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Myth &
Reality
"I, VLAD, prince and voivode and great prince Vlad's son, holding rule and reigning
over the whole country of Hungro-Wallachia, Amlas and Fagaras" |
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A group of Wallachian noblemen bringing with them a princely scepter made
most people living Nuremberg, the city of imperial diets, defy the cold weather and take
part, on February 8, 1431 in an important historic event: emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg
conceded the rulership in Wallachia to Vlad who had been living at his court for eight
years. That very day, emperor Sigismund gave his favorite a necklace and a golden
medallion with a dragon engraved on it, the badge of knights of the Order bearing the name
of mystical animal.
Waiting for the coronation, Vlad and his
family wen to Sighisoara, Transylvania, where he set up a mint. For the first two monetary
emission, Vlad used his signet emblem, the dragon. Therefore, the Romanians whose word
stock is mainly Latin, nicknamed him Dracul-Dracula (from the Latin DRACO-ONIS). In
Romanian Drac means Devil. This nickname turned into a surname for his descendants, Vlad,
his second son being known as such. He spent his childhood in Sighisoara, was taken
hostage by the Turks, then went to his uncle in Moldavia, and to the Hungarian regent's
court Iancu de Hunedoara, a Romanian nobleman (whose daughter Vlad later married) becoming
prince of Wallachia on August 22, 1456.
Known as one of the most dreaded enemies
of the Ottoman Empire, Vlad Dracula started organizing the state, the army, the law,
applying death penalty by impaling al those he considered enemies: highwaymen, robbers,
beggars, cunning priests, treacherous noblemen, usurper Saxons, who tried to replace him
either by his cousin Dan the Young or by his natural brother Vlad the Monk.
The Ottoman historians nicknamed him Vlad
Tepes, as he came to be known in Romanian historiography, but he used to sign with his
father's name, Dracula. This is testified in Bucharest's first documentary mentioning,
dated September 20, 1459 and in the portrait of Odhsenbach Stambuch from Stuttgart.
Arrested by his coming bother-in-law,
Matei Corvin, because of a treacherous malevolent, Vlad Dracula spent more than ten years
in prison, at Visegrad near Buda (today Budapest)
Back to the throne in 1476 with the help
of Stephen the Great, prince of Moldavia, of the Senate of the Republic of Venice and of
the pope Sixt 4th, Vlad resumes his fight against the Ottomans but towards the end of the
same year he is killed at Snagov by Laiota Basarab who followed him to the throne of
Wallachia.
His tumultuous life as well as the
harshness of his punishments entered long lasting legends that were immediately spread all
over Europe, first in Romanian and Slavonic and then in German, the latter being the most
exaggerated.
The name of the already well-known
Wallachian prince became even more famous after Bram Stoker from Dublin (1847-1912) had
published his novel "Dracula" in 1897
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The touristic tours can lead the traveler to the ruins of
Dracula's palace in Bucharest (the Ancient Court) to the monastery of Snagov where Vlad
Dracula was buried, to Bran Castle dating from the 14th century, as well as other
interesting and worth visiting places. |
At
Sighisoara, the best preserved 15th century city, the very pavement stones remind us of
Dracula's childhood. The tourist may have dinner at his house. Not far from there is the
place where he used to raise the infamy pillar and the gallows scaffolding to punish the
malefactors. In addition, for the traveler's more comprehensive image of the epoch, they
set up a witch trial very common in Transylvania up to the 18th century.
Tempted to live Dracula's adventurous and
restless life, the tourist will probably follow Jonathan Harker's traces. Through Borgo
Pass he stepped into a country that Mina Harker described in her diary as: "a lovely
county; full of beauties of all imaginable kinds and the people are brave and strong and
simple and seem full of nice qualities". Up there, the tourist enters the castle that
Stoker imagined; everything around reminds him of the famous character.
