vampire
if thats the true story where did the story that dracula was a vampire come from?
shareA book by Bram Stoker.
shareCorrect, Bram Stoker read about Vlad Dracula's atrocities in the 1800's and that is why he changed the name of the vampire character in his book to Dracula. The original name was Count Wompyr but Dracula sounded sooo much better...don't you think?
shareTo be fair it is VERY likely that local pessants, many who became displaced and known as Romanian Gypsies, wove stories of the legandary warior into folk tales of Nosferitu. Stoker quite likely had heard some of these tales.
shareAlso, Stoker was a friend of a specialist...an anthropologist I think (though I might be wrong) who specialized in that area. Most assume he heard the name from this friend.
shareAlso, Vlad drank the blood of hundreds of his enemies. Just a little detail.
shareFrom what I remember he would gather it in bowls, then dip bread in it and eat the bread. Keep in mind, in that age, cannibalism was as much political as anything. It struck horror into an enemy to learn that their most prized captain had been eaten or had his blood drank by the enemy. Think of it as psychological warfare in a way...there's some real wacky stories of Vlad, one of my favorites was when he had a dignitary over and they ate in the centre of a field of pikes. When Vlad noticed he had his nose plugged to avoid the stench of emptied bowels and rotting flesh he had him put on a pike taller than any of the other people "so he could be above the offending smell"...
shareOne of the most interesting stories of Dracula to me, is the one about the merchant who left all his money outside at night, thinking it would be safe, considering all the things he heard about Dracula. When he came back to his cart of money, some of the coins were stolen! He ran up to Castle Dracul to speak with Vlad directly about this, and Dracula issued a proclaimation that the money be returned or the city would be destroyed. That night, the money was returned (Some say Dracula had the missing money all along) and Dracula secretly placed an extra coin into the merchant's cart. The next morning, the merchant counted all of his money to find that all were returned. He thanked Dracula for this, and also mentioned the extra coin. Dracula said that the thief had been caught, and was to be impaled. And that if the merchant hadn't expressed honesty about the extra coin, he would be impaled alongside the thief.
"Dr. Crane isn't here at the moment, but if you'd like to make an appointment.."-Jonathan Crane
Yes the last legend is true! AND NO HE DID NOT DRANK BLOOD!! He is a national hero. Without him Transylvania wouldn't have been united with Walachia and Moldavia into Romania so quickly. He impaled...that's true and he had a deep hate for nobility because he was betrayed by them, like his father. That was his way of a punishment like decapitating was in France.
I should know...I'm Romanian and we learn in school about him as a true hero. The Gypsies did not spread the news. Bram Stocker was the only one who made up this myth. Otherwise in Romania this rumor wouldn't have been born.
With national heroes like that, it's no wonder, the balkan is so *beep* up. How can so many nations be so proud of a history that mainly consists of genocide, goatherding, oppression and cruelty. I'm a dane, and we take some pride in when the vikings ruled the waves, but we didnt find the worst rapist and pillager and tried to mold our young into him!
shareKeep in mind, in that age, cannibalism was as much political as anything.Uhh, no it wasn't. Cannibalism was one of the strongest taboos throughout Europe during the entire medieval era. If he really did dip the bread in blood and eat it then it would scare people but it would unsettle even his allies. The whole thing was almost certainly invented in the 1500s when they did a whole bunch of woodcuts on Vlad.
Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain.
-Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) share
"Uhh, no it wasn't. Cannibalism was one of the strongest taboos throughout Europe during the entire medieval era."
It's been a major taboo in the overwhelming majority of cultures save in some spiritual cases. That's specifically why it was such an effective tool.
"If he really did dip the bread in blood and eat it then it would scare people but it would unsettle even his allies."
I doubt that would really deter him, allies can be bought with enough clout, resources or money. Besides, when have people with these sorts of behaviors (Bathory for example) ever stop because of upsetting some of their allies?
"The whole thing was almost certainly invented in the 1500s when they did a whole bunch of woodcuts on Vlad."
Totally possible, the truth is there was such a great amount of rumor surrounding Vlad it's pretty hard to tell for sure what's true and what isn't. I'm certainly no scholar on the matter :P
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*+_Charos_+*
"God's away on business"
-Tom Waits
his atrocities? LMFAO no, everything that man did was justice, justice for the 700 years of rape and murder at the hands of turkish muslim invaders. The impaling part was litterally him doing exactly what they did to demoralize them, when the turks invaded they replaced all the mile stones with impales white christians, it was only karma that someone would one day do the same to them. He wasn't a monster or a blood drinking sub human, he was a hero who did ugly things to save his nation from enslavement and oppression at the hands of the one of the most brutal and longest lasting imperialist occupations of land in history.
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