On the origin of vampires, there are quite a few theories and legends. One of them says that they are descendants of Cain, who became the first biblical killer of his own brother. But all this is speculation for the main version. Until now, not everyone knows that the origin of the vampire is directly related to the name of Vlad Tepes - the Romanian governor of the 15th century, later - the ruler of Transylvania. He is the very famous Count Dracula!
Count Vladislav III Dracula is a real historical character who is a national hero of Romania and a fighter against crime. Its history goes back to medieval Transylvania ...
History of Count Dracula
Bloodthirsty ruler
Vlad Tepes was the ruler of Transylvania (a region located in the north-west of Romania) from 1448 to 1476. His favorite pastime was the sadistic torture of enemies and civilians, among which one of the worst was piercing the anus. For the fact that Vlad Tepes loved to plant live people, he was nicknamed Vlad the Punisher. However, his most cruel atrocity was different: somehow the Romanian governor invited a large number of beggars to a dinner party in his castle (in which, in fact, he carried out all the tortures - see photo below). When the poor fled peacefully, Count Dracula locked them in a room and set fire to them. In addition, the chronicle describes a case where this sadist ordered his servants to nail their heads in nails to the heads of Turkish ambassadors only because they refused to remove them before the ruler.
Such atrocities left their mark on the personality of this ruler. Count Dracula became the prototype of the hero of the novel of the same name, written by Bram Stoker. Why was Tepes unusually cruel? Why did he keep all Transylvania in fear, embarrassing and confusing all European monarchs? About it further.
The cunning and cruel Count Dracula
Transylvania is the place of his birth. "Dracul" (Dragon) is a nickname. At the age of 13, the son of the Wallachian governor Vladislav II was captured by the Turks and was held hostage for almost 4 years. It is this fact that influenced the psyche of the future ruler. He was described as an unbalanced person with many obscure habits and strange ideas. For example, Count Dracula was very fond of dining at the place of execution of people or the recent battle with a fatal outcome. Isn’t it strange?
The nickname "Dragon" Tepes received due to the fact that his father was a member of the elite knightly order of the Dragon, which was created by Emperor Sigismund in 1408. As for the title - Vlad III, it should be called the sovereign, and not the count, but this naming is arbitrary. But why exactly is this ruler considered the ancestor of vampires?
It's all about Tepes' extraordinary passion for bloodshed, for inhuman torture and murder. Then it becomes unclear why the Russian tsar from
the Rurik dynasty - John Vasilyevich - was nicknamed "The Terrible"? He, too, should be christened a vampire, because it was he who drowned Ancient Russia in blood in the literal sense of the word. But that is another story...