy river below. A forged
letter from the Turks triggered this event, and thereafter Dracula hated the
Ottomans with a vengeance. That section of the river is still known as 'river
of the princess'. Dracula's descendant thinks her ancestor's cruelty became
much more extreme upon the death of his wife. His lust for power and death
increased and he was known thereafter as 'devil'.
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