Crowned Shadow

The figure of Prince Vlad Tepes, the "Impaler", has been the inspiration for a veritable "morphology of horror".The chronicles of the age relate that, by order of the Wallachian prince, all offences, however minor, be they comitted by a beggar or by a court dignitary, were to be given the same punishment: impalement on a wooden stake.
Since Bram Stoker, Vlad the Impaler has become Count Dracula - a vampire in constant search of victims whose blood to suck. It is very hard to understand how the situation has arisen in which the image of a phantom driven by malefic forces has been superimposed upon the historical personage of the Romanian prince. It is said that, when seeking an emblematic personage for his novel, Bram Stoker called upon his friend Arminiun Vambery, a professor at the University of Budapest. The latter told the Irish writer and theatrical director about a Wallachian voievod of the fifteenth century, who was known as the "son of the Devil (Dracului)". This latter detail was decisive thus, in 1987, the famous fictional character of Dracula was born. Why was Vlad the Impaler known to his contemporaries as Dracula ? Although at first sight it might be not appear to be, the explanation is, in fact, cery simple: at Nurnburg, on 8 february 1431, his father, Vlad II, was initiated by the Emperor Sigismund into the Order of the Dragon. This chivalric order was a military-religious organisation whose goal was to halt the expansion of the Ottoman Empire. The order's coat of arms consisted of a dragon (the symbol of the Ottomans) and a Christian cross. Since in Romanian "dragon" ("Drahe" in German) it is also called "drac", Vlad II was given the epithet "Dracul" ("the Drac"), while his descendants would be named the Drăculeşti. Vlad the Impaler was Dracula, that is Son of his Drac, as indicated by the suffix "-ea", which denotes origin. All the legends of Vlad the Impaler, alias Dracula, tell of his unusual cruelty. The often macabre way in which be thought to "do justice" and punish "cunning" instilled fear in his subjects. His detractors took care that the chronicles perpetuated only the image of a voievod thirsty for blood. This is why it was very simple for the historical figure of Vlad Dracula to become associated with the fictional character in a horror novel, who borrowed merely his name. It is not known how it was that Vlad came to be imputed with crimes of the kind committed by Countess Elisabetha Bathory, who, in her castle at Cetnie, Hungaryan, slew more than 650 youths, whose blood she thought had the virtue to grant her immortality. Thus Vlad Draculea enters the category of vampires, of those phantoms that crave fresh blood to perpetuate their pallid existence. The Dracula myth correlated with the symbolism of blood as the elixir of eternal life, similar to a kind of ambrosia. The idea that immortality can be ensured
through that agency of blood is ancient: in many mythologies, blood is regarded as the seat of this soul. Hence, it results that by drinking the blood of others the vampire appropiates the soul and thus the life of his victims. Certanly, it was only the exaggeration of Prince Vlad the Impaler's cruelty by malicious chroniclers that led, over time, to the creation of the Dracula myth. Leaving aside speculation concerning a fictional character destined to inspire dozens of horror films, we are indebted to research, as far as the historical records will allow, that which nevertheless hides behind the real Vlad the Impaler. There must have been something in it, for, as the saying goes, there is no smoke without fire. The grandson of Mircea the Old, Vlad the Impaler was born in Sighisoara in 1431. After his father, Vlad II the Dragon, who had until then been governor of Transylvania, was named prince of Wallachia (1436) , Vlad the Impaler moved to the princely court at Târgovişte, for a period of six years. In 1442, Vlad Dracul and his brother Radu the Fair were taken hostage by Sultan Murad II. Vlad was to remain in the fortress of Egrigoz in Anatolia until 1448, while Radu was to return home only much later, in 1462. The period in which the Impaler was held hostage by the Turks was decisive for the developments of his vision of life (one which was, to be precise, much more sombre than would have been normal). The name of Vlad Tepes the Impaler is tied to the city of Sibiu. In 1456, Vlad signed an agreement with Sibiu, with two parties undertaking to offer mutual support in this case of a Turkish invasion. In a document dating from 1475, it emerges that Vlad had requested that Sibiu grant him the right to construct a house in the city.

A shadowy, contradictory figure, Vlad of the Impaler still excites the imagination of all lovers of mystery and horror stories.

Bran Castle
Built in 1212 by the Teutonic Knights, Bran Castle was later rebuilt by Saxons from the Land of Bârsa for King Ludovic I de Anjou of Hungary. Iancu de Hunedoara repaired and streghtened Bran, and then entrusted Vlad the Impaler, who has not yet succeeded in obtaining the throne of the Romanian Land, with the defence of south Transylvania. It is thus possible that Vlad may have stayed at Brain, which was an important frontier post, although there are no historical records to this effect. Bran was then taken over by the city of Brasov, which demand it, in 1920, to Queen Maria, in gratitude for her contribution to the Great Union of 1 December 1918. Today,
Bran Castle is synonymous with Vlad the Impaler, alias Dracula. However, whether we like it or not, the history of the castle has very little to do with the story of the historical figure.