Art Mason - Vlad III Dracula: The true story of Dracula, the Impaler

Vlad III Dracula

Myths, Mystery, Legends and Truth of the

Prince of Wal achia.

By Art Mason

A warrior does not seek greatness..

but greatness often finds them.

Preface:

What's behind the wordsimages they know will please us? I'l take what's real. Bring up the lights.

Why this book? I have had a fascination with Dracula al my life. First at the ghastly creature of folklore, then as a young teen discovering in a museum in Niagara Fal s he was a real person.

When I started to research him I found astonishing claims of brutality, cruelty and even cannibalism. But one thing I also knew, truth is hard to find and history favors those who write it. Also interestingly during Vlads reigns in Wal achia the printing press was first created, this gave both the Hungarians and the Turks the ability to spread propaganda about Vlad and discredit what he has actual y done for his people, and villainize a man beyond what was true.

I have very close ties to Romnia. My wife was born in Constanta and has had no interest in Canada or its ways. She is truly Romanian. Upon get ing to know so many Romanian people, working on learning the language, and doing one of the things I do best, talk to people I soon discovered that Vlad the Impaler, known in Romanian as Vlad epe was a hero to the people of this country and always has been.

Now in Romnia there is much folklore and stories of his bat les with the Ot oman Turks as wel as the betrayal of the Hungarian king, some greatly exaggerated, but we wil look at al this very closely as we go along.

But first lets talk about Dracula and the Bram Stoker story. Bram Stoker wrote the book Dracula in 1897, 421 years after Vlads reported death. Before writing Dracula Stoker met rmin Vmbry, a Hungarian writer and traveler. Dracula likely emerged from Vmbry's dark stories of the Carpathian Mountains. Stoker then spent several years researching European folklore and mythological stories of vampires. The original title of the book was to be The Undead and at the time of the writing Stoker had never heard of Prince Vlad, or his rule. The original name of the character was to be vampira. Vampire legends originated in ancient Greece. As Stokers book approached conclusion he heard of the legendary ruler of a place cal ed Wal achia named

Dracula and about his cruelty. He changed the name of the character and book to Dracula because he like the name! Later editions would be updated to include fictional accounts of Vlad the Impaler of Wal achia to give the book more credibility. I imagine Stoker would be amused at what his gothic work of fiction would become.

Vlad was born was born in winter 1431 in the Transilvanian town of Sighioara which at the time was part of the Hungarian Empire. His father Vlad II Dracul was the son of the celebrated Voivode Mircea the Elder. Lit le is known of Vlads mother. At the time his father was believed to have been married to Princess Cneajna of Moldavia (eldest daughter of Alexander "the Good", Prince of Moldavia and aunt to Stephen the Great of Moldavia) and also known to have kept a number of mistresses. He had 2 half-brothers Mircea II and Vlad Clugrul, and a younger brother, Radu III the Handsome.

Vlad was born in a single story home which stil stands today. A second story was added to the home about 200 years ago. Currently it is a very touristy restaurant / museum. Its campy but not bad.

It is unclear how long young Vlad was in Sighioara but we can assume until the latest 1436

when his father Vlad Dracul became voivode of Wal achia (Duke). He reigned from 1436 to 1442, and again from 1443 to 1447. During his second reign Vlad III and his younger brother would become political prisoners of the Ot oman Empire.

The Order of the Dragon:

Now again I wil dispel the propaganda and give you accurate information. Vlad II received the surname Dracul in 1431, after being inducted into the Order of the Dragon, founded in 1408 by the King Sigismund of Hungary (the later Holy Roman Emperor), as part of a design to gain political favor from the Catholic Church and to aid in protecting Wal achia against the Ot oman Empire. At this point in history the Ot oman were becoming extremely powerful and their mandate was world domination for Al ah. This is not propaganda but the mandate of the Quran.

There is much folklore now at ached to the name dracul. The stories are that it means devil

in Romanian, a language spoken in Wal achia during this time, and a language that dates back 1900+ years. The word devil in Romanian is diavol, not dracul. The story goes that there is no word in Romanian for dragon and so dracul was used. This is also NOT TRUE, dragon in Romanian is balaur. So where does dracul come from?? It is latin for dragon. There is nothing else to it. Dracula is son of the dragon. This title applied to al Vlad II sons, not just Vlad III.

One of the amusing things about the name Dracula is Vlad rarely used it, for a short time he signed his name this way. The Romanian people today rarely cal him this, unless for

marketing purposes. The Ot oman cal ed him Dracula, but this was due to the conflict they had with him during his 3 reigns and the official postion of the church about the Ot oman and their invasions. It was 150 years after his death that he was first referred as Vlad the Impaler.

Romanian people todaay typical y cal him Vlad Tepes. This is his actual signature.

Actual signature of Vlad III

Political Prisoner:

As a young child both Vlad and his brother Radu were given over to the Sultan of the Ot oman Empire as a tribute from his father. This was during Vlad II second reign as voivode of Wal achia. By agreeing to this tribute the Sultan helped Vlad II ascend back to this position of power. As political prisoners the young boys were submerged in the Islamic culture, school in different languages and provided with an outstanding education. Also part of the tribute was the surrender of several hundred young boys to serve as slaves and soldiers in the Ot oman army, which was one of the most formidable in the world.

Radu being much younger then Vlad who was about 11 took to this very wel . Vlad on the other hand hated his captors but was smart enough to know that if he cooperated and learned, this knowledge would help him destroy this enemy later in life. Being a prince Vlad was an important prisoner, this also kept his father Vlad II in line and under control.

Now one of the interesting things about the Turks and Islam is they rarely if ever try to force conversion like Christians often do. Vlad was expected to learn the Quran verbatim, but never once asked to renounce his faith.

During this time, he also grew up with Mehmed II, the young man who at the time of Vlads imprisonment was Sultan after his father abdicated. Mehmed at the time was simply too young for this position and his father relieved him of this position not long after his appointment. A great rivalry developed between Vlad and Mehmed which would last until Vlads death years later.

It is worth noting at this point that during these times, in both Christian countries and Islamic countries religion and state where the same thing. Today in the western cultures religion and state have been separated. In Islam religion and state are stil the same thing and part of the teaching of the Quran.