Who was Vlad the Impaler?

Question

And why was Dracula based upon him?

Answer 1

A soveriegn prince of Wallachia, an area now part of Romaniana, who was reputed to be blood-thirsty.

He was also know as Vlad III, Vlad Tepes, and Vlad Dracula. "Dracula" means "Son of Dracul" or "Son of the Dragon". His father had been a member of the Order of the Dragon, a order of nobles selected to protect the Royal Family of Hungary.


EDIT: Please note, there is a lot of confusion between "Dracul" and "Dracula". Although there is only one letter difference, they are not the same name in Romanian. Vlad Dracul and Vlad Dracula were not the same person; they were father and son. Vlad Dracula (i.e. Vlad III) was "The Impaler", not his father Vlad Dracul (Vlad II).

Answer 2

Bram Stoker wrote Dracula before the found out about Vlad. He simply called him Count Vampyr.

That name, however, would have spoiled they mystery of the tale.

But as he tried to research his history, he stumbled across the Vlad the Impaler story and decided to use it in his story and then used the name Count Dracula.

So, in actuality, Count Dracula wasn't based on Vlad the Impaler, since the character had been created before Bram discovered Vlad. It was an amazing coincidence.

Answer 3

Vlad III was actually a Wallachian prince (situated in Romania and Yugoslavia), originally dispossessed and held prisoner by the Sultan of Istanbul; he learned his methods there. After he got his kingdom back with the Turks' help, he became kingthree times in his homeland (being dispossessed another two times by his cousin, and then his brother Radu), for an approximate reign of seven years. He was known as the Impaler because of his favored use of stakes to slowly impale his victims while he watched. This wasn't his only form of cruelty, but this one was that he was most famous for.

Dracula was based on him because Stroker was researching for his book, and one night, after learning of Vlad the Impaler's history, apparently had a dream that he'd come back from the dead - hence his use of him as Dracula (which was his nickname, meaning "son of the dragon"). He was, however, transferred to Transylvania for the story, because Wallachia didn't sound menacing - or on the other side, romantic or exotic enough - for Stoker.

Answer 4

Vlad Dracul II *The Dragon* was a prince is what is now modern day Romania/Transylvania. He earned his nickname "the Impaler* because he did indeed used to impale living people om spikes outside his castle *because, it is believed, the sounds of moaning and screaming from the victims served as a warning to invading armies of what fate was in store for them if they proceeded* Vlad was also rumored to practice black magic and drink human blood. Finally, back in the 1970's, it was rumored that two curious teenagers/young adults somehow broke into Castle Dracula *Vlad's main estate and found his coffin. Upon opening it, they found nothing....no bones, clothes hair..anything..thus fueling the vampire rumors*

Answer 5

Elise K has it right, he was a prince of Romania. He was called The Impaler because he used to have his enemies impaled on wooden spikes and left to die. He also was known to order visiting Jewish ambassadors to have their hats nailed onto their heads when they refused to remove them in his presence.
He was nasty!
He is the person that all the vampire myths have been based on.
His real name is Vlad Dracul(sometimes spelled Draculya) hence "Dracula".
Follow the links I've provided and all of your questions will be answered.
(No Wikepedia for me either, LOL)

Answer 6

Dracula was NOT based on Vlad the Impaler. This is a common mistake that everyone makes, and is perpetuated throughout the world.

Dracula was actually based on the Bible. Dracula is Jesus Christ. All of the things that Vampires do is based on what followers of Christ did, or were reported to do in ancient times.

You have to read John Polidori's diaries about how he created the Vampire mythos during a summer writing party at Mary Shelley's house in 1816 and came up with the Count.

Bram Stoker nearly 80 years later wrote Dracula using John Polidori's work as a basis, and gave the Count the name Dracul, based on a Romanian history book he had.

Answer 7

Vlad III the Impaler (Vlad Ţepeş IPA: ['tsepeʃ] in common Romanian reference; also known as Vlad Dracula or Vlad Drăculea and Kazıklı Voyvoda in Turkish; November or December, 1431 – December 1476) was Prince (voivode) of Wallachia, a former polity which is now part of Romania. His three reigns were in 1448, 1456-1462, and 1476. In the English-speaking world, Vlad is best known for the legends of the exceedingly cruel punishments he imposed during his reign, and consequently serving as the inspiration for the vampire main character in Bram Stoker's popular Dracula novel.

As Prince, he led an independent policy in relation to the Ottoman Empire, and in Romania he is best remembered as a prince with a deep sense of justice and a defender of Wallachia against Ottoman expansionism. His impact on the expansion of the Ottoman Empire is recognizable in that his successful hold against them bought precious time for western Europe.

Names
His Romanian surname Drăculea (transliterated as "Dracula" in foreign languages of the historical documents where his name is mentioned) seems to come from his father's surname Dracul (see Vlad II Dracul); the latter was a member of the Order of the Dragon created by Emperor Sigismund. Vlad's family had two factions, the Drăculeşti and the Dăneşti.

His post-mortem moniker of Ţepeş (Impaler) originated in his preferred method for executing his opponents, impalement - as popularized by medieval Transylvanian pamphlets. In Turkish, he was known as Kazıklı Bey (Impaler Prince). Vlad was referred to as Dracula in a number of documents of his times, mainly the Transylvanian Saxon pamphlets and The Annals of Jan Długosz.

Outside Wallachia he was known by the exaggerated tales of atrocities (many of which stem from records of debatable authenticity) and even more so — the title of vampire, and it has been suggested that his surname Dracula was the source of inspiration for the name of the main character of Bram Stoker's 1897 horror novel, Dracula.

You could get more information from the link below...

Answer 8

That is who Dracula was known to be. Vlad Dracula. He lived in Transylvania and was suppose to have killed ppl and hung them up on poles. Or maybe he let them die on the poles. He was suppose to have drank their blood as it ran off of the poles. His wife was suppose to have killed herself after hearing that her husband was dead. Of course that was untrue. You can find some of this in the movie Bram Stoker's Dracula of the 1990s. But I heard this also on the History Channel. He was a great warrior, maybe a bit merciless according to some sources. I'm not how sure this myth is.

Answer 9

Prince Vlad of Romania/Transylvania, was a man who yes was tortured by the Turks his enemy. He was used as a tool by the Christian faith to conquer and convert or kill anyone of any other faith. Yes he lost his Princess in death. And his brother Stefan/Stephan was a traitor to him as well. (jealousy) He turned into a merciless tyrant after all of this and began enjoying the kill like any lion that has tasted the blood of humans. He impaled his own soldiers as well for many reasons, he got paranoid of everyone, the Church as well. He thought they were hippocrites then, after his brother had turned on him as well. The Church was the one that wanted all the bloodshed and he gave it to them. As far as drinking the blood it is nothing unusual of those times. Many were insane in the battle field, and many cultures at that time were still cannibals at that. There really was no difference in the impaling and the crucifiction they were both insane methods of torture. Movies make money and they stretch the truth quite a bit on the myth of him being a vampyre. Because he was not.

Answer 10

it was purported that Vlad Dracul was an extremely vicious, bloodthirsty and psychopathic ruler in Romania aronfdt he late 900s, stories of his ruthlessness abounded and assuredly have grown with time. he was said to drink the blood of his victims. in one example he would skewer his enemies on a pike and stick the pike in the ground to display them ( somewhat similar to a crucifixion) and was also purported to hold a chalice or cup under their bodies to catch their dripping blood then drink it. the stories of fangs, life everlasting and bats was invented by Bram stoker