IN S E A R C H O F

DRACULA
The aulhon wouW likc lo (hank Karen Policrton for cyping ihc manu-
9CTpof ihb book; Caihy Knnbcf]g Tor bibliographical auisance; Andmv

The authors are abo gnicfiil for pcrmsion to reprni siilb from ihe fol-
lowingmoie.:
Bram Slotri DninJa. Cop>Tghi O 1992 Columbia PSccum Induscres.
Inc. All rgha rocrved. Counesy of Columbia Picium.
Dranl (.tariing BeU Lugo). Copyright C b> Univenal Gty Sludioi.
Inc. Counesy of MCA Pubibhing Righu. a Dnion of MCA Inc.

Copyright O IQ94 by Raymond T. McNally and Radu Flomcu

All rightsmenrd

le South, New York. New York 10003.

UbnryofCongmtCau
McNally. Raymond T. date.
In Karch of Oiacula : the history of DncuU and vampira /
Ravmond T McNally and Radu Rorescu. -
(Newui

ISBN0-395-65783-0 (pbiL)
I. Mad III. PrinceofWdlachia. 1430 or 91-1476 or 7. a. DiacuJa.
Count (Fictiliout characier) 3. Vampim Romana.
4. Wallachia - Kings and rulen - Biogiaphy.
I. nomcu, Radu. II. Tie.
DR140.5.V553M36 1994
809.93351 - Dcao 94-18*33 cip
Book design by Anne Chalmen

Printed in the United Sutet of America

 CONTENTS

1 Introducing the Dracula of

Fiction, History, and Folklore i

the Search for Casde Dracula 7

The Historical Dracula:

Tyrant from Transyhania 1^

4.PrinceofW allachia ag

tj. Crusader Against the Turks 43

6. Castle Dracula 60

7. Dracula Horror Stories

oftheFifteenthC entury 78

8. The Historical Dracula, 1462-1476:

Imprisonment and Death 93

Q. Snagov: The Mystery of the Empty Grave 104

1o. Vampirism: Od World Folklore 117

1 1. Bram Stoker 1
 QmerUs

1 2. On Stage, in Fiction, and on Film i.:6

13. Condusion 179

MAPS 187

CHROMOLOCIES t88

GEMEALQGY 190

APPEMDIXES

Germn Stories iq.s

Russian Storcs 198

Romanian Stories soS

Books by Bram Stoker 221

Primary sources 224

Nonfiction 224

Works o f PsycholoKy,
AnthropoloKy, and Literature 2.^0

Books on Movies. Theater, and Televisin

Ficton 235

FILM OCRAPHY 2^7

TRAVEL CUIDE 293

 P RE F A CE

This is a new, updated, and re\iscd editon of In Search ofDracuIa, a pi-

oneerng popular study o f the histrica! Dracula which found readers
throughout the world. Little did the coauthors realize at the time they
embarked upon this projeci over a glass o f plum brandy in Bucharest
more than iwenty-five years ago, that their work would result in the
discover) o f the authentic, bloodthirsty prolotype for Bram Stokers
famous novel Dracula, one o f the best-selling novis o f all time. Our
frst book on this topic contributed to serious research on genuine
vampire traditions in Transyh'ania, analyzed Stoker's novel, and ap-
pended a bibliography and flmography. The histrica! chanicter the
authors rediscovered was a fifteenth<entury Romanian prince a!so
known as Vlad the Impaler. This gave new histrica! dimensions to a
subject that had been superficially treated, if at a!l, in the years follow-
ing the publication o f Stoker's novel. Although a feH' obscure anieles
had appeared on the subject. In Srarch of Dracula, with its broad inter-
national appeal, definitely contributed to the re\ival o f interest in the
subject.
Since publishing our minor classic*' we have continued to explore
the subject of the histrica! Dracula and the many myths that sur-
round his life and death. The extensive research was only possible
over the course o f many trips and through the examination o f li-
braries and archives both in Eastem Europe and in the West. We have
lectured extensively on our fndings to college audiences, at intema-
tional symposia, and on radio and TV. We also wrote articles and other
books on the histrica! Dracula, including a denitive biography.
Though well received as a scholarly endeavor and used as a text!x>ok
 Preface

for college courses, rcaders and numerous fans appealed to us to in

corprate our many new ndings into a popular book addressed to
the general public in the kind o f language readily understood by the
many readers who had used In Srarch of Dracula for their own Cothic
studies. A new generation o f readers could no longer find the original
book in their local librares. In fiact, the book all but disappeared from
circulation and had become a collectors item. It is by way o f response
to such pleas that wc conceived ihis wholly re\ised work.
Among the many finds since our first book was written, perhaps the
most signifcant was our discovery o f the unpublished diaries and
joumals that Stoker wrote while he was composing his vampire mas-
terpiece. This proved that far from being a work o f pur fction,
Stoker relied on extensive research both on the historical Vlad and
on the vampire lore o f Transylvania, giving his plot a denite geo-
graphical and historical framework. Even the English background
at VVhitby or London and its vicinity relies heavily on Stokers per
sonal experiences. Among many interesting revelations in the au-
thors notes, there is proof that the novel was set in the year 1893,
making 1993 the centenary o f the events in the novel. 1997 repre
sen ts the centenary o f the publication of the novel, which has not
been out o f print since it was fii^t published in 1897. Thus Dracula
achieves the benchmark for a work to be considered a classic the
hundred-year test o f endurance. (A copy o f the original manuscript of
the novel Dracula, along with Stoker's corrections, was only discovered
in .984.)
Among the many new sources which have either amplified or in
some cases altered some o f our previous conclusions is the work o f the
poet-laureate Michel Beheim entitled The Story of a Bloodthsty Mad-
man caUed DmcuUt of Watlachia. Read to the Holy Romn Emperor
Frederick III during the winter o f 1463, the original manuscript. lo-
cated at the Heidelberg University library, proved that the historical
Dracula dipped his bread in the blood o f his \ictims, which techni-
cally justied Stokers use o f the word vampire. Research at the Vati-
can and other Italian archives helped re\ise some of our earlier
conclusions which had been based largely on fifteenth-century Ger
mn documenta which had depicted the Romanian Prince as a mere
sadistic psychopath. It re\ealed him as a true criisader, a subtle dipl
mate and an extraordinary leader in battle a fact that new Creek
and Turkish material in the Topkapi archives of Isunbul conrmed.
 Prr/acf

Our chapter on Draculas war against the Turks is based on this new
material. We also embarked on fiirther research on the mission o f the
Russian ambassador Fedor Kurytsin, who \isited Dracula's wife and
sons six years after Dracula's deaih. The Russian ambassador obtained
fascinatng information from eyewiinesses in Hungary, Transylvania,
and Romana on Draculas imprisonment in Hungary, his third reign,
and his death. Kurytsin looked upen the Impaler as a kind o f Machi-
avelli who used terror tactics lo sirengthen his rule over disloyal no
bles and clergy. With the lielp o f his rcport wc wcre able to trace
Dracula's Hungaran descendants, pre\iously unknow-n. Field work at
the site o f Dracula's castJe, which uncovered a more signicant epic
than at first apparent, was completed with the help o f the Institute o f
Folklore in Bucharest. Yet an aura o f mysterv still haunts the place
where he lies bured, and we collected new details conceming the
enigma o f Dracula's grave at Snagov Monastery in the marshes near
Bucharest. We also travelled to Egrigoz in Asia Minor, and through
Turkish sources gathered more accurate information on Dracula and
Radu the Handsomes imprisonment. which was far less strngent
than was suspected. The same was tnie of Draculas lengthy years of
imprisonment at Visegiad, Hungary, where we obtained the coopera-
tion o f local historians. With the help of Romanian scholars we were
able to lcate a hitherto unknown portrait o f the Impaler at Stuttgart,
and we found interesting new details on the Order o f the Dragn in
the Nuremberg archives.
In addition, this book reexamines the oral history o f Dracula and
vampire lore as well as recent research into the medical basis o f rare
diseases, such as porphyria, which affect li\ing Nampires.' Since the
frst publication o f this bo o k there has evolved a new \ampire literary
genre which relies more upon modem sensibilities than on the leg-
end o f Vlad. The nest examples o f this latest incamation are the
popular Works o f Anne Rice. Thus, in a sense, the fifteenth-century
Dracula myth and Stokers nineteenth<entury literary extensin
thereof have triggered yet a new dimensin which sti^ins connection
with the original. The same can be said o f the movies that have been
produced during the past twent>-five years. They also followed an e\o-
lution o f their own, from Frank Langellas famous New York-stage
portrayai and George Hamiltons humorous Lave at Fhst BiU lo extrav-
aganzas like Coppola's Bram Stokers Dracula. All the principal literary,
film, and televisin interpretalions deserve an assessment o f their
 Prtface

merts, and accordingly an updated lmography and a summary of

lesser works is includcd in the appendix. And. nally, a guide to the
principal locatons in our extensive Dracula hunt is includcd Tor those
readers who wish lo follow in Dracula's and our footsteps.
 ---- C H A P T E R 1 -----

IN T R O D U C IN G THE DRACULA
OF F IC T IO N , H ISTORY,
A N D FOLKLORE

Wflcome to my hotise! Enter fmly and of your own will!'

^ Hf made no motion of stepping to mett me, bul stood ke a
staue, as thou^ his gestun of wtlcomt had fixed him inlo
^ stone. The instant, however, that I had stepped over the thmhold,
he moved impulsively fonoard, and Holding out his hand grasped
mine with a strmgth which made me urince, an effect which was nol Uss-
enrd by the fact that it seemed as coid as ice morr like the hand of a
dead than a living man.

S o T H E VA MIMRE D R A C U L A first appcars in Bram Stokcrs

novel. Published in 1897, Dracuta is as popular now as whcn it was
written. Millions nol only have read it but have seen it at the cinema.
Among the famous filmed versions are W. F. Mumaus Nosferalu, star-
ring Max Schreck in 1922, Tod Browning's Dracula with Bela Lugosi
in 1931. Terence Fishers Horror of Dracula featuring Christopher Lee
in 1958, John Badhams Dracula with Frank Langella in 1979, and
Francis Ford Coppolas Bram Stoker's Dracula with Gary Oldman as the
most recent cinematic count in 1992.
As for the book before you, the original idea is owed to one o f the
coauthors. But let Ray-mond McNally speak for himself: More than
thiny-fivc years ago, as a fan o f Dracula horror films, I began to won-
der whether there might be some histrica] basis for their vampire
hero. I reread Stokers Dracula and noted that not only this novel but
almost all o f the Dracula films are set in Transylvania. At first, like
many Amercans, I assumed that this was some mythical place, in the
same imaginarv regin, p>erhaps. as Ruritania. I found out, however.
ihat Transylvania is a pro\ince, a histrica! regin o f western Romana
bounded by the Carpathian Mountains, that had been independent
for almost a thousand years but under Hungaran and Turkish influ-
ence. In Stokers novel there are some fairly detailed descriptions of
the towns o f Klaiisenburgh (called Q uj in Romanian) and Bistrtz
(Bistrta in Romanian) and the Borgo Pass (Birgau) in the Carpathian
Mountains. When I located the Borgo Pass marked clearly on a md
em Romanian map, 1 had an intuition that if all that geographical
data were genuine, why not Dracula himself? Most people had never
asked this question, being generally thrown off by the vampire story
line. Since vampires do not exisl, Dracula so goes the popular wis-
dom must have been the product o f a wild and wonderful imagina-
tion.
Eventually I read an authentic late fifteenth<entury Slavic manu-
script in an archive in St. Petersburg which descrbed the deeds o f a
Romanian prnce named Dracula. After researching the little that was
available about the historcal Dracula in se\eral languages, I consulted
with my Boston College colleague, Professor Radu Florescu, who was
in Romania at the time. With his encouragement and enthusiasm I

Woodcut frontispiea o/Dracole

Waida, Nuremberg, c. 1488, a
manuscTipt that begins 'In the
yfor of ouT Lord 4^6 Dracula
did many dnadjul and curioui
tUnp.
 Iniwdunngi/ifDranlaoft'dm, fiislorj, andMtorr
look up the study o f ihe Romanian language and in 1969 received an
American govcmment-sponsored rdlowship to tnivel to the vcry
homeland o f Dracula to see what more 1 could discover about this
mysterous man and his legcnd. There, underlying the local tradi-
tions, \%-as an authenlic human being fully as horrifying as the vampire
o f fiction and film a fifteenth<entur> prnce who had becn the
subject of many horror stores cven during his own lifctime; a rulcr
whose cnielties were committed on such a massive scale that his evil
repuution in the Western world reached beyond ie grave to the fire-
sides where generations o f grandmothers wamed litde children: Be
gocd or Dracula mII get you!'
Unlike myself, an American of Irish and Austrian ancestry who
knew the fictional Dracula principally through late-night movies, my
colleague Radu Florescu is a native Romanian who knew o f a histor-
cal Dracula through the research o f earlier Romanian scholars. But
his ties with this history go deeper than that. As a boy he spent many
hours on the banks of the Arges River, which bounded his family's
countn estte deep in the Wallachian plain, not too far distant from
Casde Dracula. In addition, the Florescus can trace their line back lo
an aristocratic family o f Dracula's tme with marriage connections to
Dracula's family.
It was autumn of 1969 when we tracked down Case Dracula. The
castle was by then abandoned, in ruins, and known to the peasants as
the castle of Vlad Tepes, or Vlad the Impaler, a ruler notorious for
mass impalement of his enemies. Vlad Tepes was in fact called Dracula
in the ffteenth century, and we found that he e\en signed his ame
that way on documents, but this fact was not even known by the peav
ants o f the castle regin.
Using dozens o f ancient chronicles, maps, and nineteenth- and
twentieth-centurv' philological and historcal works, and drawing on
folklore, we pieced together a dual history an account not only o f
the real fifteenth-century Dracula, Vlad Tepes, who was bom and
raised in Transylvania and ruled in southem Romana, but also of the
vampire who exists in the legends o f these same regions. In additon,
we studied how Bram Stoker, during the late nineteenth century,
U nited these two traditions to create the most horrifying and famoiu
vampire in fiction: Count Dracula.
VMiat was known o f this dual history before our research? In 1896 a
Romanian scholar. loan Bogdan, noted that there existed v ^ o u s fif-
 IN SKARCH OF DRACLI . A

teenih<cntury Germn pamphlets which described the Romanian

Prince Vlad Tepes as Dracole. The Romanian historian Karadja pub-
lished the texts, but neither made the connectiun between ihese ref-
erences and Stoker, or did Bogdan, as a philologist, concern hinuelf
extensively with the history and folklore. A few pertinent discoveres
were later made by others. For insunce. in 1922, the late eminent his
torian Constantin Giurescu discovered the foundation stone o f the
Church of Tir^gsor, which indicated that Vlad Tepes as its founder and
patrn was a pioiis rulen And in the 1930S. amateur archaeologist
Dinu Rosetti and genealogist George Florescu opened the grave of
Vlad Tepes at Snagov as part o f a general exca\-ation at the site. It
not until the 1960 that the scholar Crigore Nandrs began to unravel
the story. He studied the philological relationship between the ames
Dracole and Vlad Tepes and noted that for some unkno^^n reason
Bram Stoker had associated these ames in his \ampire story. The
Germn Sla\icist Julius Striedter compared Sla\ic manuscrpts and
Germn pamphlets about Dracula. The So\iet Slaxicist Isaac Lure an-
alyzed Sla\ic documenta in Russian archives. But it was Nandrs's
philological studies which prepared the groundwork for our investiga-
tion, and Harry Ludiams biogrsphy o f author Bram Stoker. ciirously
titled The Biography of DranUa: Bram Slokrr (1962), also proved in-
valuable.
What follows is a complex stor\- invohing se\en separate research
expeditions which resuked in four books: n Smrrh of Dmna (1972).
Dracula: A Biography of \Tad the Impaler (1973). The Euerttial Dracula
(1979), and Draatla, Prime of Many Faces (1989). Some o f the search
resulted in the discovery of authentic Dracula documents and sites in
the present territor>- o f Romana, Bulgaria, Hungan', Turke>, the for-
mer Yugoslavia, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Swiuer-
land, France, and even the United Sutes. Study o f both the mythical
and the historical aspecis o f the story encountered difficulties. Coun-
tries previously dominated by Marxist ideology discouraged research
on vampire beliefs as the authorities \sished to portray peasants as
m odem and not superstitious.
Regarding Dracula, the historical personage. the otTicial Commu-
nist Pany historians portrayed him as a national hero and played
down or rBtionalized his cruelties. None exhibited that hero-worship-
ping attitude more than the late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu who,
accoitling to some authorities, shared many character traits with Drac-
 ntroducing Ihf Dnuvla of Firlion, Hislory, and Fotklorr

n 1976 Nicolae Cfausesnts Roma

na issued Uiis poTaU of a rather

ativepostage stamp. Ceausfcu and

CommunisI Party hislorians endontd
a mrisionist versin of ihf Draruia
storj, portraying him as a natianal
hm and ralionaliung his crwUies.

ula. I inaries often carcatured him as a \ampire ^ith fangs.

One incredible example o f ihis admiration t^'as the manner in which
the five-hundred-year ann-ersary o f Draculas dealh Vk-as celebrated in
1976. Throughout Romania eulogies and panegyrics wcre ordered by
Communist Party members; monographs, novis, works o f art, a film
even a commemoratve stamp was issued 10 praisc the Impaler.
A shon foomote which to this day has not been fiilly elucidated
adds to the mystery o f the Ceausescu-Dracula relationship. On De-
cember 22, igSg, the late dictaior and his wife, suirounded by an
irate crowd shouting for their death, finally realized that his reign was
oven Ceausescu ordered his helicopter pilot to fly from the rooftop o f
the headquarters o f the beleagiiered Central (ximmittec o f the Cxim-
munist Party in Bucharest to the palace he had built al Snagov, a short
distance from where, according to tradition, Draciila lay buried. Even
more mysterious were the motvatons of the late dictaior to iry 10
move the capital cit>' from Bucharest 10 Tirgo\iste, Draculas capital in
the fifteenth century. In ihe last siage o f the Ceausescu drama, Ceau
sescu ordered his pilol to leave Snagov, and then to land the heli
copter on the highway leading lo Tirgovsie. After highjacking two
cars (one ran out o f gas), Ceausescu ordered the drivcr lo^ard Tirgo-
\iste, c\idendy seeking solace and support in Dracula's former capital.
Finally, he was arrested by die anny on the outskirts of the lowii and
confned to barracks. Following a parody o f a military irial, he and his
wife were shot by soldiers not very far from Dracula's palace.
Was the real Dracula a \-ampire? Did the peasants o f his time con-
sider him associated with the forces o f evil? What connection is there
between the real prince and the vampire<ount created by Bram
Stoker? How did the ame Dracula originate? What do Romanian
peasants today believe about Vlad Tepes and Nampires? And have we
been dealing simply with history or are there m>steries here be>ond
the reach o f historcal research?
 -------C H A P T E R 2 --------

BRAM S T O K E R
A N D THE SEARCH FOR
CASTLE D R A CU LA

H ic h i
^ to a halt. There, atop a black voicanic rock formation,
borderng the Arges River and framed by a massive alpine
snow<apped landscape, lay the twisted battlemcnts o f Case
Dracula, its remains barely disnguishable from the rock o f the
1 sheer thousand-foot drop on all sides. This v
hardly the grandiose, macabre mausoleum descrbed by Bram Stoker,
yet no matter how modest or how tonured by time, it was a hisloriccd-
ifice, one challenging the historian to solve its mystery, to push back an
unconquered frontier.
For our part> of fve, composed o f two Americans and three Roma-
nians, this was the end o f a long trail. Our search for Case Dracula
had begun in a light vein at the University o f Bucharest. It continued
as an expedition marred by every possible fnistraton and b> mysteri-
ous accidenta.
This search began. as did so many other Dracula hunts, because of
the extraordinary hold the Dracula vampire mystque still exercises
upon popular imagination throughout the world. Unperturbed by the
vampire myth, however, a handful o f skeptics have always claimed thai
ihere was a factual basis for the Dracula stor)' and that part o f the set-
ting indeed lay in Transylvania.
Bram Stoker, at the ver>' beginning o f his story, tells o f his own
painstaking efforts both to consult well-known Orientalists such as
Arminius Vamberj-, professor at the University o f Budapest and a fre-
quent visitor to England, and to study the available literature concem-
ing the frontier lands between the Christians and Turks. Even Stokers
mention o f consultng maps o f the area available at the British Mu-
seum library in London are intendcd to stress the historicity of the
plot; he tells us they were not too reliable, but they preved to be far
more accurate than he thought.
In Stoker's novel, the town o f Bistrta, for insiance, is accurately de-
scrbed and located, as are such small villages as Fundu and Veresti,
places you will not find marked on any modem tourist map. The
famed Borgo Pass leading from Transylvania to Molda\ia, the north-
emmost province o f Romana, really exists, and is beautifully de-
scrbed in Stoker's novel. The historie context, the centur\-old
struggle between Romanians and Turks that was sparked in the f-
teenth century, is authentic. The ethnic minorties o f Trai
the Saxons, Romanians, Szekelys, and Hungarians are known and
are distinguished firom each other by Stoker.
Dracula was in fact an authentic fifteenth-century Wallachian
prnce who was ofien descrbed in the contemporary Germn, Byzan-
tie, Slavonic, and Turkish documents and in popular horror stories
as an awesome, cruel, and possibly demented ruler. He was known
mostiy for the amount o f blood he indiscriminately spilled, not only
the blood o f the indel Turks which, by the sundards o f the time,
would make him a hero but that o f Germans, Romanians, Hungar
ians, and other Christians. His ingenious mind de\ised all kinds o f tor
tures, both physical and mental, and his favorte way o f imposing
death eamed him the ame the Impaler.'
In a rogues' gallery Dracula would assuredly compete for rst prize
with Cesare Borgia, Catherine de Mdicis, andjack the Ripper. owing
not only to the quantity o f his victims, but to the reRnement o f his cru-
elty. To his contemporares, the story o f his misdeeds was widely publi-
cized in ceruin insunces by some o f his intended victims. The
Dracula story, in fact, was a 'bestseller" throughout Europe four hun-
dred years before Stoker wrote his versin. Many o f the German-
ury accounts o f the Dracula legend have
been found in dusty archives o f m
The ames o f Dracula and his father, Dracul, are o f such impor-
tance to this story that they require a precise explanation. Both father
and son had the given ame Vlad. The ames Dracul and Dracula
and variations thereof in diTerent languages (such as Dracole, Drac-
ulya, Dracol, Draculea, Draculios, Draculia, Tracol) are really nick-
names. Whats more, both nicknames had two meanings. Dracul
 Bram Stoker and the Searrh for Castle Dracula

Coins minted by Mad Dracul ihowing tht sign of the Dragn, and the eagtf of
Wallathia on the trvrrse side.

meant devil, as it still does in Romanian loday; in additon it meant

dragn. In 1431. the Holy Romn Emperor Sigismund invested
Vlad the father with the Order o f the Dragn, a semimonastic, semi-
military- organization dedicated to fighting the Turkish infidels.
Dracul in the sense o f dragn stems from this. It also seems probable
that when the simple, superstitious peasants saw Vlad the father bear-
ing the standard \%ith the dragn Symbol they interpreted it as a sign
that he ^as in league with the de\il.
As for the son, we now know that he had t\\o nicknames: he was
called Vlad Tepes (pronounced sep-pesh), which means Vlad the Im-
paler, and he w-as also called Dracula, a diminutive meaning son o f
the dragn" or son o f the de\il." (A final point in this discussion o f
nomenclature: the association o f the words d evir and dragn" in
Romanian may be just one o f the many reasons for the association o f
Dracula Hth vampirism in the eyes o f his detractors.)
Other male Draculas, too. were kno\vn by evil epithets. Draculs sec-
ond son u-as Mihnea the Bad; another descendant was Mihnea II, the
Apostate, and yet another indirect descendant H<ts known as the Little
Impaler. In an age o f \iolence, all the Draculas lived violeny, and
uitli few exceptions died violently.
In his lifetime, Dracula had fame and notorety throughout much
o f Europe, but rarely has such recognition o f a public figure become
so lost to posterity. Indeed, when Stoker menoned Dracula in the
late nineteenth centur>, few o f his readers knew he was writing about
a historical character. One obstacle to understanding arse from the
fact that the Dracula stories circulated in diverse languages (Germn,
Hungarian, Romanian, Slavic, Greek, Turkish) and in different worids
ha\ing lite relation to each other. A chief difficulty, howe\er, H'as the
confusion caused by the ame itself. Was it Dracula the son o f
 IN SEARCH OF DRACULA

ihe Devil, Dracula the son o f the man invesied wiih ie Order of the
Dragn, or simply Dracula the Impaler? Small wonder that the Byzan-
tne scholar reading about Draculas deeds o f heroism against the
Turks, the Germn reading o f the atrocities o f the Devil against his fel-
low Saxons, and the Romanian studying the Impaler's achie%ements,
fiiiled to attrbute these actions to the same man. It is only o f ven- re
ce date that Romanian historians themselves have pieced together
some o f the fhigments o f the formidable Dracula stor)'.
If Stokers Dracula story was essentially correct in points of history,
if Dracula existed, why not a Castle Dracula? Since Transylvania was so
minutely described by Stoker, what could be more logical than to
begin the hunt in northeastem Transylvania, where the author set his
plot on an isolated mountain peak, a few miles east o f Bistrta on the
road leading to the Borgo Pass.
Over the years, many persons had set out to find Castle Dracula in
this general direction. They had traveled the way o f Stokers hero,
Jonathan Harker, from Q uj to Bistiiu and from Bistrta to the Borgo
Pass. The travelers found countless super^tous peasants and were
struck by the majestc beauty o f this abandoned Carpathian frontier
regin separating Transylvania proper from Bukovina to the north-
east and Moldavia to the east. But none had found the castle. Several
expeditions ended on the same dismal note not a uace o f any
castle.
Undeterred by past failures, we decided to undertake the venture
and set forth on the Stoker trail, if for no other reason than to satisfy
our curosity. From the standpoint o f scenery alone, it is easy to excuse
Stoker for setting the story in the wrong part o f Transylvania. thus
leading the Dracula hunter some hundred miles or more astiay. The
anchor town o f Bisuita, the depanure point for any Dracula excur
sin, is a quaint medieval city, more Germn than Romanian in its
character, with a mixed population o f Romanians, Hungarans, and
those mysterious Szekelys, whom Stoker erroneously took to be possi-
ble ancestors o f Dracula. (Some historians claim just as formidable a
pedigree o f horror for the Szekelys, ^cing them back to Attilas
Huns.) From the crumbling walls o f the od city, the most unsophisti-
cated traveler can judge that at one time Bistrta mus have been an
impressive fronter point; from its oversized marketplace surrounded
by the coloril baitx)ue German-style homes o f the well-to-do, one
may safely conclude that the town was an important trading center.
 BmSlDkffndtaStrth/orQsllDmila
with goods plying north from Transylvania lo Poland and Bohemia
an d casi lo M oldavia.
Beyond Bistrta, the road fnally climbs to the Borgo Pass, along
ihe Dome depression, passing through several rustic mountain vil-
lages where life has not changed much in a thousand years. The peas-
ants still wear their traditional garb the fiir cap or cadula, the
embroidered shirt with motifs that vary from village to village, the
sheepskin-lined vest or cojoc (lately sold as aprsrki apparel in the ele-
gant resorts o f Europe), the roughly stitched pigskin shoes or opina.
These farm people are not without an anistic side. The women em-
broider; the men mold clay products with a technique kept secret, al-
though the qualit>- o f the local clay certainly contrbutes to its success.
The peasant house, made almost entirely o f wood, delights one with
the imaginative carvings o f its pridvor, a kind o f porch surrounding the
house. and the decorative pattems o f the main gate, giving the only
access to the couruard. Local folklore is rch: the doinas, a plainve
folksong the strigaturi or lyrcal poetry, the basnu or fairy tales, the bal-
lads, and the Ugmdt or popular epics, all combine natural and super-
natural elements. In the doinas there are frequent references to the
wolves, which, traveling in packs at night in the midst o f winter, were
thought to do their worst to man and beast alike. In the basme the bat
is often mentioned, and in Romania this creature is a messenger o f
bad luck. In the legends o f od, one species o f vampire is a supemat-
ural being o f demonic orgin, fghting Fat-Frumos, the fairy prnce
who embodies moral power. The wolf-headed serpent is the motf
used on the ancient standard o f the Dacians, the ancestors o f the
Romanians.
Also interesting for our purposes are the histrica! ballads that
speak o f the ancient battleground among Romanians, Tartars, Turks,
and Poles. These ballads commemorate couness heroes and villains,
preserving by word o f mouth a fascinating history one quite as re-
markable as the sagas o f the Vikings.
O f late, the more wily peasants, impressed by the number o f foreign
tourists seeking Draculas case, have decided to play along with the
search; and they do it well for the price o f a few cigarettes and packs
o f chewing gum. Unwilling to disappoint the Dracula hunter, one
imaginative peasant from the village o f Prundul-Birgaului made nu-
meroiis allusions to a castle that was mai la munte, a favorite Romanian
expression o f vagueness which means a litUe fanher up the moun-
tain" (of coune, when you reach one peak, as every alpinist knows,
there is always another behind ii). However, as historans have often
found in regard to folklore, where there is smoke, there is re. It so
happened that the folklore referentes implying the existence o f a cas-
tle near the Borgo Pass were quite correct. At Rodna, not far from the
Borgo Pass, lie the remains o f a small fortress. Oniy it was not the Cas-
tle Dracula that we were searching for, even though Dracula visited it
during his lifetime, since he often traveled the solitary highway wind-
ing through the Romanian and Hungaran lands.
The historie route o f the Borgo Pass was initially traveled by Roma
nas feudal leaders at the cise o f the fourteenth century, when they
set forth from their haven in the Transylvanian plateau to found the
prncipality o f Moldavia. It goes through majestic country Stoker's
Mittlel Land green and brown where grass and rock m ingled,. . . an
endiess perspective o f jagged rock and pointed crags."
Beyond the lower mountains, surrounding the Dome depression,
and rising to three thousand feet, lie the higher peaks, often snow-
capped even during the summer. These are the mounuins o f Buko-
vina, a favorite alpinist playground which demands the skill and
sometimes the equipment o f the cxpert for trcky ascents of upwards
o f 6,500 feet. On the Moldavian side o f the border, one reaches the
watering spa o f Vatra Domei. Today this town is an important tourist
centcr, not only because o f the health-restorng springs, but because it
gives approach to a dozen famed monasteries in Bukovina and Mol
davia proper, representing extraordinary jewels o f fifteenth<entury
Romanian artistry. The biblical scenes and history on the exterior
walls o f the monasteries, dating back to Dracula's time, are painted in
shades o f deep blue and purple, and they have survived \irtually un-
scathed through some five hundred rigorous winters.
Castle Bistrta, located near the Borgo Pass, may also have served as
a model for the case in Stokers novel. It was John Hunyadi who ac-
tually completed Castle Bistrita around 1449, four years before the
fall o f Constantinople. The voevod or warlord o f Transylvania, fore-
most Balkan cnuader, govemor o f Severin, hereditary duke of
Timisoara, count o f Bistrta, in charge o f the Hungaran kingdom,
John Hunyadi was in fact in control o f the political destinies o f what
was left o f the east and central European lands in their last and most
desperate struggle with the Turks. He died in 1456 while defending
Belgrade, the last great Christian bastin on the Danube, the year that
 Bram Sloker and Ihe Searrh for CastU Dracuia

Dracula was enthroned as prince. Hunyadi was the father o f Matthias

Corvinus, thc Hungaran king who kepi Dracula imprsoned n his
citadel on the Danube for tweive years, from 1462 to 1474. Relaons
between the Hunyadis and the Draculas were initially friendly, though
ne\'er intmate.
During the years 1451 to 1456 Dracula tnay have stayed near
Bistrita, a fortined town at that time, but few o f the fonifcations of
Bistriu remain today. It is likely that Stoker heard the legends con-
necting Dracula to this regin. The Saxon population o f Bistrita, who
disliked the Romanians and the Hungarans. doubdess heard o f Dra-
culas atrocities against their brethren farther south in the towns of
Brasov and Sibiu, where most o f the horrors were committed and
recorded. It is quite plausible that some Saxon refugee from southem
TransyK-ania WTOte a description o f them. However, if there is a
Bistrita document about Dracula, it is not known today. In any event,
Bistrita Castle was attacked, ransacked, and totally destroyed by the
Germn population o f the city at the cise o f the fifteenth century as
an apparent gesture o f defiance against the Hunyadi family.

Hunedoara, castle of John Hunyadi.

 ---- C H A P T E R 3 -----

THE H ISTO RICAL DRACULA:

T Y R A N T FROM TR A N SYL V A N IA

In a b r o a u s e n s k, Stoker w-as quite correct in sctng

^ his Dracula storv- in Transvlrania, even though he localcd
his ctional castie to the northeast, miles away from the au-
} thentic onc on the southem border. The real Dracula was
bom in 1431 in Transylvania, in the od Germn fortified town
o f Schassburg (Sighisoara in Romanian). One o f the most enchanting
Saxon burghs, certainly ihc mosi medie\-al, Schassburg is locaied
about sixty-five miles south o f Bistrita. Its castie lies on the strategic
hillside location which dominates the \'alley o f the Timava River. It is
surrounded by thick defensive walls o f stone and brick three tliousand
fcet long, \%ith fourteen battlement<apped towers, each named for
the guild which bore its cost the tailors, jewellers, furriers, butch-
ers, goldsmiths, blacksmiths, barbers, and ropemakers. With its nar-
row, tortUGUS, cobblestone streets and innumerable stairwa>'s linking
tlie famous dock tower to the higher towers on the crest o f the hill,
the fortified town served the needs o f a prosf>erous Germn merchant
community that traded with Nuremberg and other Germn cides.
The town fimctioned as a depot for goods moving back and forth be-
tween the Germn West and Constantinople; in addition it served the
northeast trade route to Poland, the Baltic Sea, and the Germn cities
linked to the Hanseatic Customs Union. The house in which Dracula
and his brother Radu were bom is identified by a small plaque men-
tioning the fact tliat their father, Dracul, lived there from 1431 to
1435. The building is a three-story stone construction o f dark yellow-
ish hue with a tiled roof and small windows and openings suitable for
the small garrison assigned to \lad Dracul. Recent restoradon on the
 IN SEARCH OF DRACUL A

Drantla's birihplarr in Sighixna, Transyhnnia. Thr plaque on tht housr st

thit VUut Draevt, Draeula^fatMeii liuid iun in 1431.

Tu<o inru's of pmml-day Sighisoara.

 The Historical Dracula: Tyrantfwm Transylvania

second floor revealed a pninted miiml dcpictinR thrcc mcn and a

woman seaied at a table. Only ihe central figure has sunived fully in-
tact. The portrait is that o f a rotiind man wiih a doublc chin, a long,
well-waxed moustache, arched eyebrows, and a finely chiseled nose.
The similarity o f dic brown, almond-shaped eyes to diose o f ie fa-
mous portraii o f Dracula p^eser^ed at .\mbras Casde suggesis that this
may be the only suni\ing portrait o f Draculas father, Vlad Dracul.
Draciila's inothcr, Princcss Cncajna, o f the Musatin dynasty o f
neighboring Molda\ia. raised young Dracula Hth the help o f her
ladies-in-\\'aitiiig within the Household. His father's mistress, Caltuna,
bore Dracul a second son named Vlad. She eventually entered a
monastery and took the ame Eupraxia. Her son later became kno>\Ti
as Vlad the Monk, because he followed in his mothers footsteps, pur-
suing a religious vocation.
Dracula thus spent his youi in a peculiarly Germanic atmosphere;
his father exercised authoriiy over all the local Germn townsbips and
defended all o f Transyh'ania against potential Turkish attacks. Mad

Portrait of Dracula at
Castle Ambras, near
Innsbrurk, Austria. Thr
artist is unknown, but this
appean tobf a copy
painted during the second
halfofthesixteenth cen-
turyfrom an eartier origi
nal The original portrait
was pnbably painted dur
ing Dracula 's imprison-
ment al Buda or Visegmd
after 1462. This painting
is pan of the original cot-
lection ofFerdinand II.
who owned Castle Ambras
in the sixteenth century; it
wasfirzt listed in the
coUection in 1621.
 IN SEARCH OF DRACUI . A

Dracul owed his aulhority to thc Holy Romn Emperor Sigismund of

Luxembourg, at whose court in Nuremberg he was educated by
Catholic monks. His politcal ambitions took shape when on February
8, 1431, two im ponant events took place in Nuremberg: his induction
into the prestigious Order o f thc Dragn, along with King Ladislas of
Poland and Prnce Lazarevic of Serbia, and his invesciture as Prnce of
Wallachia. The Germn Emperor Sigismund o f Luxembourg and his
second wife. Barbara von Cilli, had founded thc Order o f the Dragn
in 1387 as a secret military and religious confratemity with the goal of
protecting the Catholic Church against heretics, such as the Hussites
who then posed a threat to Central Europe. Another objective of the
Order was the organization o f a crusade against the Turks, who had
ovem in most o f the Balkan pennsula. The second investiture,
presided over by the Emperor himself, bound Dracul to the haz-
ardous task of seeking the insecure Wallachian throne (which in-
cluded the Transylvanian duchies o f Amias and Pagaras) ruled at the
time by Prince Alexandni Aldea, Dracula's half brother. This was to
mark the beginning o f a lengthy feud between rival members of the
princely Basarab family, one featuring numerous crimes.
When the recently investcd Dragn was fnally able to make good
his title o f prince by expelling Alexandru Aldea from Wallachia dur-
ing the winter o f 1436-37, the seat of Wallachian power continued to
be cise to the Transylvanian border, where Dracul drew his supp>ort.
Historically, Transylvania had always been linked to both the Molda-
vian and the Wallachian prncipalities. After the Romn legions evacu-
ated the more recently conquered province o f Dacia in a .d . 271, the
bulk o f the Romanized population withdrew to the mountains. seek
ing escape from the turmoils o f eastem invasin in the Transylvanian
plateau. In this way, the Daco-Romans survived untouched by the
Gothic, Hunnish, Slavic, or even Hungarian and Bulgarian ava-
lanches, which would surely have destroyed their Latin language and
customs had they remained in the plain. Only after the torrent o f in-
vasions had receded did these Romanians descend into the plain, but
cautiously, maintaining their mountain hideouL Each generation o f
Romanians from the thirteenth century onward advanced a little far-
ther into the plain. Eventually they reached the Danube and the Black
Sea to the south, the Prut and the Dnister to the northeast in
other words, the limits o f modem Romania, and also in pan the for-
mer limits o f ancient Dacia. In the case of Wallachia, nothing is more
 The Historical Dracula: Tyranl fmm Transylvania

typical o f its tendcnq- lo lum to Transyh-ania for securit)', and nolhing

better demnstrales ihe reticence in abandoning the mountains as a
haven o f shelter, than ie choice ol ic carly capitals o f ihe principal-
ty. The first, early foiincenth-ccntiin- capital. Cimpiilung, borders ihc
Transylvanian Alps.
Draculas capital. Tirgo\iste, lies soinewhat lowcr in the hills, but
still provides easy access to the mountains. The choice o f this site
marks a period of increased self<onfidence in the countn-s history.
Rumor had it that Dracula's younger brother, Radu the Handsome,
owing to his lengtliy sojoum in the Turkish capital, also w-anted to be
cise to Constantinople. as he w-as not imnuine to the pleasures o f the
sultans harem. Gossip acciised him. largely becaiLse o f his good looks.

palacf at Tirgovistr. Thr rity of Tirgovisle toas his capital.

 IN SEARCH OF I

Tht Chindia watchlowrr at

TirgpvisU; a nineUtnth-

Apart from ils role as an

observation post, U also
enabUd Dracula lo watch

o f being one o f ie mnions in ihe male harem o f Mehmcd, heir to

the Ottoman throne, thus requirng him to be constany at his mas-
ters disposal. In any case, Radus reign marked the re\ersal o f the
heroic stage in Wallachia's history and the beginning o f condtional
surrender to the sultn. It was condtional, since the relationship of
Wallachia to Constantinople continued to be regulated by treaty, \sith
the local prnces as vassab to the sultn.
When secure on his throne, Dracul, a wily politician. sensed that
the tenuous balance o f power was rapidly shifting to the ad\antage o f
the ambitious Turkish sultn Murad II. By now the Turks had de-
stroyed both Serbs and Bulgars and the sultn was c
final blow against the Greeks. Thus, Dracul began the first o f his nu-
merous deceptions, treacherously signing an alliance with the Turks
against the successors o f his pau-on, the Holy Romn Emperor Sigis-
 Thf Historical Drantla: Tyran from Transyhania

mund, who died In 14^7. In 14518. In admittedly difficuh circum-

stances, Dmcul and his son Mircea accompanied Sultn Murad II on
one of his frequent incursions o f Trans>lvania, murdering, looting,
and buming on the way, as was the Turkish practice. This was the firsi
o f many occasions when the Draculas. who considered ihemselves
Transylvanians, retumed to iheir homeland as enemies rather than as
friends. But the Trans\Kanian cities and towns, though cruelly raided
and pillaged, slili believed that they could gel a better deal from a fel-
low Citizen than from ihe Turks. This proWdes an explanation for the
eagemess o f the mayor and burghers o f the town of Sebes to surren-
der specifically to the Draculas, on condition that their lives be spared
and that they not be canied into Turkish slavery. Dracul, swom to pro-
tect the Christians, vvas at least on this occasion able to save one town
from complete destruction.
Many such incidents made the Turks suspect the true allegiance o f
the Romanian prince. Accordingly, Sultn Murad II beguiled Dracul
into a personal confrontation in the sprng o f 1442. Insensitive to the
snare, Dracul crossed the Danube with his second son, Dracula, and
his youngest son. Radu, only to be bound in iron chains and
brought into the presence o f the sultn, who accused him o f disloy-
alty. In order to save his neck and regain his throne. after a brief im-
prsonment at Gallipoli. Dracul swore renewed fidelit) to Murad II,
and as proof of his loyalty, he left Dracula and Radu as hostages. The
two boys were placed under house arrest in the Su lu ns palace at Gal
lipoli and were later sent. for securit> reasons, to far off Egrigoz in
Asia Minor. Dracula remained a Turkish captivo until 1448; Radu
stayed on and became the ally o f Murad II and. because o f his weaker
nature, submitted more easily to the refned indoctrination tech-
niques o f his so<alled jailors. He became a minion of the future Sul
tn Mehmed II and eventually the ofTicial Turkish candidate to the
Wallachian throne, to which, in due course, he succeeded his brother,
Dracula.
Dracula's reaction to these dangerous years was quite the reverle.
In fact, his years o f Turkish imprisonment ofTer a clue to his shifty na
ture and perverse personality. From that time onward Dracula held
human nature in low esteem. Life was cheap after all, his own life
was in danger should his father prove disloyal to the sultn and
morality was not essential in matters o f state. He needed no Machi-
avelli to instruct him in the amorality o f politics. The Turks taught
Dracula the Turkish language, among other things, which he mas-
tered like a natve; acquainted him wiih the pleasures o f the harem,
for the terms o f confnement were not too sthct; and completed his
training in Byzantine cynicisnn. which the Turks had inherited from
the Greeks.
As related by his Turkish captors during those years, he al devel-
oped a reputation for trickery, cunnng, insubordination, and brutal-
ity, and inspired fright in his own guards. This was in sharp contrast to
his brother's sheepish subservience. Two other traits were entrenched
in Draculas psyche because o f the plot into which father and sons had
been ensnared. One was suspicion; never again would he trust himself
to the Turks or to any man. The other was a taste for re\enge; Dracula
would not forget, or forgive, those who crossed him indeed, this
became a family trait.
In December 1447, Dracul the father died, a victim o f his own plot-
ting. His murder was ordered by John Hunyadi, who had become an-
gered by the Dragns flirutions with the Turks. Draculs pro-Turkish
policies are easily accountable, if for no other basis than to save his
sons from ineviuble reprisals and possible death. Draculs eldest son,
Mircca, was blinded with red-hot iron stakes and bured alive by his
poltica] enemies in Tirgoviste. These killings and the particularly vi-
cious circumstances attending his brothers death made a profound
impression on young Prince Dracula shortly after his ascent to power.
The assassination o f Dracul had taken place in the marshes o f Balteni
near the site o f an ancient monastery that still exists. There was, how-
ever, some justifcation for the Hunyadi-engineered assassination.
At the time o f his imprisonment at Adrianople, Dracul had swom
that he would never bear arms against the Turks. a flagrant violation
o f his previous oath as a member o f the Order o f the Dragn. Once
safely restored to his position as prince, and in spite o f the fact that his
two sons were hostages o f the Turks, Dracul hesitantly resumed his
oath to the Holy Romn Emperor and joined the anti-Turkish strug-
gle. He was even absolved o f his Turkish oath by the Papacy. This im-
plied that he could particpate in the Balkan crusades organized by
Hunyadi against Sultn Murad II. Serbian Prince Branko^cs two sons
were blinded by the Turks when Brankouc was disloyal to the sultn,
and Dracul anticipated the same tragic fate awaited his own sons. He
wrote disconsolately to the city elders o f Brasov at the end o f 1443:
Please undersiand that I have allowed my children to be butchered
 Thf Historical Dracula: Tyrant fwm Transylvania

for the sake o f the Chrstian pcacc*. in ordcr ihat botli I and my coiin-
iry might connue lo be \assals to the Holy Romn Empire." Indeed,
it is litde short o f a miracle ihai the Turks did nol behead Dracula and
Radu. Draculas eider brother, Mircea, not Dracul, had aciually taken
a more active lead in what is described as the long campaign" of
1443. From the Wallachian point o f \iew, this campaign proved an
outstanding succcss. It led 10 the capture of the citadel o f Giurgiu
(built at great cost to Wallachia by Draculas grandfather) and threat-
ened Turkish power in Bulgaria. Howevcr, Hun\'adis Varna campaign
o f 1444. organized on a far more ambitious scale and reaching the
Black Sea, was a disaster. The young, inexperienced King of Poland,
Ladislas III, fell to his death along \\ith the papal legate Juliano Ce-
sarini. Hunyadi w-as able to flee and sur\ived only because the Wal-
lachians knew the terrain well enough to lead him to safet). In tlie
inevitable recriminations which followed, both Dracul and Mircea
held Hunyadi personally responsible for the magnitude o f the deba-
ele. A council of \var held somewhere in the Dobrogea Judged Hun-
>adi responsible for the Christians defeat, and. largely upon the
entreaties o f Mircea, sentenced him to death. But Hunyadis past
services and his widespread reputation as the white knight o f the
Chrstian forces saved his life, and Dracul ensured him safe passage to
his TransyK-anian homeland.
Nonetheless, from that moment on the Hun>adis bore the Draculas
and particularly Mircea a deep hatred. This \indictiveness \s'as fnally
satisfied with Dracul and Mirceas assassinations. After 1447, Hunyadi
placed the Wallachian crown in the more reliable hands o f a Danesti
claimant, Vladislav II. (The rival Danesti family traced back to Prince
Dan, one o f Draculas great-uncles.)
Wliat is far more diflicult to account for is Draculas attitude upon
his escape from Turkish capti\it> in 1448. We know that the Turks,
undoubtedly impressed by Draculas ferocit>- and bravery and obvi-
ously opposed to the Danesti princes since thcy were thoroughly iden-
tified with the Hungarian court, tried to place Dracula on the
Wallachian throne as early as 1448, while \1adislav II and Hunyadi
were crusading south o f the Danube. This bold coup succeeded for
merely tvvo months. Dracula, then about twenty years od, fearful of
his fathers Transyhanian assassins and equally reluctant to retum to
his Turkish captors, fled to Molda\ia, the northernmost Romanian
principalit)', ruled at that time by Prince Bogdan, whose son, Prince
 IN SEARCH OF DRACUL A

Stephen, was Dracula's cousin. Durng these years o f Moldavian exile,

Dracula and Stephen developed a cise and lasting fnendship, each
promising the other that whoever succeeded to the throne o f his prin-
cipality rst would help the other to power swiftly by forc o f arms
if necessary. The Moldavian prncely residence was then at Suceava,
an ancient city where Dracula and Stephen continued their scholarly
Byzantine ecclesiastical education under the sup>ervsion o f erudite
monks.
Dracula stayed in Moldavia until October 14 5 1, when Bogdan was
brutally assassinated by his rival, Petru Aron. Perhaps because o f a lack
o f altemati\es, Dracula then reappeared in Transylvania, where he
threw himself uf>on the mercy o fjo h n Hunyadi. He was undoubtedly
uking a chance, though by that time, owing to Turkish pressure, the
reigning Danesti prince o f Wallachia, Vladislav II, had adopted a pro-
Turkish policy, thus estranging him from his Hungaran patrons. It
was essentially history repeating itself at the expense o f the Danesti.
It was in Hunyadi's interests once again to have a pliable tool, a
prince in reserve, just in case the Danesti prince might tum to the
Turks completely. Thus, mutual interest rather than any degree of
confidence bound Dracula and John Hunyadi together from 1451

John Hunyadi (1387-14^6),

prince of Transylvania, hereditary
count of Timisoara and Bistrita,
govenwr-gmeml and ngmt of
Hungary. Father ofKing Malthias
CoTvinus, he was knoum as Ihe
whUe k n i^ of the crusadm.
 The Historical Dractila: Tyrant Jwm Transylvania

unlll 1456. when Hun^adi died at Belgrade. During this time, Hun-
yadi was D ra cu la s iast tutor, p olilical mentor, and, most important,
m ilitar) cducator. Hun>adi introduced his protege at thc coiirt o f the
Hapsburg king o f Hungar), Ladislas V. He aiso met Hunjadis son
Matthias, his futurc political foe. Dracula coiild have had no finer in-
struction in anti-Turkish strateg)-. Like a chi\-alrous vassal he person-
ally took pan in many of Hun>-adis anti-Turkish campaigns foughl in
what became twentielh<entury Yugoslaua. He was invested, as his fa-
ther Dracul had been, with the duchies o f Pagaras and Almas. In addi-
lion, Dracula also became the official claimani to the Wallachian
throne. It was for this reason that he did not accompany his suzerain
in the Elelgrade campaign o f 1456, when Humadi was finally felled by
the plague. At the me Dracula had nally been granted permission
to cross the Trans>l\anian mountains to oust the unfaithful Danesti
prince from the Wallachian throne.
During the years 1451-56 Dracula once again resided in Trans> Ka-
nia. Abandoning the family home at Sighisoara, he took up residence
in Sibiu, mainly to be closer to the Wallachian borden In Sibiu, Drac
ula was informed by the mayor o f Sibiu and by many other refugees
from the beleaguered capital o f the Greek empire about an event
which had the effect o f a bombshell in the Christian world: Constan-
tinople had fallen to the Turks and Emperor Constantine XI Paleolo-
gus (at whose court Dracula may briefly have been sent as a page in
the 1430S) died in hand-to-hand combat defending the walls o f his
capital. One Romanian refugee, Bishop Samuil, informed Dracula
that Sultn Mehmed IIs next objective was the conquest o f Transyha-
nia and that he planned an attack on Sibiu itself, a strategic location
that could sen e as a base for later conquest o f the Hungarian king-
dom. Dracula at least could take comfort in the fact that Sibiu was
considered thc most impregnable cit> in Trans>lvania. This may have
influenced his decisin to stay there. Yet, in one o f those acts that
make a rddle o f his personality. in 1460. barely four years after he Icft
the City o f Sibiu, Dracula mercilessly raided this regin with a W'al-
lachian contingent o f twenty thousand men and killed, maimed, im-
paled, and tortured some ten thousand o f his former fellow citizens
and neighbors. He considered that the Germans o f Sibiu had en-
gaged in unfair trade practices at the expense o f Wallachian mer-
chants. Pillaging and looting took place on a more ferocious scale
than had been the case with the Turks in 1438.
 This leads us to consider one o f the most ambi\-alent aspects of
Dracula's TransyKanian career, when from friend he tumed foe lo-
ward his former kinsmen and allies. (These will be described in deuil
in ihe review o f the Germn horror stories.) This feud lasted roughly
thrce ycars, from 1457 lo 1460, during which Dracula was prince in
neighborng Wallachia. The frsi lightning raid in the Sibiu area took
place in 1457, when Dracula bumed and pillaged townships and vil-
lages, destroying everything in his way. Only the city o f Sibiu iiself, at
least that portion within its powerful defensive walls, was spared de-
struction. The purpose o f the raid may ha\-e been to capture Dracula's
half brother and political rival Vlad, the Monk, and to serve as a wam-
ing to the citizens o f Sibiu not to give shelter and protection to rival
candidates.
Another Transylvanian town that is linked with Dracula's ame is
Brasov (Kronstadt in Germn). Brasov has the dubious distinction of
having witnessed on its surrounding hills more stakes bearing Drac
ula's victims rotting in the sun or chewed and mangled by Carpathian
vuitures than any other place in the principality. It was likely on one o f
the hills that Dracula is said to have wined and dined among the ca-
davers. It was likely on the same occasion that Dracula exemplied his
perverted sense o f humor. A Russian narrative tells o f a boyar attend-
ing the Brasov festivity who, apparently unable to endure the smell of
coagulating blood any longer, held his nose in a gesture o f revulsin.
Dracula ordered an unusually long suke prepared and presented it to
him, saying: You live up there yonder, where the stench cannot reach
you." He was immediately impaled. After the Brasov raid, Dracula con-
tinued buming and terrorizing other \illages in the vicinity o f the city.
He was not able, however, to capture the fortress o f Zeyding (Codlea
in Romanian), still partially standing today. but he executed the cap-
tain responsible for his ^ lu re .
During the winter o f 1458-59 Dracula's relations with the Transyl-
vanian Saxons took a tum for the worse in Wallachia. Dracula decided
to increasc the tariffs o f Transylvanian goods to favor native manufac-
turers, in violation o f the treaty he had signed at the beginning o f his
reign. He also obligated the Germans to re\ert to the previous custom
o f opening their wares only in certain specied towTis, such as Cimpu-
lung, Tirgoviste, and Tirgsor. This action suddenly closed many towns
to Germn trade where the Saxons had made a proftable business, in-
cluding those on the Tiditional road to the Danube. Since the Braso-
 Thf Hislorifol Drcula: T^rani jwm Trans)lvana

vians ignored these measures, Draciila proceeded to another act o f

lerrorism.
Draculas vindictiveness and \iolence extended through the spring
and summer o f 1460. In April he was finally able to catch and kill his
opponent Dan III; only seven o f Dans followers were able to escape.
In earlyjuly, Dracula captured the fortress o f Pagaras and impaled its
citizens men, women, and children. Although statistics for that pe-
riod are ver\' diTicuIt to establish (and the Germn figures mus be
\iewed v%ith caution), in the towTi o f Amias t\vent> thousand may have
perished on the night o f Saint Bartholomew, August 24, 1460, more
than were butchered by Catherine de Mdicis in Paris over a century
later. Somehow Draculas Saint Bartholomew massacre has escaped
the eye o f the historian while that o f Catherine de Mdicis has made
her the object o f great moral reprobation.
After 1460. Transylvanian raids and actions against the Germans in
Wallachia subsided, and renewed treaties granting the Germans trad-
ing pri\ileges were signed in accordance ^sith pre\ious obligations, as
events conspired to tum Draculas attention elsewhere. However, the
Saxons exercised their revenge by being instrumental in Draculas ar-
rest as an enemy o f humanity in the autumn o f 1462. and more per-
manently by ruining his reputaon for posterity.
In re\-ie\ving this catalog o f horrors one must bear in mind that
there were two sides to Draculas personality. One was the torturer
and inquisitor who used terror deliberately as an instrument o f policy
while tuming to piet\' to liberate his conscience. The other reveis a
precursor o f Machiavelli, an early nationalist, and an amazingly md
em statesman who justifed his actions in accordance with raison d'tat.
The citizens o f Brasov and Sibiu were after all foreigners who at-
tcmpied to perpetate their monopoly o f trade in the Romanian prin-
cipalities. They were intriguers as well. The Saxons, conscious o f
Draculas authoritarianism, were eager to subven his authorit>- in
Trans>'lvania and grant asylum to would-be contenders to the Wal-
lachian throne. It is far too easy to explain Draculas personalit>; as
some have done, on tlie basis o f cruelt)' alone. Tliere was a method to
his apparent madness.
Although Dracula ruled the Romanian principality o f Wallachia on
three separate occasions and died near the citadel o f Bucharest, his
place o f birth, his family homestead, and the two feudal duchies
under his allegiance Amias and Pagaras anchored his ame to
 IN SEARCH OF DRACULA

Transylvania. Dracula loved the country o f his birth and ultmately

took residence in Sibiu after making peace wiih the Germans. Even
his famous case on the Arges River, though technically located on
the Wallachian side o f the border, skim the Tntnsylvanian Alps. To
this exient the tradition borne out in Stoker's story is quite correcL
Dracula's ame is inexorably and historically connected Hth roman-
tic Trans>-K-ania.
 ---- C H A P T E R 4 -----

PRIN CE OF W A L LA C H IA

B u t n o m a t t e r h o w c i . o s t L Y Dracula wus
^ bound lo Transyl\'ania, his associalions wiih Wailachia are
a major part o f his stor>. Draculas ancestors carne from Wal-
] lachia, the souihcmmost of the three Romanian provinces. It
was here that he niled hree separate times: briefly in 1448:
from 1456 lo 1462: and for two months in 1476. Il w^as here, too, that
Draculas capital \vas located: therein lay the center o f iiis political
power, the scene of many o f his horrors, and the official headquarters
o f the Orthodox Church. He aiso built all of his monasteries in this
province, and fought many campaigns against the Tiirks both on its
Southern frontier along the Danube and within the borders o f his
sute.
On the northem frontier o f Wailachia, facing Transyl\'ania, Dracula
erected his infamous case. On a tribuur>- o f the Danube, the Dim-
bovita, he built yet another fortress covering 800 square meters. (Built
o f brick and river stone, some o f the fortress w-alls are still \isible in
the heart o f the od city o f Bucharest.) Dracula killed in 1476
cise to Bucharest and was buried at the island monasten o f Snagov,
twenty miles north o f the city. From Wailachia come sourccs concem-
ing Dracula which confirm the narraiives written in Germn, Russian,
and Hungarian.
At the Military History Muscum in Bucharest is an assonment of
mementos from Dracula's time, and in a Bucharest park had been a
model o f the tyrants castle. The document with the first mention of
Bucharest is a manuscrpt signed by Dracula locatcd at the library of
the Romanian Academy. Ironcally, the only existing life-size portrait
 IN SEARCH OF DRACUL A

o f Dracula is at Case Ambras near Innsbruck. F i II. Arch-

duke o f the Tyrol, who owned Case Ambras durng the sixteenth
century, had a perverse hobby o f documentJng the villains and de-
fonned penonalities o f history. He sent cmissares all over Europe to
collect thcir ponraits and rcserved a special room in the castle for dis-
playing them. Ii made no difference whether the subjects were well
known or comparatively obscure. What did matter was that the> were
actual human beings, not fctional ones. If such persons could be
found alive. the archduke tried to settle them, at least temporarly, at
his court, where paintings could be made o f them on the spot. A few
giants, a notorous dwarf, and the wolfman from the Canary Islands
stayed on at Castle Ambras for some yean. Dracula was already dead

riif Udljmiiii Jrimi Munich, ni tlif riillfi tum a! ( I'hf uiiljmtin iras
acluaUy Petrus GonsaJvusfnm u Canary Islands, who luenl to Paris, nfinrd his
wugh mannm, and married. These portraits of the wolfman, his daughier, and
his son form an fxtraofdinarj family s e r ia -o n , that miheirn V, Duke ofBava-
ria, fe would make a weUome gifi to his untU Ferdinand II, who coUected paint-
ingsofgmteufuefigura.
 PrinceofWallachia

by the tim e this HcRcncrate HapshiirR bcRan his hobby, b u l the

princes reputaiion as a mass murderer was already largely established
in the G erm an ic w orld b cca u sc o f the tales told by the Saxons o f Tran-
sylvania. We do not know how or where Ferdinands portrait o f Drac-
tila \\'as painted or who the artist was.
The fascinating and rather frightening gallery o f rogues and mon-
sters at Castle Ambras, one o f the first history museums in Europe, has
hardly bcen disturbcd since the days o f its founding. The Dracula por
trait hangs bctwcen that o f the wolfman, Gonsalvus, and those o f his
two wolf children. A little to the Icft o f Dracula is a portrait o f Gregor
Baxi, a Hungarian couruer who in the course o f a duel had one eye
pierced by a lance. The other e)e degenerBted, becoming bloodied
and deformed. Baxi managed to survive this condition for one year,
long enough for the portrait, showing the actual pal protruding
from both sides o f tlie head, to be completed. It is stiangely appropri-
atc that this portrait should be hung cise to Dracula, whose eyes
seem to gaze in satisfaction at this macabre scene. A visit to Castle Am-
bras, particularly to the Monster Galler>, as the modem-day guides
insist on calling it, is a starding experience e\en for the most stout-
hearted.
At Castle Anif, near Salzburg, another Dracula portrait once ex-
isted. It was discovered at the cise o f the last century in rather un-
usual circumstances. A member o f the Florescu family, Demeter, a
jurist by profession, was u^iveling through Salzburg in 1885, and was
by chance in\ited to dinner by Count Arco-Stepperg, the owner of
Castle Anif. After dinner the count showed his guest the well-known
collection o f Oriental painngs in the large galler> o f the castle. To
his great surprise, Demeter saw among ihem a portrait o f Dracula,
which he immediately recognized, ha\ing seen the other portrait at
Case Ambras only a few days before. The owner was not able to ex-
plain to him how this painting had come into his family. In 1968, the
authors o f this book went back to Casde A n if They showed the pres-
ent owner. Count Moye de Son, the notes made by Demeter Florescu
conceming his \isit in 1885. Unfortunately, the Dracula portrait was
no longer in the casde. The Arco-Stepperg family had died out, and
inheritances had dissipated the collection.
Threc other Dracula portraits exist. One, at the Vienna A n Gallery,
is a miniature oil painng, probably a copy o f the Ambras portrait. An
other was discovered accidentally durng the summer o f 1970 by
 IN SEARCH OF I

A wooden cae carvtd iotM

Dmculas Ukeness. Origin
unJtnoum. A forescu famUy
heMoom,thecaruisnow
owtud by Raymond McNaUy.

W. Petera, i Gen [1 scholar o f F 1 history. Entied St.

Andmoi M IR, it shows Dracula a symbol o f evil for the f-
teenxentury Austran painter as a spectator enjoying the scene.
Crucifxion, afier all, was just a varation o f Dracula's favorte tonure
impalement. A third painting dating back to the early seventeenth
century was discovered by Dr. Virgil Candea in 1989 and is located
in the library o f the State o f Wurtenberg in Stuttgart. The portrait
on Dracula's tombstone al Snagov was likeiy destroyed by his poltica!

Several primitive woodcuts o f the prince survive in the Germn

Dracula pamphlets, one o f them depicting him in a military uniform.
Whether these are true portraits is an open question since with time
the Germn artists did their very best to deform Dracula's features.
 Princf o f W'allachia

It is a nvisi o f hisiorj- and fate ihai ihe Dracula portraiis exisl in ihe
Germanic worW while they are lotally absent in Romana, iinderlining
the fact that in his day Dracula was better kno^s'n in Western and Cen
tral E u rop c than in ls iiativc land. 0 \v1n g to ic pop u larity o f
Slokers novel outside Eastem Europe, ihis is still somewhai irue
today.

Saint Andre\vs Marurdom. Dracula appean al the far Ufi of Ihis cruafixion
scenr. Thefifleenth-rentury Ausirian painler who rxeruted Ihis oil aftparmily was
familiar wilh portraiis of Dracula and was able lo crrate an excellent likeness of
the prince. Saint Andiru' was the patmn saint of the Transylvanian Saxons.
Dracula is includrd as a tormentor of Saint Andrrw because of his hislory of cru-
rlty loward the Saxons. This painling uvis par of the collertion housed al the
Belvedere Palace in Vienna.
 IN SEARCH OF DRACL L A

The rrtmlly discovered Ock o/Dracuia. Il is pramth lofaUd in Ihe

Library of the State of Wurtmberg in StuUgart and datn from the ee
cmtury.

In Wallachia, Dracula is commemorated in popular ballads and

peasant folktales, particularly in mountain villages surrounding Case
Dracula itself. the regin where he is besi remembered. Despite the
perv-crsions o f time and transliteration, or the distortions o f the \i\id
imaginations o f the (>casants themselves, it remains true that the pop
ular epic plays an important role in constructing the pasi. Dracula was
not dened as all-villain in Romanian folklore, in contrast to the Ger
mn. Turkish, and. in part, Russian traditions. The Germn Transyl\-a-
nians bore him a grudge because he massacred them; the Russians.
because he abandoned the Orthodox faith; the Turks, because he
fought them. Romanian folklore which is, of course, the product of
peasant imagery. noi o f the iojwrchroniclers who labeled him the Im-
paler has somehow attempted to explain away Dracula's cruel idio-
syncrasies. Thus. it records him in Robin Hood-style, as cruel to the
rich and a powerfiil friend o f the poor. There is a little o f the haidiu,
the robber barn o f the Balkans, in Dracula folklore. This peasant
 P nff of W'nlinrhia

\iew o f Draciilas decds w-as probably a whiicw'ash. an exaggeralion;

nevenheless it persisted. Moreover, Dracula W3s a brave wanior. The
peasanis wcre proud o f his militarv accomplishmcnis, no maiter whal
meihods he used to attain them. His main objective ridding the
counif)- o f thc alien, non-Christian infidel hciped ihe peasants to
excuse his impaiement o f the boyars, whose intrigues weakened the
Wallachian state. It may also have helped them to forgive Dracula's at-
tempts to eliminate those unfortunates, and the crippled, who could
not usefully sen e the state, especially in time o f w'ar. In Wallachian \il-
lages not far removed from Draculas castle, there are peasants who
claim to be descendants of the anctent warriors who fought for Drac
ula against the Turks, who defended him at his hour o f need, guided
him to safcty across the mountains o f TransyK-ania, and were re-
warded by him.
The elderly peasants who still cultvate Dracula tales are a dnng
breed. and when the present generation is gonc, the folklore may well
die with them. We attempted to stimulate interest in Dracula tales and

Tirgsor. The ntins of a fifimilh-foitury monastery built by Dracula. In 1922

Conslanlin Giurrscu discm>rTrd an inscriplion indiraling ihal Dracula was the
founder of ihis monaslm.
 IN SEARCH OF DRACUL A

ballads, and made ie first o f a number o f full-scale expcdiiions to

tape record ihem in the fall o f 1969.
In a sense, the whole ofW allachia (48,000 sqiiare miles), not just
the castle regin, is Dracula country, from the mountains to the
Danutie, from the plain to the Black Sea. The main sites are Dracula's
capital o f Tirgovisle, the ecclesiaslical see at Curtea de Arges, his
mounuin castle a few miles up the road, the fortress of Bucharest.
and his burial place at Snagov. Also of signifcance are Tirgsor (near
Ploiesti), where Dracub killed his polical enemy Vladislav II. As an
act o f atonement, Dracula built a monastery some years later at the
precise location o f the murder, in the middle o f that once-important
trading town. Many other places have been identied as having some
links with the Impaler. Among them are: Comana, erecied cise to the
Danube in gratitude for a victorv over the Turks; the tiny grotto o f
Cetateni on the river Dimbovita. where Dracula found haven and
refuge in his escape from the Turks in 1462; and the proud and iso-
lated abbey o f Tismana, where Dracula was a frequent distinguished
visitor and patrn. In addition, he gave land and privileges to other
monasteres such as Govora, Cozia, and the abbey^ o f Rusicon and
Filoteu on Mi. Athos in northem Greece. thiis confirming the strong
pietist inclinations noted earlier. Also to be included in a Dracula tour
ofWallachia are: Braila, the largest commercial center in the counu>-,
bumed by the Turks in 146a; the fortress o f Giurgiu, built by his
grandfather on the Danube, the scene of Dracula's most successful
campaign; Chilia fanher up the river, a strategic fortress that Dracula
held precious enough not to yield even to his cousin Stephen o f Mol
davia; the castle o f Floci, a little beyond; and Enisala on the Black Sea,
an older fonifed bastin built by Dracula's grandfather, the rcmains
of which can still be seen.
Apart from Draculas famous castle on the Arges he erecied minor
fonicatons such as the fortress o f Gherghita in ihe Carpathians.
Dracula monasteres are still being discowred. There are ihree 1-
lages scattered ihroughout the country which bear the ame Vlad
Tepes. At limes one has the impression that the stones want to lell ihe
wayfarer iheir bloody story.
Although Draculas repuution spread far beyond Wallachia, the
seat o f his power was confined to a trangie just south o f the Garpaihi-
ans. At the apex, on the Arges River. a tribuiary o f the Danube. \%as
Castle Dracula. The base lay between the ancient ecclesiaslical seai of
 Prime ofWallachia

C u n e a d e A rgcs an d D raciilas capital o T irgovistc. L o c a ic d betw ccn

the two but closer to the mountains w-as Wallachias firsi capiul, the
oldest City in the land, Cimpulung. To the norih are two diflcult
mountoin passes leading from Wallachia to Transjlvania. One, by vmy
o f Tumu Rosu, reaches Sibiu, one o f Draculas Trans^Kanian resi-
dences; the other pass, closely guarded by the formidable Germn
fortress o f Bran, winds up the mounuin to Brasov. This triangle just
South o f the Transylvanian border w-as the stage for Draculas six-year
rule o f Wallachia.
In Dracula's time the capital cit>' o f Tirgo\iste \\-as more imposing
than it is today, spreading beyond its actual walls. Like Versailles, Tir-
goviste ^vas not only the seat o f power, but the nations center o f social
and cultural life. Immediately surrounding the ostentatious palace
with its numeroiis components, its decorative gardens, and its
princely church were the Byzantine-st\ie houses o f the boyan and
their more diminutive chapis. On a smaller scale, \vithin the compar
ativa security o f the ^\'al!ed courtyard, the upper class attempted to
ape the etiquette o f the imperial court at Constantinople. Beyond
these and interspaced with court>3rds with st\iish floral decorations,
still a characteristic o f modem Romanian cities, were the modest
houses o f the merchants, artisans, and other dependents o f the
princely and boyar courts. The three spiraled domes of the Orthodox
churches and monasteres pierced the sky over the city. Tirgoviste,
like Bucharest later on. was esscntially a cit>- o f churches, remains o f
which survive to this day, reflecting the intense zeal and piet> o f an
earlier age. The monasteries, witli their cloisiers, chapis, court>ards,
and fonifcations, added to the colorfulness of the cit>-. In fact, one
Venetian traveler compared Tirgo\iste to a \ast gaudy flower house."
The inner sanctuary, containing most o f the aristocratic homes, was
surrounded by the defensive rampans characteristic o f the feudal age,
though these were built on a far less impressive scale than the walls of
the German-inspired fortresses in Transyl\-ania. One almost gains the
impression that cach boyar household was itself a small fortied bas
tin, capable o f defense not only against the foe witiiout but against
the far more crafty enemy within. Suspicion reigned in the capital; an-
archy was rampant; political assassination was frequent; and rapid suc-
cession o f princes was the rule rather than the exception all of
which h e lp to account for some o f Dracula's drastic measures against
the boyan.
 IN SEARCH OF DRACUL A

Shortly after ascending the throne in the sprng o f 1456. so runs

one popular bailad, Dracula assembled several hundred o f the great
boyan in the hall o f the Tirgoviste palace, along with the five bishops,
the abbots o f the more important foreign and native monasteries, and
the archbishop. As Dracula surveyed the wily. dishonest expressions
o f the boyars, he knew that among the guests were his father's and
brothers assassins. Then he deliwred a most atypical speech for a
Wallachian prince who was more often than not the oyon too!. How
many reigns," he asked, have you, my loyal subjects, personally expe-
renced in your lifetime? There were chuckles and grimaces in the
audience, then a tense moment o f silence. Seven, my Lord." was the
reply o f one man. I,* said another, have survived thirt>- reigns.
Since your grandfather, my liege," retorted a third, there have becn
no less than twenty princes. I have survived them all.' Even the
younger men admitted having witnessed at least seven. In this man-
ner, almost on a jocular note, each boyar siooA his ground and tested
the severity o f the new ruler. The prncely title and all that it implied
had evidently been taken lightly. Dracula. his eyes flashing in a way
that was to become charactersiic, gave an order. Wlthin minutes, his
faithful attendants surrounded the hall. Some five hundred boyan, as
well as their \vives and attendants, were immediately impaled in the
vicinity o f the palace and left exposed until their corpses were eaten
up by blackbirds. The lesson o f this day did not escape the remaining
boyan. Dracula was demanding either their total submission or exile to
their respective eslates. Woe to him who chose to disobey.
All that one can now see o f Dracula*s Tirgo\iste are the remains o f
the princely palace, which was destroyed and rebuilt many times.
Dracula's grandfather, the redoububle Mircea the Od, laid the frst
foundation stone at the beginning o f the fteenth century. Nearby is
the reconstructed sbcteenth-century Chindeia watchtower built by
Dracula himself to watch the atrocities. From the principal portico the
lourist can still survey the whole city, if he has the heart lo climb a
steep and narrow winding staircase. Looking down on the counyard
below, one can clearly discem the remains o f the palace's foundation,
which indcate a structure o f modest size. The cellar was probably
used for the princely supply o f wine. Here, too, would have been the
prison or torture chamber where the unfortunate Gypsy slave or boyar
opponent lucky enough to escape impalement was given the tradi-
tional bastinado. The notorous throne hall was evidently located on
 Princt ojWaUachia

lic grouiid lloor. TJiis was where Dracula, Dracul, and Mircea ihe Od
were invested as princes o f the land following a rcligious ccremony.
Here Dracula also entertained the barban, received audiences and peti-
tions, and hcld ofTicial councils of state \\-ith the dhan. an upper
chamber which included every member o f the higher arstocraq
bishops, abbots, and the metropoliun, or head o f the Romanian Or-
thodox Church.
In this thronc hall occutred a famous scene descrbed in almost all
the Dracula narraiions: envojs o f the Sultn had come to officially
greet the prince and refused to take off thcir turbans when they
bowed to him. Dracula asked them; WTiy do you do this to\vard a
great ruler?" Tliey answered, This is the custom o f our country, my
Lord." Dracula then ansuered, 1 too wish to strengthen your law so
that you may be firm," and he ordered that their turbans be nailed to
their heads wiih small iron nails. Then he allowcd them to go. telling
them: "Go and tell your master that while he is accustomed to endure
such shame, we are not. Let him not impose his customs on other
rulers who do not Msh them, but let him keep them in his land."
The point o f this act of vengeance was not intended to teach the
Turks a lesson in International good manners, for as a hostage o f the
Turks, Dracula ^vas fully a\\'are o f their custom o f wearing a turban on
aU occasions. Rather, given the poor relationship which existed be-
tween the two courts from 1461 onward, incidents such as these were
deliberately aimed at provoking the Turks to war.
Many such cruel scenes occurred in the throne room o f Dracula's
palace at Tirgoviste. Some o f the luckicr victims escaped the pal by
slavish adulation, confessions, and self-incrimination. Dracula took
particular delight in ensnaring the unwary in a compromising state-
ment. The following incident is typical: in September 1458, Dracula
%vas entcrtaining a Polish nobleman, Benedict de Boithor, who had
come as the ambassador o f an alleged ally, King Matthias Corvinas of
Hungary. The usual iri\ial convereation was pursucd in the dining hall
o the palace at Tirgouste. At the end o f the repast, a golden spear
was brought in by some servants and set up directly in front o f the
envoy, who watched the operaon cautiously, having heard o f Drac-
ulas reputation. Tell me," said Dracula, addressing the Pole witli
some amusement, why do you think that I have had this spear set up
in the rooni?" My lord," he answered with vene, it would seem that
some great boyar of the land has ofTended you and you wish to honor
him in some way." Fairly spoken," said Dracula. You are ihe repre-
sentauve o f a great king. I have had this lance set up especially in your
honor." Mainiaining his savoir fain, the Pole replied: My Lord,
should I have been responsible for someiing worthy o f death, do as
you please, for you are ihe best judge and in that case you would not
be responsible for my death, but I alone. Dracula burst into laughter.
The answer had been both witty and flattering. Had you not an-
swered me in this fashion, said Dracula, I would truly have impaled
you on the spot. He then honored the man and showered him with
gifts.
O f Dracula's marred life in this period, far too little is knoH-n. His
frst uife or mistress it mattered little since all male descendants
were considered legitmate claimants lo the throne was a Transyl-
^'anian commoner with whom he had fallen in love following his es
cape from the Turks in 1448. From the native Romanian Dracula
tales, it would appear that their marrage was not a happy one for the
prince was often seen wanderng alone at night on the outskirts o f the
cit\', usually in disguise, seeking the company of the beautifiil but
humble women who in time became his mistresses. Such relationships
indicated both Dracula's distrust of the boyars and his plebeian in-
stincts.
But as one might expect, lo\ing Dracula could be a dangerous
thing, and so it tumed out for one particular young woman. Roma
nian peasant tales State that the luckless mistress M'as assassinated by
her suitor for infdelity, though she met a far more cruel death than
Anne Boleyn. She was impaled and had her sexual organs cut out.
Like a good medieval pietist, Dracula was most concemed with the
survival o f the soul in the afterlife. He had particular qualms concem-
ing those victims for whose death he was personally responsible, and
presumably he gave his mistress a Christian burial, a relection o f the
morbid religiosity inspired by the enormity o f his crimes.
He took the precaution o f surrounding himself with priests, abbots,
bishops, and confessors, whether Romn Catholic or Orthodox. He
often spent long moments o f meditation within the saintly confines o f
monasteries, such as Tismana in western Wallachia, where he was
known as a generous donor. All the Draculas seemed intent upon be-
longing to a church, receiving the sacraments, being buried as Chris-
tians, and being identified with a religin. Even the famous apostate
Mihnea in due course became a devout Moslem. Like the average
 PrinceofWallachia

penltent of pre-Lulheran times, diese men felt that good worb. par-
ticularly ihc crcctioii of monastercs along with rch cndowmcnts and
an appropratc ritual at the moment o f death. would contribute to the
eradication o f sin. Mircea, Dracu], Dracula, Radu, Vlad the Monk, and
Mihnea were collectively responsible for no less than fty monastic
foundaiions or endowments (Dracula alone was responsible for five).
Even the degenerate Radu erected a monastery, Tanganul, and was
probably buried there. Monastic interest w-as. o f course, a perfect pre-
text for interfering in and controlling the aTars o f both itholic and
Orthodox churches in Wallachia.
Dracula had a cise relaonship with the Franciscan monks in Tir-
goviste and \vith the Cistercian monastery at Carta, and he frequently
received monks from both orders at the palace. But the religious of
various orders Dominicans, Benedictines, Franciscans, and Ca-
puchins sought rcfugc in Germn lands after they had incurred
Draculas wrath by refusing to toe the line.
Draculas crimes, the rcfncments o f bis cruelty, deserve a chapter
unto themselves. Impalement, hardly a new method o f torture, was his
favorite nieans o f imposing death. A strong horse was usually har-
nessed to each leg o f the \ictim, w'hile the stake was carefully intro-
duced so as not to kill insuntly. Sometimes Dracula issued special
instructions to his torturers to have the pales rounded-ofT, lest gaping
wounds kilI his victims on the spot. Such quick death would have in-
terfered with the pleasure he received from watching their agonies
over time. This torture was often a matter o f several hours, sometimes
a matter o f several days. There were \'arious forms o f impalement de-
pending upon age, rank, or sex.
There were aiso various geometric pattems in which the impaled
were displayed. Usually the victims were arranged in concentric cir-
cles on the outskirts o f cities where they could be viewed by all. There
were high spears and low spear^, according to rank. Victims were im
paled and left either feet up or head up, or they might be impaled
through the heart or navel. Victims were subjected to nails driven into
their heads, maiming o f limbs, blinding, strangulation, buming, the
hacking off o f noses and ears, the hacking out o f sexual organs in the
case o f women, scalping and skinning, exjjosure to the elements or to
wild animals, and boiling alive.
Dracula's morbid inventiveness may well have inspired the Marquis
de Sade, who was no doubt familiar with his crimes. In regard to the
 I N SEARCH OF DRACULA

cruel techniques practiced in our so<alled enlightened twentieth ccn-

tury, Dracula set another shining precedent. Prior to punishment he
generally demanded confessions, the nature o f which could result in
his victiim escaping some violence or cven death. And often he scaled
the severity o f the punishment to the instinctively self-presen-ative wit
o f his potential victim. As with the Polish nobleman, there were in-
stances when the doomed were aWe to save their li\-es with a happy or
flatterng phiase.
Beyond the subiuiM o f Tirgoviste lies an extensive network o f lakes.
These were used by Dracula mostly for shing the stocked trout, and
for lakeside picnics and orgies. Just outside Tirgoviste, high up in
what is essentially an area o vineyards, lies an edifice far more hand-
some, with its pur ByTantine prole, than any existing church within
the City itself. Th is the Monastery o f the Hill, known more tradion-
ally as the Monastery o f St. Nicholas o f the Wines. Although it is re-
putedly one o f the most beautiful ecclesiastical structures in Romania
second only to the Church o f Arges, a few miles away an atmos-
phere o f gloom pervades it At one time it served as a prson, later as
an elite military academy Romanias West Point. Today it is a re-
treat for eiderly prests and monks. Inside, virtually cvery sione one
steps on marks a tomb. No church in Romania speaks more elo-
quently about death.
The Monastery o f the Hill (Dealu in Romanian) was initially built
and endowed by Draculas cousin, Prince Radu the Greai (14 9 5-
1508). Prince Radu gained renown as a patrn o f leaming and a
builder o f churches; his reward was a majestic tomb at the foot of the
mountain altar. Thidition suggests that the body o f Dracula's father
was, on Dracula's orden, removed from the small unmarked grave in
Balteni chapel and reburied in the more imposing wooden chapel
long before the construction o f the present Monastery o f the Hill. It is
also alleged that Dracub's brother Mircea was layed to rest next to his
father at the altar. In the sixteenth century Michael the Brave. another
o f Dracula's indirect descendanis (who is mentioned in Stokers
novel), found his last resting place at the Monastery o f the Hill. His
head was brought there after the prince's assassination by Radu Flo-
rescu, one o f his faithful bcrfon.
 -------C H A P T E R 5 --------

CRUSADER
A G A IN ST THE
TURKS

D u r i n g T H E W I N T E R OF 1461, Dracula hurlcd a

^ challenge al none other than the proud conqueror o f
Constantinople, Sultn Mehmed II. The subsequent Danu-
f bian and Wallachian campaigns, which lasted from the winter
o f 1461 through the fall o f 1462, undoubtedly constitute the
most-discussed episode in Draculas fascinating career. His resource-
fiUness, his feau o f valor, his tactics and strategy brought him as much
notoriety in Europe as his gruesome treatment o f his own subjects.
Whereas his impalements were recorded in popular narrativcs, his
acts o f heroism during the crusades against the Turks were enshrned
in the oTicial records o f the time.
Ulth the death o f the great Hunyadi in 1456, the remaining Chris-
tian fortes desfnrrately needed leadership. The bitter squabbles that
had led 10 Draculas father's assassination contnued unabated. This
absence o f Christian unity greatly helped the Turkish cause and con-
tributed to the capture o f Constantinople in 1453, three years before
Dracula's second accession to the Wallachian throne.
With the disappearance o f the last vestiges o f Serbian and Bulgaran
inder>endence and the fall o f the Greek Empire, circumstances o f ge-
ography placed Wallachia at the forefront o f the ant-Turkish crusade.
Moldavia, Wallachias ally, lay safely in the hands o f Dtacula's cousin
Stephen, who emerged as a hero in the post-Hunyadi Christian world.
Following the assassination o f his father, Bogdan, Stephen had accom-
panied Dracula to his exile in Transylvania. There, while both were so-
joum ing in the castle o f the Hunyadis at Hunedoara, Dracula made a
formal compact with Stephen: whoever succeeded to the throne first
 IN 5EARCH OF DRACULA

would help the other gain thc sister principality. In 1457, exactly one
year after his accession to the throne, Dracula, true to his promise,
sent a Wallachian condngent to help Stephen reconquer the crowTi o f
his ancestors. In this way, Dracula helped launch the brilliam career
o f the greatest soldier, statesman, and man o f culture that the Roma-
nian Renaissance produced. For Stephen the Great, or Saint Stephen
as he is now called following his canonization by the Orthodox
Church in 1972, was both a soldier and a lover o f the arts. The
number o f monasteries that still survive in the regin o f Suceava,
Stephens capital, are eloquent testimony to the cultural and architec-
tural brilliance o f hb age.
When Dracula fnally ascended the throne in June 1456, both Ch
nese and European astronomers documented an unusual celestial ap-
pearance a comet as long as half the sky Mth t^vo tails, one
pointing west the other east, colored gold and looking like an undu-
lated fame in the distant horizon." The comet later became an object
of study for Brsh astronomer Edmund Halley and has been kno\vn
ever since as Halleys comet. In the fifteenth century, as today, super-
sttious people looked upon the sighting o f a comet as a w-aming o f
natural catastrophies, plagues, or threats o f invasions. With the dcath
of Hunyadi at Belgrade, such auguries seemed likely to be fulflled.
Yet Draculas seers and astrologers interpreted the comet as a s\mbol
of victory. A Romanian numismatic specialist recently discovered a
small silver coin minted by the prince showing the Wallachian eagle
on one side and a star trailing six undulating rays on the other, a
crude depiction o f the famous comet.
After the fidl o f Constantinople, the surviving powers o f Central
and Eastem Europe were all committed to liberating the Bal kan lands
conquered by the Turks. One o f the great Renaissance figures. Enea
Silvio Piccolomini, an astute diplomat and expert on Eastem Europe,
became Pop>e Pius II in 1458. He saw the portents o f dangcr for the
whole Christian world in the imperalist ambitions o f Sultn Mehmed
II. Pius II launched his crusade at the council o f Mantua in 1459,
waming the incredulous rulers in attendance that unless Chrstians
banded together to oppose Mehmed, the Sulun would destroy his en-
emies one by one. The pope asked Christians to take up the cross and
raise 100,000 gold ducats.
Following the death o f Hunyadi and the assassination o f his eldest
son, Ladislaus, a struggle for the Hungarian crown ensued between
 Crusader gainst the Turks

the Hunpdis and the Hapsburfp. Dracula had remained loyal to the
Hunyadis tliruughoui liis struggles wiih ihc Trans)l\3nian Germans,
initially to Ijidislaus and after his assa&sination to Hun>adis younger
son, Matthias, and brother-in-Iaw, Michael Szilag}'. On the opposing
side were tlie Hapsburgs: Alben 1 who had mled briefly, his wife Eliza-
beth, and Ladislaus V. The sacred Cro^-n of Saint Stephen, hidden at
the Fortress o f Visegrad, waited for the next legitimate Hapsburg to
daim it. The Holy Romn Emperor Frederick III W3s so preoccupied
with intemal aTairs that his empire was not likely lo respond to ihe
papal appeal. Hunradis son, Matthias, managed to become king o f
Hungary in 1458. Dracula, who had met Matthias as a young man.
had expected him to join the crusade. He was as disappointed in that
respect as the pope. Matthias never gave his full support to the papal
crusade against the Turks because o f his shaky hold on the Hungaran
throne. The Holy Romn Emperor Frederick III; George o f Pode-
brady, king o f Bohemia; Casimir I\ o f Poiand; the grand duke of
Moscow, Iran III; the rulers o f the Italian republics; and a number of
Eastem potentates, all o f whom had attended the council, merely sent
kind words o f encouragement to the pope. All were embroiled in
their own pett> squabbles and chose to dismiss the papal appeal out of
hand.
Dracula was the only sovereign who responded immediately to the
papal plea. His courageous action was rewarded witli favorable com-
ments from the official representarives o f Venice, Genoa, Miln, Fer
rara, and e^en Pope Piiis II. WTiile still disapproving o f some o f the
cruel tactics he used, they all admired DrBCula's courage and praised
his willingness to fight for Christianity.
In spite o f his oath to the Hungarian king and the pope, Draculas
relatonship with the Turks remained accommodating. He fulfilled his
obligation o f \-assalage, which included payment o f the tribute and an
occasional visit to Constantinople. The rst indication that there
might be problems in preserving amicable relations came from Drac
ula himsclf. In a Icttcr datcd Scptcmber 10, 1456, wrilten to the city
elders o f Brasov, Dracula revealed his real thinking, only days after his
inauguration as prince;

I am giving you the ne^-s . . . that an Emba&sy from the Turks has now
come to US. Bear in mind and firmly retain what I have previously
transacied with you about brotherhood and peace . .. the time and
 thc hour has now come, conccming what I have previously spokcn
of. The Turks ^ish to place on our shoulders. . . unbeanible bur-
dcns and . . . lo compcl us not to live peaceably (with you)---- They
are seeking a way to looi your country passing through ours. In addi-
tion, they forc us . . . to work against your Catholic faith. Our wish is
to do no evil against you. not to abandon you. as I have told you and
swom. I trust I will remain your brother and foithful Trend. This is
why I have retained the Turkish envoys here, so that 1 have time to
send you the news.

Thcre follows a typical precept which anticipates Machiavelli:

You have to reHect. . . when a prince is powerful and biave. he can

make peace as he wishes. If. however, he is powerless, some more
powerful than he will conquer him and dictate as he pleases.

Taking into account the overall tense Turkish-Wallachian situation

resulting from Draculas double allegiance, the reasons for the final
breakdown o f relations and for the opening o f hostilities must be
sought in Turkish attempts to tum infrngements o f existing treaties
to their advantage. The tribute had been paid regularly by Dracula
only durng the first three years o f his reign. From 1459 to 1461 and
onward, however. because he was preoccupied with the problems of
the Transylvanian Saxons, Dracula had violated his obligation and
failed to appear at the Turkish court. This is why when negotiations
resumed, the Turks asked for the payment of the unpaid tax.
There was another surprsing new demand which had never been
spulated before and represented a clear infracton o f previous
treaties. This entailed a request for child tribute no fewer than five
hundred young boys destined for the janissan- corps. This infantry
elite was composed o f recruits from varous provinces o f the Balkans
under thc Sultns control. Indeed. Turkish recruiting officers had oc-
casionally invaded the Wallachian plain, where they felt the quality of
young men was best Dracula had resisted such incursions with a forc
o f arms, and any Turks who were caught were apt to fiiid themselves
on the stake. Such violations o f territorv' by both sides were added
provocations and only embittered Turkish-Wallachian relations. Raid-
ing. pillaging, and looting were endemic from Giurgiu to the Black
Sea. The Turks had also succeeded in securng control o f \arious
fortresses and townships on the Romanian side o f the Danube.
 C m a d n Againsl IfifTurH

Funhcr complicaiing matters, Radu ihc Handsome, who had faith-

fully resided at Consuntinople since his libcraton in 1447, was en-
couraged by the Turks to consider himself a candidate to the
Wallachian throne. Before relations broke down. Sultn Mehmed II
gave Dracula a final chance. He invited him to come to Nicopolis on
the Danube to meet Isaac Pasha, the ruler o f Rumelia and the sultns
representative, who was instnicted to persuade Dracula to come to
Constantinople in person and explain his vassalage violations o f the
last few years. Dracula said he was prepared to come with gifts to Con
stantinople, agreed to discuss nonpayment o f the tribute and the fron-
tier adjusmients, but was still unwilling to contribute the child levy. In
truth, under no circumstance would he proceed to the Sultns court
because he remembered how his father had been tricked. The official
pretext for his refusal to go to Constantinople was fear that if he did
his enemies in TransyKania would seize power in his absence.
Since there was no basis for genuine and sincere negotiations, one
must \iew the sultans reaction with a certain understanding. Drac-
ulas refusal 10 go to Constantinople confirmed the Turks suspicions
that he was simultaneously negotiating an alliance with the Hungari-
ans. Thus the Turks laid plans for an ambush. The men entrusted to
carr> out the plot could not have been better chosen a clever
Greek de\il, Thomas Catavolinos, and Hamza Pasha, the chief coun
falconer, govemor o f Nicopolis, a man known for his subtle mind.
Their ostensible pretext was to meet with Dracula to discuss a mutu-
ally acceptable frontier and to persuade him to come to Constantino
ple. Since they knew Dracula would refuse the latter, their secret
instructions were to capture the Wallachian prince dead or alive.
We are fortnate to possess a comprehensiva and dramatc account
o f the precise circumstances by which Dracula outfoxed his oppo-
nents. The story is told by Dracula himself in a letter dated February
11, 1462, addressed to King Matthias Corvinus:

In other lettcrs I have written to Your Highness the way in which the
Turks. the cruel enemies o f the Cross of Christ, have seni tlieir en-
vo>-s to me, in order to break our mutual peace and alliance and 10
spoil our marriage, so that I may be allied only with them and that I
travel to the Turkish sovereign, that is 10 say, to his court, and. should
I refuse to abandon the peace, and the treaties, and the marriage
with Your Highness, the Turks will not keep the peace with me. They
aiso sent a leading counselor o f the Sultn, Hamza Pasha o f Nicopo-
 lis, to determine thc Danubian frontier, with the intent thai Hamza
Paaha should, if he could, take me in some manner by trickery or
good faith, or in some other manner, to the Port and if not, lo tr>-
and take me in captivity. Bul by the grace of God, as I was joumey-
ing towards their frontier, I found out about their tckery and sly^
ness and I was the one who captured Hamza Pasha in thc Turkish
district and land, closc to a fonress called Giurgiu. As the Turks
opened the gates o f the fortress, on the orders of our men, with thc
thought that oniy their men would enter, our soldicrs mixing with
theirs entcrcd the fortreas and conquered the city which I then set
on firc.

In that same letter Dracula describes the subsequent campaign that

took place along the Danube up to the Black Sea during the winter o f
146 1, which constituted a de facto opening o f hostilities without so
much as a formal declaration o f war. Thus, Dracula can be looked
upen as the aggressor.
The Danubian campaign was the initial successful phase o f the
Turkish-Wallachian war. Dracula was on the ofTensive, attempting to
duplicate Hunyadi's successful amphibious warfare o f the 14405.
Much of the campaign took place on Bulgaran soil controlled by the
Turks. From the mention o f place ames it is possible to reconstruct
the progress o f Draculas forces along the Danube, and Dracula tells
precisely the number o f casualties inflicted:

I have killcd men and women, od and young, who lived at Oblucitza
and Novoselo where the Danube flows into the sea up to Raho\Ti
which is located near Chilia from the lower [Danube] up to such
places as Samovit and Ghighen [both located in modcm Bulgaria].
[We killedj a3.884 Turks and Bulgars without counting those whom
wc bumed in homes or whose heads were not cut by our soldicrs . . .
thus Your Highness must know that I have broken the peace with the
sultn.

There follow some startling sutistics o f people killed: at Oblucitza and

Novoselo, 1,350: at Dirstor (Durostor, Silistria), Grtal, and Dri-
dopotrom, 6,840; at Orsova, 343: at Vectrem, 840; at Turtucaia, 630:
at Marotim, ato; at Gturgiu itself. 6.414; Tumu, Batin, and Novi-
 Cnuader Against ihf Turki

grad, 384; at Sistov, 41 o; at Nicopolis, Samovit, and Ghighen, 1.1 )8; at

Rahov-a, 1.460. To fiirther imprcss King Matthius w th the accurac>' of
this account, Dracula sent to him his envoy. Radu Farma, with two
bags o f hcads, noscs, and cars.
The \vinter campaign ended on the Black Sea coast, within sighi of
the powerful Turkish inN-asion forc that had crossed the Bosporus for
a full-scale inN-asion o f Wallachia. With his flank unprotected, Dracula
was compelled to abandon the ofTensive. He had bumed all the Turk
ish fortresses he could not actually occupy. Beyond that he could not
go; the momentum o f the ofTensive had been spent.
The Danubian campaign had established Draculas reputation as a
crusadcr and \s-anior for Christianity. Throughout Central and West
ern Europe Te Deums were sung, and bells tolled from Genoa to Pars
in gratitude for endowing the crusade w th a new lease on life and tak-
ing over the leadership o f the great Hun>3di. Dracula's boid offensive
also sent a new hope o f liberation to the enslaved peoples o f Bulgara,
Serbia, and Greece. At Constantinople there was an atmosphere o f
constematon, gloom, and fear, and some o f the Turkish leaders, fear-
ing the Impaler, contemplated flighi across the Bosporus into Asia
Minor.
Mehmed II decided to launch his invasin of Wallachia during the
spring o f 1462; Dracula had given the sultn no altemative. To def>-
the sultn by spoiling a probable assassination plot was one thing; to
ridicule him and insll hopes o f liberation among his Chrsan sub-
jects was quite anotlicr, one far more dangerous to his recently estab
lished empire. In any event, Mehmed wished to reduce Wallachia to a
Turkish province. With this formidable task in mind, the sultn gath-
ered the largest Turkish forc that had been amassed since the fall of
Constantinople in 1453. The main contingent, led by the sultn him-
self, was carried across the Bosporus by a vzst flotlla o f barges. The
other major forc, collected at Nicopolis in Bulgara, was to cross
the Danube, recapture the fortress o f Giurgiu, and then unite with
the main forcc in a combined attack on Tirgo\iste.
Dracula hoped for reinforcements from Matthias o f Hungary in
order to correct the disparty o f numbers; he had, according to the
Slavic narrative, no more than 30,900 men. Dracula appealed to his
countrymen; as \%-as the custom when the independence o f the coun-
tr> was threatened, able-bodied men, including boys from age twelve
upward, and even women were conscrpted. An eyewitness Turkish
 IN SEARCH OF DRACUl.A

chronicler states that the Crossing o f the Danube \vas compleied on

the night o f the sixth day o f the fasi o f Ramadan (Friday, ju ne 4,
1462), the Turkish soldiers being transponed in sevent\- boais and
barges. Other Turkish eyeivitnesses give us deuiled and graphic ac-
counis o f the whole operation. The Crossing was made possible by
Turkish cannon fire being directed against Wallachian emplacements
on the right bank:

(WTien night began to fil,] we climbed into the boats and loated
down the Danube and crossed to the other side several leagiies lowcr
from the place where Draculas army was standing. There wt- dug
ourselves in trenches setting the cannons around iis. We dug our-
selves into the trenches so that the horsemen could not injurc us.
After that we crossed back to the other side and thiis transponed
other soldiers across the Danube. And when the whole of the in-
fan7 crossed over, we prepared and set out gradually against the
army of Dracula, together with the artillery and other impedimenta
we had taken with us. Having stopped. we set up the cannon. but
until we could succeed in doing this, 300 soldiere werc killed. The
Sulian was ver> saddened by this afTair, seeing a grral baulc froiii the
other side of the Danube and being unable pereonally to come
there. He was fearful lest all the soldiers be killed. since tlie Emperor
had pereonally not crossed. After that, seeing that our side was wcrak-
ening greatly, ha\ing transponed 120 guns, we defended ourselves
with them and fred often, so that we repelled the army of the princc
from that place and we strengthened ourselves. Then the Emperor
ha\ing gained reassurance, transponed other soldiers. And Dracula
seeing he could not prevent the Crossing, withdrew from us. Then,
after the Emperor had crossed the Danube following us with a whole
army, he gave us 30,000 gold coins to be diuded among us.

Soon after, there were preliminar)- skirmishes along the marshes of

the Danube, aimed essentially at delaying the juncture o f the tv,o
great Turkish armies. Dracula abandoned the river and began his
withdrawai nonhward. From this point, Dracula resoried to what is
known as strategic retreat, a de\ice in\ariably used by an outnum-
bered army. The idea was to draw the enemy forc deep into Draculas
territory. The Romanians depended on the \arieties o f the terrain for
their defense: the marshy soil near the Danube, the dense Masie for-
 Crusader A^inst the Turks

est extcnding deep into ie plain, and thc impe;

According to Romanian tradiiion, the mad" foresi and the moun-
tains were brothers o f the people" that ensured survi\-al o f the nation
through the ages. As the Wallachian troops gave up their native soil lo
the Turks, Dracula used scorched-earth tactics in wearing do\vn his en-
emies, creating a N-ast desert in the path of the im-ading army. As Drac-
ulas army withdrew northward, abandoning territory to the Turks,
they depopulated the area, bumed their own villages, and set fire to
the cities, reducing them to ghost towns. Boyan, peasants, and towns-
people alike accompanied the reu-eating armies, unless they could
find shelter in isolated mouniain hideouts or inaccessible island
monasteries such as Snagov, where the wealthy sought refuge. In addi-
tion, Dracula ordered the crops systematically bumed, poisoned all
the wells, and destroyed the cattle and all other domestic animals that
could not be herded away into the mountains. His people dug huge
pits and covered them with timber and leaves in order to trap men,
camels, and horses. Dracula even ordered dams to be built to divert
the waters o f small rivers to create marches that might impede the
progress o f the Turkish cannons by miring them do\vn. Contemporary
sources confirm the scenario o f desolation that greeted the Turkish
armies. For instance, a Greek historian states, Dracula removed his
entire population to the mountains and forest regions, and he left the
fields deserted. He had all beasts o f burden herded up into the moun
tains. Thus, after having crossed the Danube and adrancing for seven
days, [Mehmed] II found no man, or any significant animal, and
nothing to eat or drink." A compatriot added, Dracula had hidden
the women and children in a ver) marshy arca, protected by natural
defenses, covered with dense oak forest. And he ordered his men to
hide themselves in this forest, which was diflicult for any newcomer to
penetrate." On the Turkish side, thc comments are very much the
same. A veteran o f the campaign complained that the best o f the
Turks could find no springs. . . [no] drinkablc water." Mahmud
Pasha, one o f the commanders who was sent ahead o f the main army
with a small contingent, thought that he had finally found a place to
rest. But even here," the veteran wrote, for a distance o f six leagues
there was not a drop o f water to be found. The intensity o f the heat
caused by the scorching sun was so great that the armor seemed as if it
would melt like a lighted candle. In this parched plain, the lips o f the
fighters for Islam dried up. The Africans and Asians, used to desert
 IN SEARCH OF DRACUI.A

conditions, used iheir shields to roast meai." Certainly a factor con-

trbuting lo ihe sufTerngs and death endured by the Turkish army was
thc fact ihat the summer o f 1462 was one o f the hottest on record.
Along with the icorched-earth measures, Dracula used guerrilla tac-
tics in which the element o f surprise and intimate knowledge o f the
terrain were the keys to success. An Italian traveler reported that Drac
ula's cavalry would often emerge from relatively unknown paths and
atuck Toraging Turkish stragglers who had depaned from the main
forc. At times Di acula would even attack the main forc when it least
expected and, before they could rally, he would retum to the forest
without giving hb enemy an opportunity to give battle on equal terms.
Stragglers who remained behind the main body o f the Turkish forc
were invarably is jlated and killed, most likely by impalement. A most
insidious uctc, most unheard o f in this period, was a fteenth-
century form o f ^enn warfare. Dracula would encourage all those af-
fected by diseas<rs, such as leprosy, tuberculosis, and the bubonic
plague, to dress in Turkish fashion and intermingle with the soldiers.
 Crusader Against the Tuiks

should they somchowsiinivc ihcir illncss afier siiccessfully conlami-

n a ting an d k illing Tiirks. thc in fcticcl W alhichiaiis w uiild be richly rc-
^\3rded. In ihat same vcin, Dracula set free hardened crmnals, who
werc ihcn cncouragcd to kill Turkisli siragglers.
The attack knoNvn as the Night o f Terror is a dramatic example of
Draculas daring and master)' o f surprse tactics. In one o f the many
villages leading to Tirgoxiste, near thc forest cncampment o f tlic
Turks, Dracula held a council o f war. The sitiiation of Tirgo\iste was
desperate, and Dracula presented a boid plan for saving his indefensi
bie capital. The council agreed that oniy the assassination of the sul
tn would sufficiently demoralize the Turkish army to effect a speedy
withdraw-al.
The outcome o f this plan w-as admirably recorded by a Serbian sol-
dier who experienced the whole impact of Draculas audacious on-
slaught. His account described the complex Turkish camp: the sound
o f \igilant guards occasionally called to order, the smell o f lamb roast-
ing over glowing fires, the noise o f departing soldiers, the laughter of
women and other visitors, the plaintive chant o f Turkish slaves, the
noise o f the cameis, the countless tents, and finally, the elat>orate
gold-embrotdered tent o f the sleeping sultn in the very heart o f the
camp. Mehmed had just retired after a hea\y meal. Suddenly came
the hooting o f an owl, Draculas signal to attack, followed by the on-
nish o f cavalr). The invaders penetrated the defensive layers of
guards, francally galloping through the tenis housing half-asleep sol
diers. The Wallachian sword and lance with Dracula in the lead
cut a bloody swath. AToirt/u Bey!' the Impaler!" cried rows o f
awestnick Turkish soldiers, moaning and dying in the path o f the Ro-
manian avalanche. Finally Turkish trumpets called the men to arms. A
body o f determined elite guardsmen gradually assembled around the
sultns tent. Dracula had calculated that the sheer surprse and mpe
tus o f the attack would carr>' his cavalr>' to the sultns bcd. But as he
w-as within sight o f his goal, the sultns guard rallied, held the Wal
lachian offensive, and actually began to push the attackcrs back. Real-
izing that he was in danger o f being surrounded and captured,
Dracula reluctantly gave the orders to reu-eat. He had killed several
thousand Turks, wounded couness more, created havoc, chaos, and
terror within the Turkish camp; but he had lost several hundred o f his
bravest warriors and the attack had failed. Sultn Mehmed had sur-
vived and the road to Tirgoviste lay open.
 The grand vizier Machumet caught a Wallachian and, threatening
him wiih torture, began to question him as to Dracula's whereaboiits
and ultmate plans. The prsoner remained silent and was eventually
sawed in half. Overawed by such a display o f courage, the grand vizier
told the sultn, If this man had been in command o f an army he
couid have achieved great power.
The Turks eventually reached Tirgoviste but found neither men
or cate, food or drink. Indeed, the Wallachian capital presentcd a
desoate spectacle to the incoming Turks. The gates o f the cit>- had
been left open, and a thick blanket o f smoke shut out the dawning
light. The city had been stripped o f \irtually all its holy relies and trea-
sures, the palace emptied o f all that could be taken, and the rest
bumed. Here, as elsewhere, all the wells had been poisoned. The
Turks were greeted by a few desultory cannon shots fired by tlie few
Wallachian defenders who still manned the battlements. Mehmed II
chose not to secure the capital but continued on his march in quest of
the elusive Impaler. Just a few miles to the north, the sultn W3s
greeted by an even more desoate spectacle: in a narrow gorge, one
mile long, he found a veritable forest o f impaled cadavers, perhaps
20,000 in all." The sultn caught sight o f the mangled, rotting re-
mains o f men, women, and children, the flesh caten by blackbirds
that nested in the skulls and rib cages. In addition, the sultn found
the corpses o f prisoners Dracula had caught at the beginning o f the
campaign the preceding winter. On a much higher pike lay the car-
casses o f the two assassins who had tried to ensnare Dracula before
hostilities had begun. Over the course o f several months the elements
and the blackbirds had done their work. It was a scene horrible
enough to discourage even the most hardhearted. Overawed by this
spectacle, Mehmed II ordered the Turkish camp to be surrounded by
a deep trench that very night. Soon, reflecting on what he had seen,
the sultn lost heart. As one historian recorded it, Even the sultn,
overcome by amazement, admitted that he could not win the land
from a man who does such things, and above all knows how to exploit
his rule and that o f his subjects in this way. A man who performs such
deeds would be capable o f even more awesome things!" The sultn
then gave orders for the retreat o f the main Turkish forc and surted
eastward for a po n on the Danube where the fleet had anchored.
After the withdrawal o f Mehmed's contingent, the character o f the
war changed radically. Indeed this last chapter should be described
 Crusader Agahist the Turks

more properly as a ci\il rathcr tlian a forcign war, evcn lliough Tiirk-
ish soldiers were still involved. Before depaning. Sultn Mehmed for-
mally appointed Radu as commander-in<hief with the mission of
destroying Dracula and uking over the princely ofTicc. The Turkish
contingent, under ihe command o f ihe pasha o f Silistria, was to sup-
pon Radus actions, but the new commander to rely primarily
upon native support. The Turks had deliberately fostcrcd this conflict
in order to confuse the Wallachians and avoid the impression o f a na-
tional \var against a common foe, in eflect abandoning their erstwhile
plan to conquer Wallachia by reducing it to an obedient vassal State.
WTiat they had failed to do by forc o f arms they accomplished by
diplomacy. Thus, in the final analysis, it v/as less a matter o f tactics
than o f politics. The last battles pitted Dracula not so much against
the Turks as against the powerful Romanian nars who ultimately and
decisively rallied to the cause o f Radu. The Romanian boyars realizing
that tlie Turk-s were stronger, abandoned Dracula and associated
themselves \vith his brother who was with the Turkish Sultn." So
ended an account by a Serbian janissary.
There was another more compelling reason for the Turkish with-
drawal. The plague had made its appearance within the sultn's ranks
and the first victims o f the dreaded disease were recorded at Tirgo-
\iste. Perhaps Draculas attempt at bacterial warfare had worked.
Draculas desperare appeal for help from his kinsman Stephen was
answered with treachery. In June, the Moldavian ruler attacked the
crucial VVallachian fortress o f Chilia from the north, while powerful
Turkish contingents attacked it from the south simultaneously. Yet this
extraordinary double assault was unsuccessful. The Turks abandoned
the siege. Stephen was wounded by gunfire from the fortress and with-
drew to Moldavia. He did not renew the attack on Chilia until 1465,
and that time he captured it, while his cousin Dracula was safely in a
Hungarianjail many miles farther up the Danube at Visegrad.
During the last phase o f the Turkish-Wallachian war, Dracula ruled
from his ca.stlc on the upper Arges, the princes final place o f refuge
from the advancing Turks. Since the primar)' chronicler o f the Turk
ish campaign retumed to Ginstannople with the sultn and the
main bulk o f the army. historans must rely on popular ballads from
the castle regin for Information.
The peasants in the villages surrounding Castle Dracula relate nu-
merous ules conceming the end o f Draculas second reign in the fall
 IN SF.ARCH OF DRACULA

o f 1462. All these stores end when Dracula crossed the border inio
Transylvania and became prsoner o f the Hungaran king. They start
anew around 1476, when Dracula retumed to Wallachia for diis third
reign. One o f ihe more classic narratons o f Draculas last moments o f
resistance to the Turks in 146a runs as follows: after the fall of Tirgo-
viste, Dracula and a few faithful followers headed northward; avoiding
the more obvious passes leading to TransyKania, they reached his
mountain retreat. The Turks who had been sent in pursuit encamped
on the bluff o f Poenari, which commanded an admirable view o f
Dracula's castle on the opposite bank o f the Arges. Here they set up
their cherrywood cannons. The bulk o f the Turkish soldiers de
scended to the river, forded it, and camped on the other side. The
bombardment o f Dracula's casde began, but it had little success owing
to the small caliber of the Turkish guns and the solidity o f the castle
wails. Orders for the final assault upon the castle were set for the next
day.
That night, a Romanian slave in the Turkish corps who, according
to local tale, was a distant relative o f Dracula, forewamed the Wal-
iachian prince o f the great danger that lay ahead. Undetected in the
moonless nighi, the slave climbed the bluff of Poenari and, taking
careful aim, he shot an arrow at one o f the distant, dimly lit openings
in the main tower, which he knew contained Dracula's quarters. At-
tached to the arrow was a message advising Dracula to escape while
there was still time. The arrow extinguished a candie within the tower
opening. WTien it was relit, the slave could see the shadow of Draculas
wife, and could fintly discem that she was reading the message.
The remainder o f this story could only have been passed down by
Draculas intmate advisors within the casde. Draculas wife apprised
her husband o f the waming. She told him she would rather have her
body eaten by the fish in the Arges River below than be led into cap-
tvity by the Turks. Dracula knew from his own experence at Egrgoz
what that imprisonment would entail. Realizing how desperate their
situation was and before anyone could intervene, Draculas wife
rushed up the winding staircase and hurled herself from the tower.
Today this point o f the river is known as Riul Doamnei, the Princesss
River. This tragic folktale is practcally the only mention of Draculas
first wife.
Dracula immediaiely made plans for his own escape; no matter how
univorable the circumstances, suicide was not an opton. He ordered
 C m a d n A p tim i Ifir Tiirts

ihe bravesi leader from the neighboring \illage of Arefu to be

brouglit to the castie, and diirng thc iiight they discussed the \-arious
routes o f escape to Transylvania. Ii was Draculas hope that Matthias
of Hungary-, to whom he had sent many appeals since that First letter
in Febnian 1462, would greet him as an ally and support his rein-
statement on the Wallachian thronc. Indecd. it \n7ls known that thc
Hungaran king, along \vith a powerful army, had establislied head-
quaners just across the moiintains ai Brasov. To reach him was a niat-
ler o f Crossing thc TransyKanian Alps at a point wherc thcre werc no
roads or passes. The iipper slopes o f these mountains are rocky,
treacherous, often covered with snow or ice throughout the summer.
Dracula could not have attempted such a Crossing without the help of
local experts. Popular folklore still identifies rarioiis rivers, clearings,
forested arcas, even rocks which were along Draciilas escape roiite.
We have tred to iise thcin to reconstnict Dracula's actual passage, but
the task has been difTicult since many of the place ames have
changed over thc years. As far as we have been able to reconstruct thc
escape, Dracula, a do/en attendants, his illegitimate son, and Tive

Seventeenth-rentury engraving of Brasov (Cwruad in Od Grrman) as il rxisted

in Dracula s timr, shawing thr nty u>alb and dffm.w<- lmt<m as xttrll as Timpa
m u, whrrr Dracula commiUni many alrocities.
 IN SEARCH OF DRACL t.A

guides left ihe castle before dawn by way o f a staircase which spiraled
down into the boweb o f the mountain and led to a cave on ihe banks
o f the river. Here the fleeing party could hear the noises o f the Turk-
ish camp just a mile to the south. Some o f the fastest mounts were
then brought from the villagc; the horses were equipped with in-
verted horseshoes so as to leave false signs o f an approaching ca\-alry.
Durng the night the castle guns were repeatedly fired to detract at-
tention from the escape party. The Turks at Poenari replied in kind.
Because o f the noe, so the story goes, Dracula's own mount began to
shy, and his son, who had been tied to the saddle, fell to the ground
and in the conftision was lost. The situation was far too desperate for
anyone to begin a search, and Dracula was both too battle-hardened
and too coldhearted to sacrifce himself for his son.
This tragic little vignette had a happy ouicome, though. The boy,
not yet in his teens, was found the next moming by a shepherd who
took him to his hut and raised him as though he were one o f his own
family. When Dracula retumed as prince fourteen years iater, the
peasant, who had found out the true identity o f his ward, brought the
boy to the castle. By that time he had developed into a splendid young
man. He told his father all that the shepherd had done for him. and
in gratitude Dnicula rchly recompensed the peasant with tracts of
land in the sunounding mountains. It is possible that the son stayed
on in the area and eventually became govemor o f the castle.
When the fleeing party finally reached the crests o f the mountains,
they were able to view the Turks final assault to the south, which par-
tially destroyed Castle Dracula. To the north lay the fortifed walls and
towers o f Brasov, where it was hoped the armies o f King Matthias were
maneuverng to come to Dracula's aid. At a place called Plaiul Oilor,
or Plain o f the Sheep, Draculas party, now quite safe from the Turks,
retired and made plans for the northward descent.
Summoning his brave companions, Dracula asked them how best
he could recompense them for saving his life. They answered that
they had simply done their duty for prince and country. The prince,
however, insisted: What do you wish? Money or land?" They an
swered: Give US land, Your Highness." On a slab o f stone known as
the Princes Table, Dracula fulfilled their wishes, writing upon the
skin o f some hares caught the day before. He bestowed upon the five
guides vast tracts o f land on the slope of the mountain as far as the eye
could see. This included sixteen mountains and a rich supply o f tim-
 Crusader Against the Turks

ber, fish. an d sh ecp , all in all p rrh ap s ao .o o o aere. H e fiirth cr stipu-

lated n the deed that none o f ihis land could ever be laken away from
them by prince, boyar, or ccclesiastical Icaders; it was for their families
lo enjoy through the generaons.
Ancient tnidiuon has it that these rabbit skins are still carefully hid-
den by the five mens descendants, but despite many efforts and in-
ducements, no descendant has been willing to shed light on ihe exact
whereabouis of these alleged documents. Still, we have reason to sup-
pose that somewhere hidden in an attic or buried underground, the
Dracula rabbit skins still exist. One Romanian historian attempted to
fnd the scrolls, but the peasants o f the area remained secretive and
intractable. Even large sums o f money would not persuade them to
share such precioiis souvenirs o f Draculas heroic age.
 -------C H A P T E R 6 -------

CASTLE D R ACU LA

T h e r k a r e t w o r o u t e s from the ancient capital

cit)- o f Tirgo\iste lo Case Dracula and ihe mountains of
Transylvania. One o f them proceeds north along the Dam-
} boviu River to Cimpulung, thcn to Rucar at the Trans>hania
bordcr, and through the mountains. by ^say o f the pass at Bran.
Tliis was the route traveled by Dracula during his raids against Brasov,
which hiy just across the mountains, on the cdgc o f the Transyh-anian
plateau. The second route is slightly more cumbersome. It takes one
west to the river Olt, a tributary o f the Danube, nonh to the episcopal
city o f Ramnicul-Valcea, and tlien into TransyU-dnia, \ia tlie pass of
Tumu Rosu, kno\vn to Germans as Roterturm.
Tlie first o f the two routes is the more scenic. In Cimpulung one
finds a city o f transition between the Germanic and Romanian worids.
It still has traces o f what it was in the thirteenth century, a Teutonic
burgh, and in that sense it belongs to the civilization o f Central
Europe.
Among the medieval customs continued here is the celebration of
the Feast o f Saint Elias, an Orthodox portrayed on icons in a charot
whipping evil creatures out o f the sky; tlie protector o f the peasants,
who often come from neighboring areas to sell their wares and par-
take o f the traditional entertainment. Dracula often sojoumed at
Cimpulung on his way to the north, but only a few local stories are
linked to his ame.
There are many rustic villages on the route from Cimpulung to
Bran. On a mountain overlooking the village o f Cetateni din Vale are
the remains o f a castle and a small church. This castle is not Draculas

6o
 Castle Dracula

but was biiilt, acco rd in g lo p op u la r k-KCiul. by W allachia's linit p rin cc.

Basarab I. Inside the grotto, three monks still obsene a ritual which
has been held ihere al midnight since earliest times, an index o f ihe
ageless piety o f the regin. Peasants in gaily embroidered dress still
come froin as far as Rfty miles aw-ay, often making the diiTicult ascent
barefoot, to attend the midnight ser\ice in this musty, incense-filled,
cavemlike place where faded icons portray mart>Ts and saints. Accord-
ing to local legend, Dracula hiniself climbed this mountain when flee-
ing from the Turks in 1462 and took sanctuary within the grotto
before continuing on to his own castle.
The regin bet\seen Cimpuhmg and Bran is the heart o f Romanias
historie area. Here a national life wvs born at the cise o f the thir-
teenth century. There is hardly a mountain, a river, a torrent, or any
other landmark, natural or artificial, that in somc \vay or otlier does
not evoke the stormy past so often recalled in the historcal ballads o f
the peasants. Each village church, disintegrating castle, or fortified
manor challenges the historian to seek the reason for its suni\al in an
area where so much has been destroycd by inN^ading bordes.
The peasants along this route are mosy mosneni, or free peasants.
Never ha\ing experienced serfdom, most of them are probably de-
scendants o f the warriors who fought in Draculas army the bulk o f
Dracula's miliury forces consisted o f frceholders since they were
more trustworthy than the boyan. Even during the period o f the Com-
munist regime, peasants in this area proudly remained the owners of
their soil, for collecti\ization proved imworkable in these mountain-
ous districts. Their wooden hoases are more ambitious than tho.se
found else%vhere; the scale larger, the styling somewhat Tyrolean in
character, but the courtyards more extensive, with porches, more ar-
tistically carved. These peasants still tend cattlc and sheep, and they
take any surplus grapes, apples, and pears from their orchards to the
market o f Cimpulung.
Apart from the Germn townships, the Hungarian frontier wa.s
fairly pcaceful in Dracula's time, and relationships \%ith Buda were
cordial for a while. In a sense, Hungarian-Romanian relations had to
be friendiy. Struggling with the Turks on the Danube, Dracula was
hardly able to challenge the formidable gims and fortifcations o f Ca.v
tic Bran, which dominated the v'alley o f the Dambo\ita.
Castle Bran was allegedly founded by a Teutonic knight in the thir-
teenth century. Given the number o f times it was besieged, bumed, or
 CaslU Dracula

p an ially nizcd, it i.i a m iraclc thai .10 m uch o f ii is cxtan t. In l a a s ii

carne into the hands o f the Hungarian kings, and then successively be-
longed to the WaJlachian prince Mircea, the emperor Sigismund,
John H unpdi, his son King Matthias Coninus, the city o f Brasov, the
former royal family, and now the Romanian Ministiy o f Culture. Drac
ula was undoubtedly a guest o f Hunyadi at Bran and later a prsoner
o f his son Matthias.
With its vast halls, dark corridors, multilevel battlements, high water
tower, numerous inner court>ards, Gothic chapel, and rustic Ger-
manic period fumishings, Bran has an atmosphere which conveys,
more than any other existing castle in Romana, the legacy o f the age
o f Dracula. In the middle o f the inner courtyard lies a well, and next
to it, hidden by a covering o f stone, is a secret passage. Following a
winding staircase that sinks one hundred fift>- feet down into the
mountain, one emerges into a cell near the bottom o f the well. Be-
yond the cell is a heavy oak door which opens to another passageway
leading to the safety o f a mountain knoll and farther on to the citadel
o f Brasov. The purposes o f this intricate passageway were manifold:
protection o f the castle's water supply; a place o f refuge; a place for

CaslU Bran: al UJi, the courtyard; at right.

 IN SEARCH OF DRACL' LA

tonure and detencin; and nally, a secret means o f escape. Dracula

was appareny impressed by the features o f this passageway, for very
similar airangements were later contrived in his own castle on the
Arges.
The analogies between Stoker's Case Dracula and the real Case
Bran seem to some too cise to be merely coincidental. Since the ear-
lier edition o f this book. Bran has often been erroneously described
by ofRcials o f the Romanian Tourst Ministry as Case Dracula, per-
haps because it ranks among the most picturesque castles of Transyl-
vania, and |x>ssibly because Dracula's actual castle on the Aiges is
both difRcult to access and rather unphotogenic. Successive Dracula
tours (some o f them sponsored by Dracula societies), Dracula films,
and other commercial ventures have for that reason made extensive
use o f Case Bran. Even more receny it was rumored that Michael
Jackson's agenta leased ie Teutonic fortress for a s
p for the singer, who was very popu
lar in Romana.
The second major route to Transylvania follows the vallc> o f ie

pass near Caif Dracula.

 Castlf Drarula

river O l \ia ihe pass at Tumu Rosu linking ii to Draculas favorite ciiy,
Sihiii. T u m u Rosu i o ftcn m c n tio iifd in clocumcnUi c o n c c m in g Dr.ic-
ula. n i e fortress, built on a much smaller scalc than Bran. lies on a
high bluff on ie left side of thc pass as one proceeds nonh. Only ihc
niins o f iis main towers are still \isible. The fortress was built by the
Saxon cilizens o f Sibiu around on dic site o f an od Romn c;is-
ile, to guard the southem approaches o f the cit>' and as pan o f an out-
ward defensive network against Turkish aiinck. Tumu Rosu means the
Red Tower, commemorating its heroic role in a specific battle, when
its walls were reddened by the blood o f barbaran aailanLs. Although
the castle >%'a.s almosi entirely destroyed on this occasion, the Turks
were never able to capture the Red Tower. or for that matter was
Dracula.
The road to Castic Dracula passes through the Citadel o f the Arges
(Cunea de Arges in Romanian), once the site o f the princely church
(Biscrica Domneasca), thc burial place of many o f Romanias early
princcs. (This is lo be distinguished from the far more ambious
seventeenth-century necrpolis the CathedrBl of the Arges.) Herc in
the princely church, Dracula and his ancestors were annointed
princcs o f thc land by thc hcad of thc Onhodox church in the prcs-
encc o f the basar Icadcrs. Gcnerally, however, Dracula avoided the
citadel and all it represented, for he gol along no better uilli church
ofTicials than he did uitJi tlie boyan, who often intrigued against him
in Tirgo\iste. Castic Dracula, mercly twenty miles to tlie nonh of this
ecclesiastical capital, actcd as a powerful deterrent to potential revolt.
In fact. this ccnter o f church auihority was gcncrally submissivc dur-
ing Dracula's lifetimc.
Wallachian chronicles, as well as popular folklore, place Castle
Dracula high up on a rock on tJie left bank o f the .\rges, just beyond
the .small conununitics o f Arcfu and Cjipatincni. By a strange irony,
Castle Dracula is also known in the chronicles as the fortress o f Poe-
nari, the ame o f another \illage located on the oppositc bank o f the
rivcr. hi fac, one of the oldcst o f these chronicles crediLs Dracula with
just two accomplishnicnLs; The Impaler built tJie castle o f Pocnari,
and the monasten' of Snagov, where he lies buried." Small wonder
that there has been such difficulty in identifying ihe horrible tyrant
and persecutor o f thc Gcnnans Mith thc castle and monasten founder
recorded by the Romanians. Romanian histories, drawing upon the
early chronicles, spcak o f a castle known as Pocnari, convened by
 (M\llf Ihai ula III riirn.
Thi onpunl rnfilinii for
Ihr f)hi>li)fprf,f,h. tnkrn
iti tfjo . uirtittfini
Ihai ula \ mounlaiii
rrlrral (i\ ~the jurtrrw nj
ornan ni ihf ilislml nj
thr rp':.' Thf /iiithnr\
lalrr ulrntifird thr rinn\
a\ tlui\r i>l ('.astir
Dranda.

Dracula into an impregnable retreaL* Local traditon, howev-er, dis

putes this idea o f a single casde, maintaining iat Dracula's casde was
located on die left bank o f die Arges. and tai die Casde o f Poenar
a much oider fortress. no longer exumt was located on the right
bank. If this traditon is correct, one can only assume that early chron*
iclers conised the two stnictures and later historans perpetuated the
mistake.
It will take the work o f the archaeologist to prove this matter For
the tme being, we are inclined to agree with traditon, and with the
eiders o f Arefu. Capatneni. and Poenar thai within die narrow
gorges o f the Arges at a distance o f about one mile from each other,
there were two casdes.
O f the two villages, Arefii, where Draculas casde actually is located.
and Poenar. which chroniclen have taken to be the actual site, die
 Castle Dracula

lalter \vas by far the more important. In the Middle Ages, Poenari V.ZS
a princcly \illage; over the ycars ihe casde built within its confines be-
came the seat o f control of all the ncighboring villagcs, including
Arefu. Deeds made by several princes to monasteries and indmdual
boyan, boih before and after Draculas time, all speak o f land en-
dowed to the Castle o f Poenari. Moreover, Poenari is the only castle
remembered in the documenis of the thirteenth, foiirteenth, and fif-
teenth centuries. Local peasant ules clarified the problem their own
way, but the key to the confusion is that Draculas castle was literally
built out o f the bricks and stones o f the castle o f Poenari. Before de-
scribing this reconstniction, let us briefly suney our findings about
the older Castle o f Poenari.
There are no \isible remains o f the castle, but pea.sants from Poe
nari told US about the remains o f a low-lying wall at the foot o f the
hill which might have formed part o f the outward defense o f a ver)'
ancient fortrcss. That fact could not, however, be scientifcally cor-
roborated. They also stated that when exca\<itions were made not
too many years ago in the local church, the workers carne across
bricks and stones that date back to the time of the Dacians, the
pre-Roman ancestors o f the Romanians. We were also led to some
local mud houses, the chimne>-s o f which contained stones remark-
ably like the Dacian stones found under the church. In addition,
a small museum organized by the local priest displays an amazing
array o f stones, coins, weapons, and other artifacts, some o f which
date to Romn and pre-Roman times. The h>pothesis o f a local priest,
Rev. Jon Stanciulescu, seems quite plausible: the original Case
Poenari was built upen the site of the ancient Dacian fortress of
Decidava. After all, the center o f Dacian power, Sarmisegetuza,
which was destroyed by Trajans Romn legin in a .d . 106, was only
onc hundred miles to the northwest. In accordance with this
theory, Decidaxa was rebuilt by Romanian princes at the cise of
the thineenth centun' to resist Hungarian and Teutonic incursions
from the north, and given the ame o f the \illage which surrounds
it Poenari. It thus gures as a Wallachian fortress with extensive
land holdings and occupied a strategic point on the Trans>'l-
vanian frontier. Poenari survived until Dracula's time, though it was
badly battered by Turkish and Tartar im^iders. In 1462, when pursu-
ing Dracula, the Turks stumbled across the decaying fragments o f
tlie fortress and completed its destruction. WTiat is left o f Poenari is
 IN SEARCH OF DRACU1.A

likely to be found in the foundation o f the \illage church, in peasant

chimneys, in the local museum, and in the rcmaining walls and towers
o f Castlc Dracula itsclf.
We mus tum now to a further complication in the story o f the real
Castle Dracula. In a strict sense, Dracula was not its founder. When he
carne to the throne in 1456, the ruins o f two fortresses faced each
other across the Arges: on the rght bank, the ruins o f the ancient
medieval fortress o f Poenari; on the left, the remnants o f Castle Arges.
One o f the two structures deserved to be rebuilt. Dracula chose the
Castle Arges, which had greater strategic adx-antage, being sited at a
higher point along the river. The Castle Ai^es was probably founded
by the earliesl Romanian prnces and xvas definitely not a Teutonic
fortress. In a sense it representa one o f Romania's first bastions on
Wallachian soil. Stnicturally it bears little resemblance to the much
more formidable Germn or Trans>lvanian fonresses, such as Bran or
Hunedoara, located in Transylvania proper. In fact, like the Wal
lachian castle at Cetateni, it is built on a modest scale and bears some
o f the features o f Byzantine fortficatlons.
Local tales tell that the ancient Romanian prince Basarab withdrew
to his citadel on the Arges following his encounters with the Turks
around 1330. It was considerably fortied by his successors and, like
so many other castles in the regin, had a stormy hisiory even before
Dracula's time. On one occasion at the cise o f the fourteenth cen-
(ury, the Tartars, who had [>enetratcd the heart o f Wallachia, pillag-
ing, buming, and looting on the way, reached the ecclesiastical see of
Cunea de Arges farther down the river. The prince, his bishops, and
boyan fled to the Case Arges. In pursuit along the right bank o f the
river, the Tartan; reached the village o f Capatineni within sight o f the
castle, crossed the river, and camped in a clearing on the left bank.
Wlien they stormed the fortress the next moming, they found not a
man within its walls. The prince, his bishops. and boyan had fled
through a secret passage that led to the banks o f the river. The Tartars
in their vengeance left the castle so badly damaged that it \vas in need
o f reconsMCtion. This reconstruction, in cffect a new construction,
was Draculas contribution. According to local tradition, Dracula is
known as the founder o f the Case Arges or the Castle o f the Impaler
Castle Dracula. Historical chronicles are incorrect only in confus-
ing the ames.
The story o f the construction o f Dracula's castle is very succinctly
described in one o f the ancient Wallachian chronicles:
 CMtle Drantla

So when Easler carne, while all thc citizens were feastinR and tho
young oncs w crc dancing, he surruundcd and capturcd ihcm. All
those who were od he impalcd, and stning ihcm all around the city;
as for the young oncs togedicr with their Mves and childrcn, he had
thcm ukcn just as iht7 were, drcssed up for Eastcr, to Poenari,
where the> were put to work until their clolhes were all tom and thcy
were left naked.

As much as any Romanian document, this one establishes Draculas

reputation for cruelty in his own countn-, for these ensiaved workers
wcrc ncither Turkish or Saxon invaders, bul Dracula's own subjecis.
Despite the passage o f time and many generations, on occasion local
traditions and historical sources agrec on aspects of Romanias grim
history. The stor>- o f Draculas motiv-ation for reconstructing the fa-
mous castle on the Arges, which follows. is one o f the best instances of
coinciding accounts.
Shortly after his ascent to power, Dracula wished to examine thc
precise manner o f his brother Mirceas death, ha\ing heard oniy ru-
mors about the murder. Thus he ordered Mirceas body exhumed
from thc unmarked grave in thc public burial ground in Tirgo\iste.
Upon opening thc coffin he found his brother lying face down, his
body twisted as if gasping for brcath. This grizzly discovery seemed lo
conmi the rumor thai Mircea had been buried alivc.
Draculas cup o f indignation was filled lo the brini, and his servants
witnessed a mad rage equal to those o f han the Terrible. There was al-
ways great cunning in his dementia, however, and Dracula now
planncd a revenge worthy o f ihe crime.
Earlier in the course o f hisjouniey from TransyKania, Dracula had
made a survey o f thc regin o f the two castles on the upper Arges and
was struck by their commanding strategic position. The punishment
o f the boyan and the reconstruction o f thc castle Arges on the left
bank immcdiately becamc linked in his mind. Thus," states a bailad,
our new Prince Dracula assembled those o f high and low o f birth for
all to join in the Easter festi\ities." All attendcd the Eastcr \igil Service
on the cvc o f the obscrvance, the most important religious celcbra-
tion o f the year. The following moming thcrc wcrc to be fcstlvitics, in-
cluding a la\ish banquet in the princely gardens surrounding the city
walls. In addition to the roasied lambs, sweetened cakes, and wincs
pro\ided by the palace, both boyan and merchants were to bring pro-
visions of their own.
 IN SEARCH OF DRACULA

On Easter moming the bcrfon carne lo the meadows. mounted on

nc horses and rding in carriages. The merchants foltowed in carts
or on foot. The metropoliian and the bishops wore their imposing
ecciesiastical robes. Some o f the boyan wore the Hungarian or Cen
tral European nobleman's dress, though others preferred the more
rnate Byzantine style. The merchants and artisans dressed more
simply, some o f them wearng peasant dress essentially identical
to that still wom today. Many o f the men wore the Dacian costume
an embroidered shirt, trousen held by a wide leather belt, a wool-
lined and embroidered vest, and soft pigskin laced sandais. The
boyan'vves gathered in small circles, iisually in accordance with their
rank or court function, and brought handsome Persian or Oriental
carpets to rest on. Cypsy ddlers organized both the music and the
mirth.
The merchants, craftsmen, and guild representatives, equally con-
scious o f rank, formed small groups o f their own. Unperturbed by the
feast o f the wealthy boyan, the middle estte carefully instructed their
apprentices how to settle their less expensive carpets, how to handle
their wine, how to sen-e a u bie in genteel fashion. On such occasions.
they had cntertainmcnt o f their own at a more modcst level.
After the feast, as was customary, the children enjoyed the swings,
carousels, and various games provided by a specifcally organized fair.
Their elders rested on the grass, and the younger folk, both bcryan and
artisans, joined in the hora, a traditional Romanian folk dance. Min-
strels and jesters sang or played for the prince, the boyan, and their
ladies. In this fashion, the evening wore on until the sun had set be-
hind the Carpathians.
Observers related that Draciila seemed preoccupied ihroughout
the day, rarely conversing with the boyan, or joining in the dances, as
was his wont. While the partying was at its height, he conversed se-
cretly with the captains o f the guard, issuing instructions and posting
men under trees and bushes surrounding the meadows. As dusk
tumed into evening. stem words o f command were issued. VMthin sec-
onds, Dracula's soldiers isolated most o f the older boyan and rich mer
chants all easily identiable by their gaudy costumes froni the
rest o f the re\-ellers and had them impaled in the courtyard o f his
palace. The younger boyan and merchants, along with their wives and
children, were enclosed in a prepared paddock and then manacled to
each other.
The operation had been so well organized that few boyan had the
 Cmllf Dracula

tme to flee and seize weapons. In any case, because o f thc largc quan-
lity o f wine they had consumed, many o f them were in a stale o f tor-
|jor. The occasion could not have becn betier chosen. Dracula w-as
inteni upon teaching his boyan a lesson in submission they would
never forget if ihey sunived.
Now conxinced o f ihe unreliability o f his own capital, Dracula had
dctermined to build a new castle; it would be closer lo Transylvania,
on somc secure eIe\-ation far from any well-iraveled highxvay, or any of
llie traditional passes, or any powerful Cennanic fortrcsses. The
northem slopes along the Arges River satisfied him on all these
points. He made up his mind to rebuild Castle Arges \vith the bricks
and stone from the oider Casde Poenari on the Argess southem
slopes. Moreover, the outer w-alls o f the new complex were to be dou-
bled in thickness. Castle Dracula was to be made \irtually impreg-
nable, able to resist the heaviest cannon fire from the Turks. This
scenario also neatly explains why Poenari ha.s been identified as Casde
Dracula.
The fifty-mile trek from Tirgo\iste was a painful one, panicularly
for the fljar women and children. Those who sur^^ved it received no
rest until they reached Poenari. The regin was particularly rich in
lime deposits and possessed good clay, and on Draculas orders ovens
and kilns for the manufacture of bricks had already been prepared.
The concenuation camp at Poenari must have presented a strange
sight to the local peasants, wnth the boyan arri\ing in what xvas left of
their Easter finery. As constniction began, some o f the prisoners
formed a work chain relaying the bricks and stones down the hill from
Poenari; others worked up thc mountain across the \-alley; yet others
made bricks. The story does not tell us how long thc rcconstructon
took, or thc number o f those who died during its course. People
were fcd simply to keep them alive; they rested just long enough to re
store their energy. Tlie chronicles relate that they toiled undl their tat-
tercd clothes literally fell ofF their bodics. Months laier, Dracula had
succeeded in both o f his aims: the powerful w>ar class and the princi
pal merchants had been savagely humiliatcd, and Dracula had his cas-
de retreat.
The path leading from the vallcy to the top o f the mountain where
Casde Dracula is located is not difTicult by any standards o f modem
alpinism. The actual climb takes about onc hour. The first surprisc. as
one reaches the small woodcn bridgc which leads to the main gatc, is
thc smallness of the structure, panicularly when compared with the
 IN SF.ARCH OF D R A C f I. A

vasi areas occupied b>- Case Bran or Case Hunedoara. Howe>er, the
plan o f Case Dracula was limited by the pcrmeter o f the mountain-
top. The \iew is superb, almost majestic, both to the south and east to
wcst. One can see dozens o f \illages scattered among the hills immedi-
ately surrounding the xilley o f the Arges. To the south, barely visible
in the sun-scorched Wallachian hills, lies the cit>' and ecciesiastical
capital knoMH as Cunea de Arges. To the nonh, the snowcapped
mountains of Fagaras divide Transyh'ania from Wallachia proper. h is
perhaps inevitable that Draculas perch reminds today's \isitors of
Hitler's retreat at Berchtesgaden.
The castJe was built on the plan of an irregular polygon, dictated by
the shape o f the summit, approximately i oo feet wide and 120 feet
long. It is built in the style of a small mountain fortress o f B>-zantine
and Serbian rather than Teutonic design. From v^hat liitle re-
mains, one can detect two o f the five original towers resting under a
hea\y overgrowth o f every varietv o f C^rpathian wldflower, greenery,
and fungus. The central main tower, probably the oldest, is in the
shape o f a square. The other two are in the classic cylindrical form.
The thickness o f the walls, reinforced Mth brick on the outside, con-
rms the popular account. These N%-alls, protected b\' conventional
battlements, were originally quite high, and from afar give the impres-
sion o f forming part o f the mountain itself. They were, in due course,
able to withstand Turkish cannon fire.
Crossing the castle's threshold, one can clearly see that within the
fortress there was litde room for extensive maneuvering. Each tower
could have housed oniy twent\- to thirt> soldiers and an equal number
o f retainers and servants. Wlthin the main courtyard it wx>uld have
been difcult to drill more than one hundred men. In the center of
that courtyard was the well. According to folklore, there was aiso a se-
cret passage leading to a separate tunnel into the bowels o f the moun
tain and emerging in a cave on the banks o f the Arges. This was
probably the escape route Dracula used in the autumn o f 1462. The
tunnel, say the peasants, was built solidly and reinforced with stones
joined by grooves and boards to preven t any cave-ins. A few feet away
from the tunnels entrence are the remains o f a vault, which may well
constitute the only vestige of a chapel on the site.
Whatever else there was within the fortress has disappeared without
a trace. The houses o f the attendanLs, the stables, the animal pens. the
outhouses that were customarly erected in small fortications o f this
 CastUDracula

iiaturc, an d ih c ccll w lic ic D racula's irciisurc was slo rc d can be rcadily

imagined. As can thc drawbridgc. which e\idcnily existcd before thc
present siender wooden bridge. The lowers had some openings, for
the peasant ballads speak o f candlelighi \isible at night in ihe varioiis
towers.
Castle Dracula. although continuing lo serve as a strategic defensive
rampart for roughiy a ceniurj- following ihc princes death, soon
ceased to command the attention o f local folklore. The last siini\ing
ston conceming thc castle refers to thc last stage o f Dracula's cam-
paign against the Turks in the fall o f 146a, when thc castle \vas par-
tially dismantJed.
At the end o f thc fifteenth ccntur\, Castle Dracula w-as used as a
prison for political ofTenders. There is a document which relates that
during thc reign o f Vlad the Monk in the late fifteentli century a basar
was thrown inte ie diingeon o f Draculas formcr castlc." The gover-
nor o f the casc at that time was a boyar called Gherghina, who \vas a
brothcr-in-law o f Vlad the Monk and one o f the few basan who had re-
mained lo>al to Dracula. In 1522 the local peasants apparently re-
volted against thcir govemor and the BattJc o f Pocnari took placc.
Shortly thereafter the castle taken over by thc Hungarian king,
who exchanged it for two othcr fortresscs in TransyU'ania.
The peasants of the arca often u lk about the castlc but rarely dar
\isit it. In thc eycs o f thc supcrstitious, thc spirit o f Dracula still domi-
nates the placc. On one o f our \isits we found a peasant with a tat-
tered Bible guarding the castlc at night; he read it constantly while on
dut)- to ward olTIingcring e\il spirits. A fcw ycars ago, during thc Com-
munist regimc, he askcd us to proxide a new Bible to rcplace his ycl-
lowed New Testamcnt a request which the U.S. embassy in
Bucharest counscicd ils politely to rcfusc. Bible traffic was considcrcd
dangerous luitil thc rcvolution o f 1989.
In thc \i\id imagination o f the peasantr)', e\il spirits abound in
abandoncd fortrcsscs whcrc trc;sures wcrc oncc storcd. The brlliant
gold, silvcr, and nisset hucs that brghten thc night sky are belie\ed to
be duc to thc trcasure storcd in a castle, and celestial specters take the
shape o f real creaturcs. some good and some bad. The cursed bat is a
figure of woc in Romanian folklore and dominatcs thc castle battle-
mcnts at night. Peasants relate strange tales o f peoplc with bat-
inflicted woiinds becoming demented and wishing to bite others,
then d\ing, usually within a wcek. These are s>Tmptoms o f rabies, not
vampirism. These stories mix nicely with the Dracula vampirc myih
and provide a ratonal basis for Stokers horror ule.
Eagles that nc5t in the case arca are probably attracied by the
number o f smaller prey anmals. Around the ramparts can be foiind
rabbits, rats, snakes, the occasional stray sheep, mountain goats, many
foxes, even mountain lynx and the Romanian bear. But the most dan-
gerous visitor by far is the wolf. In his novel. Stoker mentions wolves
howling as they accompany Draculas cairiage. If hungry enough dur-
ing the winter, wolves wili attack men. Wild dogs often howl at night
also particularly, as legend would have it, durng a full moon
sending shivers through the hearts o f the most Naliant. These are
some o f the legitmate reasons why spending a night on the site o f
Draculas castle has become a sport. Although the sophisticated, ad-
venturesome students from the University o f Bucharest and elsewhere
are occasionally willing to try their luck and brave the spirit o f Drac
ula, one can hardly blame the superstitious peasants o f the area for
shunning it. In a manner that has almost become a horror flm clich,
when a stianger approaches peasants to ask directons to the castle,
they usually tum away and emphatically refirain from giving help. If
the tourist persists, they simply shrug their shoulders in quiei disbelicf
that anyone should be so bold as to tempt the spirit o f evil. or they
mutter nu u poate, an approximation o f the Germn verbotm.
Beyond such superstitions is a strange belief somewhat reminiscent
o f the medieval Germn obsession that the great Barbarossa would
arise someday to save Germany. This sense o f Dracula's immortality
was expressed by a famous Romanian poet o f the nineteenth century,
Mihai Eminescu, who in a period o f great poltica] turmoil coined the
phrase, Where are you Dracula, now that we need you?" This appeal
to the Impaler could quite apdy have been made during recent Ro
manian history. In fact, the late dictator Ceausescu may have uttered a
similar invocation during the last frenzied days before his execution
in December 1989.
Present-day visitors to the castle prefer to view it from a safe dis-
tance, usually from the opposite knoll where Castle Poenari once
stood. Such a perspective oTers not only the castle itself, but the pic-
turesque mountain scenery surrounding it. Because o f the abrupt
ridge and the heavily forested area, it is almost impossible to photo-
graph the castle at a closer vantage, except by helicopter.
All that is visible o f the castle today are the brck and stone stumps
o f iJircc niain lowcr. As laic iu u visitor reponed seciiig n
o f the other two towers, ihe sunken well, and the secret passageway.
One year later, on January 13, 1913. the peasants in the area reponed
a \iolcnt earth tremor throughoiit the regin. To some it seemed that
the spirit o f Dracula had suddenly aw-akened from centuries o f slum-
l)er. At noon, when the tremor was over, the main tower o f the castle
\vas no more. Its brcks and stones had toppled down the precipice
into the Arges. This earthquake wTought far more destruction on the
castle than either the Turks or the ages o f neglect. Two more severe
earthquakes, in 1940 and 1976, substantially contributed to the cas-
iles deterioration.
No traces remain o f whatever else stood within the fortress. Only
uithin recent years has general interest in Dracula the national hero
and the observance in 1976 o f the five hundredth anniversary o f
Vlads death made the castle into a tourist attraction. To avoid further
decay, the Commission on Historie Monuments decided to shore up

/I ninrtrrnth-cmtury penal sketch of Castle Dmnila showing the tawer walls befan
their dfstnirtion by rarthquakes.
 IN SEARCH OF DRACULA

the existng towers and battlements. The walls have been rebuilt lo
whai was probably their original size, and two o f the five towers are
quite visible now. To facilitate the climb, steps have been constructed
in lieu o f the winding path.
With increased tourism there have been the ine\itable changes.
Along the road at the foot o f the mountain, posters indcate the cas-
tles location. Were Dracula able to view the recent changes to his

.\bmr: C.astle Ihucutu Hatti al

lili- iorff! 1iiss.

j ft: DmniUi the hna: nj

Dracula hiiilt !r\ the Sattoual
ourist Office (if Komaiiia tu
attract allnilimi to llu- ^atnray to
the /amoii'i castlr oii Ihr .
The statue is locatrti iti the iilltife
of Cafiatiiieiii.
 Oi.5fr?r(ifiii
mountain hidcout, his belaied notoret), ihe tourism, and the attend-
ing commcrcialization, the princc who loved soliiude and distrusted
men would surely be disturbed. In spite o f this, the spirit o f the au-
thentic Dracula stll lingen on in this majestic site. More in character
with the historcal prnce, the surrounding area lies entombed in a
morass o f alpina overgrowih in summcr and laycrs o f snow in winter, a
dignied mantle for his principal shrne.
 -------C H A P T E R 7 --------

D R A C U L A H O R R O R STORIES
OF TH E FIFTEENTH
CENTURY*

M o r e f a s c i n a t i n g than the official archives, which

> concntrate on political and diplomatic history, is la petite
htoin the more intimatc stor^' which in the case o f
\ ' s) Dracula is found in contemporar> Germn pamphlets. In
modem parlance, these pamphlets not oniy created bad press
for Dracula, but also became bestsellers in ihe extensive medieval Ger-
manic worid from Brasov lo Strasbourg. The Saxons desire for
vengeance was realized, al least afier Draculas death, by defaming his
characler for centuries lo come. Although this is conlroversial, the ex-
periences o f and stories told by TninsyNanian Saxon refugees may
well lie at the basis o f al] the accounls o f Dracula's misdeeds.
To date, many accounts conceming Dracula have been found, in
places as diverse as the Strasbourg public archives, the Benedictine
monastery o f S t Cali (now known as ihe SiifT Library) in Swiuerland,
and the Benedectine monastery o f Lambach near Salzburg. Most are
prnled, some illustrated with crude woodcuis, and four are in manu-
script form. Such pamphlets were the principal mdium for iransmii-
ling stories and images to the general public in the ffteenth centurv.
Most o f the stories conceming Dracula are tales o f horror with
some son o f moral for the reader. Though distortion is unquestion-
able, their amazing accuracy o f historcal, geographical, and topo-
graphical detail leads scholars to accept much in them as facL The

' The appcndixn conuiii ininslaoiu of ihr Gennan Si. Gall Maniucrpl: sorral ules,
including a Te' \-aranu, rrom Romanian folUore; and (he oidnt Ruuian maniucrpi
about Dracula.
 T g > ie 3 d 7 t (id > 9 n g e r d n s r a u fr a n
Ufye trTtfyzotem lfytfyyffw at v o n t> m wDoi tcciu^.
DrotoU (oaybcUnitcc dicIcOc erfpfi vnbgcpM tca
eiiM nit den ^8tcm.yit dhon Ccffct gcj^tat. t pd r dic
IO tgT c^a ii6 m ^ s< r1 ^ n iU fl< n la m er40t.3t<j
^ ----------------- - f y ^ 6 f e m d p

f i iS S i

From thf ftamphlrl frublishni by Ambrositis Hubtr in al Nurrmhtrg. Thr trx

abavr the impalrmmt scmr slatrs:
H m hfgins a very crufl Jrghiming story about a wild bloodthinty man,
Dracula thf voniod. Hmi< he impaUd pmpte and mastrd Ihrm and with
IhrtThrad-i boiled thrm in a ketllr, and how hr ikinnrd propU and harkrd
thrm into piren like a hrad of rabbagr. He atso mastrd the children of moth-
m and they had to eat their childnm themselves. And many other horrible
things air urrillni in ihis trart and abo in which land he ruled.
 IN SEARCH OF DRACL' LA

Germn stores about Dracula can be considered bona de histor-

cal sources; they constitute a credible account o f Draculas life and
times, particularly when they coincide with the formal diplomatic dis-
patches.
Those responsble for starting the legend were hardiy gothic au-
thors but Germn Catholic monks from Trans)lvania, refugees who
fled the countr) because o f Dracula's brutal attempt to destroy the
Catholic institutions and confscate their wealth. U ke all fugitives,
they had a story to tell, and, as so often happens in these instances,
the story exaggerated their plighu
The oidest surviving manuscript ^^tis once housed in the library at
the monastery o f Lambach, near Sal/burg; the original has been lost,
but a copy was made by a Germn scholar, W. Wattenbach, in 1896
(one year before the publication o f Stokers Dracula). Other manu-
scripts are now located at the British Museum and the public library
in Colmar, France, as well as in the StifT Library in St. Gall, Switzer-
land.
The separate segments o f the Sl Gall narrative, all verv- similar in
style and composition, inidally strike the reader as very brief sum-
maries o f horror stories, undoubtedly among the first o f their kind.
They seem to be designed for an unsophisticated audience. Dracula is
ponrayed as a demented psychopath, a sadist, a gruesome murderer,
a masochist, one o f the worst tyrants o f history, far worse than the
most depra\-ed emperor^ o f Rome such as Caligula and ero." Among
the crimes attrbuted to this Dracula are impalement, boiling alive,
buming, decapitaton, and dismemberment.
Recent research has enabled us to reconstruct the route followed by
the author o f that manuscript Brother Jacob of the Benedectine
order and describe the circumstances o f his first encounter with
Dracula. Brother Jacob, together with two companions, Brothers
Hans and Michael, were chased oui o f their abbey, called Gorrion
(present-day Goijni grad in Slovenia), for refusal to abide by the new
rules adopted by the order. Forced into exile, the monks crossed the
Danube and fled north to Wallachia, where they found asylum in a
fifteenth-century Franciscan monaster>- still extant in Tirgoviste, not
very far from Dracula's palace. A chance encounter with Dracula took
place outside the prncely palace. Dracula, always suspicious o f visitng
ecclesiastics (particularly Catholics), invited the monks to his throne
room. He first ironically addressed Brother Michael, wishing to ascer-
 DrantlaHonortorinof(l\rfprm
l/lCnillir)
tain whcther od had a place rescrved for him in paradise noOvith-
standing the many \ictims he had seni to dcath. In a vs^y," added the
prince, could one in the eyes o f God be considered a saint, if one has
shortened the hcav> biirdens of so many unfonunate people on this
earth?" VMiai concemed Dracula most was the expiation o f his sins
after death, a concern implicit in his attenon to good works as a
means o f atonement: construction o f and gifts to monastcries, services
for ihe dead. Ob\iously intimidated by the awcsome Impaler, Brother
Michael attempted to assuage Dracula's fears o f hellfire. Sire, you can
obtain saKation,' replied the monk, for God in His mercy has saved
many people." Thus, \siih h)pocritical words Brother Michael suc-
ceeded in sa\ing his own neck. But Dracula needed additional reas-
surance from the other monks. He therefore summoned Hans the
Porter, asking him more blundy this time. Sire monk, tell me truly,
what will be my fate after death?" The latter, who had the courage of
his convictons, w-as forthright in his answer and reprimanded the
prince for his crimes: Great pain and suffering and pitiful tears will
ne\er end for you, since you, demented tyrant, have spilled and
spread so much innocent blood. It is even concei\able that the de\il
himself would not w-ant you. But if he should, you will be confined to
hell for ctemity." Then, with a pause. Brother Hans added: I know
ihat I will be put to dcath by impalemeni without judgment for the
honesty o f my words de\oid o f flatter\-, but before doing so, give me
the privilege o f ending my .sermn." Annoyed yet fearful, Dracula al-
lowed the friar to proceed: Speak as you will. I will not cut you ofT."
Then followed what surely mus have been one o f the most damning
soliloquies that Dracula ever allowed anyone to utter in his presence:
You are a wicked, shrewd. merciless killer; an oppressor, always eager
for more crime; a spiller o f blood; a tyrant; and a torturer o f peor
people! What are the crimes that justify the killing o f pregnant
women . . . ? VNTiat have their litde children d o n e .. .. whose lives you
have snufTed out? You have impaled those who never did any harm to
you. Now you bathc in the blood o f the innocent babes who do not
even know the meaning o f evil! You wicked, sly, implacable killer!
How dar you accuse those whose delicate and pur blood you have
mercilessly spilled! I am amazed at your murderous hatred! What im-
pels you to seek revenge upon them? Give me an immediate answer to
these charges!" These extraordinary words both amazed and enraged
Dracula. He contained his anger. however, and replied calmly, re-
asscrting his ovwi Machiavellian political philosophy, I will reply will-
ingly and make my answer known to you now. W'hen a farmer wishes
to clear the land he must not oniy cut the weeds that have groun but
also the roots that lie deep undemeath the soil. For should he omit
cutting the roots, after one year he has to start anew, in order that the
obnoxious plant does not grow again. In the same manner, the babes
in arm who are here will someday grow up into powerful enemies,
should I allow them to reach manhood. Should I do otherwise, the
young heirs will easily avenge their fathers on this earth."
Hans knew his fate was sealed but insisted on having the last word:
You mad tyrant, do you really think you will be able to Uve etemally?
Because o f the blood you have spilled on this earth, all will rse before
God and His kingdom demanding vengeance. You foolish madman
and senseless, unhearing tyrant, your whole being belongs to hell!
Dracula became mad with anger. The monk had pricked him where it
hurt most, in his consciente and in his belief that because he was ap-
pointed prince by God, who, in His mercy, would have pity on his
soul. He seized the monk with his own hands and killed him on the
spot. Foreaking the usual procedure, he forced the monk to lie down
on the floor and repeatedly stabbed him in the head. Writhing in pain
on the bloodstained floor, Hans died quickiy. Dracula had him
hanged by his feet from a cord. He then hoisted the unfortunate
wretch on a high stake in front o f the Franciscan monastery. For good
measure he impaled his donkey as well.
One can well imagine the efTect o f this gruesome sight on the re-
maining monks. Terrified, they quickiy abandoned the monastery.
Brother Michael, whose cowardice had saved his life, and Brother
Jacob, his surviving companion, crossed into Transylvania, then
sought refuge in varous Benedictine hoiises in lower Austria and at
St. Cali in Switzerland. There they related iheir unsavor>' adventures
to other monks, the tales obviously colored by the anguish o f a cise
escape. It was in this manner that the first Dracula horror story was
bom at the end o f 1462.
Brother Jacob setded at Melk, a large abbey on the Danube. This
abbey, the inspiration for Umberto Ecos detective thriller The ame of
the Rose, still occupies its commanding position on a hill dominating
the river and is one o f the most palatial Benedictine houscs in Eu-
rope. It was at Melk that Brother Jacob met other Benedictine refu-
gees from Transylvania. Draculas horrors undoubtedly became a
 Draflit HomrSlomofIheFifienlhCmlury
highlight o f conversaiion among the Romanian and Germn monks
actachcd to chis grandiose monastery, and some o f these stores were
inserted into ihe annals o f the abbey. It was also at Melk that Brother
Jacob met ihc court joel of ihe emperor Frederick III, Michel
Beheim, who lived at Wiener Neustadt, just a fcw miles from the
abbey. By that time Beheims skill at uriting history in verse \vas well
established. Among his many historcal poems H-as a history o f the
Varna crusade, highlighting the role o f Draculas brother Mircea. In
formation o f Brother Jacobs misadventures at Draculas court whet-
ted Beheims appetite for yet another poem on the extraordinar>-
Dracula family. The courtier sought out the monk in the summer of
1463. The poem was likely completed in that year.
This poem represents by far the most extensive contemporar>- ac-
count of Dracula's life stor>-. 0 \er a thousand Unes, the original manu-
script is hoiised in the library o f the Universit>- o f Heidelberg, where
most o f Beheims other original manuscripts are kept. He entided the
poem Story of a Bloodthirsty Madman Called Dracula of Wallachia and
read it to the Holy Romn Emperor Frederick III during the late win-
ter o f 1463. This story o f Draculas cnieles \vas e\idently to the em-
perors taste, for it was read on several occasions from 1463 to 1465
when he was entertaining important guests.
The Progressive popiilarization o f the Dracula story, however, was
due to the coincidence o f the invention o f the printing press in ie
second half o f the fifteenth century and the production o f cheap rag
papen The first Dracula news sheet destined for the public at large
was printed in 1463 in either Vienna or Wiener Neustadt. Later,
money-hungry printers saw commercial possibilities in such sensa-
onal stories and continued printing them for profit. This confirms
the fact that the horror genre conformed to the tastes o f the fifteenth-
centur>- reading public as much as it does today. We suspcct that Drac
ula narratives became bestsellers in the late fteenth century, some of
the first pamphlets with a nonreligious theme. One example o f ihe
many unsavor> but catchy tilles is: The Frighiming and Truly Extraordi-
nary Story of a Wiched Blood-thinty Tyrant Called Prime Dracula.
No fewer than thirteen diflerent fifteenth- and sixteenth-century
Dracula stories have been discovered thus far in the N-arious Germn
states within the former empire. Printed in Nuremberg, Lbeck, Bam-
berg, Augsburg, Strasbourg, Hamburg, etc., many o f diem exist in sev
eral editions.
 IN SEARCH OF DRACUI.A

Woodrut portra o/Draeula Jwm

loan Bogian 's 1896 pubtication
Vlad Tepes, whm s soune is
identified as a fiJUmth- or six-
Uenth-cmturj Germn pamphUt
that was in Budapest.

The following exccrpi from the tille page of a Germn pamphlet ii

a lurid preview o f what lay in store for the reader:

The shocking story of a MONSTER and BERSERKER called Dracula

who committed such unchristian deeds as killing men by placing
them on stakes, hacking them 10 pieces hke cabbage, boiling moth-
ers and children alive and compelling men to acts of cannibalism.

By way o f further enticemeni, the a ileteers promised

many other shocking revelations, plus mention o f the country over
which Dracula ruled. For dramatic purposes, the frontispiece o f sev
era! pamphlets included a woodcut depictng the tyrant Dracula din-
ing happily amid a forest o f his impaled victims. Others simply showed
Draculas fiace, but with distortcd features. One printed in 1494 has a
woodcut portraying a bleeding, suTering Christ.
The deeds attributed lo Dracula in the Germn nanatves are so ap-
palling that the activities o f Stokers bloodsucking character seem
tame by compariaon. The following excerpt is an example o f Drac
ulas unspeakable tortures unequaled by e\-en the most blood-thirsty
tyrants o f history such as Herod, ero and Diocletian."
 Dracula Horror Stories of ihf Ftfteenth Cmtury

O n cc lie had a grcat poi madc \Nth two handies and over it a staging
de\ice with planks and through it he had holes made, so that a nian
would fall through the planks head first. Then he had a great fire
built undemeath the heads and had ^ater poured into the pot and
boiled men in this way.

The woodciits graphically demnstrate that there were many meth-

ods o f impalement: the stake penetrating the navel, the rectum, or
piercing ihe heart as \ampires might say it causing instant death.
The berserker" ^v-as not deterred by age, sex, nationality, or religin.
Pamphlets mention ihe killing o f native Romanians, Hungarians, Ger-
mans, Turks, and Jew's; Gypsies, it seems, incurred Draculas wrath on
frequent occasions. Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Moslems, and
heretics also perished. Motheni and even sucklings were executed;
sometimes childrens heads were impaled on their mothers breasts.
There was, it seems, a stake in constant readiness at Draculas palace.
The Germn writers relate that asidt* from impaling his victims,
Dracula decapiuted them; cut off noses, ears, sexual organs, limbs;
hacked them to pieces; and bumed, boiled, roasted, skinned, nailed,
and buried them alive. In one verse Beheim described Dracula as dip-
ping his bread in the blood o f his victims, which technically makes
him a li\ing \ampire a rcference that may have induced Stoker to
make use o f this term. According to the Germn sources he also com-
pelled others to eai human flcsh. His cruel refinements included
smearing salt on the soles o f a prisoners feet and allowing animals to
lick it ofT. If a relative or friend o f an impaled \ictim dared remove the
body from the stake, he was apt lo hang from the bough o f a nearby
tree. Dracula terrorizcd the citizenry, leaving cadavers at various
strategic places until bcasts or the clements or both had reduced
them to bones and dust.
How credible are these stories? Were they based on concrete histor-
ical fact, were they the product of sadistic propagandists seeking to
awe or amuse, or were they written by monks simply to ofTer diversin
from the daily fare o f religious literature? Or, as some critics o f these
anecdotes have suggested, were they in fact contrived on orders o f the
Hungarian court to destroy Draculas reputation and justify the harsh
treatment subsequently meted out to him in prison? It would then fol-
low that a common model inspired all the ffteenth<entury Dracula
narraves, wheiher Germn or not.
 IN SEARCH OF DRACULA

The Hungaran court had strong reasons for discrediting Dracula

and ha\ing him safely removed from power. Aside from oiher factors,
his strong aulocratic rule threatened Hungarian hegemony in Tran-
syU-ania. However, oven granng that a common Germn anii-Dracula
model may have inspired the accounts o f the oficial Hungarian court
chronicler, Antonio Bonfinius, one nds it hard to account for the
similarit> o f the many other Dracula narratives written in a v'ariety of
languages and circulating over w dely scattered geographic and polti
ca] regions. For instante, the Russian Dracula manuscrpt closely coin
cides with the Germn stories. Yet to assume that all of these were
mere translatons o f an original Germn source is to credii the f-
teenth century with twentieih-century efficiency o f transmission. In
addition, the Russian and other narratives are sufficiently dififerent in
their explanation o f the crimes to account for a single source.
One major argument against the theory o f a common horror story
prototype is provided by the oral ballads and traditions that contain
anecdotes similar to those mentioned elsewhere, yet explain a\vay the
Impaler's crimes by providing rational motives. The Romanian peas-
anLs could undentand neither Germn or Slavonic, or read or
write cvcn their own language. The Romanian Dracula narratives
were stories composed in his lifetime, simply transmitted orally from
one generation to another, very much in the manner o f the Viking
sagas. Not untl the twentieth century were they formally committed
to print, and it is safe to assume that a few Romanian anecdotes still
go unrecorded.
One can pursue the argument against a single source by poiniing
out that idntica! stories about Dracula appeared in the reports o f of-
ficial chroniclers, diplomis, and traveler; in the folklore o f neigh-
boring states; and in a great number o f languages: Italian, French,
Latin, Czech, Polish, Serbian, and Turkish, obviously written by inde-
pendeni observers or commentators or sung by pea.sants.
To the determined skeptic, a sound yardstick o f credibility is pro
vided by the reports o f diplomats stationed in the nearby capitals of
Buda and Constantinople. Diplomats reporting to their home govem-
ments are usually wary o f embellished facts, and their dispatches have
to be terse and to the poinL Here is a quote from the papal legate at
Buda, Nicholas o f Modrussa, reporting to Pop>e Pius II in 1464, refer-
ring to a specifc massacre in which Dracula killed 40,000 men and
women o f all ages and nationalities:
 Dracula Honor Slorifs o f the fftrenth Century

He killed some by breaking ihem under ihe wlieeis o carts; oiheR

strippccl ur ilicir cluihcs tvcrc skinnvcl alivc iip lo thcir ciilniiis; idli-
ers placed upon stakes, or roasted on red-hoi coals placed undcr
them; othcrs puncturcd \sith slakcs picrcing ihcir hcads, ihcir
breasts, thcir biutocks and the middle of iheir entrails, \\i(h the stakc
emerging from their moiiths; in ordcr ihat no form of cnieln- be
missing he stiick sukes in both the mothcr's breaste and ihrusi thcir
babies unto thcm. Finally he killed others in \'arious ferocious w-aw.
torturing them \sith many kinds of instniments such as the atrocioiis
cruelties of the most frghtTuI t\rant coiild de\ise.

A contemperar)- papal nuncio, Cabriele Rangone, bishop o f Erlau, re

poned in 1475 that by that date Dracula had personally authorized
the murders o f 100,000 people. This figure, if inte, is equiv-alent to at
least one-fth o f the total population o f Dracula's principality, though
the number obviousiy includes Turks, Germans, and other enemies.
In faimess to the narratives of the Germn monks, one should note
that by mentioning precise iocations in Transylvania and elsewhere,
dates, historical figures, cities, districts and towTiships, and specific
fortresses and churches, a measure o f credibility is added to their ac-
counts. In addition, they provide a fairly accurate gcopolitical and
topographical description o f TransyK-ania. With pinpoint accuracy
one Germn pamphlet, published in Nuremberg in 1499, refers to in
dividual sections o f Brasov, or Kronstadt (Kranstatt in Low Germn di-
alect cited below).

And he led awTjy all those whom he had capturcd outside the city
called Kranstatt near the chapel of St. Jacob. And at that time Drac
u la. . . had the endre suburb bumcd. Also . . . all those whom he
had takcn captive, men and women, young and od, children, he had
impaled on the hill by the chapel and all around the hill, and undcr
them he procecded to eat at table and enjoycd himself in that w-ay.

Hiis particular horror occurred outside tlie fortifications of Bra.sov

in April 1459, undoubtediy one o f Draculas most dramatized airoci-
ties. Dracula's famous meal among the impaled cadavcrs was immor-
talized in nvo woodcuts, one printed at Nuremberg in 1499, the other
at Strasbourg in 1500. The mention o f smaller townships, individual
villages, monasteries, and fortresses further strengthens the historicity
o f the accounts. Although identification is at times difculi since most
Germn ames in use durng the fifteenth century have been re-
placed by Romanian ones, and some ancient lownships have now dis-
appeared, it has been possible with the help o f sixteenth-century maps
to retrace Draculas path o f destniction through Trans>l\ania.
Among the sources to which the historian can tum to verify the au-
thenticity o f the Germn accounts is the rich primary documentation
in the archives o f Brasov and Sibiu, fortifed cities that figure promi-
nently in all the Germn accounts. The Sibiu archive includes, among
other tems, one missive by Dracula himself, bearing the awesome sig-
nature o ra k u ly a , a nickname that he adopted to demnstrate that he
considered himself son o f the crusading Dragn.
As the criminal investigator seeking the truth about a suspect looks
for a motive, so the historian testing the veracity o f these Germn sto-
ries looks for Dracula's motivation to commit his horrible deeds. Un-
doubtedly there was the occasional irrational streak in his character,
but we have found all along that such moments were often accompa-
nied by a keen awareness o f the problem he was attempting to resolve.
Some o f his motives mentioned in the various Germn horror stories
are best summarized below.
Revmge. The killing o f Dracula's faiher and brother, Dracul and
Mircea, related in the first episode o f the St. Gall manuscrpt, are au-
thentic historical iacts. The assassinations both took place in 1447.
Dracula's investigation into Mirceas murder prompted his enslave-
ment o f the nobles and citizens o f Tirgo\iste, which led to the con-
struction o f Castle Dracula.
The execution in 1456 o f Vladislav II, Draculas predecessor, can
also be credited to revenge, since Vladislav was in part responsible for
the assassination o f Draculas father.
Inter-famUy feuds. The struggle between the two rival factions o f the
Wallachian princely family, the Draculas and the Danestis, was a sung-
gle for survival; it helps account for many o f Draculas massive raids.
For example, it was because o f the defection and betiayal o f his half
brother, Vlad the Monk, that Dracula des-oyed cities and villages in
his own enclave.
Protection of TVansylvanian commme. Most o f Draculas vindictiveness
against the Germn Saxon population o f Transylvania was due to an
ill-defned but rising patriotsm, directed in this instance against the
commercial monopoly exercised by the Germn Transylvanian Saxons
 Dracula H om r Storin of thr Fifleenlh Cmury

in iill R om iiiiian pr\-incfs. For inataiuc:. ilji- in cid cn l in cn tin n rd hy

Beheim of Draculas arrest o Germn youths traveling in Wallachia il-
lusiratcs ihis intense belief in ic naonal sovereigniy o f his sute. In
1459 after secreily recalling his own Wallachian merchanLs from Tran-
syivania, Dracula apprehended four hundred German-speaking Tran-
syU^anian trainces who had come to Wallachia in order to leam the
Romanian language. He had them assembled in a room and bumed
alive. Dracula undoubtedly saw these apprentices less as trainces than
as spies seni by ihe Saxon merchants o f Brasov and Sibiu to leam
about nativo niethods o f production.
Establishment of personal autharity. As pre\iously relatcd, when Drac
ula first carne to rule in 1456 Wallachia w-as beset by intemal anarchy,
boyar intrigue, rival factions, and Hungarian political pressure. The
mass basar impalement is \i\idly described in Beheim's poem and re-
counted in other sources. (The killings resulted from thc lighthearted
answers o f tlic nnr council to Dracula's question: How many reigns
have yon my loyal subjects personally experienced in your lifetime?")
Thus Wallachia was immcdiately and horribly instructed that the
prncely title, and all that it implied, \vas not to be taken lightly. Morc-
over, the property o f the victims was distributed to Dracula adherents,
who formed a new nobility witli a vested interest in the survi\al o f thc
regime.
Affinnalion of naional sovrrrignty. Some o f Dracula's motives to com-
mit atrocities against the Turks werc surely p>crsonal in nature, the re-
sult o f the sufTering he experienced during his imprisonment in
Egrigoz when he was a boy. But he was impelled by national concems,
as well.
Draculas defiancc of thc Turk-s includcd thc famoas scene in thc
thronc room o f Tirgo\istc, when Turkish representativcs failcd to rc-
move their turbans. This ston; concliiding with Draculas moralizing
about the impropriety o f imposing Turkish customs upon another na-
tion, clcarly indicatcs his intcntion o f afTirming fiill national sovcr-
cignty over limitcd sovereignty.

Another indication o f the vcracity o f the Germn stories is what they

omit. For cxample, Beheim's poem incliides an invaluable, detailed
description o f Draculas last days o f freedom in the fall o f 1462, when
he appealcd to the Hungarian king for help and protection following
his flight to Castle DrBcula. It does no/include an account o f Dracula's
subsequent imprsonment in Hungary; an understandable omission
since Germn Transylvanian witnesses could hardiy have been present
in Buda.
In additon to anecdotes which can easily be placed in a geographi-
cal or histoncal context are a number which cannot be connected to
any specifc place or date, but which are nevenheless mentioned in
the v^rious Germn texts and form an integral pan o f the story.
The authenticity o f such anecdotes can be substantiated because
they occur in all three variants, Germn, Slavonic, and Romanian,
and, for reasons explained, they could not have derived from a com-
mon liteiary model. In terms o f content, moral and political philoso-
phy, and e\-en specic methods o f punishment, they coincide fairly
closely with those anecdotes that do have historical validit). They re
vea! characterstics o f Dracula which corresf>ond with traits ex-
pounded in the other anecdotes. They describe events and policies
which can be verified.
One story tells o f a famous fountain in a deserted square in Tirgo-
viste where travelers habitually would rest and refresh themselves.
Dracula ordered a golden cup to be permaneny stationed here for
all to use. Nevcr did that cup disappear throughout his reign. He was.
after all, a law and order ruler.
A second anecdote tells o f a foreign merchant who spcnt the night
at an inn and. being aware o f the reputation o f Dracula's country for
honesty, left his treasure-laden cart in the Street. Next moming, to his
amazement, he found that one hundred sixty gold ducats were miss-
ing. He immediately sought an audience with the prince. Dracula sim-
ply replied, Tonight you will find your gold." To the citizens of
Tirgoxiste he gave the ultimtum: Either you find the thief or I will
destroy your town." Certain o f success in advance, Dracula com-
manded that one hundred sixty substitute ducats plus one exua one
be placed in the can durng the night. Duly the thief and the original
ducats were found. Having proved the honesty o f his capital, Dracula
desired to test the ethics o f the foreigner. Fonunately, he was honest
and admitted to the additonaJ ducaL While impaling the thief, Drac
ula told the merchant that such would undoubtedly have been his fate
had he proved dishonesL
Both o f these stories are in keeping with contemporary references
to Draculas attempt to set a strict code o f ethics in his land a most
difficult thing to implement in a society known for its Byzantine cyni-
cism and absence o f moral standards, but not an impKJssible one, since
 Dracula Horror Storirs of the Fifiemth Cenlury

Dracula enforced public moralit\ by means o f severe p

Nairativfs aboiii burning thc p>oor and ihc sick are more diflicuk lo
rationniizc. Perhaps bccause o f the exigcncics o f war Dracula could ill
afford to feed useless mouths. Regarding the poor, Diacula may have
imagined he N\as sending them to Paradise where they would suffer
less, in accordance with Scripiurc. In the case o f the sick, one might
arge it was a form o f mercy killing or perhaps an attempt to rid the
couniry o f thc plague or other disease.
Throiighout the \'arous sagas one aiso notes a sadistic sexualit>: the
ritual and manner o f impalement, a husbands forced cannibalism o f
his wife's breasts, and similar horrors. Here, again, Dracula employs
morbid measures to impose puritanical morality. The extern o f Drac-
ulas indignalion against an unfaithfiil woman almost surpasses belief.
Dracula ordered her sexual organs to be cut out. She was then
skinned alive and displayed in public, her skin hanging separately
from a pole in the middie o f the marketplace. The same punishment
^vas applied to maidens who did not keep their virginity, and to
unchaste widows. In other instances, Dracula was known to have nip-
ples cut from womens breasts, or a red-hot iron suke shoved through
the vagina until the instniment emerged from the mouth.
\Miat explanation might successfully reconcile Dracula's apparent
attraction to women with the sa\-ager> o f his sexual crimes? One obvi-
ous conjecture suggested by the phallic use o f the stake is some sort of
sexual inadequac>-, most likely partial impotence.
There are other, general considerations which must be kept in
mind when ex'aluating Dracula's criminality. One is the proverbial
concern o f Newing a man's actions according to the standards o f his
time. Dracula's age was that o f the spider king, Louis XI; Ludovico
Sforza thc Moor; the Borgia pope, Alexander VI; his son Cesare; and
Sigismondo Malatesu. One could go on and on enumerating their
brutal contemporares. The point is that thc Renaissance, for all its
humanism, was marked by extraordinan- inhumanity.
Impalement, though never before or since practiced on so wide a
scale, was not Draculas invention. It was known in Asia and practced
by the Turks. One recorded instance in the West is attributed to John
Tiptoft, Earl o f Worcester, durng the War o f the Roses, and he had
Icamed it from thc Turks.
Dracula's cruel traits were not unique in his family, either. W'e know
lite abKiut his father, except that he was a crusader o f the Order o f
the Dragn. Dracula's eldest legitmate son is remembered as Mihnea
 IN SF.ARCH OF DRACUI.A

the Bad. Also, Dracula spent more years in prison than he did on ihe
throne; his first imprsonment, by the Turks, began when he \vas no
more ihan fifteen. But most o f his experiences seemed to reinforce
one facu life was insecure and cheap. His father \vas assassinated; a
brother was biired alive; other relatives were killed or tortured; his
first wife killed herself; subjects conspired against him: his cousin, a
swom friend, betiByed him; Hungarians, Germans, and Turks pur-
sued him. W'hen reviewng Dracula's life in light o f his imprisonment
and the chaos o f his early yeare, it becomes all too clear that horror
begets horror.
 -------C H A P T E R 8 --------

THE H ISTO RICAL DRACULA,

1462-1476: IM P R IS O N M E N T
A N D DEATH

D r a C U L A S T W E L V E Y E A R S OF I M P R I S O N M E N T
* in Hungary constitute the most obscure phase o f his extra-
ordinary careen Romanian oral and \sTtten sources are un-
derstandably silent about the princes experiences at that time,
since they took place far from the Transyhanian and Wallachian
regions. Turkish chroniclers had no means o f being apprised o f Drac-
ulas fate because technically the Turks were at war vsith Hungary. The
Germn publicists, having triumphed in their anti-Dracula cause,
were less interested in the subject; Dracula was safely removed from
the Wallachian throne, which was all they desired.
Dracula succeeded in escaping from his casile, besieged by the
Turks. He managed to descend the treacherous Transylvanian slopes
at the head o f a small mercenary forc, and they went to seek support
from his formal ally King Matthias Corvinus o f Hungary to whom he
had written asking for militar)- help. The Germn court poet Michel
Beheim narrates the Dracula story only to the point o f his imprison-
ment by the Hungarian king in 1462 and recounts the following dra-
matic e%ents;

The king of Hungary declared himsclf ready to come to the aid of

Dracula uith a large army and set in motion from the city of Buda.
He took the shortest routc to Trans>l\ania. The king aiso sent reas-
surng messages to Pope Pius II to the cffeci that he would soon at-
tack the Turks on the Danube.

Bonfinius, Matthiass historian, reaTirmed this Information. The

king," he wrote. was proceeding to Wallachia in order to librate
Left: KingMatthias Corvinus, ton
ofjobn Hunyadi, kingof
Hungary.

Below kft: Solomon i toioer.

Visead; one of Ihe places whm
Dracula was confined whiU a
prisoner of King Mallhias.

Btlow righl: An arlists imprrssion

o f King Mallhias s summer palace
al Visegrad on the Danube. Dracu-
la was held h m under house amst
from 1462 lo 14 74 . The caslU
waUs exiend lo Ihe Danube, where
Solomon s lower is located. The
king's palace is on Ihe summil of a
hilL Even if Dracula was delained
al Ihe lower. he would have been
pvfseni al Ihe palace whm impar-
 The Historical Dracula, 1462-1^76: mprisonmmt and Death

D racula froin tlic Tiirks . . . an d he woulci givc a rtrlativc o f his lo ih c

Wallachian prince as a wife." When he leamed that Matthias had
reachcd Brasov, Dracula, siill wary o f the kings intenons, took up
residence in the Schcii district, the Romanian section o f town which
lay outside the city gates. The t\vo men met in whai is now the town
hall, still standing in the hean o f the cit>. They maintained a pretense
o f negotiaiions during a five-week period.
After weeks o f fruitless talks, Dracula suggested to Matthias that
they finally act and embark on a campaign to liberate Wallachia from
Turkish control under Dracula's brother Radu. The king gave him a
body o f soldiers under the leadership o f Jan Jiskra o f Brandys, a for-
mer Slovak Hussite leader. Jiskra had litde love for Dracula and re-
sented his support o f the Hunyadis during the interna! strife in
Hungar), while he had espoused the imperial cause. The small contin-
gent, composed of a few remaining mercenaries and o f Hungarians
and Slo\-aks, \s-as ostensibly to provide the \anguard for a larger Hun-
garian forc that was supposedly to have followed under the com-
mand o f Matthias. On Dccember 5 the party reached the fonress of
Konigstein, at the basin o f the Dimbo\ita, high up in the Carpathians,
where Dracula had established his headquarters a few weeks before
while awaiting Matthiass arrix-al at Brasov.
Draculas contingent and their war wagons were slowly lowered
down from the high fortress to the Valley o f the Saxons below. To the
north loomed the majestic, lofty, snow<overed Carpathian Moun-
tains; from the castle walls there \\-as a sheer thousand-foot drop
straight down a wall o f stone, rendering the castle wholly inaccessible
from the \-alley below. It was oniy on the next day, when almost all of
Draculas soldiers had been lowered by ropes and pulle>-s to the lush
\-allc> below, that the Slo\'ak mercenary seized them. Dracula, unable
to resist, separated from his soldiers, was captured under secret orders
from the Hungaran king. Far below in the \alley, his men cried out in
\ain for their captured leader. There was nothing they could do to
save him.
Jiskra brought Dracula back to Brasov, but once they were within
the cit)' walls the Slovak >vas replaced by a more trustworthy Hungar-
ian bodyguard. The royal retinue and its important prisoner then left
for Alba lulia, where Dracula was imprisoned in the fortress. It was
oniy there that some form o f judicial inquiry into Draculas conduct
was set in motion to justilv the arrest. Then they proceeded by way of
Medias, Turda, Cluj, and Oradea. and crossed the froniier o f Hungary
near Debrecen. Thcy finally reached Buda around Chrstmas o f 1462.
Despite all the precautons that had been taken by King Matthias,
the arrest o f Dracuia only months after he had been universally
greeted as a hero in the successful war against Mehmed created a
good deal o f constemation among the Europcan powers particu-
larly in Venice and Rome, where large sums had been spent in the
ame o f crusading. The arrest became a concern for all those powers
that had a stake in the anti-Ottoman struggle. Matthias \s'as badly in
need o f a legitmate explanation for his drastic action.
Some extraordinary documents pro>ided the king with the most
damning jusfication for Dracula's arrest. Three letters bearing Drac-
u las signature, wrtten from a place called Rothcl and dated Novem-
ber 7, 1462, appeared, only copies o f which have survived. One of
these letters was addressed to Mehmed himself, another lo the rene-
gade vizier Mahmud, and the third to Prince Stephen the Creat o f
Moldavia. All three seem to reveal an unaccounuble change o f at-
titude and policy on Draculas part. In the first, Dracula addressed
Sultn Mehmed in abject and ser\ile terms such as emperor o f em-
fx-roni" and lord and master." Dracula humbly bcggcd forgiveness
for his crimes, and offered his services to the Turks to campaign
alongside the sulun, to conquer Transyh'ania and Hungary, and of
fered even to help in seizing the pcrson o f the Hungarian king." Be-
cause o f the style o f writing, the meek rhetoric o f submission
incompatible with what we know o f Dracula's character clumsy
wording, and poor Lan, most historans consider these letters to be
forgeries. It was hardly conceivable that Dracula would have been
foolish enough to wrte letters o f treason while he was in Hungarian
territor>, far removed from the Ottoman forccs to whom he appealcd.
The clinching argument is that, in spite o f Narious attempts at locating
Rothel, no satisfactory identifcation has thus far been made.
We believe that the Rothel letters were cle\er forgeries aimed at
blackening Draculas reputation and making him appear a traitor to
the Chrstian cause. The authors o f these forgeries could have been
the same Germn Saxons who had previously placed the tales o f hor
ror at the disposal o f the Hungarian king. It was also in this manner
that the first anti-Dr^cula tracts found their way into the diplomatic
concems at Venice, Miln, Vienna, and Rome. The Rothel letters and
other damaging evidence against Dracula were later included in the
 Thf HistoricalDranila, 14621 6
- ^^ : mpronmmt and Dealh

Commfntarirs ol Pope l'iiis II. Ii was une ol ihe lirsi dcmonsiralions o f

the eectivc use o f propaganda in diplomacy. Thiis Matthias had a
valid pretext for gi\ing up the campaign and breaking his alliance
with Draciila, cnabling him to kecp the papal subsidies for political
ambitions o f his own. King in ame only, he had never been officially
invested with the holy Hungarian cro\vn o f Saint Stephen, which
would have legitimized his rule. The cro\vn, which commanded a high
price, \V3S safely hidden by Emperor Frederick III, a ri\a] candidate.
Matthias signed a secret peace treaty with Sultn Mehmed and recog-
nized Radu the Handsome as prnce o f VVallachia. Above all, he had
\-alid rea.sons for condemning Dracula as an enemy o f humanity."
Without the formalit) o f a trial, which the Saxon leaders would have
wished, Dracula was now to endure a lengthy period o f imprisonment.

The nal stage in Dracula's career must be di\ided into two phases:
his lengthy period of Hungarian capti\it>', which extended over tweive
years (1462-1474): and his liberation and third reign, which lasted
barely two years, from 1474 to 1476.
The period o f Hungarian imprisonment or house arrest is the least
documented segment o f DrBCulas whole career. Nevenheless, it is
possible to constnict a fairly accurate picture of what Dracula's Ufe was
like during the years 1462-1474. His presence in Buda and his posi-
tive achievements in the Turkish campaign did not pass unnoticed in
the rcports o f representatives from the court o f the Papacy, Venice,
Miln, Genoa, Ferrara, and other Italian republics. Nicholas o f Mo-
dnissa, the papal legate who met Dracula at that time, wTote lengthy
dispatches 10 Pope Pius II describing Dracula's physical appearBnce
and e\en attempting to rehabiltate his reputation. However, the man
who showed the greatest interest was the representative of the grand
duke o f Moscow, Fedor Kur> tsin, who came with a large retinue to the
Hungarian capital in 1482. He met King Matthias, the court historian,
Antonio Bonfinius, countless officials, diplomis, Transyh-anian mer-
chants, and bankers. He was also introduced to Dracula's Hungarian
widow and his three children Vlad, Mircea, and a third son whose
ame was not recorded. Kiirvisin also made a point o f reading the
Germn nanatives that were still circulating at court and showed an
obsessive interest in this remarkable man who had died six years ear-
lier.
Like a good joumalist, he later traveled to Transyh-ania, saw Drac-
 IN SEARCH OF DRACLI . A

ulas cousin Stephen in Molda\ia, and consultcd wiih the soldiers who
defended the prince in his last hours. He finally commitied his ac-
count to paper, calling it The Story of the Romanian Ptince Dranila.
Scholars have found no fewer ihan twenty copies o f this document.
Though deprecang Dracula's crmes and assailing him for liis con
versin to Catholicism, Kurytsins repon vs-as a political pamphiet that
had a deep and long impact on Russian political theon-, Dracula
ser\ed as a role model in the manner o f Machiavellis Thr Prince, a
ruler who threatened torture and death to advance the principies of
justice and morality. Ivan the Terrible was also acquainted vsith
Kur>isins Dracula pamphiet and may have modeled some o f his
crimes, including impaiement o f Russian boyan, on those o f Dracula.

By w-ay o f contrast, the 1474-1476 period was richiy documented. We

have Dracula's personal correspondence and that o f his chanceller\-
oTicials, writtcn in Latn, lo the Hungarian king and to various Tran-
sylvanian officials. In addition, there is the fairly rich extemal diplo-
mac correspondence for these years from the usual \-antage poinLs,
such as Venice, Buda, and Constantinople. Only the circumstances
leading to Draculas assassination and bural are obscure, but they can
be pieced together by reference to local tradition in the \icinit>' o f the
island monastery o f Snagov.
Controversy and lack o f documentation center upon the actual site
o f Dracula's imprisonment. The Russian story seems to be precise
enough on the location, stating that he was imprisoned for twclve
years at Vlsegrad, the summer palace o f King Matthias on the Danube
above Buda. Both the palace and the fortress prison at Visegrad did,
o f course, exist in Draculas time, and the ruins still survive. The
palace is located twenty miles up the Danube, on the famous scenic
bend, high up on a hill with a commanding view o f the river.
Solomons tower, where political prisoners were held, lies at the foot
o f the hill, on the banks o f the Danube, and has been completely re-
stored. Within.this large complex was centered the flowering culture
o f the Hungarian Renaissance. Matthias evidently liked to think of
himself as a true patrn o f leaming and the arts, like the Medicis, and
used Visegrad to impress foreign visitn with the material splendors
o f his age, reflected in the countless artistic treasures housed in the
main palace.
Careful investigation in the local Iibrar>- and archives did not, how-
 The Hisloriral Dracula, 1^62-/^76; Imprisonment and Death

cvcT, icveal ic luiinc of Dracula 011 ic rostc-r o f cininc-iu political de-

tainees al Solomon's lower. This in itsclf docs not neccssarily im-ali-
date the veraciiy o f ihe Russian narrative. One way o f accounling for
the abscncc o f official documentation is to understand that Dracula
u'as Icss a political prsoner thaii a hostage o f the Hungaran king.
Matthias even produccd Dracula tu awe Turkish ambassadors who
were slill terrified o f him.
Aniong the rcfcrcnccs to Dracula's lifcstyie in prison is a short anee-
dote told in the Russian narrative claiming that even when he W3s in
jail, he could not give up his bad habits. After catching mice and hav-
ing birds bought at the market, he tortured and impaled them. Sonic
critics consider this stor\ apocr>phal. Indeed a later one, concocted
by his enemies and asserting that he drank the blood o f his animal
\ictims," wasjust another way o f blackening Draculas reputation.
Dracula's remarriage while under arrest poses formidable prob-
lems. \Ve do know from Dracula's own letter to tlie Hungarian king in
June 146a that a marriage contract \vith tlie Hungarian royal family
w-as in the ofTing. The Russian stor>' tells us that the lady in question
v-as a sister o f the king." though more likely it v(3s liona Szilag\-,
Matthias's cousin, the daughter o f Michael Szilagy, Draculas one-time
ally.
In the Russian storv- the question o f Draculas remarriage is linked
to Dracula's abandonment o f Orthodoxy and his conversin to
Romn Catholicism, which the Russian account severely condemns.
Only after Draculas formal renunciation o f Orthodoxy did the king
give him the hand o f his kins>\oman in marriage and decide to ame
him the oflicial candidate to the Wallachian throne. One >vay o f mak-
ing sense o f this complicated story is by realizing that Matthias must
have given Dracula a kind o f Hobsons choice: either conven to
Catholicism in order lo marry into the Hungarian royal family and be
considered an acceptable candidate to the Wallachian throne, or die
in jail. Some Orthodox apologists express righteous indignation
aix)ut Dracula's decisin to abandon the true faith, but could he re-
ally aford to do othenvise? Surely, taking his ambition into account.
the deal was tempting enough. To Dracula, the throne o f Wallachia
w-as certainly worth a Catholic mass.
WTiat is more difficult to gauge is the precise date o f Draculas con
versin and remarriage. The Russian narrative confirms that the
episode occurred after the death of the Wallachian prince previously
recognized by Matthias." In that event, the date o f Draculas remar-
rage and conversin would coincide with the end o f his imprson-
ment, after more than twelve years. It is difTicult, howe\er, lo en\ision
Dracula wooing a princess and fathering children behind prison bars.
The Russian story comes to our aid in affixing a plausible date. The
narrative adds that Dracula had two sons o f this marriage and that he
oniy lived for a short time aftenvards. Since Dracula dicd in Decem-
ber 1476, by deductng ten years one can trace Draculas remarriage
and liberation back to 1466; this allow-s for a period o f only four years
o f imprisonment, from 1462 to 1466, at Visegrad. Such an interpreta-
uon, we think, seems reasonable enough.
Dracula was, insofar as we can judge from the oil ponraii at Castle
Ambras, a rather handsome man. The Saxon woodcuts scen on the
cover o f some o f the Germn pamphlets are cnide in technique and
doubess distorted and deformed his true features. A second oil
painung, a miniature in Vienna, depicts the face o f a powerful man.
The large dark green eyes have great intensity; the nose is long; the
mouth is large, ruddy, and thin^ipped. Dracula appears clean-shavcn
except for a long, well-waxed mustache; his hair was dark and slightly
grayed; and his complrxion a dcadly, almost sickly white. He is wear-
ing the Hungarian noblemans tunic with an ermine cape and a
diamond-studded Turkish-style fur-lined headdress.
The description left by Modrussa corresponds fairly well with the
painng;

He was not very tall, but wr)- siocky and sirong, vsith a cruel and
terrible appearance, a long straight nose, distended nostrils, a thin
and reddish face in which the large wde-open green eycs were
enframed by bushy black eyebrow, which made them appear threat-
ening. His face and chin were shaven but for a mustache. The
sH'ollen temples increased the bulk of his head. A buM's neck sup-
ported the head, from which black curly locks were falling to his
uide^houldered person.

When Dracula was released from jail following his remarriage, he

was given a house in Pest, opposite Buda," where he lived with his
Hungarian wife and where likely the two sons referred to in the Rus-
sian narrative were bom: Mihail (Mihnea), and one unnamed son
who died in 1482. We know almost nothing o f his Ufe in Pest beyond
 The HistoricalDracula, 1462-14^6: Imprisonment andDeath

an a n ccd o te that ob\ioiisly caiised a rock I Hcal o f m irth ai ih c Hun-

garian court. The stor)' describes an incident n which a thief broke
into Draculas house. A captain o f thc Hungarian guards pursucd
him, Crossing the threshold o f Draculas house Mihout a formal
scarch Harrant. Dracula stabbed thc unfortunate ofcial to death on
the spot. WTien the municipal authories went to complain about this
strange behavior to the Hungarian king, Dracula juslied himself in
his inimitable and characterstic manner: I did no evil; the captain is
responsible for his own death. Anyone mII perish thus who trespasses
into the house o f a great ruler such as mN'scIf. If this captain had come
to me and had introduced himself, I too would have found the thief
and either surrendered him up or spared him from death." When re-
ports o f the incident reached the Hungarian king, he is said to have
smiled at the audacit>- o f his new in-law. The authenticity o f this entire
episode is sufficiently guaranteed by what we know o f Dracula's char-
acter.
From the point o f \iew o f the Hungarian king, Dracula's conversin
and marriage into his family reestablished the status quo. No matter
what his past sins, Dracula could resume the role of leader o f a cru-
sading Catholic army, and he \vas given the rank o f captain. The king,
now legally invested with the holy Hungarian crown o f Saint Stephen,
could justify- thc use o f the remaining funds and prepare his protg
for an opportunity to rcassert his authority in Wallachia and Icad the
cnisadc against the Turks.
From the moment o f Dracula's rcmarriagc and conversin, his ac
tive candidacy to the Wallachian throne was a fail accompli. Radu, al-
ways considered the instrument o f thc Turks, \vas defeated by Stephen
the Great in thc spring o f 1473. His succcssor, Basarab III (Laiota),
became prince and ruled unl the beginning of Novcmbcr 1475. He
W3S, howe\er, totally unreliablc from thc Hungarian point o f \icw. It
was evidcntly in Hungarian interests to make ofRcial Draculas invcsti-
ture as leader o f thc crusadc. He by far thc ablcst and thc most
distinguished strategist avTiilablc in thc Christian camp. As such, thc
newly crcated captain moved from Hungary to TrausjUania to rcceivc
the command o f the frontier district o f that pro\incc. a situation not
ver)- different from that which he enjoyed during the days o f Hunyadi.
The first military action against the Turks in which Dracula partici-
pated took place in 1474 when he was placed in charge o f a Hungar
ian contingent, collaborating witli thc forces o f V'uk Branco%ic, the
 IN SEARCH OF DRACL LA

Serbian despoL The papal nuncio, the bishop o f Eriau, reponed the
brutalities committed against the Turks, staiing that Dracula
spearng the Turks with his own hand and impaling the separate
pieces on stakes. Dracula was using his od devices to frighten his ene-

Dracula's cousin, Stephen o f Moldavia, had had his own conflicts

with Matthias. He recalled ihe vow that he and Dracula had made
years before: whichever o f them was on the throne woiild help the
other gain his legitimate succession. Dracula had certainly been faith-
ful lo that promise, helping Stephen obtain his rightful position in
1457. In the meantime, for reasons o f political expediency, Stephen
had broken his vow and sided with the Turks on their attack o f Drac-
ulas fortress at Chilia on the Danube, an act o f treachery for which
the Moldavian prince paid with a wound in the thigh from which he
never recovered. Evidendy Stephen now wished to make amends.
From this moment to the end o f Dracula's career the cousins re-
mained loyal to each other. Forgetting previous differences and
promising each other aid and support, a formal compact was signed
in the summer o f 1475 by Matthias, Dracula. and Stephen. This al-
liance was 10 be the comerstone o f the renewed anti-Oitoman cru-
sade sponsored by the new pope Sixtus IV.
Dracula and his family spent the winter o f 1475-76 in Sibiu. In Jan-
uary 1476, the Hungarian Diet formally gave its support to Dracula's
candidacy to the Wallachian throne. By February, Draculas hold on
Transylvania was so rm that Basarab retaliated by UTiting to the cit-
zens o f Sibiu that he no longer considered himself their friend be-
cause Dracula was living among them.
By the summer, twenty years after his last restoraon, serious plans
were made to regain his throne. which was still ofRcially occupied by
Basarab (Laiota). Supreme command o f the expedition was given by
Matthias to Stephen Bathory, a member o f the famous Hungarian
noble family from Transyhania. In mid-November, as a few boyars
stood by. the metropolitan at C unea de Arges reinvested Dracula. stll
feared as a merciless criminal by both Saxons and boyan, as prince of
Wallachia. He was intrigued against by supponers o f rival claimants,
hated by the Turks and Basarab, and all o f them vowed to kill him.
Thus, when Bathor>s Hungarian forc and Stephens contingent left
the country, Dracula was exposed to great danger for he had had little
time to consoldate his strength. His failure to bring his wife and sons
 The Hislorical Dracula, 1 62-1 6
^ ^ j : Impriionmenl and Drath

with him lo Wallachla suRgesLs thal he xs'as aw-arc of ihc Hanger. It was
an irony, and in a scnse Sicplicn's expiaiion for his prnious infidelit),
that the only contingcnt Dracula coiild now complclcly irusl was a
small Molda\ian giiard two hundred strong.
The Sla\ic accoimt o f Dracula's assassinaon nins as Follou^:

Draculas army began killing Turks \\ithoiit mcrcy. Out of sheer joy,
Dracula ascended a hill in order 10 scc bciter hLs mcn massacrng
the Turks. Thus, detached froni his army and his nien, some took
him for a Turk. and one of them struck him wiih a lance. Bul Drac
ula, seeing thal he u-as being attacked by his o\vn men. inimediaiely
killed five of his would-be assassins with his own sword; however, he
was picrcfd by many lances and thus he died.

Like a lion at bay, Dracula must have defended himself formidably. All
but ten o f tlie two hiuidred Molda\ians perishcd at the side o f their
new master.
Dracula's deaih undoubtedly took place in the course o f battle, but
likeiy the assassin was either Basanib. one o f his bcyars, or a Turkish
soldier. According to boih Bonfinius and a Turkish chronicler, Drac
ula was then beheaded. His head was sent to Constantinople, where it
remained exposed as proof that the dreadcd Impaler was really dead.
Ii took about a month for this calamiious news to reach Western Eu-
rope; only in Febniary 1477 did ihe envoy o f the duke o f Miln at
Buda, Leonardo Botta, write to his master, Ludo\ico Sforza, that the
Turks had reconquered Wallachia and ihat Dracula had been killed.
 -------C H A P T E R 9 --------

SNAGOV:
TH E M YSTERY OF TH E
EM PTY GRAVE

S t r a n c e i s THE FATE o f the Dracula epic. Thc leg-

end \s-as bom in Trans>ivania; it spread westward to ihe
, Germn lands and eastward to Russia. The heroic moments
took place on the Danube; the dramatic ones at the casde and
in Hungary. According to tradition, Draculas final resting place
w-as the isolated island monastery o f Snagov, which perhaps more than
any oiher structiire connected with Draculas ame, rcligious or oth-
erwise, bears the imprnt o f his tortured personality. A visit today re
veis motor launches, sailboats, beaches, restaurants, lovely \illas, and
former president Ceausescus summer palace (where Michael Jackson
resided in the fall o f 1992). It requires some cfTort o f the imagination
to think back to that bloody era when Dracula once stalked this \icin-
it>'. Once you enter the chapel with its faded Byzantine frescoes o f he-
roes and saints and listen to the gory stories o f one o f the local
historians, this is quite another matter. WTiat makes ie bloodstained
histor\' o f Snagov unique is that, unlike cases which are essentially
edifices built for war, Snagov M'as a monastcr\\ admittedly a fonified
monastery. but nevertheless a place o f worship. According to the od
Romanian chronicles, the monastery o f Snagov was closely associated
with Dracula e\en though his grandfather, Prince Mircea, built it orig-
inally.
There exista a Snagov saga which is \ivid and still alive among the
peasants o f the villages surrounding the lake. In the imagination o f a
few \illage elders, the awesome figure o f the Impalcr still dominates
thc littie church and preoccupies their superstioiLS minds. Dracula
has succeeded in stamping his personality profoundly upon the bricks
 Snagm: The Mystery of he Empty Grave

an d stones o f thc only siim \inK ch ap e l w hich h e allcR ctlly built and in
which, according lo iradilion, he lies buried.
As archaculogical exca\ations <>n thc island and popular Tolklore
have confirmed, the monaster>- o f Snagov originally covered an area
much larger than that presently occupied by the church one can see
today. The original monastic complex occupied the full Icngth o f the
island. It \vas fortified by the original \valls extending to the edge o f
the lake. In times o f pcril, boih princes and boyan stored their treas-
ures at Snagov. In addition to three original cliapels (the largest o f
which is the Chapel o f the Annunciation. built by Madislav II in
1453), the complex was composed o f a princely residence, cloisters
for thc monks, houses for tlie boyan, stables for their mounts, a
prison, a mint, and a printing press. Snagov, in fact, like many me
dieval fortresses, w-as a lite town all its own, naturally limited by the
size o f the island. Today nothing is left o f this \-ast stnicturc except the
chapel.
The original monasten- is a much oider ecclesiasucal building that
can be traced back to thc fourteenth century. Snagov w-as ccnainly not
the first eccicsiastical edifice in Romana foundcd by one prince and
completcd by another; as often happens in the erection o f larger
buildings, ihe ame that histor>- associates wilh it is less that o f thc
original founder than that o f thc one who completcd it.
Much o f the popular folklore in the Snagov area is clearly fictitious.
One popular bailad relates that Dracula had a \ision o f God telling
him 10 establish a place o f praycr near thc scene o f his father's assassi-
nation at Baltcni. Other storics are more specific and may contain an
element o f truth. One bailad relates thai Draculas contributon was
the completion o f anotlier church on the island monastcry just to
compete uith his enemy Vladislav II, who had constmctcd the Chapel
o f the Annunciation. It is far more likely that Dracula converted
Snagov from a poorly defended monastcry into an island fortrcss.
\\lth his morbid dcsirc for a rcfuge, he cuuld fnd no bcttcr natural
fortifcation than (he island, surrounded by thc dense Vlasie forest
and commanding \iev\'s on all sides. Even in winter, when the lake is
frozen, a cannon shot from the island could break up the ice and thus
dro>vn an incoming enemy. It was no mere accident that the fortress-
monasterv' fell into the hands o f Radu's partisans during the Turkish
campaign o f 1462. It W3s known that the monaster>- was used at thc
time by Dracula and his boyan to hide treasure in thc xault o f thc
 Abovt and oppositf: Conirmporary virws of Snagov.

church. According lo later peasanl siories, afler Draculas dcaih ihc

monks, fearful for their lives, threw the gold into ihe lake to avoid
tempiing the Turks. Some nanatves relate that the treasure v,-as hid-
den in barris by Dracula's henchmen. The barris were thcn seni to
the bottom of ihe reed<overed lake, one o f the deepest in Romana.
Dracula, o f course, impaled those responsiblc for this servicc, fearing
that his soldiers might re>eal the secret location which is still being
sought to this day. It is likely that Radu and his boyar partisiins also
used the monastery to store their weal til.
Popular narratives also make mention o f other crimes Draciila per-
petrated on the island. Apparently his intention had been to trans-
form the monastery into a prison and establish a torture chamber for
political foes. In a tiny cell the prince would imite his intended
victims to kneel and pray to a small icn of the Blessed Virgin. VMiile
the prisoners were praying, Dracula released a secret trap door, scnd-
ing them deep into a ditch below, where a number o f pales siood
erect waiting. The discovery o f several decapitated skeletons lends fur-
ther credence to the theory that the monastery used as a place
of punishmenL
 Snflgro;The M^slny o j the Em^tj Grave

Oiher mcmbers o f Draculas i ate familv were also connected

mth Snagov. Perhaps simply for reasons o f lial piety, Dracula's son,
Mihnea, repaired the monastery after the extensive damage done to it
by the Tiirks diiring ihe campaign o f 1462 and endowed it with addi-
tional land. Vlad the Monk, Dracula's half brother and political
enemy, w-as at one time abbot o f the monastery. He took the religious
ame o f Pahomie. Vlad the Monks second wife, Mara, following the
example o f her mother-in-law, also took the veil and the same reli
gious ame Eupraxia. She lived at Snagov for several years, to-
gether >viih her sons. One o f these, \lad V, or Vladut, spent his early
years at the monastery before becoming prince in 1510. His son, yet
another Vlad, know-n to history as Vlad Vil the Drowned, briefly ruled
between 1530 and 1532 and may well have died swimming in the
lake.
A great deal of \iolence has occurred at Snagov since Dracula's
time. A small portion o f the tragedy o f Snagov is enshrined in its walls
and on the coid stone floor o f the small church. One can still read the
terse inscriptions in the original Slavonic giving the ames o f the vic-
tims each successive century has added to the unwrtten list compiled
 IN SEARCH OF DRACUL A

by the Draculas. Death came to (hese boyan in difTerent wa)'s and for
\-arious reasons, bul chicny thcir deaths were poHtically nioti\-ated.
In spite o f the monks ongoing prayers, the monaster> was not
spared punishment. It was bumed and partially destroyed by the
Turks shortly after Prince Radus inauguraton in 1462. In addition to
destniction wrought by man, natural disaster added to the tragedy o f
Snagov. Shortly after Draculas death a \iolent storm enipted with
winds o f hurricane velocity. O f the two churches then standing, the
Chapel o f the Anniuidation was tom, steeple and all, from its founda-
tions and blown into the lake. Local tiadition has it that the beauti-
fully sculptured oak door was all that survived. It floated on the waters
o f the lake and was later blown to the opposite bank, where it was
found by some nuns. They used this pro\idential gift to replace a
much less decorative door at their convent. The Snagov door has
since been deposited at the Bucharest Art Museum where it is dis-
played as an extraordinarly rnate example o f fifteenth<entury
woodcarving. As for the submerged tower, peasants say to this day that
whene\er the lake is unduly agitated one can hear the mufTled metal-
lie sound o f the bell buried deep underwater.

The rarvfd door fmm the ai

churrh at the Snagov mona
When a vioUnt storm ripped apart
the church, this door ivas salvagrd
for use a ta conven!.
 Snagov: The Mysten o f the Empty Gmve

A t the cise o f the seventecnth ccnfurx-, he monasicr>- had a fine

repuiaon as a place o f leaming. It contained one o f Romanias first
prnting presses, the rcsuh o f the labor o f one o f the erudite monks of
the period, Antim Ivireanu, who prinied Remanan and Arabic ver-
sions o f the Testaments. Because o f Antims excellence as a teacher,
two famous travelers carne to the island; Paul o f Alep and his father,
Patriarch Macare o f Anoch. Writing in Arabic, these men compiled
the rst reliable travelogue o f Snagov, which mentions the tHO
churches still in existence and a bridge connecting the monaster>- to
the mainland. From their account one might almost believe that
Snagov had nally become exempt from tragedy and w-as launched to
a brilliant new cultura! phase. This presumed change o f fonune. how-
e\er, \vas never to occur. Antim, for reasons still obscure, was poisoned
and died in exile from Snagov. His books were dispersed, and the
main prnting press taken to Antioch.
The period o f Greek rule in the eighteenth centurj gave Snagov
some respite. It \\-as then placed under the custody o f the Greek patri-
archates, which at that time were taking over many o f the countrys
ancient ecclesiastical foundations, and the taxes collected by the
monks were sent to Constantinople or Antioch, making the monks
unpopular w th the natives. This may explain why the peasants
burned the wooden bridge linking Snagov to the mainland, hindering
communicaons and travel to and from the monastery for a time until
the bridge w^s e\cntually rebuilt.
T he worst indignit>' to the monastery occurred in the mid-nine-
teenth centun when General Paul Kiselev, the Russian-bom govemor-
general o f W'allachia, ordered the conversin o f Snagov into a state
prison. In that capacity, Snagov experienced at least one tragedy,
when chained criminis were Crossing to the island and the flimsy
pontoon bridge broke under their weight. Fifty-nine helplessly
weighted prisoners were sent to the bottom o f the lake. A cross on the
lakes edge, at the precise spot where the bridge reached the main
land, recalls the tragic occasion.
A l the end of its prison histor>', which lasted barely t^venty years,
Snagov, which had alwa>s housed a few monks, was virtually aban-
doned. By 1867 it was formally closed. A few monks stayed on; no
abbot was appointed. Sunday masses were occasionally said by priests
from neighboring >illages. During this period this one-time sanctuarv-
was often violated by pillagers. Nothing \vas left untouched people
tcx)k the bricks and stones o f the r s to build
iheir houses, stole all the wood they could fnd, and tore doors doHii
from thcir hinges. Roong materal disappeared; invaluable stained
glass window-s were broken. Inside, the church suffered equally: pe\\'s,
pulpits, icons. crosses, chalices, Bibles, holy \-ases. and other religioiis
Valuables and manascrpts werc all stolen. Tombs werc violated, in-
scrptions tom ofT, and the bured rcinains o f bo\an and prnces ex-
humed and combed for gold and weapons.
By 18c)o ihe adininistrator o f staie domains described ihe ancient
monastic complex as nothing but an empt\' shell. Se\en ycars later,
the year Stoker published Dracula in London, concemed historans,
lovers o f od monuments, and archaeologists began the difTicult task
o f saving what was left o f the neglected Snagov chapel. Because o f the
govemmenis apathy, the battle to save Snagov was as difficult a strug-
gle as any the monastery had e\er confronted. The necessary sums
were nally voted and the restoration o f the church bcgan at the tiim
o f the centuiy, a restoration which was done with serious attention to
historical and architectural acciiracy. The Commission on Historie
Monuments, guided by specialists in fifteenth<entury ecclesiastical
architecture. recoiistructed the monastery cxactly the way it wtls sup-

s I a;
'I I

Floorplan of existingchurch al Snagov. .4;

altar tomb. B: grai>r on Ihf north sidt.
 Snagav: The Myslery o f the Empty Grave

posed to have been in Draciila's time. IJke any puzzle long aban-
doncd, ihcrc are picces inissing. It is concei\-abIe ihat ihc govemmeni
may someday decide to restore the monaster)' and rcbuild the sccond
chapel as it was in ihe days o f Vladislav II.
In 1940 there was a massive eanhquake in Bucharest which sent
inany historie buildings toppling to the ground. The tremor tore the
nave of the chapel at Snagov in t^vo. Further damage was done by the
tremor o f 1976, and by minor eanhquakes since.
Today an eerie serenity seems to surround the church where Dra-
cula is supposed to be interred. Only an abbot, a nun, and a peasant
woman look after it. The abbot is a leamed man who knows the his-
tor>- o f the fifteenth centur)- and Draculas connection with the
monastery. During one o f our \isiis we met another monk who
resided on the island, did not wear the religious garb, and spent much
time in prayer. VVhen questioned by us. he confe&sed that he had com-
mitted a crime and been assigned by the patriarch to the island
monastery for expiation o f his sins. Here od traditions die slowly.
Snagov is a place o f prayer and terror, famous ames and infamous
acts. Even if one does not believe that Dracula lies biiried here, the
very atmosphere o f tliis antique site forms an ideal setting for the last
phase o f the search for the historcal Dracula. WTiere is the precise lo-
cation o f Draculas tomb within the monaster)? Does it in fac lie
there as popular tradition has it?
In 1931 genealogist George Florescu and archaeologist Dinu
Rosetti were assigned by Romania's Ckimmission on Historie Monu-
ments to dig around the monastery and elsewhere on the island.
Their findings, published in a fascinating monograph, Diggings
Awund Snagav, included \-arious artifacts showing that the island was
the site o f an ancient settlement. A great number o f skulls and skele-
tons were dug up, helping to conrni popular traditions about the
crimes committed at Snagov from the fifteenth century onward. Nu-
merous gold and silver coins o f all kinds were also excavated, indicat-
ing the use o f Snagov as a treasury and mint by boyars and princes
alike.
One particular site investigated by the Florescu-Rosetti team was the
stone beneath the altar, which, according to tradition, marked the
place where Dracula lay buried. Popular legend had various explana-
tions as to why this was the location o f his grave. The monks who in
terred Dracula's headless body placed it cise lo the altar the
Abovt; Stone over the tomb tradi-
lionaUy assigrud lo Dracttla,
TitoT ihe aliar of the asting
church ai Snagpv.
Left: This photo dates from the
I930 s, the time ofthe excavations
by Flomcu and Rosetti No casket
wasfound, onfy a large hole
containing the bones of various
animals.
 Snaguv: The Mystery o f Ihe Empty Grave

obvious locatioii for a princc and marked it with an inscription and

a paintcd fresco, so that his troublcd soul could have ihe ad\-anuge o f
the prayers o f the celebrants. However, when the stone was finally re
moved, to the constematon o f the archaeologists, neither a casket
or a headless skeleton was found; there w-as instead a deep, empty
hole which held the bones of oxen and other animals.
Further exploration inside the entrance on the northern side o f the
church revealed an unmarked stone o f exactly the same size as the
altar tombstone. It ^-as found to contain a casket still partially covered
by a purple shroiid embroidered with gold. Both cofn and covering
had mostly rotted away. Within lay a skeleton. It was covered in frag-
ments o f a faded purple garment o f silk brocade, very' similar to the
Hungarian-stylc shirt wom by Dracula in the Ambras portrait. The
sleeves, originally crimson, were ciearly discemible, with large round
silver buttons; one sieeve had a small ring sewn on it. Not far away
were the remains o f a crown worked in cloisonnc, with trra cotta-
colored claws, each holding a turquoise gem.
The ring on the sieeve was a symbol o f the long-dead customs o f
courtly leve in Western Europe, when mounted knights in armor en-
gaged in jousts attempting to unhorse their opponents. The winner
was awarded a trophy or a symbol from an admiring lady who wit-
nessed his triumph. But whose ring was it? Draculas, his Hungarian
wifes, or some unknown ladys? Whoe\er bestowed this tender token
o f courtly lovc, it is a strange tem to find in the grave o f such a prince.
Professor Rosetti, in more recent research, believes that the ring re-
semblcd others found in the Nuremberg area, and was part o f a clasp
attached to the s\Tnbol of the Order o f the Dragn, in which Dracul
had been investcd in 1431. Unfortunately, all o f the graves contents
have mysteriously disappeared from the History Museum o f Bucharest
where they had bcen stored. This curious disappearance has given
rise to the reports o f many Dracula grave fnds, including one in
America, all o f them unsubstantiated so far.
The presence o f animal bones in the grave near the altar and the
loss o f all ungible e\idence, including a casket, contines to mystify
historians, leading many to suspect a hoax. The debate contines
today.
As in the case o f the m>-sterious disappearance o f the body of
Alexander I o f Russia, dozens o f opinions have been voiced, but not
much scienfic progress has been made. W'e are inclined to accept the
 IN SEARCH OF DRACUL A

idea that the actual grave was the one near the altar, the one sanc-
tioned by local folklore always a useful guide in resoKing enigmas
connected with Dracula. Village traditions about tombstones have led
to the identication o f historie personalities in many other instances.
For example, in the od church o f Curtea de Arges, it is-as long ob-
served that the f^thful persisted in standing at a certain place to the
right o f the altar for no other reason than that it was the place where
their elders worshipped and lit their candles. An enterprsing young
archaeologist excavated that particular sx)t and discovered the un-
marked tomb o f one o f Wallachias early princes. At Snagov for many

ThrefX'ini's oj the 79 j ; nf/ivalions 11

Suagoi' hoiring p^airs othn l/iait
Dracula .
 S n a ^ : Thf AyjfT)' o/ {fl( tlpt] Groir

years the pcasanis similarly stood cise to the altar. \Ve also believe
that D racu las rcm ain s in ay liavc b ccn rcin ic rrcd n car ih e e n tra n cc o f
the church, presumably in the seventeenth centur>- hy Greek monks
\Nth littJe respect for the heroprince. They deliberately, contemptu-
ously, placed what the Greeks considered his unworthy remains" at
the entrante of the chapel for the faithful to trample upon. h was
likely at this time that all inscriptions and Draculas portrait were re
moved from the original gravestone. As an additional gesture o f con-
tempt, animal bones were thrown into the empty grave, thereby
compounding a hoax Mth a sacrilege. Draculas remains," states an
expert on the probiem, Re\erend Ion Dumitriu, lie at the rear o f the
chapel o f Snagov . . . without trace o f either an inscription or me
mento, under a coid stone that gets yearly trampled by the weight o f
the tourists. AII this to w-ipe away fore^er the memorj o f that prince."
His theory jibes with the dates of certain repairs made to the altar area
during the late 1700S.
Even had the tomb not been desecrated in this particular way, one
might still reasonably assume that since the original site o f the tomb
was near the altar, the tombstone being larger and more ambitious
than otliers (presumably \vii an inscription and a portrait), it was ob-
\ious prey for grave robbers during the mid-nineteenth century, fol-
lowing the closing o f Snagov as a state prison. In that case, Draculas
actual remains, casket and all, could simply have disappeared.
In any event, historical common sense suggests that Dracula, who
was after all a prince in spite o f his misdeeds and was remembered
fondiy for his heroism, would be given an honored burial place, e\en
though with an enemy prince in power it was dangerous for the
monks who interred him to honor him in that manner.
On these grounds we accept the veracity o f the u^ditional location
o f Draculas grave, even though controversy lingers on. However,
there is really no need to strain after explanations conceming the
transfer o f Draculas remains or, if the second grave is not Draculas,
to account for tlie disappearance of his body. They seem almost to
suggest themselves. Given Draculas insidious reputation, the horror
in which his ame was held by his political enemies, and the crimes
committed on the island at various times, it is unreasonable to expect
that his tomb would have survived intact. All the well<onsidered ex
planations about the disappearance o f Draculas remains and his pos-
sible reburial have only added to the mwter)- that contnues pending
new archaeological investigation.
 IN SEARCH OF URACUL A

Some Romanians stll say that Dracula will rise again in tme of
great need to save ihe Romanian people. Perhaps that is why Ceau-
sescu, in desperauon following his ouster in Decembcr 1989. directed
his helicopter first to Snagov. He certainiy needed Dracula's help
he may even have tried to contact the spirit o f the great undead.
Spurred on by the Germn horror stories, the Dracula riddle
assumed a far more universal dimensin in the West and stll lives on
in the idea that Dracula is undead, like the vampire. So, in our further
search for Dracula we now tum to the \ampire link, in part man-
ufactured by Western literature. However, vampire belief unassociated
with Dracula also formed pan o f the body o f world folklore, in-
cluding the folktales o f Eastem Europe and particularly Transylvania,
the home o f many ethnic groups. It is this belief that attracted and
fascinated Bram Stoker. who studied it scientfically, focusing his ai-
tenuon on a number o f tntvelogues that noted the supersttons of
Transylvanians.
 ---- C H A P T E R 1 0 -----

VAM PIR ISM :

O I D W O R LD FOLKLORE

T H K N O TIO N B KH I s D \ A Mp I RI s M traccs far back

1 time lo man the hunier, who discovered thal when
blood lowed oiit oF a wounded beast or a fcllow human. Ufe,
I too, draincd aw-ay. Blood was the source of \italit>-. Thus mcn
smeared themselves with blood and sometimes drank it. The
idea o f drnking blood lo renew \itality thereupon entered history. To
the \ampire, indeed, Tlie blood is the Ufe, as Draciila, quoting from
Deuieronomy 12:33, tells ils in Siokers novel, ihough the actual bibli-
cal passage is a waming agains drnking human blood.
Vampire bclief is universal; it has been documented in ancient
Babylon, Egypt. Reme, Greece, and China. \'ampire accounts exist in
completely seprate ci\ilizations. where any direct borrowing would
not have been possible. Tl>e \-ampire is know-n by various ames
vrykoUUta, brykUakas, barhariakoi, borboriakos, or bourdoulakos in modem
Greek; katakhanoso or baital in the ancient Sanskrit; upiry in Russian;
upiory in Polish; blutsuger in Germn, etc. Early Chinese were afraid
o f the giangshi, a demon who drinks blood. In China, it was reponed
that \-ampires existed there in (kx) b .c . Depictions o f sampires are
found on ancient Babylonian and As.syrian pottery going back thou-
sands o f years before Christ. The bclief flourshed in the New World
as in the Od. Ancient Peruvians believed in a class o f devil worship-
pers called canchits or pumapmicuc, who sucked blood from the sleep-
ing young in order to partake o f their life. Aztecs sacrced the hearts
o f prsoners to the sun in the bclief that their blood fed the suns con-
tinuing energ\-.
In ancient Greece there were empusa or amia akin to the N^ampire
 I N SEARCH OF DRACUL A

horrible winged demon-women who lurcd handsomc youths lo

their death in order to drink their blood and eat their flesh. Lamia
was once the bcloved o f Zeus who was driven insane by Zeuss jealous
wife, Hera. Lamia killed her own children and goes about at night
killing human children Tor re\cnge.
The first woman on earth was Lilith, or Lilitu, according to ancient
Semitic belief. In the Talmud, the bock o f Jewish laws, customs, and
tradition, Adam had a wife before Eve named Lilith. But she was dis-
obedient to Adam and challenged his authority. In a State o f anger she
left Adam, though three angels, Sanvi, Sansanvi, and Semangelaf,
tried to convince her to stay. Because o f her disobedience, her chil
dren were killed and she was transformed into a night-roaming mon-
ster. Eve then came into the picture and bore Adam children.
Extremely jealous, Lilith went about taking her revenge by killing the
sons and daughters o f Adam and Eve. Since humans are all descended
from Adam and Eve, everyone must defend himself against Liliths at-
tacks. The medie\al Jews had special amulets to giiard against the at-
tacks o f Lilith, one made for male children and another for female.
Traditionally, these depicted the three angels who attempted to per
suade Lilith not to lea ve Adam.
Early in the Christian era the leamed Bhavabhiiti wrote classic In-
dian tales, including twenty-ve stories o f a \ampire who animates
dead bodies and is seen hanging upside down from a tree like a bat.
The female Hind god Shiva shares many similarties with the xam-
pire, such as being creator and destryer at the same time. Behind the
vampire is the Oriental concept o f etemal retum, in which nothing is
ever really destroyed but comes back in endless recreations and rein-
camations. The vampire takes blood from the living, but should she
mix her blood with that o f her victim, that person in tum becomes an
undead, having survived mortal death.
Proof that vampires were considered to be essentially female, with-
out male organs, comes from Saint Augustne and the early church fa-
thers. For example, Augustne writes that demons have bodily
immortality and passions like human beings but cannot produce
semen. Instead they gather semen from the bodies o f real men and in-
ject it into sleeping women to cause pregnancy. Saint Clement testies
that the demons have human passions but no organs, so they tum to
humans to make use o f their organs. Once in control o f suitable or
gans, they can get whatever they want."
 y(ml/lrum:OI(l]yor(imioir

During the eighteenih centun-, a rampire o f renoun named Peter

Poglojowitz emerged Irom a siiiall \illage in Hungan'. Following his
death in 1725 his body was disinterred. They found fresh blood flow-
ing froin his inouth and his body appeared to be without any signs o f
rigor monis or dccay. So ihc local peasanis tlioiighl he was a vanipire
and bumed his body.
In 173a the case o f the Serbian \3mpire .\niold Paole from Medve-
gia stimulaied eighlcentli<entury scieniific research inte \ampires. At
the height o f rationalism in 1751 a Dominican scholar, Aiigxistin Cal-
met, wrotc a treatise about \-ampires in Hungary and Mora\ia.
Vanipire IxTlies are panicularly strong today ihroughout southeast-
e m Euroi>e, especially among the modem Greeks. The southerly Cy-
clades island o f Santorini is infamoiis for its \-ampires. Many authors
noted this fact as early as the sevcnteenih ceniury. In fac, if a sus-
pecied \-anipire were uncovered on niainland Greece. the body w-as
ciistomarly shipped otT 10 Santorni bccause the people there had a
long history and \-ast experience in dealing with \-ampires. An od
Greek saying is bringing \nmpires to Santorini" in the sense o f like
brnging coals to Newciistle," a redundant act.
Orihodox practices o f excommunicaiion bolstcred bclief in the
vanipire. VMien Orthodox Christian priests or bishops issue an order
o f excommunication, they add the curse and ilie eanh will not re-
ceive your body!" Tliis signifies ihat the body o f the excommunicated
person wiW remain 'uncom ipt and entire. Tile soul uill not rest in
peace. In this case a nondecaying body is the sign o f e\il. Those Or
thodox Chrstians who have convened to Romn Catholicisni or Islam
are doomed to wander the earth and not enter Heaven. It is worth re-
calling in this context that the historical Dracula, ha\ing converted to
Romn Qitholicism toward the end o f his life. forsook the light o f or-
thodoxy" and accepted the darkness o f heresy and v.tis henee a can-
didate to becomc an imdead, a \-ampire.
One theory about the prev'alence o f \3mpire bclief in Transyhania
suggests that since the Tibetan Mongols had a belief in both the ram-
pirc and the bat god, they may have come in contact \%ith those Asians
who eventually migrated in large numbers to TransyK'ania. Both the
Hiingarians (Magyars) and the Szekelys o f Transylv-ania moved ini-
tially from .Asia into Eiirope. In this context it is revealing to note ihat
Stoker has Dracula claim Szekelys descent. Another theory concem-
ing the reasons for the apparent richness o f \-ampire belief in Transyl-
 I N SEARCH OF DRACUL A

vania comes from the fact that so many diTerent cthnic groups in
hbil the area, leading to an elabrate mix o f folklore from the Ger-
mans, Hungarians, Gypsies, and Romanians.
Romanians in particular have many ames for a variety o f \-ampires.
For example, the most common term, sirigoi (or the feminine form,
strigoaica), is an e\il creature who sleeps during the daylight hours,
flies at night, can change into animal form such as a wolf, dog, or
bird, and sucks the blood from sleeping children. The female is more
dangerous than the male. She can also spoil marriages and hars'ests,
stop cows from giving milk, and cven cause fatal disease and death.
The Romanian pricolici is an undead who can appear in human, dog,
or wolf forms. Among Romanians vampires are always e\il. their jour-
ne>' to the other worid has been interrupted, and they are doomed to
prey upon the living for a time.
In TransyK-ania, garlic is the powerful weapon to deter vampires.
Windows and doors are anointed with garlic to keep them away. In ad-
dition, farm animak, especially sheep, are rubbed with garlic for \-am-
pires might just as well attack animals for their blood as humans.
Peasants consider garlic to be a medicinal plant. They eat it to ward
o ff the common coid and various diseases. An>thing that wards ofTdis
ease is considered to be good or V hite magic, henee garlic can ward
o ff devils, werewolves, and vampires.
A vampire's graN-e can sometimes be detected by holes around the
gravesite big enough for a snake to pass through. To prevent the ram-
pire from emerging from the grave, one must fill these holes with
water. The thoms o f wild roses are sure to keep \ampires at bay. Poppy
seeds are strewn on the path from the cemetery to the town because
vampires are compulsive counters and must pick up all the thoms.
This practice can pre\ent the vampire from reaching the village be-
fore dawn, at which time he must retum to his coffin.
The ultmate way to destroy a vampire is to drive a stake through
the heart or the navel during the daylight hours when the \ampire
must rest in his coffin. The stake should be made o f wood from an ash
or an aspen tree. In some areas o f Transylvania iron bars preferably
heated red-hot are used. As an added safeguard, the vampires
body is bumed. Somedmes a fir tree is plunged into the body o f the
vampire in order to keep it in the grave. A derix-ation o f this is the fir
tree omament that one finds over graves in Romania today.
Most Romanians believe that Ufe after death will be much like life
 Vampirism: Od WorU Folklorr

o n earth. As thcro is not m iich faih in a p u rcly spiriual w orld. it

seems reasonable that after death an undead will walk the earth in
much thc same \s-ay as a Ii\ing pcrson. The \s-alking dead are noi al-
wzys vampires, however. In fac, ihe Romanian lerm for undead, mowi,
is more prevalent ihan ihe term for \ampire or blood-drinker, sirigpi.
But both thc undead and the \ampire are killed in the same wzy.
Sirigoi are literally dcmon birds o f thc night. They fly only after sunset,
and they eat human flesh and drink blood.
Belief in \-ampires is siill pre>'alent in Dracuia counuA- particularly
among the eider generation. In 1969, al ihe fooi o f Casile Dracuia, in
the small village o f Capaiineni, lived a Gypsy named Tmka. She w-as
the lauar, or village singer, and vras often called upon lo sing od sto-
ries al weddings, balls, and funerals.
Tmka told us tv\o stores about the undead. One o f them con-
cem ed her father. When he died thirt>' years before, he was duly laid
oul, bul the next day the villagers discovered that ihe cid mans face
was still ruddy, and his body siill flexible, not rigid. Tlie people knew
that he H-as an undead, and a stake was driven through his hean.
The other story concemed an od woman in the village. After her
death many o f her cise relatives died. So did riou s animals around
her homc. The people realized that she was an undead and they
exhumed her coffin. WTien the lid was removed, they found that
her eyes were open and ihai she had rolled over. They also noliced
that thc corpse had a ruddy complexin. The villagers bumed her
body.
Bclicf in the walking dead and thc blood-sucking vampirc may
never entirely disappear. It was only in thc past centurv 1823, to be
exact that England outlawed the practice o f driving stakes through
the hearts o f suicides. Today, it is in Transylvania that the vampire leg
enda havc thcir sirongest hold. Examining thc following superstitions,
it is chilling to imagine their potcncy six hundrcd years ago.
In Eastem Europ>e vampires are said 10 havc two hearts or two soiils;
sincc one heart or one soul never dies, the vampire rcmains undead.
Who can become a vampirc? In Transylvania, criminis, bastards,
witches, magicians, excommunicaied people, those bom wiih teeth or
a caul, and unbaptized children can all become vampires. The sev-
enih son o f a seventh son is doomcd to become a vampire.
How can one detect a vampire? Any person who does not eat garlic
or who expresses a disiinct aversin to garlic is suspect.
 I N SEARCH OF DRACUL A

Vampires sometmes strikc people dumb. They can steal ones

beauty or strength, or milk from nursing mothers.
In Romana, peasants believe thal the vampires and othcr specters
meet on Saint Andrews Eve at a place where the cuckoo does not sing
and the dog does not bark.
Vampires are frightened by light, so one must build a good fire to
ward them ofT, and torches must be lit and placed outside the houses.
Even if you lock yourself up in your home, you are not safe from the
vampire, since he can enter through chimne)s and keyholes. There-
fore, one must rub the chimney and the keyholes with garlic, and the
windows and doors as well. The farm animals must aiso be rubbed
with garlic to protect them.
Crosses made from the thoms o f wild roses are effective in keeping
the vampire away.
Take a large black dog and paint an extra set o f eyes on its forehead
Mth white paint this repulses vampires.
According to Orthodox Chrstian belief, the soul does not leave the
body to enter the next world until forty days after the body is laid in
the grave. Henee the celebratons in Orthodox cemeteries fortv' da>s
after the bural.
Bodies were once disinterred bet^^een three and seven years after
bural; if decomposition was not complete, a stake was drven through
the hearL
If a cat or other evil animal jumps or flies over a body before it is
bured, or if the shadow o f a man falls upon the corpse, the deceased
may become a vampire.
If the dead body is reflected in a mirror, the reflection helps the
spirit to leave the body and become a vampire.
In Hungarian folklore one o f the most common \^a>-s o f identifv'-
ing a vampire was to choose a child young enough to be a virgin and
seat the child on a horse o f a solid color that was also a \irgin
and had never stumbled. The horse was led through the cemeter)'
and over all the graves. If it refiised to pass over a grave, a \ampire
must lie there.
Usually the tomb o f a vampire has one or more holes roughly the
size through which a serpent can pass.
How to kill a vampire? The stake, made from a v>ild rosebush, ash
or aspen wood, or o f heated iron, must be drven through the vam
pires body and into the earth in order to hold him securely in his
 Vam
pim
m:OIAW
'orl/iFolklotr
grave. The rampires body should thcn be bumed, or reburied at the
crossroads.
If a N-ampire is not found and rendered harmless, it fint kills all
niembers o f its immediate family, then starts on the other inhabitants
o f ihe \illage and the animak.
The %-ampire cannot stray too far from bis grave since he must re-
lum to it at sunrise.
If not detected, the \ampire climbs up into the belfry o f the church
and calis out the ames o f the \illagers, who instantly die. Or, in some
areas, the vampire rings the death-knell and all who hear it die on the
spot.
If the vampire goes undetected for seven years, he can travel to an-
otlier country or to a place where another language is spoken and be-
come a human again. He or she can marry and have children, but
they all become vampircs when tliey die.
Romanians slit the soles o f the feet or tie together the legs or knees
o f suspected \'ampires to try to keep them from walking. Some bury
bodies Mth sickles around their necks, so tliat in trying to rise the
\-ampire will cut his own head off.
WTiitethom was sure to keep \ampires aw-ay since it was believed
that Christ's crovn o f thoms isas made from whitethom. Vampires
woiild become entrapped in the thoms and become disoriented.
Silver, thought to be a pur alloy, was believed to thwart vampires as
well as werewolves. So crosses or icons were often made o f silver.
Did the peasants o f the fifteenth century consider Vlad Tepes a
N-ampire? W^en questioned about current beliefs, peasants living in
the regin around Castle Dracula revealed that there is no longer a
connection between Vlad Tepes and the vampire in their folklore.
The peasants are not a>\are o f Stokers Dracula. The elderly do believe
passionately, however, in \ampires and the undead.
As our culture has become more urban, a bias against peasant su-
perstition has evolved. This is reflected in our use o f the word ur-
bane" to describe something positive, broadminded, and rational,
and the word prouncial" to desgnate something unsophisticated,
narrow-minded, and ignorant. One tends to regard peasant culture as
primitive and unscientifc. Even Karl Marx conceded that capitalism
had at least saved a majorit)' o f the populaton from the idiocy of
rural life."
Far from being incessantly preoccupied with doubt and fear, how-
ever, peasants spend most o f the day i I very practica! pursuits neces-
sary for iheir subsistence.
Some evolutionists assume that prim : people have n o capacity to
comprehend natural explanations, ihal si e p n r e man lives at a
low technological level he must have a thought process opposite to
that o f modem man. The assumption is that prmitive, rural man is
prelogical," like an innocent or a child.
But not all o f modem Western mans beliefs are logical and scien-
tic. Attitudes towaid death and life have always been complex for all
men, encompassing hate and love, attraction and repulsin, hope and
fear. Belief in vampires is a poetic, imaginative way o f looking at death
and atlfebeyond death.
Prmitive beliefs are not any stnmger than modem scienfc beliefs.
Nightly on our TV sets there is some varaton o f the man in the white
coat who stands amid Bunsen bumers and test tubes and declares,
Scientific tests have proved that in nine out o f ten cases . . . " where-
upon everyone in the audience genuflects to the new god Science. If
it is scientifc then it must be true, and only the scientically proven
fact can be uue. Is this any more absurd than primiuve peasant be-

Romanian peasant who Uved

ruar Caslle Dracula and
ncounted lata about Vlad
the ImpaUr. Photo taken by
Raymond McNaUy in the
autumn o f 1969 while on an
aepedition setking Dracula
fiM m tinthecastlearra.
 Vamfirism: Od World Folklm

liefs? The Nampire bclongs to thai common siore o f images which psy-
ch o lo g is u cali symbols. M any p eo p lc assum e a sym bol rcfers to an un-
real eveni, bul in fact most s>Ttibols are indications o f actual
occurrences, having universal application. Over tme the hisiorical
connecton is often forgotten and great efFort must be made to re-
irieve its original meaning. As Jung put it, It (symbol] implies some-
thing vague, unknown, hidden in us.
The vampire possesses powers which are similar to those belonging
to cenain twentieth<entur>' comic book characters. Durng the day
he is helpless and N-ulnerable like Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne. Butjust
as the mild-mannered Clark Kent becomes Superman when called
upon, and the efTete Bruce Wayne becomes Batman when needed, so
the \ampire acquires great powers at night. The Britsh author Clive
Leatherdale has characterized Batman as the count cleansed o f his
evil and endowed with a social consciousness.
Dracula the ^ampire-count is a kind o f father figure o f great po-
tency. In many religions the opposite o f God the Father, with his flow-
ing white beard, is Satan, also a father figure, often portrayed with
huge, dark, baike wings.
The conncction between Dracula, the devil, the bat, and the vam
pire becomes clear when one understands that in Romanian folklore
the devil can change himself into an animal or a black bird. When he
takes wing, he can fly like a bird or a bat. Satan secks also lo be noc
turnal. During the day he remains in the quiet o f Hell, like the bat in
its refuge; when day is done, the night is his empire, just as it is the
bais.
The bal is the only mammal that fulfills one o f mans oldest aspira-
tions: it can fly, defying gravity not unlike Superman. Contrary to pop
ular belief, the bat is not a flying ral. The wings o f ihis small animal
are aciually clongatcd, webbed hands. The head o f the bat is ercci like
a mans head. And, like man, the bat is one o f the most versale crea-
tures in the world.
Wliy is the \ampire image linked lo that o f the vampire bat in par
ticular? Vampire bats do not exisl anywhere in Europe, yet it is ihere
that belief in the v'ampire as a night-flying creature that sucks the
blood o f the living has Hourished.
When Corts carne to ihe New World, he found blood-sucking
bats in Mxico. Remembering the mythical vampire, he called them
vampire bats. The ame stuck. So a word that signified a mythical
creature in thc Od World becamc atuched to a spccies of bats panic-
ular to the New World. Vampire bais exisi only in Central and South
America.
The \'anipire bat, the Desmodus mlundtis, is marveloasly agile. It can
fly, walk, dodge swiftly, and tum somersaults, all with swiftness and ef-
ficiency. Generally it attacks catlle rather than men. The victim is not
awakened durng the attack. The vampire bat walks very softly over
the victim and. after licking a spot on the Hesh, neaily inseru its in-
cisor or canine teeth. As the blood surfaces. the bat licks it iip. That
the \ampire bat subsista on blood alone is a scientic fac.
The once-human vampires existence is a frightening tragedy. wns
goodness or hope, repose or satisfaction. In order to survive, he must
drink the blood o f the li\ing. The possibility o f real death is closed to
him. Thus he contines, v^-anting to live, H-anting to die; not truly alive
and not really dead. The folklore about him is not based on science,
yet it is essentially true. As all vampire legends and customs attest, not
only does man fear death, man fears some things e\en more than
death. Stoker's notes, now housed at the Rosenbach Foundation in
Philadelphia, indcate that he read Thf Book of Wrrrwolvrs (1865),
which had a section on the infamous Blood Countess,* Eli/^bc-th
Bathory, written by the Protestant minister and scholar Rcvcrond
Sabine Barng-Gould (best remembered for penning the words to thc
inspiring hymn Onward, Chrstian Soldiers'). In fact, Stokers de-
scrption o f Dracula's hands being squat w th hair growing on the
palms comes directly from Baring-Gould's book.
The Book of Wemvohes recorded the basic legend o f a Hungarian
countess who killed her young female servanLs in order to bathc in
their blood because she thought that such treatments kept her skin
looking young and healthy. In all, she butchered some 650 giris for
this purpose. Barng-Gould simply repeated the storv' popularzed by
ihe Germn scholar Michael Wagner durng the late eighteenth cen-
tury. Our recent investigation revealed hitherto imknown documenta-
tion from a court o f inquiry which took place before Elizabeth
Bathorys court tral in 1611. Testimony by hundreds o f Mtnes.ses
demonstrated that her supposed blood use for cosmetic purpose was a
legend, but that she did indeed kill more than 650 girls (she recorded
each separate atrocity in her diar> ). The countess erdently likcd to
bite and tear the flesh o f her young senanls. One of her nicknames
was the tiger o f Cachtice. Cachtice, the town wherc her main c;Lstlc
 Yumpim; 01(1 World FoOiloir

was, once pan o f northwestem Hungan; is now located in Slo\'akia,

iionh o f Bratislava. Elizabeth Baihor\ was bom in 1560 into one of
the most powerful and illusirious Hungarian familias o f the time.
She tonured and murdered not only at Case Cachcc bul aiso in
Vienna where she had a mansin on Augustinian Street at Lobkowitz
Square, near the royal palace in the center of the city. During the trial
o f 1611 it w-as recorded that In Vienna the monks there hurled their
pots against the window-s when they heard the cries [of the girls being
tortured]." These monks must have been in the od Augustinian
monaster)' across from the Bathory mansin. In the cellar, Bathory
had a blacksmith construct a kind o f iron maiden or cage in which to
tonure her \ictims.
Constant intermarriage among the Hungarian noble families, de-
signed to keep the property in the family, led to genetic degeneration;
Elizabeth herself was prone to epileptic fiis. Also, one o f her neles
was a noted Satanist, her aunt Klara an infamous sexual adventurer,
her brother Stephen a drunkard and a lechen
At age eleven Elizabeth was beirothed to the son o f another aristo-
cratic Hungarian family, Ferenc Nadasdy. She went to live wiih the
Nadasdy family where, like a tomboy, she eridently enjoyed playing
with the peasant boys on the Nadasdy estte. At thirteen she got preg-
nant by one o f them. Her mother spirited her away to a remte
Bathory castle where Elizabeth gave birth to a child who was secretly
sent out o f the country. Shortly before her fifteenth birthday, Eliza
beth was married to Ferenc Nadasdy.
Perene, who later earned the nickname The Black Knight, was as
cruel as his wife. He was off fightng in the w^rs against the Turks dur
ing most o f their marriage. WTien home, he enjoyed torturing Turkish
captives. He c%en taught some torture techniques to Elizabeth. One of
them, sur-kicking, was a variation o f the hotfoot in which bits o f oiled
paper were put between the toes o f laz> sen'ants and set on fire, caus-
ing the wctim to see stars from the pain and to kick to try to put out
the fire. Meanwhile, Elizabeth stuck needles into servant girls flesh
and pins under their fingemails. She also put red-hot coins and keys
into servanLs hands, or she used an iron to scald the faces o f lazy ser-
\-an\s. She had other girls hurled out into the snow, where coid water
was poured on them until the} froze to death.
Ferenc showed Elizabeth how to discipline another o f her servants.
The girl was taken outside, undressed, and her body smeared with
honey. She was then forced to stand outside for twenty-four hours, so
as to be bitten by flies, bees, and other inaects.
Ferenc died in 1604, leaving his widow free to indulge her morbid
sexual fiuitasies. She set the pubic hair o f one o f her female servants
on fire, according 10 testmony at the 1611 trial. Elizabeth also liked
to have her female servants strip for her. She once pulled a serving
girls mouth until it spiit at the comers.
Bathory could get away with all this quite easily because she was a
Hungarian aristocrat; the servants were Slo\-aks, to be treated like
property or chattel, as cruelly as she wished, for they had no recourse.
She lured servants to her castle with promises o f wealth and prestige.
When that method began to wane, she had her minions raid the sur-
rounding villages and round up the victims.
Bathory Rnally dred o f servant giris and began to entice aristocrats
to her nightly games o f sadism. That was her frst mistake. Elizabeth
carred out her atrocities in the company o f a mv'sterious woman who
dressed like a man.
Once when Bathory was sick in bed she commanded her eider fe-

The Blood Countess. A laU o/Elabrth Bathory,

3
bySi. C ok.
male servants lo bring a young senant girl to her bedside. Bathory
rose up like a bulldog," bit the girl on the cheek, ripped out a piece
o f her shoulder with her teeth, and ihen bit the girls breasts.
Dis|X>$ing o f the innumerable bodies bccame a growing technical
problem: at one point Bathory cven stufTed some o f the bodies under
beds in the castJe. The stench became unbearable, and some o f the
eider servants tossed some bodies, natiirally drained o blood, in a
field. The frightened local \illagers belie\ed that vampires were re-
sponsible for the blood-drained corpses.
Bathor)- was much wealthier than the Hungarian king Matthias II.
In fact, he owed her a great deal o f money. When ne\vs reached him
that there was mounting e\idence that Bathory was molesting girls of
noble birth, he decided to act out o f economic reasons, not reli-
gious ones. Some scholars wrongly assumed that Matthias, a Catholic,
attacked Bathorv because she was Protesunt. With the support o f the
nobles in the Hungarian Parliament, Matthias carne to BratislaxTi and
ordered Count Thurzo, the local govemor, to investgate and ascer-
tain the facts in the Bathory case. Tlie king, who belie\ed in witch-
craft, as did most o f his peers, was moti\'ated mainly by financia!
considerations. If Bathory could be accused and found guilty o f being
a witch, then her \3st propert>- could be conscated, and all o f his
debts to her nullified.
However, Count Thurzo was a cise friend and relative o f the
Bathory family. Quickly, behind closed doors, the family, including
Elizabeth's sons and daughters, agreed to make a deal with Thurzo:
there would be a quick trial arranged by Thurzo before the king could
act; Bathor>- would not take the stand, but her accomplices would be
put on trial. In that way the property could remain in the Bathory
family and not be taken over by the king.
The strategy worked. Thurzo planned his raid for Christmas, when
the Hungarian parliament was not in session, so that he could have a
free hand. On the night o f December 29, 1610, Ckiunt Thurzo raided
Castie C:achtice and found several mutilated bodies in full \iew.
Thurzo kept King Matthias II in the dark. The count controlled all
the proceedings. The quickly arranged trial convened on January 2,
16 11, in ihe Slo\-akian town o f Bytca at Thurzos castle north of
Cachtice: a second trial took place on Januar>- 7. Only petty officials
and peasants participated at the first ial, so Thurzo could manip
late everything. Bathory was not allowed to be present in court, e\en
though she wanted lo appear and protest her innocencc. Her accom-
plices were formally tried and found guilty ai the second irial, during
which some twcntyjurors and high-level judges hcard the lestimony.
Church officiab had been brbed lo waive iheir right lo interrgate
the accused, even though there were questions o f witchcraft. A]l at-
tempts by the king's representative to place Bathory on the stand
failed becaiue o f Thurzos cle%er maneuvering. He argued that if
the Court were to try Bathory it would be a blot on the honor of
the Nadasdy and Bathory families and a trauma for the Hungarian
nobility.
Bathory'$ accomplices had their fngers tom out with red-hot pin-
cers by the executioner. They were then tossed alive on the fire. Eliza-
beth was placed under house arrest, condemned to be walled up in a
room n her Castle Cachtice, never again to see the light o f day. The
property remained safely within the Bathory familys grasp.
Late in August 1614, one o f Elizabeth's jailer^ wanted to get a look
at her. Peeking through the small opening through which she re-
ceived food, he saw the countess lying dead. Hungarian authorities
tried to cover up all memory o f the Blood Countess," and the> suc-
ceeded until her trial documents, kept in official secrei archives, were
discovered.
There are several links between the Bathory family and Dracula.
The commander-in-chief o f the expedition that put Dracula back on
the throne in 1476 was Prince Stephen Bathory. In addition, a Drac
ula fefdom became a Bathory possession during Elizabeth's time. Fur-
thermore, the Hungarian side o f Draculas ancesiors might have been
related to the Bathory clan.
Accounts o f living vampires like Elizabeth Bathory surfaced during
the middie o f the nineteenth century and were tied strongly to
necrophilia. In 1849 at the famous Pre Lachaise cemeter>' in Pars,
where many famous artists and musicians were bured, reports circu-
lated about a mysterious night creature who had disinterred and \io-
lated corpses there. The French newspapers named the culprt the
\ampire o f Pars." Traps were laid, and the authorties tracked down
the perpetrator. He tumed out to be a seemingly normal, handsome
young blond sergeant named Vctor Benrand. At his uial on July 10,
1849. he tested that his obsession began in a \illage churchyard,
where he witnessed a funeral and was sei2ed with an overwhelming de-
sire to dig up the corpse and rp it apart.
 \'mpimm:rnV,M r o llm

During the 1920S Cernan newspapers were filled w-ith stories about
ihe Hanover Vampire." His ame vs^as Friu Haarmann; he had been
in and oiit o f prisons, madhouses, and the army. iintil he settlcd down
to run a butcher shop in 19 18 . Aftcr World VVar I, Germany was filled
with homeless boys and young men: Haarmann picked them up at the
Hanover railroad station. He invited his \ictims home, where he
pinned them dou-n and murdered ihem by sinking his teeth in their
throats. He kilied at ieast twent\-foiir. and at his tral in 19 25 he ad-
mitted to twenty-seven murders. Like the infamous Sweeney Todd,
Haamian ground parts o f his victims' bodies into sausage meat, some
of which he ate and some o f which he sold in his store.
An Englishman named George Haigh confessed to drinking the
blood o f nine \ictims and then dissoKnng their bodies in acid during
the 1940S. English ncw'spa(>ers dubbed him the Acid-Batli Vampire.
In the VVisconsin farmhouse o f bachclor hermit Eddie Gein during
the late 1950S investigators stumbled on a bizarre scene: heads, skins,
and other parts of at Ieast ten human bodies were discovered, and
Gein had mummified several others. He admitted to two murders and
said that he got the other bodies by robbing local graveyards. As a
youth he had been fa.scinated with accounLs o f Nazi experments on
human flesh in the concentraon camps. Gein's story inspired the
films Psycho, Deranged, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacn.
As recently as 1981 a self-proclaimed li\ing vampire named James
Riva II \Nas put on tral in Brockton, Massachusetts. His attomey told
the jury that his client had shot his grandmother twice and sucked
the blood out o f the bullet holes because he believed a vampire told
him that was whai he had to do." Despite the objection o f the assistant
district attomey to the defenses plea of xampire," the Judge over-
ruled the objection and the defense continued their Une o f reason-
ing. This \vas undoubtedly the first time in history that xampirism was
used in a defense plea! The defenses strateg>' was that if they could
prove that Ri\a believed he \vas a vampire, there would be grounds for
an insanitv' plea. Durng the trial, a doctor testifed that Riva had
kilied a cat and drank its blood, and had once mixed horse's blood
with crackers and drank it like soup. Rix'a was foimd guilty o f the mur-
der o f his grandmother but was confined to a mental institution.
Medical doctors utilize the clinical classification living \-ampire" in
diagnosing cases o f two types; those with a proven physical need for
fresh healthy blood because their own blood is defective, such as in
 IN SEARCH OF DRACUL A

cases o f severe anemia and other blood diseases; and those with a ps)--
chological need for blood because it provides a sexual or erotic thrill.
These latter living vampires get their satisfaction by actually drinking
blood.
One theory to explain the living vampire phenomenon is bascd on
an erythropoietic disease, inherted porphyria. A relaiively rare blood
disorder, it is caused by a recessive gene that leads to the production
o f an excess o f porphynns, which are components o f red blood cells.
The patient suffering from inherted porphyra becomes extremely
sensitive to light In addition, skin lesions may develop, and the teeth
become brown or reddish brown because o f the excess porphynns.
This vampire disease may have been pre\-alent among the Eastem
Eurof>ean nobility. Five hundred years ago physicians even recom-
mended that some nobles replenish their blood by drnking the blood
o f their subjects. So when a peasant declared that there was a vampire
living up in the castle, he wasn't referring to folklore but to an actual
blood-drinker.
 ---- C H A P T E R 1 1 -----

BRAM STO K E R

B o t h t k r r o r a n d h o r r o r are responses to thc

^ frightful thing, person. deed, or circumsiance. For ihe
purposes o f cxamining horror ficiion, terror can be inter-
I preted as the extreme rational fear o f some form o f realit>;
whereas horror can be interpretcd as the extreme irrational fear
o f the unnatural or supematural. Moreovcr, tliere is realistic horror
fear o f the unnatural or supematural presented in the guise o f the
normal. Terror Ls also dread o f indiscrminate \iolence; horror the
dread o f something unpredictable, something that may have potential
for \iolence.
\NTien a mad bomber is on the loose in a city, the inhabitants be-
come terrified; they are aware o f the capabilities o f a deranged person
and understand thc dcrastating cfTccts o f a bomb. The nature o f the
danger is clear, and any attendant m^stery is susceptible to rational so-
lution. But if a ghost is heard \s-alking at night, the inhabitants o f the
house are horrified. What is a ghost? \N'hat might it do? WTiat can ii
do? There is also realistic horror: pcrhaps there is a man in a tuxedo
who looks and acts ver\- natural al the country club, yet we are horri
fied when we see him lving over a bloodsiained corpse on thc sevcnlli
green. Horrible, mysterious, and yet somewhat comic. In short, it is
some fundamental, forever inexplicable mysten- that distinguishes
horror from terror.
Bram Stokers novel Dracula is one o f ihe niost horrifying books in
English litcrature. Published in May 1897, it bccame a success after
Stokers death and has never been out o f print. In America, where it
has been arailable sincc 1899, it contines to be a bestseller.

33
 BmSlokf 135

Top: Highgalf Omrtfry in lindan, thf pwbable burial place of Stoker's Luiy.
Hollom: HampsUatl, thf jondon subutb whrrr two places menlioned in Sioher's
novel, Jack Straw's (.asile, an inn, and the Spaniarrls, a pub, can still befoiind.
136
Helsing persuades him and his young companions to help find Drac-
ula's many colins. Dracula preys on Mina and makes hcr drnk his
blood, apparently to aniagonize the \ampire hunters. WTien Harker
leams o f his wifes predicament, he records ihe follo^ing observation
in his Journal: To one thing I have made up my mind: if we fnd out
that Mina must be a vampire in the end, then she shall not go into
that unknown and terrible iand alone. I suppose it is thus that in od
times one vampire meant many, just as their hideous bodics could
only rest in sacred earth, so the holiest love \vas the recruiting
sergeant for their ghastly ranks." Harker so loves Mina that he is will-
ing to follow her to Hell. There is a thrlling search for Dracula, ciil-
minating in the arrival o f the fearless \-ampire hunters at Castle
Dracula in the Carpathian Mountains. Fmally, Harker cuts off Drac-

poTtTttit o f Bram Stokrr.

iila's h cad w iili a K ukr o r G iirk ha kriifc an d Q u iiicc y M orris drvcs a
bowie knife though Draculas heart.

This faci for Dracula the \ampire all began with Bram Stoker, but how
did he get the idea? How did he come to create this classic o f modem
horror?
Stoker was bom on a coid and wet November day in 1847 in a prim
teixaced house, 15 The Crescent, in the hisiorc Dublin suburb of
Clontarf, where Brian Baru had fought a famous, successful battle
against the in\-ading Dans. He Ns-as named Abraham after his fathcr,
an employee at the chief secretary's office in Dublin Castle, but he al-
ways preferred being called Bram. Bram was baptized by ministers
from the Church o f Ireland in the od Protestant Church on Castle
Avenue.
As a child, Bram W3S so sick and feeble that he was not expected to
live and was confined to his bed for the first eight years o f his Ufe. He
later recalled that he never experienced sunding up and walking be-
fore he was nine. He knew what it would be like for a \-ampire to be
bound to his coffin and native soil. The exact nature o f his disease was
a myster>' to him and to his doctors, as was his astonishingly complete
recovery it is no wonder that Bram retained a keen interest in mys-
terious diseases and diagnoses. During Bram's years o f confnement,
the Reverend William VVoods, who had a prvate school in Dublin, was
brought in to instruct him. He continued as his principal teacher
until Bram entered college at age 16, but it was his strong-willed
mother, Charlotte Thomley, daughter o f Captain Thomley, who par-
ticularly influenced Bram's early childhood and his interest in horror
and fantasy. Her warm love for her son harks back to Freud's dictum
about the success assured to those sons who are especially loved by
their mothers. Charlotte Stoker often declared that she loved her boys
best and did not care a tuppence" for her daughter^. She told young
Bram not only Irsh fairy tales but also some true horror stories. An
Irishwoman from Sligo, she had witnessed the cholera epidemic there
in 1832: later Bram recalled her accounts o f it, suggesting that the
\ampire pestilence in his novel owed much to the frghtil stories told
by his mother. When Bram was twelve years od a great deal o f public-
ity followed the unin o f the two Romanian states, Moldavia and Wal-
lachia this was probably his initial introduction to that mysterious
pan o f Europe.
 flr a m

ing as can be between two men." But there w-as more to the relation-
ship than ihat. Irving held such fascination for Stoker thai he
achieved an extraordinary dominance over him. Indeed, in life Ining
was lord and master to Stoker as in ction Dracula is to Renfeld.
Although much o f Stoker's tme u'as taken up in arranging tours for
Irving and his company, he continued to investgate vampirsm and
the gothic novel, both o f which appealed to his fascination with the
dark side of human expcrience. The gothic novel, a development in
English literature which can be traced back to the late eighteenth cen-
tur>', H-as initially a tale o f spooks \vith a medieval setung, highly
charged wiih emoton. At the time, such stories were given ratonal
endings: all o f ihe m\-steries tum out to have natural causes, the su-
pematural elements prove to be only illusions, and the horror is ex*

Sir Hmry Irving in a portmit painted in 1880 byJules Bastien Lepage. At this
lime Bram Stoker was Irving's prvale semtary, a working relalionship Ihal mir-
Torrd Ihat of Dracula and Renfield in Slolter's Dracula.
plained away. But when Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstrin in 1818, a
new, na lislk element was introduced inio ihe gothic novel. Slicllcy
achieved horror and mystery through the exploration o f Science. The
agcnt o f horror in her book was no spook, no siipematural being or
the Ilusin o f siich. It was a real monster manufactured by the techni-
cal exf>ertise o f a medical student.
Both the vampira and Frankenstein's creaiure were conceived at
the same time and at the same place. The coincidence occiirred
during the summer o f 1816 in Gene^a, Switzerland. where Man- Shel
ley, her stepsister Qaire, Percy Bysshe Shelley. Lord Byron, and his
personal physician, John Polidori, had gone on vacation. The group
first stayed at the Hotel d Angleterre, then rented adjacent \illas
along ihe shores o f Lake Geneva. Mar) laier w o tc that it was a "wei
ungenial summer, and the rain confned us for days." In order to
amuse themselves, this gifted group decided lo read Germn tales of
horror. Then, one night in June, Byron said, We will each write a
ghost story.'

%
I j /I: l.dui Hyiiiii.
Righl: John Polidori, Byrons personal physician and author o f The \'amp>TC,
which, whm firstpublishfd in 1819 , appeoTed itndrrByron's namr.
 BramSlokfr
Before the end of the summer, the eighteen-year-old Mary, inspired
by a philosophical discussion and a nighunare, had WTitien a draft of
Frankenslein. \Vhen it later appeared in print, some re\iewers thought
ihat her husband v,-3s really its author.
Mary Shellcy WTOtc Frankenslein to show in a fairly sympathetic way
the failure o f a would-bc scienfic sa\ior o f mankind. The public
tumed it all upside down, and hcr creation inspired an endless run of
stores about ihe mad scientist who tries to go beyond nature's laws.
unlike ordinar)-, God-fearing mortals. In so doing he un\vitiingly crc-
atcs a monster. Evcntually, the unholy creature destro\-s its o\%-n cre-
ator.
Not to be outdone by any woman, Byron sketched out at Genera a
plan for a tale about a %-ampire, but he never nished it. Instead,
twenty-year-old Polidori, an Englishman o f Italian descent and a for
men student o f medicine at the University of Edinburgh, took Byrons
idea and used it as a basis for a story called The VampvTe."
In April 1819 Polidoris tale appeared in the Neiu Monthly Magazine
imder Bvrons ame, through a misunderstanding on the pan o f the
editor. Goethe s\s-allowed the sior> whole and declared it to be the
best thing that Byron had ever writien. Years before, Goethe himsclf
had given substance to the \ampire legend in his Braut Von Korinth.
In Polidoris The Vampyre" a young libertine. Lord Ruthven, mod-
eled loosely on B)Ton, is killed in Greece and becomes a vampire. He
seduces the sister o f his friend Aubrey and sufTocates her on the night
follouing their wedding. This story never caught on with the public,
and two years after its publication Polidori. unsuccessful at both litera-
ture and medicine, took poison and died. The \-ampire m>ih, how-
ever, remained popular. Other writers uied their hand at creating a
fascinating \ampire figure, and Stoker profited from their attempts.
Alexandre Dumas pm composed a drama entitled Le Vampirr dur-
ing the 1820S. In 1820 Nodiers Le Vampire translated into English
by j. R. Planche. Ten years later Planches melodrama The Vampire \<ns
published in Baltimore. In Melmoth the WaruCTpr ( 1820), written by the
cccentric Dublin clergyman Charles Robert Maturin, the hero is a
meld o f Wandering Jew and BjTonic \-ampire. The character inter-
rupts a wedding feast and terrifies everyone. Soon after the event the
bride dies and the bridegroom goes mad. The vengeance o f the \-am-
pire is complete.
Ncarly a quartcr<entur>- after Polidoris The Vamp>Te," James Mal-
colm Rymer published Vamey the Vampire or The Feast of Blood, which
 Otu ofthe orignal iUusIrations for James Makolm Rymrr s
Vamcy thc Vampirc or The Feast of Blood.

was well received. (The original edition, published in 18 47, did not
ame the author, and some expcrts, such as Devendr P. Varma and
Leonard Wolf, stll believe that Vamey was actually writien by Thomas
Preskett Prest, but most oihers have agreed on Rymer.) Before writing
il. the author had studied the vampire legends in detail. His story is
set in the 1730S durng the reign o f George II. It concems the
Bannesworth family and its persecution by Sir Francis Vamey. Vamey
sucks the blood o f Flora Bannesworth, captures her lover, and insults
her family. Oddly, the author presents Vamey as a basically good per-
son who is driven to evil by circumstances. He often tries to save him-
self, but at the end o f the story he is in utter despair and commits
suicide by jumping into the crter o f Mount Vesuvius.
This solidly realistic horror-story tradition o f Mary Shelle), Maturin,
and Rymer was the foundation upon which Stoker WTOte his story.
Like them, he presented the vampire as an actual phenomenon. His
Dracula is, and remains, a vampire quite difTerent from some
gothic novis, in which what seems to be a bloody ghost tums out to
 BramMf
versation and flecs, as if evenihing has to break ofT at cock<ro\v. . .
like the ghost o f Hamleis falhcr." Here Sioker pro\ides one o f ihc
first clues ihat the counl acts like a ghost. On the moming o f 16 May,
Harker notes that

of all the foul things that hirk in ihis hateful place the Count is the
least dreadful to me; that to him alone I can look for safet>\ even
though this be only whilst I can sene his puqjosc. Grcat God! mcrci-
fiil G od!. . . I begin to get new lights on certain things which have
puzzled me. Up to now I ne%er quite knew what Shakespeare meant
when he made Hamlet say: My lablets! quick, my tablets! Tis meet
that I put it do\sii."

Harker, feeling that his mind is becoming unhinged, regains his coni-
posure and peace o f mind b\ forcing himseif to enter the bizarre
events in his diarv. In her diarj- entn- o f 12 September Lucy notes,
Well, here I am to-night, hoping for sleep, and lying like Ophelia in
the play, with \irgin crants and maiden strewments. " Later, on 1 Oc-
tober when Dr. Seu-ard records in his diarj his question to Renfeld
whetlier he would like some sugar to attract flies. Renfield replies, 1
dont take any stock at all in such matiers. Rats and mice and such
small deer, as Shakespeare has it; chicken-feed o f the larder they
might be called. l m past all that son o f nonsense. Stoker had proba-
bly absorbed this from seeing lr\ing perform Hamlel on so many
nights. The play opened on December 30, 1878, and ran for a hun-
dred nights. It \%-as the first time that Stoker had been involved in pro-
ducing a play. As he put it. Now 1 began to understand lohy
ever>ihing was as it was. It was a liberal education." HamUt e^^dently
remained on his mind when he wTote Drarula.
Van Helsing's ame seems to be derived from the Danish ame for
Hamlets famed castle Elsinore Helsingor, meaning the island of
Helsing." Stoker apf>ears to have identfied strongly with the Van Hcl-
sing character in many \s3\-s, even gi\ing Van Helsing his own first
ame and that o f his father, Abraham. Dr. .\braham V'an Helsing is the
true hero o f Draaila. \an Helsing has most o f the ad%antages; he
kno\%-s that Dracula is relatively powerless during the day and can be
held off with garlic or the cross. Van Helsing the professor unites the
scientifc \%ith the occult; he is all-wise and all-powerful. His mind
pierces everyday reality to the reality beyond. Van Helsing is relentless
 I N SEARCH OF DRACUL A

when confronting the ignorance o f other scientists and unflinchingly

resolute when up against the vampire himself.
Mina descrb Van Helsing as

a man o f mdium height, strongly biiilt, mi his shouldcrs set back

over a broad, deep chest and a neck well balanced on the trunk as
the head is on the neck . . . the head is noble, well-sized, broad. and
iargc behind the ears . . . big, bushy eyebrows---- The forehead is
broad and fine, rsing at fint almost straight and then sloping back
above two bumps or rdges wide apan; such a Torehead that the red-
dish hair cannot possibly tumble over it, but falls naturally back and
to the sides. Big, dark blue eyes are set widely apart, and are quick
and tender or stem with the mans moods.

This is a physical description o f Bram Sloker. Van Helsing gets his gar-
lic flowera from Haariem, where his friend Vanderpool mises them in
his glass-house all year long. The American, Quince} Morris, says that
Van Helsing is Dutch, but that could refer to any Germn speaker, like
the Pennsylvania Dutch who are, in fact, Germn. (Some literary ex-
pcrts have called Van Helsing a Belgian without prescnting any cvi-
dence.) Van Helsing administers three blood transfiisions to Lucy
Westenra; one firom Harker, another from Holmwood, and the last
from Quincey Morris, but Lucy dies unconscious after the final trans
fusin. Lucy is based upon Luc>' ClifTord, with whom Stoker was
friendiy. Lucy ClifTord was Stokers adopted niece and a popular au-
thor o f comic literature.
During the early iSgos Stoker was already working on the novel at
his London home. While spending his summer holidays at the seaside
resort o f Whitby, which also figures in the novel, Stoker came across a
book by William Wiikinson, self-styied Britsh cnsul to Bucharest,
which he checked out o f the Whitby Public Lending Library. (Stoker
even recorded the cali numbers.) In it were important references to
the historcal Dracula, such as Vlads war against the Turks, his res-
oluteness and cruelty, and the treachery o f his brother Radu. Stoker
took copious notes for later inclusin verbatim in chapters 6 and 7 o f
Dracula.
In the meantme, Stoker discovered the Scottish seaside resort o f
Cruden Bay while on holiday in 1893. He was so enthralled with the
solitary, isolated beauty o f the place and the sound o f the sea on the
Top: The Kmamock Arms, the smaU hotel ai Crvden Boy. Scotland, when Bram
Stokersiayed while writngDncyjli.
Boltom; Slains Castie at CnuUn Boy, the probable inspiration for Stokers descrip-
tions ofCastU Dracula.
 IN SF.ARCH OF DRACUI.A

and nol spilling their blood, in honor o f their patroness, Kali. Natu-
rally the Thugs are incensed to witness Newcasile rip a \ictims throai
and drink the spurting blood, bul he presents himself as a messenger
from Kali herself, in the hope that they will lead him to the goddess of
death. Throughout the Daniels seres the vampirc is upset by horrors
which would not have bothered Stokers evil count.
Another tuming point in the modem vainpire genre comes with
Suzy McKee Chamass The Vampirt Tapeslry (1980), which presents a
psychotic living >'ampire as the focus o f the ston-. A cultural anthro-
pologist, lall, handsome Dr. Edward Lewis Weyland avers, I seem to
have fallen \ictim to a delusion o f being a \-ampire. A woman lie at-
tacks shoots and wounds him. and in order to keep bis collcge leach-
ing job, Dr. Weyland is forced to undergo psychiatric therapy. His
therapist, Floria, at first calis her patient Dracula in jest. He initially
resists the analysis but finally yields to reveal his absolute grou-ing con-
viction that he is a vampire. Patient and therapist then interact with
terrifying results, exposing a strange, deep bond as much between
doctor and patient as between monster and \ictim.
Unlike the many seres that appeared in the igyos Stephen King's
XTimpire novel Salrms Lol was actiially based on Stoker's Drarula. In
this eary King novel the evil Manten House is Castle Dracula; Barow,
the king \'ampire, is Count Dracula; and Straker, his minion, is a bit
like Reneld. The tale u^nsfers the setting to contemporan- Maine,
and makes children the agents o f the spread o f xampirsm to the
adults. Young Mark Petre, who knows al! about \-ampires and wcre-
wolves becaase he collects horror magazines and gurnes, is the ado-
lescent hero who courageously defies and destroys the \-ampires
together with the wrter Ben Mears. King's important contrbutions to
the genre were placing the vampire in a contemporar>' Amercan set
ting and making the reader see the events through the eyes o f a child.
In Whitley Strebers novel The Hungrr (1981), Miram, the vam-
piress, is seen existing from ancient times to the present. Each seg-
ment o f the novel is a kind o f short historcal \ignette in which
Miram appears against a rch background of authentic historcal de-
tail. She can cry and even have nighunares, but she is unable to keep
her lovers alive for very long, so she pathetically hides their remains in
boxes in her attic. A slick movie extraNaganza, which looked more like
an ad from Cosmopolitan ihan a horror film, was loosely based on
Siebers novel. New this time \vas an emphasis on the femalc vam
pires seductive side and her bisexualit>.
 On Stage, in Fiction, and on Ftlm

Ihc cnd C of Ihe m0\ie, Van Helsing appears to dellver the verbatim
e p ilo g u e froin the stagc versin: Ju sl a in onicnt, ladies an d gen tle-
men! Just a word before you go. We hope the memories o f Dracula
and Reneid woni give you bad dreams, so just a word o f reassurance.
you get home tonight and the lights have been tumed down
and you are afraid to look behind the curtains and you dread to see a
face appear at the window why, just pul yourself together and re-
member that after all thm are such things.
The American versin became even more popular because o f the
almost simultaneous release o f Frartkenslein in 1932. It is interestng to
speculate on whether there is any correlation between the popularty
o f these creatures and tlie period in which they were released the
Great Depression. The optimistc Dr Frankenstein created a monster
that ultimately des-oyed him, just as many optimistic investors cre
ated a market that in 1929 desuoyed them. Dracula drained away the
life o f his \ictims, an effect comparable to that o f the economic de
pression.
 Lugosis oniy rival as the horror king was Bors Karloff, who played
Dr. Frankenstein's monster, a role that Lugosi had refused. By now
Lugosi was hopelessiy typecasL Seven years after Dracula htis released
it was reissued, and thcrc followed a long line o f horror flms in which
Lugosi participatcd: The Retum of the Vampin, House of Dracula, and so
on. Lugosi also toured in the role o f Dracula both in America and in
England. He was addicted to drugs, and by 1955 was instutionalized.
He said he had taken morphine during flming in 1931 to relieve the
pain in his legs, bul he had been a long-time drug user. In August
1956, Bela Lugosi, the vampire king. the living embodiment o f Drac
ula, died at seventy-two years o f age. Although Dracula and other hor
ror roles had netted him more than |6oo,ooo, he had only $2,900 left
at the time o f his death. In accordance with his request, Lugosi was
bured wearng his tuxedo, medallion, and black Dracula cloak lined
in red satin.
During the 1950S classic horror films were revi\-ed on W . and the
Dracula movie became popular again, to a whole new generation of
viewei. In 1958 the British screenwriterjimmy Sangster wTote a new
Dracula script that was somewhat based on Stokers story line for

Christopher Lk , the scnen

Dracula of the tgjos and
tp6os.
 OnSlagr,inFirtion,andonFilm
Hammer Films. In Horror of Dracula he made Dracula into a realistic
monster in technicolor. The director was Terence Fisher. The erotic
element predominated; women are attracted to Dracula, ihey eagerly
awail his kisses and biies and he kisses and hites them in full view.
Christopher Lee, six-foot-four, thin, macahre, played Dracula. At the
end o f the film Van Hcising, portrayed by veteran actor Peter Cush-
ing, traps Dracula as he is rushing to get back to his coffin at break of
day In a desperate leap Van Helsing rips the drapes to let in the light,
fashions a cross from two huge gold candelabras, and forces Dracula
into the sunlight, where the vampire disintegrates into dust The new
Dracula mo\ie opened in May 1958 in both London and New York,
and in less than two years it had made eight times its original cosL Sev-
cral variations on the vampire theme were then made by Hammer
Stiidios o f London, including The Brides of Dracula (1960), Kiss of the
Vampire (1963), Dracula Prince of Darkness (1965), Dracula Has Risen
from the Grave (You just cant keep a good man down!" screamed the
publicity) (1968). Lustfora Vampire (1^70), The Vampire Laven
Countess Dracula (1970), Sears of Dracula (1970), Dracula, A.D. (1972),
Dracula and the Ijegtnd of the Seven Gold Vampires (1974), and The Salanic
Rites of Dracula (1978). Queen Elizabeth knighted the head o f Ham
mer Films, Michael Carreras, for reinvigorating the British film indus-
try with his lush horror films.
In the meaniime, attempts were being made to make vampire
comedies. Romn Polanski directed the stylish Dance of the Vampires,
retided The Fearless Vampire KiUen, or Pardon Me, Your Teeth Are in My
Neck (1967) in its American release; however, it was Lave at First BiU
(1979), starring George Hamilton doing a Bela Lugosi imitation
which achieved vast commercial success. The mo\ie opens in the
counts od casde in TransyK-ania, where the wolves are howling out-
side and Dracula comments, Children o f the night, shut upl" When
the Communist authorities arrive to throw Dracula out o f his casde,
and the peasant mob tums up with the usual pitchforks, he wams
them, Vat vould Transylvania be without Dracula? It vould be like
Bucharest on a Monday night. Dracula takes an airplane to contem-
porary New York, but there is a mixup with the coffins and he ends up
in Harlem. Dressed in the aditional tuxedo and cape, s-olling down
the streets, he is accosted by some black youths who u u nt him, Hey,
superdude! Hey, honkey! ^\^ly you all decked out like that? Dracula
solemniy declares, I am not hunkie, I am Romanian! Cindy Son-
 On Stagf, in I'irtion. and on Film

-m.
Above:Jonathan Hatker (Keanu Rfeves) is confronted by Dmcula (Gary Oldman)
in the 1992 film Bram Stokcr's Draciila dirrctrd by Francis Ford Coppola.
Belmu: (uinrry Morris (RiU Campbell), Arthur Holmwood (CaryElwes), Abraham
Van Hflsing (Anthony Hopkins) and Dr. Snvard (Richard E. GranI) watch for
signs ofUfe as Lucy (Sadie Frost) is laid lo m.
 IN SEARCH OF DRACULA

literaiy crtic Lloyd Worley has pointed out, the vampire practices
the love techniques o f a castrato, with no danger o f pregnancy. And
just as in the Ottoman harem where women often preferred sex
with eunuchs since there was no chance o f impregnation, so today
some women find the contemporary vampire attractive for similar
reasons.
The AIDS epidemic is also alluded to in boih Coppolas movie, with
shots o f blood under a microscope, and in Rices most recent novel, in
which the \'ampire Lestat puts on a condom when he engages in geni
tal sex. The ultimate fascination is with the erotic reality o f blood dis-
ease and death. Many people may be ambivalent in the face o f death,
but all fear loss o f blood and infections such as AIDS. Jnst as in Nosfer-
atu Mumau presented a powerfiil parailel between the bubonic
plague and the spread o f the vampire disease, so both Coppola and
Rice emphasize the similarites between the prolonged effects o f vam
pire attacks and AIDS. The element o f danger, mystery, and even
death associated with sex is thus recreated and preserved in an intelli-
gible contemporary contexL
Created during the fifteenth century, the sanguinary villain o f the
Germn tales was transformed into a vampire by Stoker and became a
permanent myth transcending the limitations o f time, geography, and
human frailty. But part o f mankind's current love afiir with Dracula
lies in the fact that he was a real histrica! gure. That is why this book
covers both the fctional and the histrica! aspects o f the Dracula
image, since our histrica! research has exerted such a special impact
upon so many o f the Gothic novis, plays, and films created since
1972. It seems fitting that this work should come on the eve o f the
centenary celebraton o f the publication o f Stokers novel.

The mystery o f Dracula endures. It lives on in contemporary transfor-

mations in vampire fction and movies, which someday may inspire yet
another Harker to joum ey to Transylvania and the Borgo Pass, or
impel a zoologist to study the incidence o f lai^e bats in the
Carpathian Mountains. It may stlmulate a scientist to investgate
strange blood diseases like porphyria or AIDS in Eastem Europe, or
encoutage other historians to carry on the research o f this N-ast topic.
The mystery contines at the foot o f Castie Dracula, where the Ro-
manian peasants still wam one not to trespass at night, and where
local villagers tell frightening tales about still hearing the plaintive
voicc of Dniculas w1fe, drowned in ie Arges River. Henee, Profejsor
Van H cN in g proven lo b e an c-X|)crt o ii h um an c x p c r ic n c c an d a
prophet wheii he \\-ams: My friends . . . it is a terrible task we under-
take, and there may be consequence to make the brave shudder. For if
we fail in ihis our fighi he miist siirely win; and then where end we?
. . . to fail here is not mere life or death. It is that we become as him."
Draciila re-teaches us to deal \\nth what we know from experience
but do not like to admit, that things are rarely what they seem to be.
Today, thc sanitized, comical count appears to be just an amusing
teacher o f counting for children on Sesame Street. An amusing Dracula
has e\en tumed up on TV commercials for batteries and home insur-
ance, and on the box o f a breakfast cereal called Count Chocula.
There is a role-playing game called Vampire, the Masquerade, and a
candy Mth the enticing ame Drac Snx\.
But behind tiiese seemingly innocent, nonthreatening, often comic
portray^ils, we all know deep down that Dracula represents what Freud
called the uncanny, that which should have remained hidden but
does not. There is something both familiar and alien about Dracula
tlie Nampire which we tr>- not to recognize, because such recognition
is too frightening to face. Henee we invariably see only our own im
ages in the mirror and mysteriously cannot discem those o f the \'am-
pire. That is why, after all our research, we are more confident than
ever that, so long as humans have not discovered the secret to both
physical immortality and etemal youth, the mystery o f Dracula will
live on.
Our book, wliich bogan as an intuition some thirty-five years ago,
has thus seen the Dracula fad reach its apogee in our day. The mem-
ory o f Prince Vlad Dracula, which might have been consigned to the
dustbin o f histon- along Mth the lives o f so many e\en more famous
Eastem European Uarlords, had once been kept alive by horror pam-
phlets and the invention o f the printing press. His ame had fallen
into obli\ion by the sixteenth century but was resurrected in the late
ninetc-enih ccntur> by Bram Stoker. Similarly in our day. the vampire,
which had existed for thousands o f years mostly in oral traditions. and
which had enjoyed a temporarv- revix-al o f interest in scholarly circles
during the eighteenth century's so-called age o f reason, has been
given a new Icase on life. Both Coppolas Dracula and Rices Lesut
are more like fallen angels than the predatory, evil animal-like Drac
ula o f Stoker.
IN SEARCH OF DRACULA

Abone: Thr founting rouni

o/Sfsame Slmt, jusi onr of
th, ubiquitous incamations
ofSlokfr's mostfamous ar
a/ion.
Ltfi: Cereal hillrr. Since
i g j l the count has bmi
fratured on his oitii brrak-
fasi cmal
 Conrlusion I 83
It is our fondesi wish thai this, our latesi book on Dracula, may help |
him at Icasi icmporarily rcst in pcacc. Biit wc realizc that as long as ;
Science has failed to solve the myster>' o f how to live forever, or how to
have absolutcly safe sex w-ilhout the danger o f AIDS or some oihcr
form o f lingering death, Dracula \sill be back. Henee the wamings of
the peasants about the j>erils o f seeking the great undead and about
the curse that haunts Dracula's castle may deriw from more thaii a
pedestrian sense o f caution. They may be wamings from ihe spirit of
Dracula himself. For us, a signal Tinally came through as we were
reaching the last few \-ards separaiing us from the castle. A snior
member o f our expedition slipped, fell down ihe mountainside, and
broke his hip. In horror, the rest o f us hurried down to the \illage and
secured a stretcher from the peasants. We transported the \ictim to a
Bucharest hospital, where he attempted to recuperate for six months,
but in tlie end he died o f complications from the fall. Was it Draculas
\vay o f sa)ing that he still rules in some other, unearthly domain?
 M APS

C H R O N O L O G IE S

G E N E A L O G Y

A PPE N D IX ES

A N N O T A T E D BIB LIO G R A PH Y

FILM O G R A P H Y

TRAVEL G U ID E
 CHRONOLOGIES

b l 1310-58
Nicolae Alexandni 1352-64
VTadisUvI ,364-77
Radul 1377-83
DanI 1383-86
MirceatheCreat/theOld 1386-1418
Mihail 1418-ao
Dan II 1430-31
Alexandru Aldea 1431-36
Vlad Dracul (ihe Devil) 1436-42
BasarablI 1442-43
VladDracul 1443-47
VTadislavII 1447-48
Vlad thc Impaler (Dnicula) October-Novcmber 1448
VladU vII 1448-56
Vlad thc Impaler (Dracula) 1456-63
Radu the Handaome 1462-73
Basaiab Laiou (thc Od) 1473-74
Radu the Handsome 1475
Basarab Laiou (the Od) 1475
Vlad the Impaler (Dracula) November-December 1476

>387->437 (Holy Romn Emperor,

>4 >>-33: Kingof Bohemia, 1420)
AlbertII 1438-39
Intemgnum 1444-46
GoucmorJohn Hunyadi 1446-53
LadislasV (the Posthumous) 1440-57 (Kingof Bohemia. 1453)
Matthias Corviniu 1458-go (crowned 1464; Kingof Bohemia. 1469)
Prrtender Frederick III 1440-93 (Holy Romn Emperor. crowned King
ofHungaiy, 1459)

SULTANS OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE

Murad II 1421-51
(gave power to his son Mehmed II for a bref period)
Mehmed II 1444-46:1451-81
 GENEALOGY
Mircea thc Grcat/thc Od
(?- 14 ' 8 )
PrinuofWalUuhia 38&-1418
I
Vlad II. Dracul
(? -' 447 )
PrinceofWtdlachia 1436-1443; t 4 4 3 - 4 4 j

Mircea Vlad the Impaler, Dracula Radu III, thc Handsome Mad (Mircca)
(? -' 447 ) (1431-76) (1438/0-1500) thc Monk
PtinceofWaUachia PrincfofWaUathia (?-i 496 )
1448; 14^6-62; 1476 4 6 2 -75 Prime of WaUach
m. (1) Transylnian noblewomai 1482-93
I
Mihnca thc Bad
PnuofWaUachia 1^08-09
m. (1) Smaranda
________m. (2) Voica

Mircca II
ruled 1309-10
coregml with father 1309
m. Maria Despina

Alcxandru II Mircea Peter the Lame

TuUd 574-77 \cf of Moldavia 574-77
m. Calhcrinc Salvarczi n. ( i ) Maria Amirali
I I. (2) Irina the C)ps)'
Mihnea II, the Islamized I
TuUd 5 7 7 -8 3 Stcfanita
m. (1) Neaga
iti. (2) Voica
I
Radu Mihnea
TuUd intermiUmtlj 6 H - 2 3 in
WaUachia and Moldavia
m. Arghira Minetti

Alcxandru the Cocoon

ruM 6 2 3 -2 7
died 1632 without known hcirs
m. Ruxandra Beglitzi

. . . . 190
 S e c o n d m a r r i a c e of V l a d THE I m p a l e r
(the Hungaran line)
m. (2) relave of Matlhias Coninus. King of Huiigarv-,
probably liona Szilag>'

Vlad Dracula son (ame unknoH-n)

m. (?) diedc. 1482
livcd uilh Bishop of Gradea
(no hcirs)
Ladislas Dracula
m. member o Vais de Czege family
(land in Banal)

Ladillas Dracula de Sintesti John Dracula

(patent of nobilin- 1535) m. (?)
m. Anna Vass de Czege (paieni of nobilin- 1535)

John Dracula de Band George Dracula

(land in Szeler regin) (land in Szckler regin)
m. Anna
(no heirs)
I
daughier (ame unknou-n)
m. Gcui family, which kept
Dracula ame
(land In Boi^o Pass)

Line dies out in

sc\enteenth cenuin
 ------ A P P E N D I X E S --------

G E R M A N S TORI ES

Translation by Haymond T. McNaUy of Manuscpt No. 806

at the library of St. Gall Monastery, Switz^nd.

1. Once the od govemor had the od Dracul killed, Dracula and his
brother, having renounced their owti faith, promised and swore
10 protect and uphold the Christian faith. [Reference is to the as-
sassination o f Dracula's father and the rumor that Vlad and Radu
had converted to Islam during their Turkish captivity.]
2. During these same years Dracula was put on the throne and be-
came lord o f Wallachia; he immediately had Ladislaus Waboda
[Vladislav II], who had been ruler o f that regin, killed. [The
killing o f Vladislav II occurred in 1456.]
3. After that Dracula immediately had villages and castles bumed in
Transylvania near Hermannstadt [Sibiu], and he had fortifica-
tions in Transylvania and villages by the ame o f the monastery
HoltznuwdorfT and Holtznetya [Hosmanul] completely bumed
to ashes.
4. He had Berkendorf [Benesti] in Wuetzerland [Tara Birsei]
bumed; those men, women, and children, large and small, whom
he had not bumed at the time, he took with him and put them in
chains and had them all impaled.
5. Dracula imprisoned merchants and carriage-drivers from Wuet-
/crland on a holiday and on that same holiday he had many im
paled. [Confirmed by Romanian sources.]
6. Young boys and others from many lands were sent to Wallachia,
in order to leam the language and other things. He brought
them together and betiayed them. He let them all come together
in a room and had them bumed. There were four hundred in the
room. [Confirmed by Romanian sources.]
7. He had a big family uprooted, from the smallest to the largest.
12. Once he impaled all the merchants and oiher men with mer-
chandisc, the entire merchant class from Wuetzerland ncar 10
Thunow and to Pregel, six hundred o f them wiih all their goods
and he took the goods for hirnself.
13. Once he had a great pot made with nvo handles and over it a stag-
ing device with planks and through it he had holes made, so that
mens hcads would fall through them. Then he had a great re
made undemeath it and had water poured into the pot and had
men boiled in this way. He had many men and women, young
and od, impaled.
14. Also he camc again to Sicbenburgen (the seven fortresses of
Transyhania] to attack Talmetz [Talmetch, near Sibiu]. There he
had men hacked up like cabbage and he had those whom he took
back to Wallachey [Wallachia] as captives cruelly and in rarious
wa\-s impaled.
15. Once he had thought up terrifying and frightening and unspeak-
able tortures, so he had mothers impaled and nursing children,
and he had one- and two-yearold children impaled. He had chil
dren taken from their mothers breasts, the mothers separated
from the children. He also had the mothers' breasts cut out and
their children's heads pushed through the holes in their moth
ers' bodies and then he impaled them. And he caused many
other sufTerngs and such great pain and tortures as all the blood-
thirsty persecutors o f Christendom, such as Herod, ero, Diocle-
tian, and other pagans, had ne\er thought up or made such mar-
t>Ts as did this bloodthirst)- berserker.
16. He had people impaled, usually indiscriminately, young and od,
women and men. People also tried to defend themselves with
hands and feet and the> twisted around and twitched like frogs.
.After that he had them impaled and spoke often in this language:
Oh, what great gracefulness they exhibit!" And they were pa
gans. Jews, Christians, heretics, and Wallachians.
17. He caught a Gypsy who had siolen. Tlien the other gypsies carne
to him and begged Dracula to release him to them. Dracula said:
He should hang, and you must hang him." They said; That is
not our custom. Dracula had the Gypsy boiled in a pot, and
w'hen he was cooked, he forced them to eat him, flesh and bone.
18. A nobleman was sent to him, who came to him among the people
whom he had impaled. Dracula walked under them and gazed
upon them, and there wrere as many as a great forest. And he
 Appendxxes

asked Dracula why he walked around undcr the stench. Draciila

asked: Do you mind the stnk? The other man said: Yes." So
Dracula immediately had him impaled and hoisted him up high
in the air, so thai he would not smell the stench.
19. A prest had preached thai sins could not be forgiven until one
made good the injustice done. Then Dracula had that same prest
invited to his house and set him at his table. Then the lord had
simmel bread put into his food. The priest took the broken bread
up with his ublespoon. Then the lord spoke about how the prest
had preached about sins, etc. The priest said: Lord, it is true.
He said: Why then do you take from me my bread, which I have
unjustly broken into the food?* And Dracula immediately had the
prest impaled.
20. He invited all the landlords and noWemen in his land to his house,
and when the meal was over, he tumed to the noblest men and
asked them how many voevods or lords they remembered who had
ruled that same land. One answered him as many as he could
think oF. So did the other lords, both young and od, and each
among them asked how many lords they could recall. One an
swered fifty, another, thiny: one. twenty. twelve answered similariy.
so that none was so young as to remember seven. So he had all
those same lords impaled. and there were five hundred o f them.
21. He had a misurss who announced that she was pregnant, so he
had her looked at by another woman, who could not compre-
hend how she could be pregnant. So he took the mistress and cut
her up from under to her breast and said: Let the world see
where I have been and where my fruit lay." He also had similar
things cut or pierced and did other inhuman things which are
said about him.
22. In the year 1460, on the moming of St. Bartholomews Day, Drac
ula came out o f the forest with his servants and had all the Wal-
lachians o f both sexes tracked down. Outside the \illage o f
Humilasch (Amias) it is said that he was able to brng so many to-
gether that he let them get all piled up in a bunch. and then he
cut them up like cabbage with swords, sabers, and knives; as for
their chaplain and the others whom he did not kill there, he led
them back home and had them impaled. And he had the village
completcly bumed up with their goods and it is said that there
were more than 30,000 men killed.
23. In the year o f Our Lord 1462 once Dracula came to the large city
 Apjmdixa

o f Schylta [Nicopolis], where he had more than 25,000 people of

all kinds o f cthnic groups killed, Chriatians, pagans, etc. Among
them were the most beautiful women and maidcns, who had
been taken captive by his courtiers. The courtiers begged Dracula
to give the women to them as honorable wives. Dracula did not
want to do this and ordered all o f them, together with the
courtiers, to be cut up Hke cabbage, because he w-as angry that he
had become obliged to pay tribute to the Turkish sultn, who had
demanded the tribute from him. Immediately Dracula let the sul
tns f>eople know that he wished to give over the tribute person-
ally to the sultn. The people there were oveijoyed, so he let his
people come to him in large groups one after the other and he
let the remaining counier? ride with him. And then he had these
people all killed. Also he had the same regin called Pallgare)
[W'ulgerey] completely bumed. He also had others nailed down
by their hair and in all there were 25,000 killed not counting
those whom he had bumed.
24. Messengers from Hermannstadt saw the dead and impaled in
Wallachia like a huge forest, aside from those whom he had
roasted, boiled, and skinned.
25. He rounded up an entire regin called Fugrash [Pagaras],
women, men, and children, and led them to Wallachia where he
had them impaled. Similarly, he had the heads cut off his men
who had helped him to bury his treasure.
26. He had se\'eial lords beheaded and took their bodies and had
food cooked up from them. After that he had their friends in-
\ited to his house and he gave them something to eat from that
food and said to them: Now you are eating the bodies o f your
friends. After that he impaled them.
27. He had seen a worker in a short shirt and said to him: Have you
a wife at home?" He said: Yes." Dracula said: Bring her here to
me." Then he said to her: WTiat do you do?" She said: I wash,
cook, spin, etc." He immediately had her impaled because she
had not made her man a long shirt, so that one could not see the
seam. Dracula at once gave him another wife and ordered that
she should make a long shirt for her man, or he would also have
her impaled.
28. He had a donkey impaled and on the eanh above it a Franciscan
monk whom he had m et
29. Some three hundred gypsies came into his land; he thereupon
 Appmdixes

Dracuia. Copies o f ii wcre madc from ihc fificcnih lo ihe eighieenth

ccntur>- in Russia. It is o iic if ic firsl in stanccs o f b cllctrislic w riting
in Russian literature, and the historian Nicholas Karamzin has called
it his c o iiiu n s first historcal novel.
This manuscript u-as \sTHen by the nionk Efrosin from the Kirillov-
Belozersky Monastery in nonhem Russia in the year 1490. In it the
monk states that he copied the ston' from another manuscript
penned in 1486. No onc knou-s who the author o f that earlier manu
script was. Most scholarly opinion has focused upon a Russian diplo-
mat who was at the Hungarian court in the 1480S. Fedor Kurytsin; he
could have picked up the tale there since Dr^cula had been a captive
o f the Hungarian king from 1462 to 1474. Moreover. the monk states
that the earlier author had seen one o f the sons o f Dracula.
W'hoever the original author w-as, he \\'as more disturbed by the
princes abandonment o f Orthodoxy than by bis cruelties. VVhile in
prison Dracula forsook the light" o f the Orthodox Church and ac-
cepted the darkness o f the Romn Church because he w-as too at-
tracted to the sweetness o f this earthly life and not motivated
enough by concern for the next one. Thus, the stor>' has a marked re-
ligious tone.
The manuscript supports the notion of a cnicl but just" autocrat in
its prescntaiion of Dracula. However cruel his actions may have ap-
peared they were necessary for the good o f the state. In order to ward
ofT not only the Turkish imadcrs but also the continua! threat o f o|>
position from the aristocratic boyan, Dracula had to take harsh meas-
ures. Obriously, the manuscript W3s written to indicate support o f tlie
autocratic ruler in Russia at the time. Irn III, known as Ivan the
Great. Here is the text:

1. There lived in the Wallachian lands a Christian prince o f the

Creek faith who was called Dracula in the Wallachian language,
which means dc\il in our language, for he was as cruelly cle\cr as
u'ds his ame and so was his life.
Once some ambassadors from the Turkish sultn came to him.
VVhen they entered his palace and bowed to him, as was their cus-
tom, they did not take their caps from iheir heads and Dracula
asked them: V\Tiy have yon acted so? You ambassadors have come
to a great sovereign and you have shamed me." The ambassadors
answered, Such is the custom o f our land and our sovereign."
 Appendixes

And Dracula told them, I want to sirengthen you in your

custom. Behavc bravely." And he ordered that their caps be
nailed to their heads with small iron nails. And then he allowed
them to go and said, Go relate this to your sovereign, for he is ac-
customed to accepting such shame from you, but we are not ac-
customed to it. Let him not mpose his customs upon other
sovereigns who do not want them, but let him keep his customs to
himself." [This episode confirmed in Romanian and Germn
sources.]
. The Turkish sultn was ver> angered because o f that. and he set
out with an army against Dracula and invaded with overwhelming
forc. But Dracula assembled all the soldiers he had and attacked
the Turks during the night, and he killed a great many o f them.
But he could not conquer them with his few men against an army
so much greater than his, so he re-eated.
He personally examined those who had fought with him
against the Turks and who had retumed. Those wounded in the
front he honored and armed them as knights. But those who
were wounded in the back he ordered to be impaled from the
bottom up and said: "You are not a man but a woman.' And when
he marched against the Turks once again, he spoke to his entire
army in this way, W'hoever wants to think o f death, let him not
come with me but let him remain here." And the Turkish sultn,
hearing o f this, retreated with great shame. He lost an immense
army and never dared again to set out against Dracula. [The
night attack is confrmed by an eyewitness report.]
. The sultn sent an ambassador once to Dracula, in order that he
be given the yearly tribute. Dracula greatly honored this ambas
sador, and showing him all that he had, he said, *I not only wish
to give the sultn the tribute, but I aiso wish to place mwelf at his
Service with my whole army and with my whole treasur>-. I shall do
as he commands, and you shall announce this to your emperor,
so that when I shall come to place myself at his disposal, he will
give orders throughout his whole land that no harm should come
to me or to my men. And, as for me, I shall come to the emperor
after your departure and I shall bring him the tribute, and I shall
come in person."
When the sultn heard from his ambassador that Dracula
wished to submit his Service, the emperor honored this man, gave
 Appendixa

him gifL' an d wa-s cla tcd b ccau sc al thal tim e lie was
a l w'ar w lh
the emperors and lands o f the East Immediately the sultn seni
to all his rortifed cides and throughout his land the message that
when Draciila comes, not only should no one do him any harm
but, on the contrary, they should honor Dracula when he comes.
Dracula set out with his whole army and with him were oflicers o f
the emperor who greatly honored him. And he travcled through
out tlie Turkish empire for about five days. Bul then suddenly he
tumed around and began to rob and attack the cities and the
towns. And he captured many prisoners whom he cut into pieces.
He impaled some Turks, others he cut in two, and then he
bumed them. The whole couny which he penetrated was laid to
Waste. He allowed no one to remain alive, not even the babes in
arms. But others, those who were Christian, he displaced and in-
stalled them in his own lands. After taking much booty, he re-
tumed home. And, after ha\ing honored the officers, he said,
Go and tell your emperor what you have secn. I scrvcd him as
much as I could. If my Service has been pleasing to him, I am
again going lo serve him with all my might." And the emperor
could do nothing against him but was shamefully vanquished.
[This episode confirmed by historical documents.]
. Dracula so hated evil in his land that if someone committed a mis-
deed such as theft, robber>, lying, or some injustice. he had no
chance o f staying alive. Whether he \s-as a nobleman or a priest or
a monk or a common man, or even if he had great wealth, he
could not escape death. And he was so feared that in a certain
place he had a source of water and a fountain where many travel-
ers carne from many lands, and many o f these people came to
drink at the fountain and the source, because the water was cool
and sweet. Dracula had put near this fountain in a desened place
a great cup wonderfully wrought in gold; and whoever wished to
drink the water could use this cup and put it back in its place.
And as long as this cup was there, no one dared steal it. [Roman-
ian folklore stresses Dracula's maintenance o f law and order.]
. Once Dracula ordered throughout the land that whoever was od
or sick or poor should come to him. And there gathered at the
palace a huge multitudc o f poor and vagabonds, who expected
some great act o f charity. And he ordered that all these miserable
people be gathered together in a large house which was prepared
 with this idea in mind. And he ordered that they be given food
and drnk in accordance with their wishes. Then, after ha\ing
eaten, they began to amuse themselves. Then Dracula personally
carne to see them and spoke to them in the following way; WTiat
else do you need?" And they answered him in unisn, Lord, oniy
God and your Highness knows, as God will let you hear.' He then
said to them, Do you want me to make you without any fiirther
cares, so that you have no other wants in this world?" And. as they
all expected some great gift, they answered, We wish it, Lord. At
that point he ordered that the house be locked and set on re,
and all o f them perished in the fire within it. During this time he
told his nobles, Know that I have done this rst o f all so that
these unfortunate people will no longer be a burden on others,
and so that there should be no more poor in my land but only
rich people, and in the second place, I freed these people, so that
none of them suffers any longer in this world either because of
poverty, or because o f some sickness." [Draculas killing o f the
sick and poor is a favorite theme in Romanian folklore. One critic
has suggested that the princes motive was control o f the plague.]
6. Once there carne from Hungary two Romn Catholic monks
looking for alms. Dracula ordered them to be housed separately.
And he first o f all invited one o f these monks and showed him in
the court countless people on stakes and spokes o f wheels. And
he asked the monk, Have I done well? How do you judge those
on the stakes?" And the monk answered, No, lord, you have
done badly. You punish without mercy. It is ftting that a master
be merciful, and all these unfortunate people whom yon have im-
paled are martyrs." Dracula then called the second monk and
posed the same question. The second monk ansuered, Yon have
been assigned by God as sovereign to punish those who do evil
and to reward those who do good. Certainly they have done e\il
and have received what they deserved. Dracula then recalled the
first monk and told him, Why have you left your monaster> and
your cell, to walk and travel at the courts of great sovercigns, as
you know nothing? Just now you told me that these people are
martyrs. I also want to make a martyr out o f you so that you will be
together w th these other martyrs. .\nd he ordered thac he be
impaled from the bottom up. But to the other monk, he ordered
that he be given fifty ducats o f gold and told him, You are a nise
 tom and in bad shape. And he asked that man, Have you a wife?'
And he answered, I have, sire." Then Dracula said, Take me to
your house, so that I can see her." And in the house o f the man he
saw a young and healthy wife. Then he asked her husband, Did
you sow grain? And the husband answered, Lord, I have much
grain.' And he showed much grain to him. Then Dracula said to
his wife, Why are you lazy toward your husband? It is his duty to
sow and to work and to feed you, but it is your duty to make nice
clean clothes for your husband. Only you do not even wish to
clean his shirt, though you are quite healthy. You are the guilty
one, not your husband. If your husband had not sown the grain,
then your husband would be guilty." And Dracula ordered that
both her hands be cut off and that she be impaled.
10. Once Dracula was feasting amid the corpses o f many men who
had been impaled around his table. There amid them he liked to
eal and have ftm. There was a servant who stood up right in front
o f him and could not stand the smell o f the corpses any longer.
He plugged his nose and drew his head to one side. Dracula
asked him, Why are you doing that? The servant answered,
"Sire, I can no longer endure this stench." Dracula immediately
ordered that he be impaled. saying. T o u must reside way up
there, where the stench does not reach you." [Draculas macabre
sense o f humor is highlighted in Germn pamphlets.]
11. On another occasion, Dracula received the visit of an emissar>
from Matthias the Hungarian king. The ambassador was a great
noble o f Polish origin. Dracula invited him to stay at his royal
table in the midst o f the corpses. And set up in front o f the table
was a very high, completely gilded stake. And Dracula asked the
ambassador, T e ll me, why did I set up this suke?" The ambas
sador was very aftaid and said, Sire, it seems that some nobleman
has committed a crime against you and you want to reserve a
more honorable death for him than the others." And Dracula
said, ^ou spoke firiy. You are indeed a royal ambassador o f a
great sovereign. I have made this stake for you." The ambassador
answered, Sire, if I have committed some crime worthy o f death,
do what you wish because you are a fair ruler and you would not
be guilty o f my death but I alone would be." Dracula broke out
laughing and said, If you had not answered me thus, you would
really be on that very stake yourself" And he honored him greatly
 Appendixes

an d g a v f hini gifts an d allow cd h iin lo go, sayiiig, You iruly can

go as an envoy from great sovereigns to great sovereigns, because
you are well verscd in knowing how to talk with great sovereigns.
But others let them not dar u lk \viih me, before leaming how to
speak to great sovereigns.
12. Dracula had the followng ciistom: whene\er an ambassador
carne to him from the sultn or from the king and he was not
dressed in a distingiiishcd w-ay or did not know how to answcr
tHisted questions, he impaled them, saying, I am not guilty o f
your death but your own sovereign, or you yourself. Don't say an>>-
thing bad about me. If your sovereign knows that you are slow-
witted and that you are not prof>erly versed and has sent you to
my court, to me a Mse sovereign, then your own sovereign has
killed you. And if som ehow you dar to co m e without being prop-
erly instructed to my court, then you yourself have committed sui
cide. For such an ambassador he made a high and wholly gilded
stake, and he impaled him in front o f all, and to the sovereign o f
such a foolish ambassador he wTote the following words: No
longer send as an ambassador to a wise sovereign a man \vith such
a weak and ignorant mind.'
13. Once artisans made him some iron barris. He filled the barris
with gold and put them at the bottom o f a river. Then he ordered
that the artisans be killed, so that no one would know the crime
committed by Dracula except for the devil whose ame he bore.
[The stor>- o f the persons who killed the workmen who hid Drac-
ulas treasure occurs the world over, thus this episode can be con-
sidered as a mythical one.]
14. On one occasion the Hungarian king Matthias set out with an
army to war against Dracula. Dracula met him, they fought, and
in the battle they captured Dracula alive, because Dracula was be-
trayed by his own men. And Dracula was brought to the Hungar
ian king, who ordered him thrown in jail. And he remained in jail
at Visegrad on the Danube up from Buda for tweive years. And in
Wallachia the Hungarian king ordered another prince. [Drac
ulas presence in Hungar>' is confirmed by Hungarian sources, re
porta bv papal representatives in Buda, and the memoirs o f Pius
II.]
15. After the death o f this prince, the Hungarian king sent a messen-
ger to Dracula, who was in jail, to ask him whether he would like
 Appendixn

to become prnce in Wallachia again. If so, he miist acccpt the

Lan faith, and if he refuses, he must die in jail. Bul Dracula was
more attached to the sweetness o f this passing world than life
etemal. That is why he abandoned orthodoxy and forsook the
tnith; he abandoned the light and received the darkness. He
could not endure the temporary sufferings o f prison. and he was
prepared for the eterna! suTerngs; he abandoned our Orthodox
faith and accepted the Latn heresy. The king not oniy gave him
the princedom o f Wallachia but even gave him his own sister as a
wife. From her he had two sons, he lived for another ten years,
and he ended his life in this heresy. [Sources given above confirm
Dracula's restoration in 1476. and his heresy in eyes of the Ortho
dox Church.]
16. It was said about him that e\en when he was in jail. he could not
abandon his bad habits. He caught mice and bought birds in the
market. And he tortured them in this M^y: some he impaled. oth-
ers he cut their heads off, and others he plucked their feathers
out and let them go. And he taught himself to sew, and he fed
himself. (This incideni is not recorded in any other known
sources.]
17. When the king freed him from jail he brought him to Buda where
he gave him a house located in Pest across from Buda. At a time
before Dracula had seen the king, it so happened that a criminal
sought refuge in Dracula's house. And those chasing the criminal
came into Draculas courtyard, began looking for him, and found
the criminal. Dracula rose up, took his sword, and cut oPF the
head o f the prefect who was holding the criminal and then Dr?c-
ula libervted the criminal. The other guards Hed to the municipal
judge and toid him what had happened. The judge and his men
went to the Hungaran king to complain against Dracula. The
king sent a messenger to ask him: W'hy have you committed this
misdeed?" But Dracula answered in this way-. I did not commit a
crime. He committed suicide. Anyone will persh in this way
should he thievingly invade the house o f a great sovereign. If this
judge had come to me and had explained the situation to me,
and if I had found die criminal in my own home, I myself would
have delivered the criminal to him or would have pardoned him
of death.* When the king was told about this, he began to laugh
and marvel at his courage. [Not found elsewhere.]
 Appendixes

R O M A N I A N STORIES
TransUuions by Radu Florescu of fottales handed doum by word of mouth.
First renderingof this material into another language.

One o f the central points made in this book is that the general themes
in the oral Romanian folktales concur with those in the printed Ger
mn pamphlet and the Russian manuscript sources dating from the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Since the Romanian narratives are
longer, often containing a moral, only a few cxamples are presented
here.

1. T h e F o r e i c n M e r c h a n t . [In Romanian folklore there

are three variants o f this story. Variant A is closest to Russian story
no. 7. Variant B is very Romanianized and probably developed
laten for instance, lei, the Romanian currency, are cited instead
o f ducats. Variant C takes a new form altogethen thus it, too, is
probably a more recent development. It should be noted that
Variant C shows that in Romana itself the ame Dracula was asso-
ciated with the Impaler.]

Variant /i; When Dracula ruled Wallachia, an im ponant Floren-

tine merchant traveled throughout the land, and he had a great
deal o f merchandise and money.
As he reached Tirgoviste, the capital of the country at the time,
the merchant immediately went to the princely palace and asked
Dracula for servants who might watch over him, his merchandise,
and his money.
Dracula ordered him to leave the merchandise and the money
in the public square and to come to sleep in the palace.
The merchant, having no altemave, submitted to the princely
command. However, during the night, someone passing by his
carriage stole 160 golden ducats.
On the next day, early in the moming, the merchant went to
his carriage, found his merchandise inuct, but 160 golden ducats
were missing. He immediately went to Dracula and told him
about the missing money. Dracula told him not to worry and
promised that both the thief and the gold would be found. Se-
 Appendixes

crctly he ord e rc d his scrvants lo rcp lacc ih c g old d ucats from his
own treasury, biit to add an extra diicat.
He ordered the cizens o f Tirgoviste to immediately seek out
the thicf, and if the ihief were not found, he would destroy his
capital.
In the meantime, the merchant went back to his carriage,
counted the money once, counted it a second time, and yet again
a third time, and u-as amazed to nd all his money there Hlh an
extra ducat. He then retumed to Dracula and told him: Lord, I
have found all my money, only \vith an extra ducat"
The thief w-as brought to the palace at that very moment Drac
ula told the merchant: Go in peace. Had you not admitted to the
extra ducat, I would have ordered you to be impaled together
with this thief."
This is the way that Dracula conducted himself with his sub-
jects, both believers and heretics. [Mihail Popescu, ed. Legmde is-
torice ale wmanilor din cronicari, Bucuresti, 1937, pp. 16-18.]

Variant B: In times gonc by when Prince \Had the Impaler was

reigning, a merchant, who was traveling throughout our land,
yelled at all the crossroads that he had lost a moneybag fiill o f one
ihoiisand lei. He promised a hundred lei to whoever would find it
and brng it to him. Not long after that, a God-fearing man, as
were the Romanians at the time o f Prince Vlad the Impaler, came
up to the merchant and said to him; Ma-ster merchant, I found
this moneybag on my way at the tum in the crossroad at the back
o f the fish market. I figured that it must be yours, since I heard
that you had lost a moneybag." The merchant replied: Yes. it is
rcally mine, and I thank you for bringing it to me."
As tlie merchant began to count the money, he was at wits end
to find a way o f not giving the promised one-hundred-lei reward.
After he had counted the coins, to the amazement o f the other
man, he put them back in the moneybag and said to the man who
had brought it: I have counted the money, dear sir, and I noticed
that you have taken your promised reward. Instead o f a thousand
leis, I found only nine hundred. You did well, since it was your
right. I thank you once again that you saved me from the tight
spot in which I was to fall. God keep you in his grace." The Chris-
tian answered: Master merchant, you erroneously and without
 Appmdixfs

cause tell me that you are missing one hundred le. I did noi even
untie the moneybag to look inside, and I did not even know how
much money it contains. I took it to you as 1 found ii." I lold
you,' replied the merchant cuttingly and with a double meaning,
I had lost a moneybag with one thousand lei. You brought it to
me with nine hundred. Thats how it is. Even if I should wish it, I
cannot give you more. In the last resort, make out a petition and
put me on trial."
The merchant blushed to his ears for shame when he realized
that the peasant suspected him. The peasant did not say a word
but left bidding him farewell, and he went su^ght to the prince
to complain. Your Highness, he said, 1 bring this charle, not
because o f the promised one hundred lei, but because of the fact
that he suspects that I am not an honest man when 1 know that I
was as honest as pur gold, and when it did not even cross my
mind to deceive him." The prince recognized the ickery of the
merchant, since the prince himself was a cle\er fellow, and he or-
dered that the merchant be brought to him. Both the plaintifT
and the accused were present. The prince listened to both, and
when placing both versions in the balance of jusiice. the prince
realized on which side it weighed. Looking the merchant straight
in the eye, he said, Master merchant. at my court people do not
know what a lie is. It is sirongly suppressed. You have lost a mon
eybag containing one thousand lei and you have found it proper
to proclaim this at all the crossroads. The moneybag that this
Christian brought you contained nine hundred lei. It seems quite
obvious that this was not the moneybag that you lost. On the basis
o f what right did you accept it? Now, give the moneybag back to
the man who found it and wait until the moneybag which you lost
is found. While you, fellow Chrisuan, added the prince, tuming
to the accused, keep the moneybag until the man who lost it
shows up." And so it was done, since there was no way o f doing
otherwise. [Petre Ispirescu, ed., Povesti desprr Vhui Voda Tepes opera
postuma Cemaut, story 4, 1935, pp. 83 and 160.]

VariarU Q Once there reigned in Wallachia a Prince Dracula, also

known as the Impaler This prince was very severe, but also just.
He would not tolerate thieves, liars, and lazy people. He did all in
his power to extrpate such men from his land. Had he reigned
longer he would probably have succeeded in freeing his land
 Appnxdixfs

from such parasitcs and perhaps cven prevented ihat others of

that Idnd be born. Biit no surh luck lodav!
At that lime a nierchant from the cit\ of Florence in Iialy w-as
retiiming to his nativc land wiih inesiiniable \s-arcs and a largc
sum o f money. He had to pass tlirough Tirgo\isie for therc wss
the seat of thc prince at that time. Since he had heard the Turks
relate that half had perished at Draculas hand, he thought that
the Romanians were dishonest as bad as forest iliieves. As he
reached Tirgo\iste, the merchant went straight lo Dracula \silh a
greai gift and toid him: V'our Highness, fate Itas compclled me lo
pass ihrough the land that you me. wiih all my fortune which I
have accumulated through thc swcat o f many years o f hard work
in Eastem countries. This land o f yoiirs is siipposcdly Christian. I
dont w-ant to have to relate in the West where I am going that a
Christian W3s robbed by Chrstians, paniciilarly when he vas able
lo escape thc sword o f thc pagan. On my knees I beg Your High
ness to lend me a few giiards to look after my goods until such
time as I leave."
Dracula who \vas as quick as firc frowned Mih his eyebrows
when he hcard ihai requesi and said: Keep your gifts, you Chrisi-
ian. I order you lo leave all your possessions in any square or any
Street, in any pan o f ihc cit>- which will appear lo you most iso-
laicd. Leave your fortune ihere unguarded unlil moming. If
some theft should occur, I shall be responsible.
This was no joking maiter. Dracula's command had lo be
obeyed oihensise he would have losi his temper. The Florcn-
line, hean frozen with fright, submitled to the order. He did not
sieep a \vink because o f worry and doubt.
In the moming the merchant reiurncd only to find his posses
sions intaci, as he had lefl them. He looked al iem and could
hardly believe his eyes. He went to Dracula, lold him that all his
possessions were found uniouchcd, and praiscd his land. He had
ncver seen .luch a ihing in any o f ihc othcr countries ihai he had
\isited and he had been iraveling since childhood. WTiai is the
worth o f the gift you intended to give me?" asked Dracula. The
merchant was somewhat hesiiani lo revcal il. Dracula insisled on
finding out the amouni o f thc gifi the merchant had intended
to pay. Dracula ihen told him: "Tell whomever you meet what
vou have seen in mv counuy.' (Ispirescu, siorv' no. 4. 1935, pp.
83-841
. D ra cu la a n d T H E T u R K i s H A m b a s s a d o r s . [Com
pare with Russian story no. i and Germn story no. 32.]
It s said that during ie reign o f Dracula in Wallachia, Sultn
Mehmed II sent some ambassadon.
Having entered the recepton hall o f the prnce, the ambas
sadors paid homage in accordance with their custom o f not tak-
ing their caps ofif. Dracula then asked: Why do you behave in this
way? You introduce yourselves to me and then do me dishonor."
The l\irkish representatives answered in unisn: This is the cus
tom with the rulers o f our couniTy." Dracula then spoke to them
in this way: I, too, would like to strengthen your customs, so that
you may adhere to them even more rigidly.
He then immediately ordered his reiainers to bring him some
nails in order to secure the caps on the heads o f the Turkish am
bassadors.
Having done this, he allowed the envoys to leave and told
them: Go and tell your master that he may be accustomed to suf-
fer such indignity from his own people. We, however, are not so
accustomed. Let him not send either to this couniry or elsewhere
abroad, ambassadors exporting his new customs, for we shall not
receive them. [Popescu, pp. 15-16.]

. T he B o y a r w i t h a K e e n S e n s e o f S m e l l . [Com
pare with Russian story no. 10 and Germn story no. 18.]
There were dmes when for whatever crime, whether judged or
not judged, a man would lose his life. It is well that those dmes
are now remte; may they never come back. h is well that we can
now afford to relate these methods and not be victims anymore.
Some unruly iojiara had been ordered impaled by Dracula.
After some tme Dracula, being reminded o f the victims, invited
yet other boyan to watch the spectacle with their own eyes and see
how he could punish seeing is beiieving. Perhaps Dracula sim-
ply wished to nd out whether he could recognize some o f the bo
yan for within his retnue were many o f the other facton
[Danest]. O ne o f these boyan, either because he had been in-
volved in the intrigues o f the impaled victms or perhaps because
he had been frendly to some o f them, and fearing not to admit
that he was overcome by pity, da red to tell Dracula: Your High-
ness, you have descended to this spot from the palace. Over there
 Appendixa

ih e air i p urc. w h cre; h crc it is im p u rc. T h e bad sm cll n iig h l af-

fect your health. Do you mean to say it stinks?" asked Dracula,
quickly leaning tow-ard him and looking at him iniently. This is
so, Your Highness, and you would do well to leave a place which
might be detrimental to the health o f a prince who has the good
o f his subjects at heart."
Perhaps becausc Dracula had fnally pcnetratcd into the
depths o f the mind o f the boyar, or perhaps in order to shut up
the remarks o f other hoyan, he shouted: Servants, bring me a
stake three times as long as those that you see yonder. Make it up
for me immediately in order that you impale the boyar, so that he
may no longer be able to smell the stench from below."
Tlie unfortunate begged on his knees. He ^vanted to kiss
Draculas hands on both sides, all in \-ain. Afier a short time he
w-as struggling on a stake much higher ihan all the others and he
moaned and groaned so vehemently that you heaved a sigh.
[Ispirescu, story no. 6, 1935. pp. 25-27.]

. T he L a z y W o m a n . [Compare with Russian story no. 9 and

Germn story no. 27.]
Dracula was a cle\'er man who insisted on good order in his state.
Woe to any soldicr whom he saw improperly attired he rarely
escaped with his life. He liked to see his citizens cleanly attired
and looking smart. Around him, he could not tolerate anyone
who Houndered or was slow in his work. Whenever he noticed a
libertine or a rakc he lost his temper
One day he met a peasant who was wearing too short a shirt.
One could also notice his homespun peasant trousers which were
glued to his legs and one could make out the side o f his thighs
when he saw him [dressed] in this manner. Dracula immediately
ordered him to be brought to court. Are you married?" he in-
quired. Yes, I am, Your Highness. Your wife is assuredly o f the
kind who remains idle. How is it possible that your shirt docs not
cover the calf o f your leg? She is not worthy o f living in my realm.
May she perish!" Beg forgiveness, My Lord, but I am satisfied
with her. She never leaves home and she is honesu" You will
be more sased with another since you are a decent and hard-
working man.
Two o f Draculas men had in the meantime brought the
 Appendixes

wretched woman to him and she was immediately impaled. Then

bringing another woman, he gave her away to be married to the
peasant widower. Dracula, however, was careful to show the new
wife what had happened to her predecessor and explained to her
the reasons why she had incurred the princely wrath.
Consequently, the new wife worked so hard she had no time to
eat. She placed the bread on one shoulder, the salt on another
and worked in this Tashion. She tried hard to give greater satisrac-
tion to her new husband than the frst wife and not to inciir the
curse o f Dracula. Did she succeed?
It is just as well that Dracula does not rule our country today,
for he would have had to expend many stakes, which might have
eliminated from our land the innumerable drones who wither
the very grass on which they sit. [Ispirescu, story no. 5, 1935, pp.
2 >-25.]

5. T h e B u r n i n g o f t h e P o o r . [This tale has a particularly

moral bent to it. Compare with Ru&sian storv- no. 5 and Germn
story no. 30.]
The tale relates that there were a great number o f peoplc out o f
work at the me o f Prince Vlad the Impaler. In order to live they
had to eat, since the unmerciful stomach demanded food. So, in
order to eat they wandered aimlessly and begged for food and
they subsisted by begging without working. If a man, as I say, were
to ask one o f these beggars why they didnt work a littie, too, some
would answen Don't I wander around all day long? If I cannot
find work, am I to blame?" One o f that kind an onlooker could
set straight with the proverb: 1 am looking for a master but God
grant that I dont find one." The others also always found a pre-
text for not working, such as: The furrier strains his legs day and
night, but does not get anything out o f it; the tailor works all his
life and his reward is like the shadow o f a needle; the shoemaker
bends and stoops unl he gets od and when he dies he is bured
with an empty collection pate." And in this way they found some-
thing wrong with all the trades.
When the prince heard o f this and saw with his own eyes the
large number o f beggars who were really fit for work, he began to
reflect. The Cospel says that man shall eam his daily bread only
through the sweat o f his brow. Prince Vlad thought: "These men
 Appmdixrs

livc ofT ihe swcat o f others, so ihey are uselcss lo humanit>. It is a

fom o f thievery. In fact. th c in;iskccl ro b b cr in ih c forcst dc-
mands your pursc, but if you are quicker with your hand and
more \igorous than he you can escape from him. However, ihese
others take your beiongings gradually by begging but they still
take them. They are worse than robbers. May such men be cradi-
catfd from my land! And after due reflection, he ordered that
the announcement be made throughout the land that on a cer-
tain day all beggars should assemble, since the prince was going
to distribute a batch of clothes and to treat them to a copious
meal.
On the appointed day, Tirgoviste groaned under the weight o f
the large number o f beggars who had come. The princes ser-
\3nts passed out a batch o f clothes to each one, then they led the
beggars to some large house where tables had been set. The beg
gars marscled at the prnce's gcnerosit>', and they spoke among
themselves: Truly it is a prnces kind of grace even this charit>'
is at the expense o f the people. Couldn't the prince give us some-
thing out o f his own pocket for a change?" Hey, the prince has
changed. He is no longcr the w-ay you knew him." A wolf can
change his fur, but not his bad habits."
Then they started eaung. And what do you think they saw be-
fore them: a meal such as one would find on thc princes own
table, \sines and all the best things to eat which weigh you down.
The beggars had a feast which became legendary. They ate and
drank grecdily. Most o f them got dead drunk. As they became in-
coherent, they were suddenly faced \%ith fire on all sides. The
prince had ordered his servants to set the house on fire. They
rushed to the doors to get out, but the doors were locked. The
fire progressed. The blaze rose high like inflamed dragons.
Shouts, shrieks, and moans arse from the lips o f all the poor en-
closed there. But why should a fire be moved by the entreaties of
men .5 They fell upon each other. They embraced each other.
They sought hclp, but there was no human ear left to listen to
them. They began to twist in the torments o f the fire that wss de-
stro)ing them. The fire stifled some, the embers reduced others
to ashes, the fiames grilled most o f them. WTien the fire finally
abated, there ^vas no trace o f any living soul.
And do you belie\e that the breed o f poor was wiped out.^ Far
 Appendixes

from it don't belie\e such nonscnse. Look around yon and as-
certain the tnith. Even today umes are noi better than they were
then. Beggars will cease to exist only with the end o f the world.
[Ispirescu, story no. 8, 1936, pp. 1-6.]

6. T h e T w o M o n k s . [Compare wiih Russian story no. 6 and

with Germn story no. ig.]
A crafty Greek monk who, like many others, was beginning to
travel throughout the land, happened to meet a poor Romanian
priest, an honest God-fearing man. Every time they met, the two
clerics argued and between them there arse a fier>- dispute. The
Greek monk was constantly belittling the priest and criticizing Ro-
manians. The native answered: If you fnd Romanians stupid and
uncouth, why dont you retum to your land among your subtle
and wily Greek compatriots? Who has brought you hither and
who has called you like a plague on our heads?"
News about the two clerics reached Dracula's ears. He wished
to see them and ordered that on a certain day they both be
brought to the palace.
They carne on the appointed day. He received them in separate
rooms. The Greek monk was proud to have been received by the
prnce, but he did not know that the native cleric had also been
invited. The latter was astonished and could not understand how
Dracula had found out about him, but he determined that should
he find him well disposed he would place a good word for bis
parishioners. Dracula. however, wished to probe their innermost
thoughts, for His Highness was crafty in this respect. When the
Greek monk entered the chamber, Dracula asked him: Reverend
priest, you have tiaveled through my country in the senice o f
the church. You had occasion to speak to good and bad people,
with the rich and the poor. Tell me, what do the people say about
me?"
To such an obvious question the priest thought that he had the
obvious retort. With a craftiness o f which only a Greek is capable,
he answered in a honeyed and false way; Your Highness. from
one end o f the land to the other everyone praises your ame.
Everyone is pleased with your reign. They say that such a just
ruler has never reigned in Wallachia. To which compliment I
shall add that you need to do one more thing; be kinder to those
 Appendixes

o f your subjects who come from the holy places [Greeks] and give
them financial aid, so ihat ihey may bring consolation for the mis-
fortunes suffered by their monks at these holy places. Then your
ame \vill be blessed o f the angeis with undying praise." ^ou are
lying, you unworthy priest, like the \illain that you are," shouted
Dracula, angered and frovwiing with his brows. It vvas ob\ious that
he had bccn nformed aboui the priest. The proverb states that
even the sun cannot give heat to ever>one. Opening the door he
ordered his retainere who were on guard: Soldiers, this wicked,
unworthy being must be executed." The order was immediately
obeyed and the monk was impaled. Then going to the Romanian
priest who was ignorant o f all that had happened, Dracula asked
him the same question: Tell me, what do people say about me?"
What should they say, Your Highness? People have not spoken
with one voice. Recently, howe\er, they are beginning to castgate
you everywhere and say that you no longer lessen their burdens,
which were small in the days of your predecessor." You dar to
speak fairly, said Dracula in a gleeful tone o f voice. I m II think
about that. Be the court confessor from this point onward and go
in peace." [Ispirescu, stor> no. 7, 1935, pp. 27-32.]

. D r a c u i - a s .M i s t r e s s . [Compare with Germn story no. 21

and Russian story no. 8.]
Dracula had a mistress. Her house was located in a dark and iso-
lated suburb o f Tirgo\iste. When Dracula went to see her he was
obliwous o f evervthing, for this woman unfortunately happened
to be to his taste. For her he had mere physical attrac-
tion, nothing else. The unfortunate woman tried in w ery way
to be plcasing to Dracula. And he reciprocated all the outward
manifestaons o f love which she showed him. One might almost
say that Dracula expressed a certain gaiety when he was by her
side.
One day when she saw his expression somewhat gloomier, she
wished in some way to cheer him up and she dared tell him a lie.
Your Highness. you will be glad to hear my udings." *What news
can you give me?" answered Dracula. The littlc mouse," she an-
swered allegorically, has entered the milk chum." What does
this mean?" questioned Dracula, grinning. It means, Your High
ness, that I am with child." Dont you dar prate such tales."
 The woman knew Dracula's meihod of piinishing lies and wished
to justify her stateinent. It is, Your Highness. as I have said. This
will not be," said Dracula, frowning wiih his c\cbro\\-s. Bul if it
were possible I reckon thai Your Highness would be glad,* dared
she continu. I told you this will not be, retorted Dracula,
rudely stamping his foot, and I m II show you it will not happen."
Unsheathing his sword, he opened her entrails in order to see for
himself whether she had spoken the tnith or had lied.
As the woman lay dying. Dracula told her. T o u see that it can-
not be." He left while she agonized in great pain. She u-as pun-
ished because, hoping to cheer up her lover, she had told a lie.
[kpiresoi. story no. 3. 1935. pp. 14-16.]

. V l a d THE I m PA LER. [In their characterzation o f the tyrant

prince, the following accounts concur with the Russian and Ger
mn sources.]

VariarU A: And the od folks said that this \illage o f ours, Madaia,
including it property, takes its ame from a prince o f the land
called Vlad the Impaler. This prince had here, where the town
hall now stands, a big house in which he sentenced the guilty and
impaled them. Even today one may fnd in the soil the remains of
those who had been impaled on the hill near the fountain. .And
perhaps if so many cruel battles had not taken place at Madaia
durng the time o f Vlad the Impaler and in more recent da)', one
would Rnd e\-en today the house where the judgment.s were
made, as well as the dreadful impalement stake. [Told by Dinu
Dimitriu, age sixty, o f Vladaia, Mehedinti distrct.]

Variant B: Good God, times were bad because o f the Turks at the
time o f Vlad the Impaler! The tax collectors carne and took men
either as hostages or to enroll them as their soldiers. They e%en
took from our herds one out of every tenth one and what was bet-
ter and more plentiful than sheep at that time? The poor sheep
Come summer. they swecten you, come winter, they ^-arm
you. Milk was so plentul that at that time our ancestors made
mamaliga with milk instead o f water, as the milk v3s cheap. .And
all that was the reason why Prince Mad hated the Turks. He pur-
sued them to the last man and when he caught them, he had
them impaled.
 ppnidixfs

Prince Vlad aiso punished the basan who werc often connmng
Wlth the Turks or Hid not behave honestiy wiih pcoplc siich as we.
On onc occasion, in order to trip them up more easily, he gave a
grcai feasl and abo suminoned thosc bcyan against whom he bore
a grudge. But when they carne, he impaled iem. [Toid by Chita
a lui Dinu Radiilui or Altnajel, Mchedinti disirict.]

Variant C: Mother! It is said that \1ad the Impaler was a terribly

harsh niler. He impaled whoever he caught l>ing or behaving
badly low-ard the eldcrly or opprcssing die poor. He aiso impaled
the Turks who came. from time to time, to rob our couniry. It is
said that this prince had a house in some bigger \illage where he
sat in jiidgment and where he also had stakes and gallo\vs.
The house where justice was administered was in our \illage,
Albutele, iiear Beleti. WTioever he caught red-handed was sen-
tenced and hanged there. And aftcr he had taken ihcir life, he
impaled them. [Told by Marga Bodea Matusa, age seventy-six, o f
Muscel district; recorded in Legende, iraditi si amintire istorice
adnirate din Oltenia si din Muscel. Ac. Rom. din viata poporului
Romn Ciilegrri si Studii, Bucuresti. 1910.]
 A N N OTATE D
BI B L I O G R A P H Y

Bo o k s by B ra m St o k e r

The Dulies of Clerks of Petty Sessions in IreUind, by Bram Stoker, Inspector

o f Petty Sessions (The Authority, Diiblin, prnted for the author by
John Falconer, 53 Upf>er Sack\ille Street, Dublin, 1879). A stan
dard reference book for clerks in the Irish ci\il ser\'ice.
Undrr the Stinset, with illustrations by W. Fii7gcrald and W. V. Cockbum
(Sampson & Low, London, 1881). A collection o f horror stories for
children. See also Douglas Oliver Street, Bram Stokers Under the
Sunset. An Edition Mth Introductor)- Biographical and Critical Ma
terials" (Ne^^castle Piiblishers, North Holl>-wood, 1978).
A Glimpse of America: ;4 Lecturr Given at the London Institution 28 December
188^ (Sampson & Low, London, 1886).
The Snakes Pass (Sampson & Low, London, 1890: American edition,
Harper c Brothers, N.Y., 1890). A romantic novel set in western Ire-
land, where an Englishman on x-acation encoimters the legend o f
Shleenanaher" or Snakes Pass," an opening leading to the sea in
the mountain o f Knockcalltecrore, where French invaders were
thought to have buried a greac treasure in the shifng bog. The
story introduced tlie gombeen man, a ruthless moneylender preying
on the poor, and used Irish dialect. The tale was praised by critics,
one o f whom compared it favorably to Sheridan LeFanu's
Carmilla."
The Waller-s Mou (Theo. L. De Vinne & Co., N.Y., 1894). A romanc
story o f smuggling and love set in Cruden Bay, Scotland. The Wat-
ters Mou" meant The Waters Mouth" in Scottish dialect, referring
 can succecd in coHiing bacK. The publishers found llie original
c n d in g fo l>c so rrglitcning lliai S io k c r w-a askcd lo rew ritc a som c-
what less scary dnoument, which he did. The 1903 Heinemann and
the 1904 Harper cditions conuin the original horrific ending. Two
movies were based on TheJewel ofSeven Stars, BloodJrvm the Mummys
Tomb (1971) and The Awakening (1980). Most criiics agreed thai
this was Stokcrs best horror story since Dracula.
The Man (\V. Heinemann, London, 1905: an abrdged editon, The
Gates of Lije, piiblished by Cupples & Leen Co.. N.Y.). The
strong-willed Slephen Norman is a young woman who proposes
marriage to a male scoundrel and is rejecied. She spums her real
lover, bul it all leads eventiially to their happy reunin in the end.
In it Sioker demonstrated his uncanny ability to deal sympatheti-
cally with both feminine and masculine characterstics in the young
heroine.
Personal Reminiscences of Sir Henry Irving (W. Heinemann, London,
1906; Macmillan Co., N.Y., 1906).
Lady Athlyne (VV. Heinemann, London, 1908; Paul R. Reynolds, N.Y.,
1908). An Anglo-American romance in which a Kentucky colonels
daughter named Joy Ogilvie (who has adopted the ame Lady Ath
lyne for fun) joumev's to Brtain and, after several harroMng Scot-
tish adventures, finds lovc.
Snowbound: The Record of a Theatrical TouringPary (Collier & Co., Lon
don, 1908). A collection o f fifteen stories, some o f which appeared
in the British CoUier's Magazine.
The Lady of theShroud (W. Heinemann, London, 1909).
Famous Imposten (Sidgwick & Jackson, London, 1910: Sturgis & Wal-
ton, N.Y., 1910). A collection o f infamous impersonators across the
ages, including Cagliosiro, Mesmer, and The Bisley Boy," a legend
that Queen Elizabcth 1 was actually a man.
The Ijiir of the White Worm (W. Rider, London, 1911: abridged and
rewritten edion, Foulsham, London, 1925: first American edition,
published as The Carden ofEvil, N.Y. Paperback Library, 1966: con-
tains the complete unabridged text o f all forty chapters o f the origi
nal British edition). The story is based on the folklore o f the giant
serpents or worms which once lived in England. A snake woman.
Lady Arabella, secrcis herself in a deep mud hole and projects her-
self in the form o f a woman, but the hero unmasks her and dyna-
mites her lair. Stoker's last novel and one o f his weirdesL
Draculas Giiest and Other Weird Stories (G. Rutledge, London, 1914;
 reprint by Hillman-Curl, N.Y., 1937). Published two years after
Stokers death; orginally titled Walpurgis MgA.
TTie Bram Sioker Bedtime Companion, edited by Charles Osbome (Vctor
Gollancz, London, >973, and Taplinger, N.Y., 1973). Contains ten
stories by Stoker.
M id n i^ Taies, edited by Peter Haining (Peter O ven, London, 1990).
An anthology o f Stokers sbort stories.

P r im a r y So u rc es

At the Philip H. and A. S. W. Rosenbach Foundation, Philadelphia,

Pa.: anonymous Germn prnted pamphlet, Die GeschUht Dracole
Waide. Nmberg; Wagner, 1488. Available in English translation in
a pamphlet edited by Beverly Eddy entied Draatla: A Translation of
the 1488 Nmberg Edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: Rosenbach Miiseum
and Library Publicaon, 1985.
Also at the Rosenbach Foundation: sevent>-eight pages o f the unpub-
lished Stoker notes, outlines, time sequences, plans for characters
and chapters, and diagrams Tor his novel Dracula, plus his lists and
quotations from the books that he used while composing his novel.
Put on auction in 1913 by Sothebys, London. Sold by Philadelphia
book dealer Charles Sessler to the Rosenbach Foundation in 1970.
At the British Museum Library, London: Ms. 24315, 138-143.
Fifteenth-century Dracula manuscript. Anonjinous Germn pam
phlet Ein wndrdiche und erschrliche Hystorie. Bamberg: Hans Sprer,
M 9 >-

N on fic tio n

Books
Barber, Paul. Vampha. Burial and Death: Folklore and Reality. New
Haven, Ct.: Yale University Press, 1988. Scholarly study o f ihc con-
nections between vampire tales and burial practices.
Baring-Gould, Sabine. The Book of Weirwolves. London: Smith, Eider,
1865; New York: Causeway, 1973. From this book Stoker took his
physical description o f Count Draculas strange hands, Information
about the Ufe and legend o f the Blood Countess, Elizabeth Bathory,
 Annotatfd Bibliography

Gerard. Emily de Laszowska. The luind Bepnd he ForrsI. London: \V.

Blackwood and Sons, 18H8. One o f Stoker's main sources for Ro-
manian vampire folklore, especially Gerard's chapter ened
Transylvanian Superstitions.
Leatherdale, Clive. Draaila, the Novel and Ihe .egend: A Study of Bram
Stoker's Gothic Masterpiece. Wellingborough Northamptonshire, U.K.:
Aquarian, 1985. Re\ised edition, Brighton, U.K.: Desert Island,
1993. Excellent analysis o f the main factors behind ihe creation o f
Stokers novel and its appeal.
-------- . The Origins of Dracula: The Backgmund to Bram Stdter's Gothic
Masterpiece. London: William Kimber, 1987. Well-\\Ttten probe into
the literarv creation o f Count Dracula but Icaves the important m\v
tery unsolved as to exacy how and why Stoker succeeded in writing
a classic horror novel.
Ludlam, Harry. A Biography of Dracula: The Life Slory of Bram Stoker. New
York: Foulsham, 1962. Although largely restrictcd to his acti\it> in
the theater, it remains the most complete Stoker biography to date.
Mackenzie, Andrew. Dracula Country: Travels and Folk Beliefs in Roma-
nia. London: Arthur Barker, 1977. A competent travelogiie \vith
short sections on Stoker, the historical Dracula, and Romanian folk
lore.
McNally, Raymond T.. and Radu R. Florescu. In Search of Dracula: A
True Hislory of Dracula and Vampire Legends. Greenwich, Ct.: New
York Graphic Society, 1972: New York: Warner, 1973. A pioneer
work that traced the links between the Dracula o f ction and film
and the historical Vlad Dracula, the Impaler.
McNally, Ray-mond T. Dracula IVof Woman. New York: McGraw-Hill.
1983. A study o f the Ufe and legend o f the infamous Blood Count-
ess, Elizabeth Bathon', and her influence upon Stokers Nampire
count.
Riccardo, Martin. Vampires Unearthed. New York: Garland, 1983. A
comprehensive bibliography o f vampire themes in fiction, theater,
mo\ies, nonfiction, and magazines.
Ronay, Gabriel. The Trulh about Dracula. New York; Stein & Day, 1972:
also published as The Dracula Mylh. London: W. H. Alien, 1972. The
first part ^aces the histor>- o f \ampires; the second part deais with
Stoker, the third pan is essentially the histon o f Countcss Elizabeth
Bathory.
Roth, Phyllis A. Bram Stoker. Boston: Twayue. 1982. An excellent short
biography o f Bram Stoker.
 nnotaled Bibliography

Summers, Monugiie. The Vampm: His Kith and Kin. London: Rout-
ledge and Kegan Paul, 1928; reprint, New Hyde Park, N.Y.; Univer-
sit> Books, 1960. A pioneering work by an a\nd vampire researcher.
-------- . Thf Vampire in Eumpe. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul,
1929: reprint. New Hyde Park, N.Y.: Univcrsity Books, 1962. An
original contribution to the field.
Trcptow, Kurt, cd. Dracula. Euays on the Ufe and Times of Vlad Tepes.
East European Monogiciphs, no. 323, New York: Columbia Univer-
siiy Press, 1991. Includes rescarch by Raymond McNally on Roman-
ian folklore about Dracula and by Radu Florescu on Dracula's
militar)' exploits.
Wilkinson, WHiam. An Account of the Pncipalities ofWaUachia and Mol
davia, wilh Variotis Politieal Observations Relative to Them. London:
Longmans, 1820: reprint, New York: Am o Press, 1971. Sioker ob-
uined most o f his information about the historical Dracula from
tliis book.

Anieles

Barbcr, Paul. Forensic Patholog>- and the European Vampire." Jour

nal of Folklore Research, \o\. 24, no. 1 (1987).
-------- . The Real Vampire." Natural History, October 1990.
Bendey, C. F. The Monster in the Bedroom: Sexual Symbolism in
Bram Stokers Dracula." Literature and Psycholog), vol. 22, no. 1
(1972).
Biemian, Joseph S. Dracula: Prolonged Childhood Illness and the
Oral Triad." American Imago, vol. 29 (summer 1972).
-------- . Cenesis and Dating o f Dracula from Bram Stokers Working
Notes. Notes and Queries, 222 (new series 24, January-February
977 )-
Blinderman, Charies S. Vampurella: Danvin and Count Dracula.
Massachusetts Rnneio, vol. 21(19 8 0).
Byers, Thomas B. GockI Men and Monsters: The Defenses o f Drac-
ula." Literature and Psychology, vol. 31, no. 4 (1981).
Craft, Christopher. Kiss Me with Those Red IJps': Gender and In
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Czabai, Stephen. The Real Dracula." Hungarian Quarterly, Autumn
>941 -
Demetrakopoulos, Stephanie. Feminism, Sex Role Exchanges, and
 AnnoUedBMography

Other Subliminal Faniasies in Bram Stoker's Dracua. Frontn: A

Journal of Wommi Studia, vol 2, no. 3 ( 1977).
Dukcs, Paul. "Dracula; Fact, Legcnd and Fiction." History Today, vol.
3a (July 1982).
Floreacu, Radu R. Dracula as Hero: Apology for a Part-Timc Mon-
ster* International History Magazitu, vol. I, no. 8 (August 1973):
reprinted in Haining. T/u Dracula Scrupbook. London: New English
Library; New York: Bramhall House, 1976.
Fontana, EmesL Lombroso's Criminal Man and Stoker's Dracula."
Victorian NewdMer, no. 66 (fall 1984).
Fry, Carrol L. Fictional Conventions and Sexuality in Dracula.' Virio-
rian NewslMer, no. 42 (fall 1972).
Griffin. Cail B. Tour Girls That You All Love Are Mine': Dracula and
the Victorian Male Sexual Imagination." International Journal of
Women '5 Studies, vol. 3, no. 5 (1980).
Hatlen, Burton. "The Retum o f the Repreased/Oppressed in Bram
Stoker's Dracula.' Minnesota Review, no. 15 (fall 1980).
Heick, Alex. Prince Di^cula, Rabies, and the Vampire Legend. An-
nals of Iniemal Medicine, \o\. 117, no. 2 (July 15. 199a).
Hennelly, Mark M. Dracula: The Cnostic Quest and Victoran Waste-
land. English Uterature in Transition: 880-1920, vol. so, no. i
(977 )-
Johnson, Alan P. * Dual Life': The Status o f Women in Stokers Dra
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Uterature, edited by Dan Richard Cox. Knoxville: University of Ten
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Kayton, Lawrence. T h e Relation o f the Vampire Legend to Schizo-
pixTcmSi." JournalofYouih and Adolesence, vol. 1. no. 4 (1972).
Kinder, Nancy. The Vampires o f Rhode Island." Mysterious Sew
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(19 7O .
Kirtley, Bacil F. Dracula. the Monastic Chronicles and Sla\ic Folk
lore." Midwest Folklore, vol. 6, no. 3 (fall 1956).
MacGillivniy, Royce. Dracula: Bram Stoker's Spoiled Masterpiece."
Queen 's Quarterly, vol. 79, no. 4 (winter 1972).
McCully, Robert S. Vampirism: Histrica! Perspective and Underlying
Process in Relation to a Case o f Auto-Vampirism."y<wrria/ of Nervous
and MentalDisease,\o\. 139, no. 5 (November 1964).
McNally, Raymond T. The Fifteenth Century Manuscrpt o f Kritibou-
 AnnolaUdBMiography

Wall, Geoffrey. Diflrent from Writing; Dracula in 1897. Uteratun

and History,\o\. io .n o . 1 (sprng 1984).
Weissmann, Judith. Women and Vampires: Dracula as a Victorian
Novel." Midwat Quarteriy, vol. 18, no. 4 (summer 1977).
Winklcr, Louis and Carol. A Reappraisal o f ihe Vampire." Nnu York
Folklore Quarterly, vol. 29, no. 3 (September 1973).

W orks of P s y c h o l o c y , A n t h r o p o l o c y , a n d L i t e r a t l r e

Bhalla, Alok. Politics of Atroaty and LusI: The Vampire Tale tu a Ni^mare
History of England in tu Nineteenth Century. New Delhi, India: Ster-
ling Publishers, 1990.
Bonewits, Wanda. Dracula, the Black Christ" Gnostica, vol. 4, no. 7
(March 1975).
Bunon, Sir Richard, trans. Vtkram the Vampire. Lx>ndon: Longmans,
Creen & Co., 1870; New York: Dover, 1969.
Calmet, Dom Augusn. Traite sur les Apparitions des Esprits rt sur les
Vampyns. Pars, 1751: publishcd as The Phantom Warld, trans. Henry
Christmas, London: R. Beney, 1850 (z vols.); Philadelphia: A.
Han, 1850 (2 vols. in 1).
Carroll, Noel. The Philosophy of Horror, or Paradoxes of the Hearl. New
York: Rouedge, 1990.
Dalby, Richard. Bram Stoker: A Bibliography of First Editions. London:
Dracula Press, 1983.
Dresser, Norine. American Vampires. New York: Norton, 1989.
Farrant, David. Beyond the HiigtiU Vampire: A True Case of Suprmatural
Occurrences and Vampirism. London: British Psychic and Occult Soci-
ety. 1991.
Frazer, James G. The Fear of the Dead in Primitive Religions. London:
Macmillan, 1934: reprint, New York: Am o Press, 1977.
Frost, Brian J. The Monster with a Thousand Faces: Guises of the Vampire in
Myth and Literature. Bowling Creen, Ohio: Bowling Creen State Uni-
versity Popular Press, 1989.
Gladwell, Adele Olivia, and James Havoc, eds. Blood and Roses: The
Vampire in Nineteenth-Century Literature. London: Creation Press,
992 -
Clul, Donald. Tnu Vampires of History. New York: HC Publishers, 1971:
Methuen, NJ.: Scarecrow, 1975.
 Annolated Bibliography

Grixii, Joscph. Tm m of Uncerainl): The Ciillurol CoiiKxls of Homr Fie-

tion.New York; R o iillcd g e . igHcj.
Grudin, Peter D. The Drmon-Lover: The Thenu of emonality in EngUsh
and Continental Fiction of the Late Eighteenth and Eary Nineteenth Cm-
turies. New York: Garland, 1987.
Guiley, Rosemary. Vampira among Us. New York: Pocket, 1991.
-------- . The Compute Vampires Companion. New York: Prentice Hall,
>994 -
Haining, Peter, ed. The Dracula Scrapbook. London: New English Li
bran-; New York: Bramhall House, 1976; Stairiford, Conn.: Long-
meadow, 1992.
-------- . TheDmcula Cmtenary Book. London: Souvenir Press, 1987.
Halliwell, Lese. TheDead That Walk. London: Grafton, 1986.
Haworth-Maden, Clare. The Essmtial Dracula. New York: Crescent,
992 -
Hill, Douglas. Retum from theDead. London: Macdonald, 1970; as The
History of Chasis, Vampirrs and Werewohes. New York: Harrow, 1973.
Howe, Maijorie. The Mediation o f the Feminine, Bisexualit)', Homo-
erotic Desire, and Self-Expression in Bram Stokers Dracula.' Texas
Studies in Literature and iMnguage (sprng 1989).
Holi. Olga. Lustfor Blood; The Consuming Story of Vampirrs. New York:
Stein & Day, 1984; Chelsea, Mich.: Scarborough House, 1990.
Hurwood, Bemhardt,J. Terror by Night. New York: Lancer, 1963; as The
Monstmus Undead. New York: Lancer, 1969; as The Vampin Papen.
New York: Pinnacle, 1976.
-------- . Monsters and Nightmarrs. New York; Belmont, 1967.
-------- . Vampires, Wevewolves and Ghouls. New York: Ace, 1968; London;
Target. 1975.
-. Passport to the Supematural. New York; Taplinger, 1972. Pinna-
ele, 1976.
. Vampires. New York: Quick Fox, 1981.
Jann, Rosemar>'. Savcd by Science? The Mixcd Message o f Stokcrs
Dracula. Texas Studies in Literature and Language, vol. 31, no. 2 (sum-
mer 1989).
Jones, Ernest. On the Nightmare. New York; Liveright Piiblishing Corp.,
>9 5 '-
Karp, Walter. Dracula Retums; or Vampirism as an Antidote to the
Blues. Horizon, vol. 18, no. 4 (autumn 1976).
Kayton, LawTence. The Relationship o f the Vampire Legend to
Schizophrenia.'yoMTOfl/ofYouth and Adolesretue, vol. 1, no. 4 (1972).
Kendrck, Walter. The ThriU of Fear. 250 Yean of Scary Entertainmait.
New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1991.
King, Stephen. Danse Macabn. New York: Everest House, 1981.
Lefebure, Charles. TheBlood CuUs. New York: Ace. 1969.
McNally, Raymond T., and Radu Florescii. The Eisential Dracula. New
York: Mayflower, 1979.
Manchester, Sean. The HighgaU Vampin: The Infernal World of he Un-
dead Unearthed at London's Famous Highgale Cemetery and Environs.
London: British Occult Society, 1985; revised edition published by
London: Gothic, 1991.
Marcus, Sleven. The Other Vtctorians: A Study of Sexualily and Pomogra-
phy in Mid-Nineleenth-Century EngUmd. New York: Basic Books, 1966,
975 -
Mascett, Manuela Dunn. Vampire: The Complete Cuide to the World of Ihe
Undead. New York: Viking Penguin, 1992.
Masters, Anthony. The Natural History of the Vampire. New York: Put-
nam, 1972: New York: Berkeley, 1976.
Murgoci, Agnesa. The Vampire in Roumania.' Folk-lorr, vol. 37, no. 4
(December 1926).
Noli, Richard. Vampira, Weretvolves and Demons: Twentirth Century Re-
pars in the Psychiatric Literature. New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1992.
Page, Carol. Bloodlmt: Conversaions with Real Vampim. New York:
HarperCollins, 1991; New York: Dell, 1992.
Perkowski, Jan L., ed. Vampires of the Slavs. Cambridge, Mass.: Sla\ica,
1976.
-------- . The Darkling: A Treatise on Slavir Vampirism. Columbus, Ohio:
Slavica, 1989.
Raible, Christopher Gist. Dracula: Christian Heretic. The Christian
Century, vol. 96. no. 4 (January 31. 1979).
Ramsland, Katherine M. Prism of the Mght: A Biography of Anne Rice.
New York: Dutton 1991: New York: Plume, 1992.
Senf, Carol A. The Vampire in Nineteenth-Century EngUsh Literature. Bowl-
ing Creen. Ohio: Bowling State Universit>- Popular Press, 1988.
Senn, Harry A. Were-wolf and Vampire in Romania. East European
Monogiaphs no. 99. New York: Columbia University Press. 1982.
Twitchell, James B. The LivingDead: A Study of the Vampire in Romantic
Literature. Durham. N.C.: Duke Universit)- Press. 1981.
Van Over, Raymond. Vampire and Demon Lover." in The Salan Trap:
Dangm of the OccuU, cdited by Martin Ebon. Carden City. N.Y.: Dou-
blcday. 1976.
 AnnolldBililiogropli)
Varna, Devendr P. TheGolhicFam
e. London: A. Barker, 1957:
reprini, Metuchen, N.J.: n.p., 1987.
Volta, Omella. TTie Vampire. London: Tndem, 1965; New York; A^Tird
Books, 1970.
Wallace, Bruce. Vampires Re\amped." Omni, vol. 1, no. 9 (June
1979)-
Wolf, Leonard. A Dttam ofDractda. Boston: Little, Brown. 1972: New
York: Popular Ubrary, 1972.
-------- . The Essmlial Dracula. New York: Piume Books, 1993.
Wrght, Dudley. Vampires and Vampirism. London: W. Rider, 1914 (2d
rev. ed. 1924): New York; Gordon, 1970: New York: Dorset, 1987: as
TheBook of Vampires. New York: Causeway, 1973; Detroit, Mich.: Om-
nigiaphics, 1989.
Zink, K. Charles and Myma. Psychological Studies on the Inorase of Lycan-
Ihwpy and Vampirism in Ammca, 19 )0 -1941. New Orleans: Zachary
K e n ,1952.

Books on M o v i e s , T h e a t e r , and T e l e v is i n

Beck, Calvin. Hewes of theHorrars. New York: Collier-Macmillan, 1975.

Brunas, Michael. Universal Hornm.]cfeT^n, N.C.: McFarland, 1990.
Buer, Ivan. Horror in the Cinema. (International Film Cuide Series).
New York, 1971 (originally published in 1967 as The Horror Fm) \
second revised edition, 1970: third revised edion, New York: A. S.
Bames, 1979.
Clarens, Carlos. An lUustraUd History of the Horror Film. New York: Put-
nam, 1979: first published as Horror Movies, Caada: Longmans,
1967.
Coppola, Francis Ford, and James V. HarL Bram Stokers Dracula: The
Film and the Legend, New York: Newmarket Press, 1992.
Coppola, Francis Ford, and Ishioka Eiko. Coppola and Eiko on Bram
Slohers Dracula, editcd by Susan Dworkin. San Francisco: Collins,
*992 -
Daniels, Les. A History of Horror in the Mass Media. New York: Scrib-
ner's, 1975.
Douglas, Drake. //onw.'New York: Macmillan, 1966; revised edion,
Woodstock, N.Y: The Overlook Press, 1989.
Dracula: The CompIeU Vampire (Starlog Movie Magazine no. 6). New
York: Starlog Communications International, 1992.
Eisner, Lotte H. The Haunted Senm: Expmsionism in the Germn Cinema
and the Influence qf Max ReinhanU. Berkeley, Calif.: University o f Cali
fornia Press, 1969.
-------- . Mumau. Berkdey. Calf.; University o f California Press, 1973.
Eyles, Alien. The House of Horror The Story of Hammer Ftlms. London:
Lorrimer, 1973.
Flynn,John L. Cinematic Vam^. JefTerson, N.C.: McFarland, 1992.
Frank, Alan G. Horror Mova: Tales of Terror in the Cinema. London: Oc-
topiu, 1974; published as Monsen and Vampira. Secaucus, N.J.: Der-
bibooks, 1975.
Gifford, Denis. Movie Monsters. London; Studio Vista, 1969.
-------- . A Pictarial Hislory of Horror Movies. Ne\' York: Exeter, 1983.
Glut. Donald F. 7V>ranii:aBooA. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow. 1975.
Halliweil, Leslie. TheDead That Walk. New York: Continuum. 1988.
Hawonh-Maden, Qare. The Essental Dracula. New York: Crescent,
1992-
Hardy, Phil. The Encyclopedia of Honor Movies. Ne\s- York: Harper &
Row, 1986.
Huss, Roy, and T. J. Ross, eds. Focvs on the Horror Film. Englewood, N.J.:
Prentice Hall, 197a.
Jones, Stephen. The lUustrated Vampire Movie Guide. London: Titn,
993-
Lennig, Arthur. The Couni: The Life and Ftlms of Bela Dracula ' Lugosi.
New York; Putnam, 1974.
Murphy, Michael J. The CeUuloid Vampires: A History and Filmogmphy,
i8 g j-ig ^ g . Ann Arbor, Mich.: Pierian, 1979.
Nance, ScotL Bloodsuckers: Vampires ai the Movies. Las Vegas. Nev.: Pio
neer, 1992.
Newman, Kim. Nightmare Movies: A Criical Guide to Conemporary Horror
Films. New York: Harmony, 1988.
Pattison, Barrie. The Seal of Dracuta. New York: Bount>, 1975: London:
Lorrimer, 1975.
Pirie, David. The Vampire Cinema. New York: Crescent, 1977; London:
Hamlyn, 1977.
-------- . Heritage of Horror The English Gothic Cinema 1946-1972. Lon
don: Fraser, 1973: New York: Equinox, 1973.
Prawer, S. S. Caligari's Children: The Film as Tale of Terror. Nen York: Ox
ford University Press, 1980.
Reed, Donald. The Vampire on the Screen. Inglewood, Calif.: Wagn and
Star Publishers, 1965.
Dickie, James, ed. The Undead. London: Neville Speannan, ig g i; Lon-
don: Pan. 1973: New York: Pocket, 1976.
Elwood, Roger. Monster Tales. Chicago; Rand McNally, 1973.
Frayling, Chrstopher, ed. The Vampyn: A Bedside Ompanion. New York:
Scribner, 1978; revised as Vampyres: Lord Ruthven to Count Dracula,
London: Faber and Faber, 1991.
Garber, Eric, ed. Embracing tu Dark. Boston: Alyson, 1991.
Gladwell, Adele Olivia, and James Havoc, eds. Blood and Roses: The
Vampin i /9A Cmlurj Uierature. London: Creation Press. 1992.
Grani, Charles, ed. The Dodd, Mead GaUery of Horror. New York: Dodd,
Mead, 1983.
Greenberg, Martin, ed. Drana. Prirue of Darkness. New York: DAW,
>99*-
-------- . A Tasle for Blood: Ftfteen Great Vampire Noveas. New York:
Dorset, 1993.
Haining, Peter, ed. The Midnighi PeopU. New York: Popular Ubrary,
1968: London: Frewin, 1968: publshed as Vampira at Midni^t.
New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1970: London: Everest, 1975.
-------- . TTie Ghouls. New York: Stein and Day, 1971; New York: Pocket,
1972 (includcs Draculas Guest" undcr thc litle Draculas Daiigh-
ter").
-------- . Gothic Tales ofTertur. Maryland: Penguin, 1973 (includes Poli-
doris-TheVam pyre-).
-------- . Tales ofUnknoum Horror. London: New English Library, 1978.
-------- . Vampire. London: Target, 1985.
Howard, Robert. SkuU-Face and Others. Sauk City, Wisc.: Arkham
House, 1946; Jersey, U.K.: Neville Spcarman, 1974.
Jones, Stephen, ed. The Mammoth Book of Vampira. New York: Carroll &;
Graf, 1992.
Lee, Christopher, and Michel Parry, eds. From the Archives of EviL New
York: Warner, 1976.
McMahan, JefFrey N. Somewhere in the N i^ . Boston: Alyson, 1989.
McCammon, Robert R., ed. Under the Fang. Baltimore. Md.: Border-
lands Press, 1991; New York: Pocket, 1991.
McNally. Raymond T.. ed. A QuUh of Vampira: Thae Being among the
Bat from History and Uierature. Greenwich, Conn.: New York Graphic
Society, 1973: London: New English Library, 1976.
Moskowiu, Sam, ed. Horrors Vnknown. New York; Walker & Co., 1971;
New York: Berkley, 1976.
 Annotated Bibliography

Norton, Alden H., cd. Masten of Horror. New York: Berkley, 1968 (in-
cludes Stokers Draculas Gucsi").
Parry, Michel, ed. The Rivals of Dracula. London: Corgi, 1977; Lon-
don: Sevem House, 1978.
Petrey, Susan, ed. G ip of Blood. Riverdale, N.Y.; Baen, 1991, 1992.
PreUs, B\Ton, ed. The UltimaU Dracula. New York: Dell. 1991.
Ryan, Alan, ed. Vampim: Two Cenuries of Grrat Vampire Stories. Carden
City, N.Y: Doubleday, 1987; publishedas
Stories. Harmondsworth, U.K.: Pcnguin, 1988.
Shepard, Leslie, ed. The Dracula Book of Gnat Vampirr Stories. Secaucus,
N.J.:Ciadel, 1977; New York: Jove, 1978.
Stoker, Bram. Dracula's Guest. London; Roudedge, 1914. Numerous
editions.
Tolstoy, Alexis. Vampires: Slorifs of the SupemaluraL Harmondsworth,
U.K.: Penguin, 1946; New York: Ha^vthorn, 1969.
Underwood, Petar, ed. The Vampirrs Brdside Companion. London:
Leslie Fre\sin. 1975.
Varma, Devendr P., ed. Volees from the Vaults: Authentic Tales of Vam
pires and Ghosts. Toronto: Key Poner, 1987; Toronio: McClelland-
Bantam, 1988.
Volta, Omella, and Valeria Rix'a, eds.; foreword by Roger Vadim. The
Vampire: An Anlhologf. London; Neulle Spearman, 1963; London:
Pan, 1965.
Weinberg, Roben, Stefan Dziemianowicz, and Martin H. Creenberg,
eds. VVrtfri Vampire Tales. New York: Gram ero; 1992.
Yolcn, Jane, and Martin H. Creenberg, eds. Vampires. New York:
HarperCollins, 1991.
Youngson, Jeanne, ed. A Child's Garden of Vampires. Chicago: Adams,
1980.
-------- , ed. The Couni Dracula Fan Club of Vampire Stories. Chicago:
Adams, 1980.
-------- , ed. The Count Dracula Book of Classic Vampire Tales. Chicago:

Aickman, Robert. Pages from a Young Girls Journal. The Magane of

Fantasy & Science fction (February 1973): reprinted in ColdHand in
Mine: Strange Stories. New York: Scribners, 1975.
Alian, Peter. Domdaniel,'' in the Underwood and Varma anthulogies.
Alien, Woody. Count Dracula. In Getting Evm. New York: Random
House, 1971.
Apuleius, Lucius. The Vampire. In Wolfs CompUu Book 0/ Termr,
edited by Leonard Wolf. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1979.
Beaumont, Charles. Blood Brother." Playboy (April, 1961): reprinted
in The Playboy Book of Setena Fction andFanlasy. Chicago, III.: Playboy
Press, 1966.
Benson, E. F. And No Bird Sings." In the Haining antholog> TheMid-
ni^ t
-------- . Mre. Amworth." In the Volta and Ri\-a and the Shepard an-
thologies.
-------- . The Room in the Tower." In The Room in the Tower and Othrr
Stories. London; Mills and Boon, 1912. Also in the Dickie, Shepard,
Ryan, and Collins anthologies.
Bischoff, D., and C. Lampton. Feeding Time." In TheFifty Meter Mon-
sten, and Olher Horrors, edited by Roger Elwood. New York: Pocket,
1976.
Bixby, Jerome, a n d jo e E. Dean. Share Alike." Beyond (July 1953):
reprinted in Hunger for Honor, edited by Roger Adams et al. New
York: DAW, 1988.
Blackwood, Algem on. The Transfer." In the Ryan antholog)-.
Bloch, Robert. The Bat Is My Brother." Weird Tales (November 1944);
reprinted in the Parry anthology.
-------- . The Bogey Man Will Get Yon." Weird Tales (March 1946);
reprinted in the Crter anthology.
-------- . The Cloak." Unknoum (May 1939): reprinted in the Volta and
Ri\a and the Varma anthologies.
-------- . Hungaran Rhapsody." Fantastic (June 1958): reprinted in
Pleasant Dreams. New York: Jove, 1979; and reprinted in Haining,
Vampire.
-------- [Wilson Kane]. The Li\ing Dead." Ellery Queen Mystery Maga-
zine (April 1967): reprinted in Haining, Tte M id n i^ People, and

. The Yugoslaves." N i^ t Cry (winter 1985); reprinted in Fear

and Trembling. New York; Tor, 1989.
Bradbury, Ray Homecoming." Mademoiselle (Octobcr 1946); re-
printed in Dying oj Fright: Masterpiecrs of the Marabre, edited by
Les Daniels. New York: Scribner, 1976, and in the Bradbun anthol
ogy-