When people hear the name Dracula they think of a Transylvanian vampire who “Vants to suck your blood!”, but Dracula was actually a real man. Before he was called Dracula, he was called Vlad. Vlad was a leader of a small country (Wallachia) surrounded on all sides by the Great Powers of the 15th century (the Ottomans, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). Despite this, he refused to give into anyone, and used the wars between the Great Powers around him to maintain independence. Unfortunately, one man can only do so much. Eventually he lost and he was sent into exile (he was actually sent into exile twice), but every time he was sent away, he came back.
When he came back, he actually managed to defeat his enemies in order to protect Wallachia. As the wars crept forward, he began to grow desperate in maintaining power, and it was here that he started making a name for himself. He would take the corpses of anyone who’d die in battle (regardless of who killed them) and impale them on giant stakes all around his Kingdom. The rotting corpses led to the spread of disease and terror to the armies that tried to invade his land. It was here that Vlad III transformed into the infamous Vlad Tepes. Otherwise known as Vlad the Impaler.
As time went on, he became more and more remorseless in his treatment of those who tried to take his land. He was a terror to all who entered his domain and perhaps, in a way to cope with this monster they had to fight, the soldiers that were tasked with fighting him began to fabricate stories. Some of these stories turned out to be true! Like how he would dip his bread in the blood of his enemies, or he would use the blood of the fallen to make black pudding. Vlad was bloodthirsty, both literally and figuratively.
But how did he become known as Dracula? Well to understand his title of Dracula, we must look at his father Vlad Dracul. His father also ruled over Wallachia, but he spent much of his youth moving around. He spent time with the Byzantine Emperor, as well as Sigismund the King of Hungary. It was his time he spent with the King of Hungary, that he joined the Order of the Dragon. Here Sigismund appointed him as a First-Class member of this order, and it was here that he was given the moniker of Dracul or “The Dragon”.
When Vlad reached his later years he began to signature his letters as Dracula or “Son of the Dragon”. It’s a rich story of history, but he really just started calling himself Dracula after his father’s title. The name Dracula was tied to vampires after Bram Stoker wrote his book Dracula modeled after count Vlad III Tepes.
The story of Vlad Tepes is usually one reserved for history buffs, and fans of the history channel. Despite this, few people draw the connection between Vlad “Dracula” Tepes, and the Dracula we all know and love. When I learned about the story of the real Dracula it gave me an appreciation for how myths and legends come to life, and hopefully you all will feel the same.
