Chronicles Of Reverence: Vlad III, Prince Of Wallachia

Vlad III, Prince Of Wallachia

Born November 25 1431 in Sighişoara, Transylvania, Vlad II (also known as Vlad Ţepeș) was the child of Vlad II Dracul who was the future voivode of Wallachia and Princess Cneajna of Moldavia. At the age of 5, Vlad III was initiated into the Order Of The Dragon which included his father in the ranks (which in turn bestowed him with the Dracul title) only to face his first hardship with his younger brother Radu The Handsome 6 years later after Vlad II was being ousted from his throne and gave his sons to the Ottoman court as a form of tribute to the sultan. While Radu adhered to their orders and went on to serve the royal Ottoman court, Vlad III rebelled against his captors and was then tortured and mistreated by the Ottomans which led to the development of his hatred against them in the later years when he took the reigns of Wallachia. After a short lived reign that was put in place by the Ottomans, Vlad III led a successful second reign which dramatically changed the fortunes of Wallachia while at the same time began to cultivate a personality that was renowned for not only his fearless attitude and strong leadership but also a bloodlust of violence which was linked to his vengeful character as the Ţepeș (Impaler) nickname spoke volumes of his preferred torture mode. His third reign lasted less than two months as Vlad III was killed on the battlefield in 1476 near Bucharest with his head being decapitated and transported to Constantinople where it was presented to the Sultan as proof of his demise

Why Is He Relevant?

What does Vlad III have to do with the Gothic subculture? Simply put, Vlad III was the inspiration behind the famous Bram Stoker's novel Dracula and not only did both of them hail from the same place (Transylvania), Vlad's penchant for impaling his foes provided the catalyst for Stoker's creative juices along with a Salvic folklore that mentioned an epidemic of vampirism throughout Eastern Europe throughout the 1700's .  Although Vlad III did not carry the Dracula name (his son Vlad IV Dracula from his second marriage did) it was his bloodthirsty demeanour that personified his legacy into various folklores and while the Dracula character has gone on to make an impact on the silver screen along with the actors that have portrayed the blood sucking gentleman (Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee, just to name a few).  The film Nosferatu has its roots in the Vlad III folklore as producer Albin Grau got the idea for filming a vampire movie after meeting a Serbian farmer who claimed that his father was a vampire and a member of the Undead. In recent times, British rock band payed homage to him in their song Vlad The Impaler while the movie Dark Prince: The True Story Of Dracula was entirely based on the life of Vlad III and was played by German actor Rudolf Martin