To-day, a film called Dracula: The Untold Story was released. I dont much care, I just want to note some things about Vlad Dracul. #1. Dracula just means son of the dragon. While this could be interpreted in a negative way, since Satan is associated with dragons in the book of Revelation (and dragons are generally negative entities in Western folklore and mythology), the Order of the Dragon was instituted by the Hungarian king Sigismund as an order to protect Christianity and the Cross. Sigismund was also Holy Roman Emperor. In other words, we are talking very Catholic and very royal. #2. Vlad was proud of his membership in the Order of the Dragon. His father was also a member, and had been summoned by Sigismund himself. #3. Vlad had a hatred of the Turks, because of a diplomatic maneuver his father had to make. His father wanted to protect Wallachia, a principality located in Romania, where Vlads father and his family were based. In order to do this, Vlad Sr. had to negotiate with the Turks regularly. At one point, the elder Vlad had to send two of his children - Vlad Jr and a younger brother named Radu - to the Sultan as hostages to ensure that Vlad Sr would abide by policies the Turks wanted him to abide by. Radu was younger and, lets be honest - Turks (and Arabs in general) seem to have a predilection for young boys. Radu was treated much better than Vlad was, causing Vlad to hate his captors and his brother. Radu even converted to Islam later in life and joined the Ottomans. #4. When they were released, Radu stayed in Turkey, while Vlad returned to Wallachia, whereupon he learned that his father and brother had both been murdered by rival royals. #5. While there is no doubt that Vlad was brutal, his most noted method of execution - impaling - was actually practiced by the Turks first. All Vlad did was turn their methods on them. It must be remembered that Vlad was little different from other nobles. They all enjoyed executing their enemies, they all rejoiced in cruelty. #6. Vlads infamous reputation comes primarily from German sources.Vlad, like every other king and petty warlord, was ambitious and wanted territory. He attacked and destroyed territory belonging to German Saxons. They didnt much like that, and started circulating stories after his death, accusing him of all manner of cruelty, both likely and quite unlikely. Rival Romanians also circulated stories, as did many other groups, Slavic peoples, Turks, etc. No one is going to believe that Vlad was a sweet guy who just liked to pet kittens. He wasnt. But the historical details on his cruelty are generally little different from crude campaign ads to-day. #7. He is still seen as a hero among the Romanians, and they dont care for the whole Dracula thing. In fact, it appears that Stoker read about Vlad, liked the name Dracula (which was erroneously said to mean devil in the book he read) and named his character that, with little knowledge of the historical Vlad.
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 04:19:43 +0000
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