Vlad Dracula, affectionately known as Vlad the Impaler, and Dracula the Vampire of story and legend is actually far different than the current iteration of his story. So let's dive into it.
Vlad was born around 1430 and lived during the height of the Muslim conquest of Europe. He lived in what is modern day Romania but for him, his home was in the historical state of Wallachia, one of three such states with Moldova and Transylvania. All of these eastern European states were caught up in the ongoing struggle between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. However, Wallachia is the most immediately adjacent to the Ottomans and is in the forefront of all their attacks, literally the first stop on the way to Hungary or Moldavia.
His father, Vlad II, was entangled in this conflict and his loyalties wavered between the Ottoman sultan and Hungary, depending on which power had overrun his small nation. It is at this point that historical records become confused and conflicting, depending on which side is the author. Political machinations in this region were often bloody and each side told a different tale.
One historical record offers that Vlad II brought his two sons on a diplomatic envoy to the Ottomans, but he was arrested there by the Sultan, and was only allowed to depart on condition that his two boys remain behind as hostages and surety for his continued loyalty. Another narrative says that Vlad II was on a military campaign against the Ottomans and was captured, with the same result.
In the ongoing fighting over the next several years, Vlad's father continued to change sides, back and forth, ultimately angering both powers. It is variously reported that the son, Vlad III, was alternately treated well and given a good education, or imprisoned and tortured, depending on how his father behaved. It is then that he developed his hatred for the Ottomans
Eventually, the father sided with Hungary against the Ottomans, but in a decisive battle, he and his other son, Mircea, were captured and killed by the Ottomans. Vlad III is then released by the Sultan, having no more value as a hostage, and he makes his way north where he is installed as the ruler of Wallachia. However he has a rival from a competing noble family, Vladislav, and the two rival houses struggle for control of Wallachia. One version has Vlad III setting up trade relations with neighboring Transylvania, while another story has him taking over whole villages and impaling the entire population on spikes while he sat down and ate breakfast. It is likely that the latter version, found in German pamphlets as part of a propaganda campaign, was concocted by his enemies to discredit him, but it is hard to be certain where the truth lies.
What is an important thread in this particular story is that there were competing houses, struggling for control of Wallachia, and indeed each of the states in this region. Continual turmoil was the norm for this area. In addition, each of these houses gained or lost power depending on the fortunes of the larger Kingdoms of the Turks and Hungary. Some houses sought the patronage of the Ottomans, and were ascendant when the Turks invaded, while others were allied with Hungary and the Christian west. And despite their underlying predispositions, they had to make concessions when they were overrun by the armies of these larger states. Shifting loyalties and political arrangements of convenience were the norm rather than exceptions. .
In 1453, the Ottomans capture Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire, but the larger conflict of the Crusades from the West continued. Sultan Mehmed II moves on to besiege Belgrade, but the siege is lifted by Crusader John Hunyadi and his Hungarian army, bolstered by crusaders. Unfortunately, Hunyadi is wounded in the war and a month later dies, leaving chaos behind him.
Vlad III, in the confusion, moved to take over Wallachia, deposing the unpopular Vladislavs who had sided with the Ottomans. Once in power, Vlad Dracula consolidates authority among the noble houses still loyal to the West, but brutally deposes his political enemies who had shown loyalty to the Sultan. He set his kingdom as a bulwark against the Ottomans, fighting against their local incursions across the border, and earning himself the title 'The Impaler' for his treatment of defeated Ottoman skirmishers. Nevertheless, he was forced to pay tribute to the Sultan as well, to avoid the bulk of the Sultan's army. This, he eventually ends and declares to Hungary that Wallachia has "broken our peace" with the Ottomans.
With the death of Crusader John Hunyadi, Hunyadi's son, Matthias Corvinus was appointed king of Hungary and Vlad Dracula made attempts to ally with Corvinus. This angered Sultan Mehmed who again mobilized his army against Wallachia and Hungary. Dracula is driven from the ruling seat of Wallachia and he and his army are drawn into a protracted guerrilla war against the Ottomans.
Unfortunately, the negotiations with Corvinus go poorly, likely due to these same political propaganda campaigns that poison the relationship. His chronicler reports, "I do not know the reason why [Vlad was captured] because this was never understood clearly by anyone. Matthias captured Dracula in Transylvania, but the other Dracula [Radu the Handsome], whom the Turks had appointed prince of that province [Wallachia], he approved of, against all expectations.” The Medievalist.net offers "The German Saxons from Transylvania assisted in Vlad’s arrest in the fall of 1462, and subsequently contributed to ruining his reputation across the premodern world and into the present imagination.
So Vlad is imprisoned in Hungary for a time until the leader of Moldovia, Stephen III, who has achieved decisive victories against the Ottomans, persuades Corvinus to re-instate Vlad. Vlad is put in charge of Hungarian armies who liberate Serbia and Bosnia from the Ottomans in the west.
Meanwhile, Sultan Mehmed has moved to attack Stephen again in Moldovia. Stephen's army is nominally defeated at Valea Alba, but with huge losses to the Ottomans, so that the Sultan cannot sustain the campaign and turns back. Vlad III then joins with Stephen to pursue the retreating Ottomans into Wallachia and pushes them south into Turkey. Mehmed's general mounts a counter-offensive which is ultimately defeated, driving the Ottomans from Wallachia, but Vlad III is killed in the battle. Vlad Dracula would become a Romanian national hero for his role in the defeat of the Ottoman Invasion.
Thus far, we have dealt with the complexities of searching for historical facts. However, other more fanciful tales abound.
Vlad Dracula was first married to Lisabeth, who some historians suggest was the illegitimate sister of Matthew Corvinus. Lisabeth was a very devout Catholic and Vlad had constructed a chapel especially for his wife in the upper reaches of his castle. She would hold constant vigils, praying for the safety of her husband as he was out on campaigns against the Turks. Such was her devotion that her face sometimes took on a radiant complexion. After an extended absence, she received word that the Ottomans had overrun Vlad's position and that Vlad had been killed in the battle. The Turks were then advancing on the capitol with very little resistance.
Overcome with grief at the supposed death of her husband, and aware of the extreme indignities and even torture that awaited her at the hand of the conquering Turks, Lisabeth took her own life to preserve her moral dignity, by throwing herself from the chapel window into the Arges River hundreds of feet below. In horror, the court retrieved her lifeless body, which miraculously did not have a mark on it from the fall. They returned her to her chapel, lying in state beneath a glass enclosure.
After several weeks, it became apparent that Vlad III had not been captured nor killed in the unfortunate battle, but had rallied his routed soldiers and had blunted the attack of the advancing Turks. The city had been saved, but he returned to find news that his wife had died. When he visited her in the chapel, however, he was surprised to find her body in an undecayed state, even though weeks had passed since her fall. The reports are that she remained perpetually in this incorruptible state, which was declared miraculous by the Archbishop of Esztergom, who recognized Lisabeth as a saint. Vlad, himself would often ascend to the chapel to visit her and sometimes to converse with her, though there are no reports if she ever answered.
And here the story becomes even stranger. Because of his frequent and lengthy visits to his wife in her coffin, the tales began to be told that because of her incorruptible state, appearing as wholesome as the day she fell, that Vlad began looking for a way to literally bring her back to life. To that end, he would conduct extensive medical experiments to see if revivication were possible. Dracula experimented on three recently deceased local village girls who had died of the plague, using large blood transfusions to attempt to return them to life, blood that his minions had to procure by any means necessary.
According to the stories, his efforts produced some limited success with the unfortunate girls, resulting in the animation of three somewhat horrifying wraiths who became his companions in the castle. They required ongoing transfusions to remain viable. In any case, it became clear that Dracula was not sufficiently satisfied with the results of his experiments to attempt to try them on Lisabeth in the chapel, so she remained pure and incorruptible.
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