Vlad Dracula Essay, Research Paper

Vlad Dracula was a 15th century prince who has been the topic of many horror narratives. There is much argument whether Vlad Dracula was a merely prince or a deranged autocrat. Web of fact and fable has portrayed him as both a national hero and the prince of darkness.

Wallachian Politicss

In order to understand the life of Vlad Dracula, it is first necessary to understand something about the nature of Wallachian society and political relations. A Transylvanian named Rudolph the Black founded Wallachia in 1290. Wallachia was dominated by Hungary until 1330, when it became independent. The first swayer of the new state was Prince Basarab the Great, an ascendant of Dracula. ( Augustyn p. 12 ) The throne of Wallachia was familial, but non by the jurisprudence of primogeniture. Alternatively, the boyars or great Lords had the right to elect the prince from among the assorted eligible members of the royal household. ( Augustyn p. 14 ) By the late 15th century the House of Basarab had split into two rival kins: the posterities of Prince Dan and those of Prince Mircea the old ( Dracula s gramps ) . These two subdivisions of the royal household were acrimonious challengers. Both Dracula and his male parent murdered challengers from the Danesti upon making the throne. ( Miller p. 64 )

Another of import fact of the 15th century Wallachian political life was the influence of powerful neighbours. Dracula s gramps, Mircea the Old, was forced to pay testimonial to the sultan early in the 15th century. ( Miller p. 64 ) The Magyar Kingdom to the North and West of Wallachia reached the tallness of its power during the 15th century and was a mark for the powerful Ottoman Empire. Wallachia was the first measure for the Ottomans on their manner to suppress the Christian universe, so throughout the fourteenth and 15th centuries the princes of Wallachia attempted to keep independency by invariably switching commitment between the powerful neighbours. ( Augustyn p. 20 )

Young Dracula

Vlad inherited the name Dracula from his male parent. Vlad s father, Vlad II, was admitted into a secret fraternal order of knights called the Order of the Dragon to continue Christianity and support the Holy Roman Empire against Turkey. The boyars, which were land having Lords, called him Dracul, intending firedrake. Consequently, Vlad III was called Dracula, intending Son of the Dragon. Dracul besides meant Satan. So Dracula s enemies, particularly German Saxons, called him boy of the Satan. Dracula s enemies besides called him Vlad Tepes, intending Vlad the Impaler. ( Miller p. 3 )

Vlad Dracula was born in 1431 in the Transylvanian metropolis of Sighisoara in modern Romania. At that clip Dracula s male parent was populating in expatriate in Transylvania. Vlad Dracul was in Transylvania trying to garner support for his planned attempt to prehend the Wallachian throne from the Danesti Prince, Alexandru I. ( Augustyn p. 25 ) Little is known about the early old ages of Dracula s life. It is known he had an senior brother, Mircea, and a younger brother Radu. His early instruction was left in the custodies of his female parent, a Transylvanian Lady. ( Miller p. 4 ) His existent instruction began in 1436 after his male parent succeeded in claiming the Wallachian throne and killing his Danesti challenger. His preparation was typical to that common to the boies of the aristocracy throughout Europe. He was trained for knighthood by an old boyar who had fought against the Turks. Dracula learned all the accomplishments of war and peace that were deemed necessary for a Christian knight. ( Miller p. 7 )

The political state of affairs in Wallachia remained unstable after Vlad II Dracul seized the throne in 1436. The power of the Turks was turning quickly as one by one the little provinces of the Balkans surrendered to the Ottoman onslaught. At the same clip the power of Hungary was making its zenith and would top out during the clip of John Hunyadi and his boy King Matthius Corvinus. The Magyar leaders were acrimonious enemies with the Ottoman Empire. As the prince of Wallachia, Vlad II Dracul tried to walk a in-between coarse between his powerful neighbours. ( Augustyn p. 22 )

In 1442 Vlad attempted to stay impersonal when the Turks invaded Transylvania. The Turks were defeated and the vindictive Hungarians under John Hunyadi forced Dracul and his household to fly Wallachia. ( McNally p. 34 ) In 1443, Vlad II regained the Wallachian throne with Turkish support, on the status that he subscribe a new pact with the grand Turk that included non merely the customary one-year testimonial but the promise to annually direct Wallachian male childs to fall in the Turkish ground forces. In 1444, to farther assure to the grand Turk of his good religion, Vlad II sent his two youngest boies, Dracula and Radu, to Adrianople as sureties. Dracula was about 13. ( McNally p. 35-36 ) While Dracula was a surety, the boyars and merchandisers of the Wallachian metropolis Tirgoviste murdered his male parent and older brother. There are different narratives about how he died he may hold been tortured and burned, or buried alive. Some say that Hunyadi organized the blackwashs. ( Kalogridis p. 64 )

Since Vlad and Marcea were dead, and Dracula and Rau were

still in Turkey, Hunyadi was able to set a member of the Danesti kin, Vladislav II, on the Wallachian throne. ( Kalogridis p. 66 ) The Turks didn T like holding a Magyar marionette in charge of Wallachia, so in 1448 they freed Dracula and gave him an ground forces. He was 17 old ages old. Dracula s small brother Radu chose to stay in Turkey. He had grown up at that place, and seemingly remained loyal to the grand Turk. Dracula successfully overthrew Vladislav II, and became the new Prince Of Wallachia. ( Kalogridis p. 66 )

Vlad the Impaler

During Vlad s reign as prince of Wallachia, he committed many freaks. Impalement was Dracula s preferred method of anguish and executing. Dracula normally had a Equus caballus attached to each of the victim s legs and a sharpened interest was bit by bit forced into the organic structure. The terminal of the interest was normally oiled and attention was taken that the interest non be excessively crisp ; else the victim might decease excessively quickly from daze. Normally the interest was inserted into the organic structure through the natess and was frequently forced until it emerged threw the oral cavity. ( McNally p. 112 )

Death by impalement was slow and painful. Victims sometimes endured for hours or yearss. Dracula frequently had the bets arranged in assorted geometric forms. The tallness of the lance indicated the rank of the victim. Thousands were frequently impaled at a individual clip. Ten thousand were impaled in the Transylvanian metropolis of Sibiu in 1460. The decaying cadavers were frequently left up for months. ( McNally p. 112 113 )

His first important act of inhuman treatment may hold been motivated by a desire of retaliation every bit good as a demand to solidify his power. Early in his chief reign he gave a banquet for his boyars and their households to observe Easter. Dracula was good cognizant that many of these same Lords were portion of the confederacy that led to his male parent s blackwash and the burying alive of his senior brother, Mircea. Dracula had them all arrested. The older boyars were impaled on the topographic point. The younger and healthier Lords and their households were marched north from Targoviste to the ruins of a palace in the mountains. The enslaved boyars and their households were forced to labour for months reconstructing the old palace. Very few of the old Lords survived the ordeal of edifice Castle Dracula. In topographic point of the executed boyars, Dracula promoted new work forces from among the free peasantry and in-between category, work forces who would be loyal merely to Dracula. ( Miller p. 88 ) Many of Dracula s Acts of the Apostless of inhuman treatment can be interpreted as attempts to beef up and overhaul the cardinal authorities at the disbursal of the feudal powers of aristocracy and great towns. ( McNally p. 113 )

Dracula s atrociousnesss against the people of Wallachia were normally efforts to implement his ain moral codification upon his county. He appears to hold been peculiarly concerned with female celibacy. Maids who lost their virginity, extramarital married womans, and unchaste widows were all marks of Dracula s inhuman treatment. Such adult female frequently had their sexual variety meats cut out or the chests cut off. They were besides frequently impaled through the vagina on ruddy hot bets that were forced through their organic structures until it emerged from the oral cavity. ( Miller p. 90 ) Dracula besides insisted that his people be honest and difficult working. Merchants who cheated their clients were likely to happen themselves mounted on a interest. ( McNally p. 115 )

Dracula s reign of panic ended in 1474. Dracula was killed while contending the Turks near Bucharest. The grand Turk of Turkey displayed Dracula s caput on a expressway in Constantinople to turn out that he was dead. His organic structure was buried at the island monastery of Snagov, which he had patronized. ( Florescu p. 44 )

Hero or Psychopathic Tyrant

Was Vlad Dracula s reigning that of a hero or a psychopathologic autocrat? It depends on what you read. In Rumanian and Russian folklore, Vlad Dracula is considered a national hero. German and Turkish folklore portray Dracula as an cold monster who terrorized the land and butchered guiltless people with sadistic hilarity. ( Kalogridis p. 210 )

Among the Rumanian peasantry, Dracula is remembered as a merely prince who defended his people from aliens, whether those aliens are Turkish encroachers or German merchandisers. He is besides remembered as slightly of a title-holder of the common adult male against the subjugation of the boyars. Dracula was a courageous warrior. The provincials were proud of his military achievements ; no affair what methods he used to achieve them. Dracula s ferocious insisting on honestness is a cardinal portion of the folklore. Russian folklore portrays Dracula as a cruel but merely prince whose actions were directed toward the greater good of his people. ( Kalogridis p. 210-211 )

German and Turkish folklore portray Dracula as the Prince of Darkness because it was under his bid that 1000s of Turkish and German people were killed. Dracula was a acrimonious enemy of German merchandisers and Turkish people. ( Kalogridis p. 211 )

Vlad Dracula s repute, both as a hero and psychopathologic autocrat, is debated. Some say it was Dracula s ways of merely penalty. Others think Dracula was a ill adult male who killed and tortured out of sadistic pleasance.