Vlad Tepesh

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IntroductionTransp_10px.gif (49 bytes)Most authorities believe the character of Dracula in Bram Stokers novel was based upon the historical figure Vlad Tepes (pronounced tse-pesh), who intermittently ruled an area of the Balkans called Wallachia in the mid 15th century. He wasalso called by the names Vlad III, Vlad Dracula and Vlad the Impaler. The word Tepes stands for "impaler" and was so coined because of Vlads propensity to punishvictims by impaling them on stakes, then displaying them publicly to frighten his enemies and to warn would-be transgressors of his strict moral code. He is credited with killing between 40,000 to 100,000 people in this fashion.

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Origin of the name "Dracula"

King Sigismund of Hungary, who became the Holy Roman Emperor in 1410, founded asecret fraternal order of knights called the Order of the Dragon to uphold Christianity and defend the Empire against the Ottoman Turks. Its emblem was a dragon, wings extended, hanging on a cross. Vlad IIIs father (Vlad II) was admitted tothe Order around 1431 because of his bravery in fighting the Turks. From 1431 on

ward Vlad II wore the emblem of the order and later, as ruler of Wallachia, hiscoinage bore the dragon symbol.Dragon EmblemOrder of theDragon EmblemClick to Enlarge

The word for dragon in Romanian is "drac" and "ul" is the definitive article. Vlad IIIs father thus came to be known as "Vlad Dracul," or "Vlad the dragon." In Romanian the ending "ulea" means "the son of". Under this interpretation, Vlad III thus became Vlad Dracula, or "the son of the dragon." (The word "drac" also means "devil" in Romanian. The sobriquet thus took on a double meaning for enemies

of Vlad Tepes and his father.)

Historical Background

To appreciate the story of Vlad III it is essential to understand the social andpolitical forces of the region during the 15th century. In broad terms this isa story of the struggle to obtain control of Wallachia, a region of the Balkans(in present-day southern Romania) which lay directly between the two powerful forces of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.Europe 1560Europe, circa 1560Click to Enlarge

For nearly one thousand years Constantinople had stood as the protecting outpostof the Byzantine or East Roman Empire, and blocked Islams access to Europe. TheOttomans nonetheless succeeded in penetrating deep into the Balkans during thistime. With the fall of Constantinople in 1453 under Sultan Mohammed the Conqueror, all of Christendom was suddenly threatened by the armed might of the OttomanTurks. The Hungarian Kingdom to the north and west of Wallachia, which reached its zenith during this same time, assumed the ancient mantle as defender of Christendom.


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The results of the Varna Crusade are well known. The Christian army was utterlydestroyed in the Battle of Varna. John Hunyadi managed to escape the battle under inglorious conditions. From this moment forth John Hunyadi was bitterly hostile toward Vlad Dracul and his eldest son. In 1447 Vlad Dracul was assassinated along with his son Mircea. Mircea was apparently buried alive by the boyars and merchants of Tirgoviste. (Vlad III later exacted revenge upon these boyars and merchants.) Hunyadi placed his own candidate, a member of the Danesti clan, on thethrone of Wallachia.

On receiving news of Vlad Draculs death the Turks released Vlad III and supportedhim as their own candidate for the Wallachian throne. In 1448, at the age of seventeen, Vlad III managed to briefly seize the Wallachian throne. Yet within twomonths Hunyadi forced him to surrender the throne and flee to his cousin, the Prince of Moldavia. Vlad IIIs successor to the throne, howeverVladislov IIunexpectedly instituted a pro-Turkish policy, which Hunyadi found to be unacceptable. He then turned to Vlad III, the son of his old enemy, as a more reliable candidate for the throne, and forged an allegiance with him to retake the throne by force.Vlad III received the Transylvanian duchies formerly governed by his father andremained there, under the protection of Hunyadi, waitng for an opportunity to retake Wallachia from his rival.

In 1453, however, the Christian world was shocked by the final fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans. Hunyadi thus broadened the scope of his campaign against

the insurgent Turks. In 1456 Hunyadi invaded Turkish Serbia while Vlad III simultaneously invaded Wallachia. In the Battle of Belgrade Hunyadi was killed and his army defeated. Meanwhile, Vlad III succeeded in killing Vladislav II and taking the Wallachian throne.

Vlad III then began his main reign of Wallachia, which stretched from 1456-1462.It was during this period that he instituted his strict policies, stood up against the Turks and began his reign of terror by impalement.

The Life of Vlad III (1431-1476)

Transp_10px.gif (49 bytes)Vlad III was born in November or December of 1431 in the Transylvanian city of Sighisoara. At the time his father, Vlad II (Vlad Dracul), was living in exile inTransylvania. The house where he was born is still standing. It was located ina prosperous neighborhood surrounded by the homes of Saxon and Magyar merchantsand the townhouses of the nobility.Click to Enlarge

Little is known about the early years of Vlad IIIs life. He had an older brother,Mircea, and a younger brother, Radu the Handsome. His early education was leftin the hands of his mother, a Transylvanian noblewoman, and her family. His realeducation began in 1436 after his father succeeded in claiming the Wallachian t

hrone by killing his Danesti rival. His training was typical to that of the sonsof nobility throughout Europe. His first tutor in his apprenticeship to knighthood was an elderly boyar who had fought against the Turks at the battle of Nicolopolis. Vlad learned all the skills of war and peace that were deemed necessaryfor a Christian knight.

In 1444, at the age of thirteen, young Vlad and his brother Radu were sent to Adrianople as hostages, to appease the Sultan. He remained there until 1448, at which time he was released by the Turks, who supported him as their candidate forthe Wallachian throne. Vlads younger brother apparently chose to remain in Turkey


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, where he had grown up. (Radu is later supported by the Turks as a candidate for the Wallachian throne, in opposition to his own brother, Vlad.)

As previously noted, Vlad IIIs initial reign was quite short (two months), and itwas not until 1456, under the support of Hunyadi and the Kingdom of Hungary that he returned to the throne. He established Tirgoviste as his capitol city, andbegan to build his castle some distance away in the mountains near the Arges River. Most of the atrocities associated with Vlad III took place during this time.Atrocities of Vlad TepesMore than anything else the historical Dracula is known for his inhuman cruelty.Impalement was Vlad IIIs preferred method of torture and execution. Impalement was and is one of the most gruesome ways of dying imaginable, as it was typicallyslow and painful.

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Vlad usually had a horse attached to each of the victims legs and a sharpened stake was gradually forced into the body. The end of the stake was usually oiled and care was taken that the stake not be too sharp, else the victim might die toorapidly from shock. Normally the stake was inserted into the body through the bu

ttocks and was often forced through the body until it emerged from the mouth. However, there were many instances where victims were impaled through other body orifices or through the abdomen or chest. Infants were sometimes impaled on the stake forced through their mothers chests. The records indicate that victims weresometimes impaled so that they hung upside down on the stake.

Vlad Tepes often had the stakes arranged in various geometric patterns. The mostcommon pattern was a ring of concentric circles in the outskirts of a city thatwas his target. The height of the spear indicated the rank of the victim. The decaying corpses were often left up for months. It was once reported that an invading Turkish army turned back in fright when it encountered thousands of rottingcorpses impaled on the banks of the Danube. In 1461 Mohammed II, the conquerorof Constantinople, a man not noted for his squeamishness, returned to Constantin

ople after being sickened by the sight of twenty thousand impaled Turkish prisoners outside of the city of Tirgoviste. This gruesome sight is remembered in history as "the Forest of the Impaled."

Thousands were often impaled at a single time. Ten thousand were impaled in theTransylvanian city of Sibiu in 1460. In 1459, on St. Bartholomews Day, Vlad III had thirty thousand of the merchants and boyars of the Transylvanian city of Brasov impaled. One of the most famous woodcuts of the period shows Vlad Dracula feasting amongst a forest of stakes and their grisly burdens outside Brasov while anearby executioner cuts apart other victims.

Although impalement was Vlad Draculas favorite method of torture, it was by no means his only method. The list of tortures employed by this cruel prince reads li

ke an inventory of hells tools: nails in heads, cutting off of limbs, blinding, strangulation, burning, cutting off of noses and ears, mutilation of sexual organs (especially in the case of women), scalping, skinning, exposure to the elements or to wild animals, and burning alive.

No one was immune to Vlads attentions. His victims included women and children, peasants and great lords, ambassadors from foreign powers and merchants. However,the vast majority of his victims came from the merchants and boyars of Transylvania and his own Wallachia.


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Many have attempted to justify Vlad Draculas actions on the basis of nascent nationalism and political necessity. Many of the merchants in Transylvania and Wallachia were German Saxons who were seen as parasites, preying upon Romanian natives of Wallachia. The wealthy land owning boyars exerted their own often capricious and unfaithful influence over the reigning princes. Vlads own father and olderbrother were murdered by unfaithful boyars. However, many of Vlad Draculas victims were also Wallachians, and few deny that he derived a perverted pleasure fromhis actions.

Vlad Dracula began his reign of terror almost as soon as he came to power. His first significant act of cruelty may have been motivated by a desire for revengeas well as a need to solidify his power. Early in his main reign he gave a feastfor his boyars and their families to celebrate Easter. Vlad was well aware thatmany of these same nobles were part of the conspiracy that led to his fathers assassination and the burying alive of his elder brother, Mircea. Many had also played a role in the overthrow of numerous Wallachian princes. During the feast Vlad asked his noble guests how many princes had ruled during their lifetimes. Allof the nobles present had outlived several princes. None had seen less then seven reigns. Vlad immediately had all the assembled nobles arrested. The older boyars and their families were impaled on the spot. The younger and healthier nobles and their families were marched north from Tirgoviste to the ruins of his castle in the mountains above the Arges River. The enslaved boyars and their families were forced to labor for months rebuilding the old castle with materials froma nearby ruin. According to the reports they labored until the clothes fell off

their bodies and then were forced to continue working naked. Very few survived this ordeal.

Throughout his reign Vlad continued to systematically eradicate the old boyar class of Wallachia. Apparently Vlad was determined that his own power be on a modern and thoroughly secure footing. In the place of the executed boyars Vlad promoted new men from among the free peasantry and middle class; men who would be loyal only to their prince.

Vlad Tepesatrocities against the people of Wallachia were usually attempts to enforce his own moral code upon his country. He appears to have been particularlyconcerned with female chastity. Maidens who lost their virginity, adulterous wives and unchaste widows were all targets of Vlads cruelty. Such women often had th

eir sexual organs cut out or their breasts cut off, and were often impaled through the vagina on red-hot stakes. One report tells of the execution of an unfaithful wife. Vlad had the womans breasts cut off, then she was skinned and impaled in a square in Tirgoviste with her skin lying on a nearby table. Vlad also insisted that his people be honest and hard working. Merchants who cheated their customers were likely to find themselves mounted on a stake beside common thieves.

The End of Vlad III

Although Vlad III experienced some success in fending off the Turks, his accomplishments were relatively short-lived. He received little support from his titular overlord, Matthius Corvinus, King of Hungary (son of John Hunyadi) and Wallachian resources were too limited to achieve any lasting success against the powerf

ul Turks.

The Turks finally succeeded in forcing Vlad to flee to Transylvania in 1462. Reportedly, his first wife committed suicide by leaping from the towers of Vlads castle into the waters of the Arges River rather than surrender to the Turks. Vladescaped through a secret passage and fled across the mountains into Transylvaniaand appealed to Matthias Corvinus for aid. The king immediately had Vlad arrested and imprisoned in a royal tower.

There is some debate as to the exact length of Vlads confinement. The Russian pam


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phlets indicate that he was a prisoner from 1462 until 1474. However, during this period he was able to gradually win his way back into the graces of Matthias Corvinus and ultimately met and married a member of the royal family (possibly the sister of Corvinus) and fathered two sons. It is unlikely that a prisoner would be allowed to marry a member of the royal family. As the eldest son was about10 years old at the point Vlad regained the Wallachian throne in 1476, his release probably occurred around 1466.

Note: The Russian narrative, normally very favorable to Vlad, indicates that even in captivity he could not give up his favorite past-time; he often captured birds and mice and proceeded to torture and mutilate them. Some were beheaded or tarred-and-feathered and released. Most were impaled on tiny spears.

Another possible reason for Vlads rehabilitation was that the new successor to the Wallachian throne, Vlads own brother, Radu the Handsome, had instituted a verypro-Turkish policy. The Hungarian king may have viewed Dracula as a possible candidate to retake the throne. The fact that Vlad renounced the Orthodox faith andadopted Catholicism was also surely meant to appease his Hungarian captor.

In 1476 Vlad was again ready to make a bid for power. Vlad Dracula and Prince Stephen Bathory of Transylvania invaded Wallachia with a mixed contingent of forces. Vlads brother, Radu, had by then already died and was replaced by Basarab theOld, a member of the Danesti clan. At the approach of Vlads army Basarab and hiscohorts fled. However, shortly after retaking the throne, Prince Bathory and mos

t of Vlads forces returned to Transylvania, leaving Vlad in a vulnerable position. Before he was able to gather support, a large Turkish army entered Wallachia.Vlad was forced to march and meet the Turks with less than four thousand men.

Purported tombof Vlad TepesClick to Enlarge Vlad Dracula was killed in battle against the Turks near the town of Bucharest in December of 1476. Some reports indicate that he was assassinated by disloyal Wallachian boyars just as he was about to sweep the Turks fromthe field. Other accounts have him falling in defeat, surrounded by the ranks ofhis loyal Moldavian bodyguard. Still other reports claim that Vlad, at the moment of victory, was accidentally struck down by one of his own men. The one undis

puted fact is that ultimately his body was decapitated by the Turks and his headsent to Constantinople where the sultan had it displayed on a stake as proof that the horrible Impaler was finally dead. He was reportedly buried at Snagov, anisland monastery located near Bucharest.

Historical Evidence

In evaluating the accounts of Vlad Dracula it is important to realize that muchof the information comes from sources that may not be entirely accurate. With each of the three main sources there is reason to believe that the information provided may be influenced by local, mainly political, prejudices. The three main sources are as follows: (1) Pamphlets published in Germany shortly after Vlads death, (2) pamphlets published in Russia shortly after the German pamphlets, and (3

) Romanian oral tradition.1.German Pamphlets

At the time of Vlad Draculas death Matthias Corvinus of Hungary was seeking to bolster his own reputation in the Holy Roman Empire and may have intended the early pamphlets as justification of his less than vigorous support of his vassal. Itmust also be remembered that German merchants were often the victims of Vlad Draculas cruelty. The pamphlets thus painted Vlad Dracula as an inhuman monster whoterrorized the land and butchered innocents with sadistic glee.


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The pamphlets were also a form of mass entertainment in a society where the printing press was just coming into widespread use. The pamphlets were reprinted numerous times over the thirty or so years following Vlads deathstrong proof of theirpopularity.2.Russian Pamphlets

At the time of Vlad III the princes of Moscow were just beginning to build the basis of what would become the autocracy of the czars. Just like Vlad III, they were having considerable problems with the disloyal, often troublesome boyars. InRussia, Vlad Dracula was thus presented as a cruel but just prince whose actions were intended to benefit the greater good of his people.3.Romanian Oral TraditionLegends and tales concerning Vlad the Impaler have remained a part of folkloreamong the Romanian peasantry. These tales have been passed down from generationto generation for five hundred years. As one might imagine, through constant retelling they have become somewhat garbled and confused and are gradually being forgotten by the younger generations. However, they still provide valuable information about Vlad Dracula and his relationship with his people.

Vlad Dracula is remembered as a just prince who defended his people from foreigners, whether those foreigners were Turkish invaders or German merchants. He is also remembered as a champion of the common man against the oppression of the boyars. A central part of the verbal tradition is Vlads insistence on honesty in hiseffort to eliminate crime and immoral behavior from the region. However, despit

e the more positive interpretation of his life, Vlad Dracula is still rememberedas an exceptionally cruel and often capricious ruler.

Despite the differences between these various sources, there are common strainsthat run among them. The German and Russian pamphlets, in particular, agree remarkably as to many specifics of Vlad Draculas deeds. This level of agreement has led many historians to conclude that much of the information must at least to some extent be true.AnecdotesTransp_10px.gif (49 bytes)

There are about nine anecdotes that are almost universal in the Vlad Dracula lit

erature. They include the following:1.The Golden Cup

Vlad Dracula was known throughout his land for his fierce insistence on honestyand order. Thieves seldom dared practice their trade within his domain, for theyknew that the stake awaited any who were caught. Vlad was so confident in the effectiveness of his law that he laced a golden cup on display in the central square of Tirgoviste. The cup was never stolen and remained entirely unmolested throughout Vlad Draculas reign.1.The Burning of the Sick and Poor

Vlad Dracula was very concerned that all his subjects work and contribute to thecommon welfare. He once notice that the poor, vagrants, beggars and cripples ha

d become very numerous in his land. Consequently, he issued an invitation to allthe poor and sick in Wallachia to come to Tirgoviste for a great feast, claiming that no one should go hungry in his land. As the poor and crippled arrived inthe city they were ushered into a great hall where a fabulous feast was preparedfor them. The guests ate and drank late into the night. Vlad himself then madean appearance and asked them, "What else do you desire? Do you want to be without cares, lacking nothing in this world?" When they responded positively Vlad ordered the hall boarded up and set on fire. None escaped the flames. Vlad explained his action to the boyars by claiming that he did this "in order that they represent no further burden to other men, and that no one will be poor in my realm."


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1.The Foreign Ambassadors

Although there are some discrepancies between the German and Russian pamphlets in the interpretation of this story, they agree to the following: Two ambassadorsof a foreign power visited Vlads court at Tirgoviste. When in the presence of the prince, they refused to remove their hats. Vlad ordered that the hats be nailed to their heads, such that they should never have to remove them again.

Note: The nailing of hats to the heads of those who displeased a monarch was notan unknown act in eastern Europe and by the princes of Moscow.1.The Foreign Merchant

A merchant from a foreign land visited Tirgoviste. Aware of the reputation of Vlad Draculas land for honesty, he left a treasure-laden cart unguarded in the street over night. Upon returning to his wagon in the morning, the merchant was shocked to find 160 golden ducats missing. Then the merchant complained of his lossto the prince, Vlad assured him that his money would be returned. Vlad Dracula then issued a proclamation to the cityfind the thief and return the money or the city will be destroyed. During the night he ordered that 160 ducats plus one extra be taken from his own treasury and placed in the merchants cart. On returning to his cart the next morning and counting his money the merchant discovered the extra ducat. The merchant returned to Vlad and reported that his money had indeedbeen returned plus an extra ducat. Meanwhile the thief had been captured and turned over to the princes guards along with the stolen money. Vlad ordered the thi

ef impaled and informed the merchant that if he had not reported the extra ducathe would have been impaled alongside the thief.1.The Lazy Woman

Vlad once noticed a man working in the fields while wearing a caftan (shirt) that he adjudged to be too short in length. The prince stopped and asked to see themans wife. When the woman was brought before him he asked her how she spent herdays. The poor, frightened woman stated that she spent her days washing, bakingand sewing. The prince pointed out her husbands short caftan as evidence of her laziness and dishonesty and ordered her impaled, despite her husbands protestations that he was well satisfied with his wife. Vlad then ordered another woman to marry the peasant but admonished her to work hard or she would suffer the same fate.

1.The Nobleman with the Keen Sense of Smell

On St. Bartholomews Day in 1459 Vlad Dracula caused thirty thousand of the merchants and nobles of the Transylvanian city of Brasov to be impaled. In order thathe might better enjoy the results of his orders, the prince commanded that his table be set up and that his boyars join him for a feast amongst the forest of impaled corpses. While dining, Vlad noticed that one of his boyars was holding hisnose in an effort to alleviate the terrible smell of clotting blood and emptiedbowels. Vlad then ordered the sensitive nobleman impaled on a stake higher thanall the rest so that he might be above the stench.1.Vlad Draculas Mistress

Vlad Dracula once had a mistress that lived in a house in the back streets of Ti

rgoviste. This woman apparently loved the prince to distraction and was always anxious to please him. Vlad was often moody and depressed and the woman made every effort to lighten her lovers burdens. Once, when he was particularly depressed,the woman dared tell him the lie that she was with child. Vlad had the woman examined by the bath matrons. When informed that the woman was lying, Vlad drew his knife and cut her open from the groin to her breast, leaving her to die in agony.1.The Polish Nobleman

Benedict de Boithor, a Polish nobleman in the service of the King of Hungary, vi


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sited Vlad Dracula at Tirgoviste in September of 1458. At dinner one evening Vlad ordered a golden spear brought and set up directly in front of the royal envoy. Vlad then asked the envoy if he knew why this spear had been set up. Benedictreplied that he imagined some boyar had offended the prince and that Vlad intended to honor him. Vlad responded that the spear had, in fact, been set up in honor of his noble, Polish guest. The Pole then responded that if he had done anything to deserve death that Vlad should do as he thought best. Vlad Dracula was greatly pleased by this answer, showered him with gifts, and declared that had he answered in any other manner he would have been immediately impaled.1.The Two MonksThere is some discrepancy in the telling of this anecdote. The various sourcesagree, however, as to the basic story. Two monks from a foreign land came to visit Vlad Dracula in his palace at Tirgoviste. Curious to see the reaction of thechurchmen, Vlad showed them rows of impaled corpses in the courtyard. When askedtheir opinions, the first monk responded, "You are appointed by God to punish evil-doers." The other monk had the moral courage to condemn the cruel prince. Inthe version of the story most common in the German pamphlets, Vlad rewarded thesycophantic monk and impaled the honest one. In the version found in Russian pamphlets and in Romanian verbal tradition Vlad rewarded the honest monk for his integrity and courage and impaled the sycophant for his dishonesty.

The Origins of the Vampire Myth

It is certainly no coincidence that Bram Stoker chose the Balkans as the home o

f his famous vampire. The Balkans were still basically medieval even in Stokers time. They had only recently shaken off the Turkish yoke when Stoker started working on his novel and the superstitions of the Dark Ages were still prevalent.

The legend of the vampire was and still is deeply rooted in the Balkan region. There have always been vampire-like creatures in the mythologies of many cultures. However, the vampire, as he became known in Europe and hence America, largelyoriginated in the Slavic and Greek lands of Eastern Europe.

A veritable epidemic of vampirism swept through Eastern Europe beginning in thelate seventeenth century and continuing through the eighteenth century. The number of reported cases rose dramatically in Hungary and the Balkans. From the Balkans the plague spread westward into Germany, Italy, France, England and Spain. T

ravelers returning from the Balkans brought with them tales of the undead, igniting an interest in the vampire that has continued to this day.

Philosophers in the West began to study the phenomenon. It was during this period that Dom Augustin Calmet wrote his famous treatise on vampirism in Hungary. Itwas also during this period that authors and playwrights first began to explorethe vampire myth. Stokers novel was merely the culminating work of a long seriesof works that were inspired by the reports coming from the region.

Did Bram Stoker base his Draculaupon the historical Dracula?

First Ed. ofDRACULAConstable, 1897Click to Enlarge Although it is widely assumed, even among scholars, that BramStoker based his novel upon the historical figure of Vlad Tepes, there is at least one prominent scholar who challenges this assumption. Her name is Elizabeth Miller, a professor with the Department of English at Memorial University of Newfoundland. (http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~emiller/owner.htm) Her primary argument is that Bram Stoker kept meticulous notes of his references in creating Dracula, and none of the references contain specific information about the life and/or atrocit


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ies of Vlad Tepes.

There is fairly strong evidence the two Draculas are connected. Arguments in favor of this position include the following:The fictional Dracula and the historical Dracula share the same name. There can be no doubt that Bram Stoker based his character upon some reference to Vlad Dracula.Stoker researched various sources prior to writing the novel, including the Library at Whitby and literature from the British Museum. It is entirely possible that his readings on Balkan history would have included information about Vlad Tepes.Stoker was the friend of a Hungarian professor from Budapest, named Arminius Vambery, who he met personally on several occasions and who may have given him information about the historical Dracula.Some of the text of Stokers novel provides direct correlations between the fictional Dracula and Vlad Tepes (e.g., the fighting off of the Turks--also, the physical description of Dracula in the novel is very similar to the traditional imageof Vlad Tepes.).Other references in the novel may also be related to the historical Dracula. Forexample, the driving of a stake through the vampires heart may be related to Vladsuse of impalement; Renfields fixation with insects and small animals may have found inspiration in Vlads penchant for torturing small animals during his period of imprisonment; and Draculas loathing of holy objects may relate to Vlads renunciation of the Orthodox Church.

Professor Miller counters each of these arguments. In particular she notes the only reference provided by Stoker in his notes that contains any information about Vlad Tepes is a book by William Wilkinson entitled An Account of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia (1820), which Stoker borrowed from the Whitby Public Library in 1890 while there on vacation. The book contains a few brief references to a "Voivode Dracula" (never referred to as Vlad) who crossed the Danubeand attacked Turkish troops. Also, what seems to have attracted Stoker was a footnote in which Wilkinson states "Dracula in Wallachian language means Devil." Stoker apparently supplemented this with scraps of Romanian history from other sources. Professor Miller argues that The Principalities of Wallachia and Moldaviais the only known source for Stokers information on the historical Dracula, andthat everything else is mere speculation.

As far as Stokers acquaintance with the Hungarian professor Vambrey, Miller notesthat the record only documents two meetings between the two individuals, and there is no evidence that Vambrey ever spoke of Vlad Tepes, vampires or Transylvania during their visits.

As far as any likeness between the historical Vlad Dracula and descriptions provided in the novel, professor Miller notes that it is most likely Stoker drew hisdescription of Count Dracula from earlier villains in Gothic literature, or even from his own employer, Henry Irving.

In conclusion, Miller makes an assumption of her own: In the novel Stoker provides thorough historical detail obtained from his various references. Had he known

about the atrocities of Vald Tepes, Miller argues, surely he would have included such information in his novel.

For a more detailed argument by professor Miller, see http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~emiller/kalo.htm.

Bibliography

Most of the information provided on this site was obtained from adocument entitled "The Historical Dracula," by Ray Porter. See http://www.eski


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mo.com/~mwirkk/vladhist.html for more information.

Additional information was obtained from the following Web sites:http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/7545/Dracula.html

http://www.mediaport.org/~eric/dracula/history/history.html

http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~emiller/owner.htm

Few online universities and online schools offer Medieval studies courses. Morecourses at online universities on Medieval studies, and history in general, would benefit students who are interested in Vlad Tepes and Eastern European history.

Documents

Vlad Tepesh