Vlad_the_Impaler

Vlad the Impaler The Life of Vlad the Impaler Vlad Dracolya (Also pronounced Dracula – Translated as Son of Dragon) was also known as the notorious, Vlad Tepes, or Vlad the Impaler. He was born in Wallachia in 1431, the son of Vlad II Dracul (Dracul Translated as Dragon), the King of Wallachia, and Princess Cneajna, the daughter of the King of Moldavia. A portrait of Vlad the Impaler He ruled Wallachia from 1456 to 1462, and then again briefly in 1468. Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania would eventually unite to form the nation now known as Romania. Many references to Vlad as a ruler of Romania, or Romanian Prince, can be found, though he in truth he only ruled the nation of Wallachia which was a state in its own right at this time. His Father Vlad II belonged to an order called the Order of The Dragon. This order was a semi religious and military order established in 1347 by the then Pope to protect Christianity from the faith of Islam. Vlad followed his Father in also becoming a member of this Order. In 1444, when Vlad was 13 years old his Father was forced to send him and his younger brother Radule to Turkey to live as life long Prisoners of the Sultan and Ruler of the Otterman Empire, Murad II. Even though the Sultan, and the Otterman Empire, was Islamic, and therefore the enemy of his faith and his state, Vlad's father had no choice but to do this because of the political pressure and threat of invasion from Hungary, a nation that had already dethroned him once, and whom he had only been able to remove and regain his throne with the help of the Sultan and his Empire. So long as the Sultan had Vlad and his brother Radule as prisoners he could be sure that their father would pay him tax's and not cause him any trouble. Vlad spent many years in the Sultan's dungeon and refused all attempts to convert him to Islam. He was beaten and tortured by his gaolers for this. During his time in the dungeon's Vlad witnessed and grew used to seeing many horrible things, even asking about and learning torture techniques from his torturer's. It is thought that this time in the dungeon's helped shape him into the monster he was to become. Vlad's younger brother, Radule, was not as Stubborn as Vlad, and after converting to Islam became a favourite of the Sultan. Radule also befriended Mehmed II, the son and heir of Murad II, who Vlad came to especially despise. Vlad learnt from his brothers example however, and whilst still maintaining his Christian faith, he pretended to convert to Islam and also stopped his rude and disobedient behaviour. He and his brother Radule, who would always remain loyal to the Sultan and eventually become a General in his army (as well as his lover), received military training and were given freedom within the Sultan's palace. However, Vlad always maintained a deep hatred for the Otterman's because of his years of imprisonment and torture. After Vlad's father was assassinated in the year of 1448 and his older brother, and heir to the throne, Mircea was tortured and murdered, by Lords (Boyars) within Wallachia whose Christian faith lead them to despise the relationship Vlad's father had with the Otterman Empire, the Sultan invaded Wallachia and placed Vlad on the throne as his Puppet Ruler. However, shortly after this (in 1447) Hungary once more invaded and with the assistance of Wallachia's Boyars took control of the kingdom, forcing Vlad to flee and find protection with his uncle Brogdan, the ruler of Moldavia. After his uncle was assassinated in 1451 Vlad found protection with the very Hungarian ruler who had ousted him from power, John Hunyadi. Hunyadi was very impressed with Vlad's understanding of the Otterman Empire and its inner workings, and his deep hatred for the Otterman's, especially the new Sultan, Mehmed II who now ruled the Empire after the death of his father Murad II. The two men now reconciled and Vlad became an advisor to Hunyadi The two men went to war against the Otterman's, who were expanding their empire and had invaded Hungary. After repelling the Turks Hunyadi died of the plague. Vlad seized this opportunity and in 1456 used the forces he commanded to invade Wallachia and retake his Kingdom. Upon regaining the throne he sought out and killed the Boyars, and anyone who supported them, who had been responsible for his father and brothers deaths as well as ousting him from power. Vlad, with the support of the Catholic church, remained in constant conflict with the Otterman Empire. He played a game of cat and mouse with the Otterman's who constantly demanded he pay tribute to them, and continually frustrated and angered them with his tactics. Vlad could never, and never would, pay them tribute because this would mean he and his kingdom would be under Otterman Control, something he found completely unacceptable. Eventually, in 1462, the Ottermans sent an army to invade Wallachia. Vlad defeated this army and all subsequent attacks by the Otterman's. It was Radule, his brother and commander of the Otterman's famed Jannisary Battalions that was eventually sent to bring him down. Radule and Vlad engaged in several battles with Vlad being Victorious on at least three occasions, but, the vast resources of the Otterman empire were too much and Vlad was in a desperate financial position. He travelled to Hungary, his supposed ally, and approached its King, the son of Hunyadi, Matthias Corvinus for assistance but was instead betrayed and imprisoned. Corvinus had been given 40,000 gold coins by the Pope to join Vlad and start a new christian crusade against the Ottermans. Corvinus however, having spent the money and not eager to engage in all out war with the Ottermans, framed Vlad, providing false letters and testimonies to the Pope that Vlad was about to change his allegiance, join his brother Radule, and reject Christianity. Vlad remained a prisoner of the Hungarians until the death of his Brother, Radule, also known as Radule the Fair, in 1474. Radule had conquered Wallachia, claimed the throne, and ruled it on behalf of the Otterman Empire after Vlad's arrest. With the death of his brother, Vlad once more laid claim to the throne and with the support of the Hungarians, who were eager to see Wallachia freed from Otterman and Islamic rule, invaded and retook his kingdom in 1475. Within two months of seizing the throne though he was assassinated by the Boyars, with suspected assistance from the Turks, who were not willing to see themselves, their land, and its people, suffer under his rule again. The Brutal Reign of Vlad the Impaler Vlad Dracolya (Dracula) was a cruel and sadistic tyrant who used terror to not only control his own people but to make the rulers of other nations, especially the Turks, fear him. It is estimated that during his rule he executed between 80,000 to 100,00 people, including captured prisoners of war . It is estimated that the population of Wallachia at the time was only about 500,000. His favourite form of putting people to death was the method of impalement, a technique he learned as a prisoner of the Turks. This involved taking the victim and placing them on the end of a large pole which was fixed into the ground. The pole was rounded at the end and inserted through the rectum of the victim. They died a slow and agonising death. Vlad also decapitated, blinded, boiled, strangled, hanged, burned, roasted, nailed, skinned his victims, cut of people's limbs, and had them buried alive. On one occasion, in 1462 the invading Turkish army came across an entire field that went for several square kilometres with thousands upon thousands of stakes. On the end of each stake was an impaled prisoner that Vlad had taken in previous battles with his Turkish enemy. The Turkish army, shaken by the sight of so many of their countrymen impaled, turned around and left. During his reign crime became non existent in Wallacia as every crime was punishable by death, even the crime of idleness. Some acts of Vlad the impaler are listed below just to show the extent of his cruelty - At the very beginning of his rule he invited all the Boyars (The countries Lords, or Nobles) and their families to an Easter Feast. Because it was a holy occasion none of the Boyars could refuse. After the feast Vlad's soldiers stormed the feast and impaled the old and weak of each family. The others were made to march 50 miles to the site of a great but extensively damaged castle. Vlad had the Boyars and their remaining family members rebuild the castle and, when completed, had those that hadn't died during the work impaled in front of the castle. It was this castle, which is shown below, that became Castle Dracula. - He would have his soldiers collect the blood of victims in a bowl and dip his head in the bowl, drinking the blood. It is said that he also liked to dip his bread in blood and eat it front of his guests. This terrified his own men, and others who witnessed these acts, and rumours had it that his consuming of blood gave him supernatural powers. - One year he asked the old, the ill, the lame, the poor, the blind and the beggars, including women and children, from all over his country, to feast in a huge hall which he had specially built for the occasion. At the conclusion of the meal he told them he would end their suffering forever and then, locking them inside the hall, burnt it to the ground. - A nobleman being forced to dine with Vlad whilst surrounded by stakes of impaled victims dared to wrinkle his nose at the stench. So that he could dine above the smell which he found so disturbing Vlad had him immediately impaled on a stake that was twice as long as the others around them. - In the early days of his rule a merchant complained that he had been robbed. Vlad tracked down the robber, killed him, and returned the merchants money to him. However, he placed in the returned monies an extra coin. To Vlad's disappointment the merchant returned the coin and escaped the impalement he had planned for him. Politics of the Day - Its Impact on his Life and Reputation Despite his cruelty Vlad was a devout christian. He built many churches and was seen by many Christians as a hero. Even in his own country he was seen then, as now, as a strong leader who protected the nation from the Turkish Empire. Today, in modern Romania, Vlad is seen as a great warrior, and there are even Statues erected in his honour. He had considerable support from the Pope and other Christian nations because Wallachia stood as the gate that separated Christian Europe from the Turks. He also engaged the Turks in battle and despite always being out manned often came away victorious. This too was a source of pride for Christians and his countrymen and was seen as a sign that God supported them. His use of certain tactics such as impalement, and even his methods of control over his own people, were not uncommon in this time, but that he used them so extensively was due to not only his own cruel personality, but also due to his need to maintain strict control over his resources, and to instil fear into enemies whose resources were so much greater than his own. The Muslims (Turkish Otterman Nation) whilst his enemies used his behaviour to paint him as a monster and an enemy that had to be conquered, but it was Hungarian King, Mattius Corvinus, who after framing and arresting him for supposedly betraying his Christian vow's, who really tainted his image. He deliberately blackened Vlad's name in order to justify his decision to the christian world and his allies, especially after Wallachia then fell into Turkish hands through Vlad's brother Radule. The German's, whose presence in Transylvania was not wanted by Vlad because they interfered in the regions politics and had been engaged with his brother Radule in plans to depose him from the throne, also contributed to the blackening of his name through poetry written and distributed by German Monks. Especially after he launched lightening strikes into Transylvania, capturing several controlled German Towns and slaughtering the population with his preferred method of execution, impalement. The Hungarians, Germans, and their allies, put into print many of Vlad's deeds and distributed them throughout Christian Europe. Whilst Vlad was a cruel and sadistic ruler who terrified many, it was in large his own allies, and those who wanted a more peaceful approach in dealing with the Muslim threat, that for political reasons painted the picture of Vlad the Impaler which exists throughout most of the world. What is not commonly known is that the current British Monarchy are in fact ancestors of Vlad the Impaler through a shared bloodline with the Moldavian Monarchy that his Mother belonged to. Bram Stokers “Dracula” Vlad Dracula's world wide fame is largely due to the novelist Bram Stoker using his name and parts of his life and reputation as the basis for his 1897 famous novel about a vampire entitled “Dracula”. In the novel “Dracula”, a Romanian Prince fighting a holy christian war against the Turks returns to his castle to find his wife has killed herself by leaping from the castle walls into the river below because she has been deceived into thinking her love, Dracula, has been killed in battle. Furious that after all he has done in Gods name that God would let his love die, and knowing she will never be let into heaven because she has taken her own life, Dracula swears to bring down God and curses his name. As punishment for his sacrilege God curses Dracula, turning him into a beast that dwells in darkness, can never die, and must feed on human blood. The historical elements in Stokers novel are very accurate, even down to the details of Vlad's first wife, Jusztina Szilagyi of Moldavia, who did actually throw herself from the castle into the river Arges after falsely being told by a Turkish spy that Vlad had been killed in battle and that the Turks were coming. Stoker even describes Dracula in his novel as a great christian warrior who protected his country from invasion by the Turks. Conclusion Vlad the Impaler is a very interesting person. He committed many terrible deeds and earned a reputation as one of histories most sadistic rulers. However, he was very much a product of his upbringing, his geographical location and the times he lived in. Being tortured, treated brutally, and seeing the horrible acts committed in the Sultans dungeon had a large impact on how he saw people and the use of pain and terror to get what he wanted. His imprisonment also created a hatred inside of him that often drove him to irrational acts. Being born in, and ruling over, a land that was at the front line of the Islamic Turkish Otterman Empire also meant that his land was constantly under threat. This threat also came from Christian powers such as Hungary who saw any attempts to co-exist with the Turks and Islam as a betrayal of Christianity. The constant threats that existed from Boyars inside his own country had seen his own father and brother killed, as well as his country taken over by both Hungary and Turkey at different times. His own Boyars frequently took different sides depending on their interests. Vlad could not trust anyone, and often used fear as a tactic to ensure obedience from his population and make his enemies, who often outnumbered him and had greater resources, think twice about taking him on. Whilst he was condemned by history for his acts, and rightly so, he was not the only ruler of these times to employ such acts. He was a holy warrior and held up by the Christian Church as an example to other leaders until it was no longer politically convenient. It was for political reasons that his name was smeared, and ,oddly enough, much of this came from his Christian allies, and not the Turks who he fought, and whose tactics, such as impaling, which he used. I believe Vlad the Impaler was an intelligent man, deeply driven by hate, who did whatever he felt was needed in order to get what he wanted. He was one of histories most infamous men and will forever be seen as the novelist Bram Stoker's dark, blood thirsty vampire “Dracula”. Bibliography Vlad Tepis, Prince of Wallacia, an Auto biography by Nicolae Stoicescu Dracula, a biography of Vlad the Impaler, by Radu Florescu and Raymond McNally In Search of Dracula, by Radu Florescu and Raymond McNally Dracula, Between Myth and Reality, by Adrian Axinte The life and Death of Vlad The Impaler, by David Caroll A Biographical Recount