Bram Stoker’s novel about Dracula has been popular ever since 1897. Through films, plays, even comic books, everyone is familiar with Count Dracula, the bloodsucking vampire. The original Dracula may have been the 15th century prince Vlad Tepes. He was an evil, cruel man, but certainly not a vampire.
In 1431, King Sigismund of Hungary, who would later become the Holy Roman Emperor, according to the British Museum, inducted the elder Vlad into a knightly order, the Order of the Dragon. This designation earned Vlad II a new surname: Dracul. The name came from the old Romanian word for dragon, “drac.”
His son, Vlad III, would later be known as the “son of Dracul” or, in old Romanian, Dr?culea, hence Dracula, according to Historian Constantin Rezachevici (“From the Order of the Dragon to Dracula” Journal of Dracula Studies, Vol 1, 1999). In modern Romanian, the word “drac” refers to the Devil, Curta said.
According to “Dracula: Sense and Nonsense” (Desert Island Books, 2020) by Elizabeth Miller, in 1890 Stoker read a book about Wallachia. Although it did not mention Vlad III, Stoker was struck by the word “Dracula.” He wrote in his notes, “in Wallachian language means DEVIL.” It is therefore likely that Stoker chose to name his character Dracula for the word’s devilish associations.
The theory that Vlad III and Dracula were the same person was developed and popularized by historians Radu Florescu and Raymond T. McNally in their book “In Search of Dracula” (The New York Graphic Society, 1972). Though far from accepted by all historians, the thesis took hold of the public imagination, according to The New York Times.
According to Constantin Rezachevici, the Order of the Dragon was devoted to a singular task: the defeat of the Turkish, or Ottoman Empire. Situated between Christian Europe and the Muslim lands of the Ottoman Empire, Vlad II’s (and later Vlad III’s) home principality of Wallachia was frequently the scene of bloody battles as Ottoman forces pushed westward into Europe, and Christian forces repulsed the invaders.
Credit : Live Science
Picture Credit : Google
