Vlad Dracul – the real Dracula?
Count Dracula fired up people’s imagination so strongly that for many, it’s difficult to separate him from Vlad Dracul. The real-life Vlad III, ruler of Wallachia—a small province in what is now Romania—served as a loose inspiration for Bram Stoker’s legendary vampire. Today, tourists flock to Bran Castle, a two-hour drive north of Bucharest, hoping to find traces of Dracula and vampires. They won’t find any—though both Vlad and Stoker’s Dracula had a certain fondness for blood, each in their own particular way.
A Name That Stuck
Even by 15th-century standards, Vlad III was a colorful character. His father, Vlad II, was known as Vlad the Dragon after joining the Order of the Dragon, a chivalric order dedicated to defending Christianity. Dracula is simply the Slavic form of Dracul, meaning “the son of Dracul”. To make things even more interesting, in modern Romanian, “Dracul” means “the devil”, which only adds to the legend.
As a child, Vlad was held hostage by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II to ensure his father’s loyalty. He became fluent in Turkish and Ottoman customs, including their rather creative approach to execution—impalement. In 1447, his father was killed, and Vlad took the throne of Wallachia with Ottoman support. His rule was anything but stable—he spent years fighting for survival, constantly switching alliances, battling enemies, fleeing, and returning to power.
War, Impalement, and Infamy
Wallachia was a boiling geopolitical pot, caught between Hungary, Poland, and the Ottoman Empire. It was during one of his reigns that Vlad became truly infamous. After refusing to pay tribute to the Ottoman Empire, he launched attacks south of the Danube, leading Mehmed II to respond with a massive 150,000-strong army. Vlad, through cunning strategies and brutal tactics, inflicted heavy losses on the Ottomans, even coming close to capturing Mehmed himself. He won the battle, but not the war.
One of his less successful campaigns landed him in a Hungarian prison, where he spent 14 years. But by then, his reputation as a bloodthirsty ruler had spread across Europe, often exaggerated into something even more terrifying. In 1463, a poem titled “Story of a Bloodthirsty Madman Called Dracula of Wallachia” was performed at the court of Emperor Frederick III in Wiener Neustadt. His real and exaggerated cruelty made him a legend long before Bram Stoker wrote his bestseller.
Vlad Dracul’s Strange Place in Art
Vlad’s menacing portrait became a recognized symbol of evil, appearing in unexpected places. A painting in Ljubljana depicts him as Pontius Pilate, judging Jesus Christ, and in Vienna’s Maria am Gestade church, his face appears in a Calvary scene.
The most famous portrait of Vlad III is now displayed at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, where it was once part of the Wes Anderson and Juman Malouf-curated exhibition “Spitzmaus Mummy in a Coffin”—a fitting addition to a collection of historical oddities.
So, was Vlad the real Dracula? Maybe. But one thing is certain—his reputation for bloodshed outlived him by centuries.
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