A brief overview of the life of Vlad the Impaler and the myth of Dracula and Vampires

1. VLAD THE IMPALER
Vampire or Villain?

2. VAMPIRE MYTH
 Vampire myths go back thousands of years and
occur in almost every culture around the world.
 Their variety is almost endless:
 Red eyed monsters with green or pink hair in China
 Greek Lamia which has the upper body of a woman and
the lower body of a winged serpent
 Vampire foxes in Japan
 A head with trailing entrails known as the Penanggalang
in Malaysia.

3. VAMPIRE MYTH
 Vampires we are familiar with today are largely
based on Eastern European myths.
 Modern concept of the vampire similar to Eastern
Europe are: blood drinking, return from death,
preying on humans at night.
 Many things we are familiar with; the wearing of
evening clothes, capes with tall collars, turning into
bats, etc are much more recent inventions.

4. VAMPIRE MYTH
 Evidence that a vampire was at work in the
neighbourhood included:
 death of cattle, sheep, relatives, neighbours,
 exhumed bodies being in a lifelike state with new
growth of the fingernails or hair,
 or if the body was swelled up like a drum,
 or there was blood on the mouth and if the
corpse had a ruddy complexion.
 Vampires could be destroyed by: staking,
decapitation, burning, repeating the funeral service,
holy water on the grave, exorcism.

5. BATS? WHERE DO THEY FIT IN?
 During the 16th century the Spanish conquistadors
first came into contact with Vampire bats in
Central/South America. They recognized the
similarity between the feeding habits of the bats
and those of their mythical vampires. It wasn't long
before they began to associate bats with their
vampire legends. Over the following centuries the
association became stronger and was used by
various people, including James Malcom Rhymer
who wrote "Varney the Vampyre" in the 1840's.
Stoker cemented the linkage of bats and vampires
in the minds of the general public with “Dracula”.

6. WHY DO PEOPLE LINK VLAD WITH
VAMPIRES AND DRACULA?

7. VLAD‟S HISTORY
 Known as Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia
 From the family house of „Draculesti‟ (Dracula)
 Known in the English speaking world for his cruel
punishments, named „Vlad the Impaler‟ after death
 Born in Transylvania in 1431 CE
 At the age of 5 his father initiated Vlad into the
Order of the Dragon
 The Order defended Christianity against the Ottoman
Turks

8. EARLY LIFE
 Vlad‟s father was ousted as King and to regain his
throne he made a pact with a Turkish Sultan
 Vlad and his brother, Radu, were sent as hostages
and sign of his loyalty
 Radu converted to Islam but Vlad did no co-operate
 Vlad was kept in a dungeon where he was
repeatedly beat and whipped
 Obviously hatred towards the Turks grew strongly
 Vlad was later released on probation where he was
then educated in writing and war
 Had a taste of death early in life (execution, war)

9. RISE TO POWER
 Vlad‟s father was killed during a revolt and his older
brother and heir was blinded and buried alive
 The Turks invaded and put Vlad on the throne
 Vlad‟s reign was short lived as he was forced to flee
and again gained the favour of the Sultan
 After the fall of Constantinople by the Turks, they
invaded the Balkans
 Through this chaos, Vlad led troops and took back
the thrown, killing the rule in hand-to-hand combat

10. LIFE IN WALLACHIA
 Due to instability there was a lot of crime
 Vlad had three aims for Wallachia: to strengthen the
country's economy, its defense, and his own
political power.
 He killed many leaders in the area and put his own
people in power
 He also made the military militia-based instead of
having mercinaries

11. IMPALEMENT
 Preferred method of execution was impalement
 Pierced by a long stake (sides, rectum, mouth)
 Stake placed in the ground
 Victim left hanging to die
 Would try to avoid immediate death, stake plugs
up blood, could be left for up to 3 days
 This method was used to execute his political foes
but also soldiers they fought in battle

12. BATTLE WITH TURKS
 Fought against the Turks (killed around 20,000),
then lost his throne, resorted to guerrilla tactics
 Motivated by a „new crusade‟ called on by Pope
Pius II
 Sultan not happy because Vlad was not paying
taxes

13. IN A LETTER TO CORVINUS DATED 2
FEBRUARY, HE WROTE:
 I have killed peasants men and women, old and
young, who lived at Oblucitza and Novoselo, where
the Danube flows into the sea, up to Rahova, which
is located near Chilia, from the lower Danube up to
such places as Samovit and Ghighen. We killed
23,884 Turks without counting those whom we
burned in homes or the Turks whose heads were
cut by our soldiers...Thus, your highness, you must
know that I have broken the peace with him (Sultan
Mehmed II)

14. BATTLE WITH TURKS
 In retaliation, the Turks sent almost 100,000 troops
to fight Vlad
 Vlad led a night attack and killed 15,000 of them
 Vlad‟s brother would lead a revolt and many former
nobles agreed
 He was captured and held captive in Hungary
 His brother would pass away and he would regain
the throne for a 3rd time

15. WHY IS VLAD CONSIDERED EVIL?
 Impalement, not very pleasant
 Make patterns of the stakes
 10,000, sometimes 30,000 at a time
 Picture of Vlad dining in front of impaled victims
 Boyers, first act!
 Women who broke vows of chastity were a target
 Other torture methods: boiling water, cut people
into ribbons

16. VLAD‟S DEATH
 Vlad‟s 3rd reign lasted no more than 2 months
 It is known that he was assassinated
 Not sure how it happened or when
 He was buried, possibly in a monastery he built
 His head was sent to Constantinople where it was
put on a pike and displayed

17. WHY IS VLAD CONSIDERED EVIL?
 It was reported that an invading Ottoman army
turned back in fright when it encountered thousands
of rotting corpses on the banks of the Danube.
 In 1462 Mehmed II, the conqueror of
Constantinople, a man noted for his own
psychological warfare tactics, returned to
Constantinople after being sickened by the sight of
20,000 impaled corpses outside Vlad's capital of
Târgoviște.
 German texts helped spread word, not sure what is
fact/fiction

18. TOTAL #‟S
 Some totals say 40,000 fell victim to Vlad
 Most scholars point towards 100,000 or more
 How do these numbers compare to our modern
villains?
 Why is Vlad seen as such a terrible person?
 What do you think contributed to Vlad acting how
he did?

20. BRAM STOKER‟S „DRACULA‟ VS VLAD
 Dracula's cape may have been based on the red
and black cape worn by members of the Order of
the Dragon.
 Killing a vampire by driving a stake through his
heart is reminiscent of Impalements.
 Vlad the Impaler was Transylvanian, as is Stoker's
character.
 Vlad the Impaler is said to have consumed human
flesh, and to have drunk human blood. Some also
speculate that he suffered from a rare allergy that
made him lose control when exposed to blood, as
well as crave it.

21. BRAM STOKER‟S „DRACULA‟ VS VLAD
 While Vlad the Impaler may not have been one of the
living dead, it is believed his allergy to blood caused him
to have very pale and swollen face
 Van Helsing explains that another way to insure a
vampire will not return is to cut off its head. Vlad the
Impaler was rumored to have been decapitated.
 Van Helsing also theorizes that: "He must, indeed, have
been that Voivode Dracula who won his name against
the Turk."
 In Francis Ford Coppola's feature film "Bram Stoker's
Dracula", actor Gary Oldman is shown wearing an armor
sporting the "Order of the Dragon" insignia, and a fair
amount of background is given on the Character which
was not in the book but is based on the historical Vlad
Dracula.