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Vlad Tepes |
Poenari Castle |
DRACULA
Vlad Tepes
was born in 1431 in a house from Sighisoara that still keeps an
evidence of his birth, an inscription. Vlad
Tepes, of the Draculesti family, was the grandson of the great Romanian ruler
Mircea cel Batran (1386-1418). His father, Vlad Dracul, member of the Order
of the Dragon, became in 1436 Prince of Wallachia, the capital was at
Targoviste. In 1442 Vlad along his younger brother, Radu, were taken prisoners
by the Turks for political reasons; he remained in prison until 1448.
At
17 years Vlad Tepes along with a Turkish army tried to take over the power in
Wallachia, but he was defeated by Vladislav the IInd. In 1456 he
obtained the throne and he ruled for six years.
One
of the legends about Vlad Tepes, is connected to the punishment of those
involved in his father death: those who took part at this had to walk from
Targoviste to Poienari and here to build a fortress for the Prince.
Vlad
Tepes was known by his subjects as a cruel, but just ruler. His cruelty
was the consequence of the sufferings and horrors endured during his life. Also
many of torture methods that he used were taken over from the Turks (like the
impaling).
It
is said that during his reign a cup of gold was at the fountain in the
centre of the town of Targoviste, that served the passers-by for drinking.
According to the chroniclers of the time the cup was not stolen during Tepes`s
reign.
In
1462 he obtained several victories against the Turks,
but in the end he was defeated; he took refuge in Hungary, at Visegrad, but
Matei Corvin arrested him. At the insistence of Stefan cel Mare he was freed,
in 1476, after 13 years of imprisonment and established as ruler of
Wallachia. This didn`t last long, a few months from that he was killed.
The
places with which Dracula`s name is connected are the Monastery of Snagov,
near Bucharest where Vlad Tepes seems to have been buried and the Bran Castle
near Brasov. The Poienari Castle, the real residence of the Prince, is an
important place in the creation of the legend.
Forced
by the circumstances, Vlad Tepes passed to the catholic religion, about this the
people said that „he went with the devil”, a hint also to the fact that Vlad
Tepes was member of the Order of the Dragon like his father. Vlad Tepes`s
image - that of little faitful and bloodthirsty man – was created after
his death from the Germanic origin legends. The exaggeration of his cruelty
was due to some catholic clericals, that did not obey the rules of the country,
and who created horror tales about his deeds, thus influencing the western
world.
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