"On a cold morning not long before Christmas, Dracula and his vanguard encountered an overwhelming body of Turks in the Vlasia Forest, adjacent to the monastery. Fighting was fierce and the Romanians, though in great minority, fought like devils. They were probably inspired by their leader who, wielding his father's, the Dragon's, Toledo blade charged the enemy screaming a Valkyrie-like cry of no surrender."
Well, CrimeLibrary article about Vlad is therrible crappy and full of mistakes. I strongly advise searching the knowledge about Vlad in other sources. First, we don't know where and when exactly Vlad was killed. But the one thing we know is that the army he and his five hundred of Moldavian husari encountered somewhere in the forest near Bucuresti was not Turkish. It was army of Basarab cel Batran, supported by Turks. and his father's toledo blade is a pure fantasy. We do not have such detailed sources about life of both Vlads, father and son, to know exactly what kind of weapon they were wielding.
"Several years later [after 1931], a headless skeleton was uncovered behind a large stone towards the rear of the church. Because the bones were wrapped in rotting rags that science has proven were once rich-fabric vestments, like those a prince in the 1400s would have worn, many believe that Dracula's earthly remains had been found. One strong argument in their behalf is that the faded cloak covering the shoulders indicates it had once been a vibrant wine red — the royal color of the Dragon's family."
In 1931-32, archaeologist Dinu Rosetti, under orders from the Romanian Academy, visited the Snagov Monastery in hope of discovering the body of Vlad Dracula.
What he discovered was looted graves inside the monastery, local legend told of how the body of Vlad Dracula lay one step in from the doorway of the monastery. Not believing this legend he went to the worn out and hammered tombstone in front of the alter. Rosetti found the grave beneath empty. He continued to dig and pre-christian altar, with bones of sacrificial animals.
He decided to give the legend a go - he researched the floor in front of the entranceway. He soon found an unmarked grave that was un looted and appeared to be that of a nobleman. He took photographs of all the inventory of the tomb. The clothes of the body pointed to a rich man. A ring was later identified as a tournament ring of the kind given at Nuremberg. The skeleton however, still had it's head. As mentioned before It is well documented that Vlad's head was decapitated and sent to Constantinople.
http://www.castleofspirits.com/vlad.htmland here you have an url to the site of Elisabeth Miller, real Dracula expert. she does not mention the unmarked tomb with the nobleman's skeleton, but she writes about the animal bones found by Dinu Rosetti.
http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~emiller/vlad_romania.html Rustu Recber, please stay!
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codenamecuckoo
16 years ago
"First, we don't know where and when exactly Vlad was killed. But the one thing we know is that the army he and his five hundred of Moldavian husari encountered somewhere in the forest near Bucuresti was not Turkish. It was army of Basarab cel Batran, supported by Turks."
Not meaning to sound rude, but how do you/we know that Vlad fought Basarab's army (apart from that we can assume that it was Basarab since he succeeded Vlad)?
When it comes to conflicting sources, how can we tell which is correct? It seems Crime Library cites Florescu and McNally, who we know aren't great. But come to think of it, what are our sources for Vlad's life? I know that's probably a stupid question, but we've got the "video nasty" pamphlets - what else have we got?
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CrowWoman
16 years ago
Not meaning to sound rude, but how do you/we know that Vlad fought Basarab's army (apart from that we can assume that it was Basarab since he succeeded Vlad)?
From a bunch of historical books in my private library. Unfortunately they are mostly in Polish (my native language). But you can search "Historia Rumunii" by Juliusz Demel if you want Anyway if you investigate the life of Mehmed the Conqueror you will find that in winter 1462 Turkish army was still grossly tired after hard and overall unsuccesful campaign in Moldavia and later Hungarian counterattack. Dracula had a lot of enemies willing to support Basarab against him, so Mehmed didn't have to engage his tired army into another difficult campaign in not the best season for wars (Winter! Harder to get food for soldiers and horses!). He just used his tool - Basarab.
It seems Crime Library cites Florescu and McNally, who we know aren't great. But come to think of it, what are our sources for Vlad's life? I know that's probably a stupid question, but we've got the "video nasty" pamphlets - what else have we got?
Letters written by Matthias Corvinus, Stefan cel Mare and Vlad himself. A bunch of documents from Ottoman archives, chronicles written by Greek Chalcondyles (paid by Mehmed). And the only one description of Vlad done by bishop Nicolae di Modrussa who was visiting Hungarian royal court in early sixties (1463 or 64, I don't remember exactly).
Rustu Recber, please stay!
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