VLAD TEPES THE IMPALER

VAMPIRES IN HISTORY

The figure of the vampire is more ancient than the most popular of the vampires, Dracula. In the twelfth century it was believed that the dead people tried to suck blood from the living people. This belief was particularly extended in the British isles and in the orthodox countries where they ignored the destiny of the dead. The great epidemics with their hasty burials helped spreading this thought.

DRACULA'S NAME

Dracula's real name is Vlad Dracul Tepes. The surname Dracul came from his father who was a member of the Dragon's order. The word Dragon and devil in Romanian are really similar so Vlad was nicknamed "Dracula" which means "son of the devil". The surname ''Tepes'' means "Impaler" because he used to kill his victims by impaling them. He was so bloodthirsty that in front of his house he created a forest made of people he had impaled. Also for that reason people called him "son of the devil". When he became the count of Wallachia was called Vlad III of Wallachia.

HIS LIFE

Vlad III was born in December 1431 in Sighisuara, a region of Romania. He passed his childhood as a prisoner of Ottomans. He was tortured so much that he decided that when he would grow up he would torture the Ottoman population as they did with him. His torture would be to suck the blood of their bodies, impale them and put their bodies in front of his house. Yes you've read right he suck the blood and that's not a legend he really did it. He didn't have pointed canines he just liked the taste of the blood.

Dracula's Headquarters (Transylvania)

He spent most of his life fighting against the Ottomans, merchants and the count of Transylvania. A curious thing is that his castle was situated in Wallachia not in Transylvania as many believe.

In Transylvania there is his headquarters which he used as a shelter and where he fought almost all of his battles. The forest made by death bodies is situated in Transylvania in front of the headquarters.

He had a difficult life, he got imprisoned many times and, due to that, his behaviour changed a lot. He became very bloody also because of the deaths of his brother (who were very young), his father and his first wife . Even though he was so bloody he was a very good count for his land. He was allied with Hungary, Moldavia and Bulgaria. He conquered Transylvania and chose Targoviste as the capital of his reign.

He had two wives, the first one killed herself and the second one, Countess Elizabeth Bathory (known as the Bloody Countess), gave birth to two sons.

Elizabeth Bathory

His life ended in December 1479 at the age of 48. His body was buried in Romania, but his head was taken by the Ottomans and taken to Constantinople. After his death he was forgotten.

THE VAMPIRE

At the end of 19th century Bram Stoker wrote the novel "DRACULA". This novel was based on Vlad Tepes' story. Stoker had a nightmare with vampires, so he decided to write a novel about one of them . His name should have been ''Count Vampyr'', but after some research about Transylvania, he found out about Dracula.

So he decided to call his vampire Dracula also because of Vlad's love for blood. His novel became really famous and Dracula came to life again. In 1930 some archaeologists went to Romania to dig up Vlad's body but they found the bones of a horse. How weird, isn’t it?

Where is Dracula's body?

Karina