Vlad Țepeș, bloody prince
The character of Dracula takes his name from a famous voivode in Romanian history, renowned for his cruelty: Vlad III, 15th-century prince of Wallachia, nicknamed Vlad the Impaler (Țepeș). His sobriquet derives from his penchant for the torture of the pallet, which he willingly inflicted on his adversaries, among other atrocities. He was the son of Vlad II the Dragon (Vlad Dracul), nicknamed for his membership of the Order of the Dragon, founded by Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg to defend Christianity against the Ottomans. Hence Țepeș's other nickname: Dracula, "the son of the dragon". In Romanian, dracul can also be translated as "the devil".
Born in the Saxon town of Sighișoara around 1431, Vlad Țepeș spent his adolescence as an Ottoman hostage, sent by his father as a token of loyalty to the Turkish suzerains. A captivity he left in 1448 to reconquer the throne of Wallachia, with the support and troops of the sultan. He regained power from the rival Dănești dynasty, who regained it two months later. Țepeș regained it in 1456 and held it until 1462. To consolidate his power, he established an authoritarian regime based on terror. His reign was also marked by clashes with the Ottomans. Vlad Țepeș refused to pay tribute to the Turks, breaking the pact of allegiance sealed several decades earlier, and inflicted bloody defeats on them. He was finally ousted from power in 1462 by his younger brother Radu the Handsome, supported by the Turks. He fled and sought refuge with his ally Mathias Corvin, King of Hungary. But Corvin imprisons him for over ten years. Released, Vlad Țepeș made a brief return to the throne in 1476. He was killed the same year, under murky circumstances, and his head was sent to the sultan.
Vlad Țepeș undoubtedly didn't steal his reputation as a bloodthirsty tyrant, but it was largely accentuated by his opponents, via pamphlets printed in Germany that spread across Europe. For Romanians, Țepeș ranks among the nation's heroes, having defended its independence against the Ottomans. He is seen as a harsh but fair ruler. The link between Vlad Țepeș and Dracula stops at the name. The former was prince of Wallachia, a feudal state south of the Carpathians, while the latter is a Sicilian count, based in northern Transylvania. Above all, Țepeș was nothing like a vampire: he spilled blood, but there's nothing to say he drank it. His taste for impalement definitively rules out the hypothesis, since this is precisely one of the only ways, according to legend, to kill vampires!
The strigoi, vampires of Romanian folklore
Bram Stoker set the plot of his vampire novel in a region rich in vampire folklore: throughout Eastern Europe, vampire beliefs were widespread at the time, particularly among Romanians, who called them strigoi. Strigoi are tormented souls whose bodies do not decompose. These undead come out of their graves at night to haunt their loved ones, or even the whole village: they drain vital energy, multiply curses, steal milk and wheat, spread epidemics among men and cattle, cause droughts or bring down hail. Several factors can make someone a strigoi: leading a sinful life, dying by drowning or hanging... Two nights are particularly propitious for strigoi manifestations: the vigil of St. Andrew's Day, from October 29 to 30, known as the night of the ghosts, and St. George's Day, on April 23. On these evenings, people seal up their homes, eat garlic and rub it on windowsills and cows' udders for protection. These beliefs go back a long way and continue to this day. They reached their peak between the mid-17th and mid-19th centuries, a period marked by plague and cholera epidemics. Numerous cases of vampirism were reported: village communities, complaining of being haunted by strigoi, dug up the supposed revenants and inflicted all manner of treatment on them in an attempt to get rid of them, often with the support of the local clergy: in 2004, a family in Oltenia was condemned for exhuming and burning one of its members, who had died shortly before, and whose niece claimed that he visited her at night. Stoker refers to these beliefs several times in his novel. On the other hand, the Dracula myth has no roots in the Romanian imagination, having been adopted solely for the purposes of tourism.
And Stoker created the myth
Bram Stoker never set foot in Romania. The Irish writer drew his inspiration from various works on local history and folklore, as well as from his exchanges with his friend Arminius Vambery, a Hungarian orientalist. He was also able to draw on a wealth of literature: in the 19th century, at the height of the Gothic movement, many novels already featured vampires. But it was Bram Stoker who popularized the figure of the vampire with his Dracula, published in 1897. This epistolary novel - spoiler alert! - is the story of Jonathan Harker, a young notary commissioned to travel to Transylvania to have Count Dracula sign the deed to a house in London. But Harker soon realizes that his host is a vampire. He is locked up in the castle, while Dracula leaves for England, where he vampirizes Jonathan's fiancée, Mina. Harker manages to escape, returns to London and begins a hunt for the vampire, with the help of a few friends, including Professor Van Helsing. The group finally catches up with the Count and kills him, stabbing him through the heart. Mina is freed from her spell. The novel was a hit on its release. The character of Dracula and the figure of the vampire became a recurring theme in literature and cinema: the story was adapted for the big screen in 1931, with actor Bela Lugosi in the role of the Count, then in 1958 with Christopher Lee, and more recently with Gary Oldman, in Francis Ford Coppola's film released in 1992. Other works in the vampire vein have enjoyed success and maintained the public's fascination with these creatures(Twilight, Interview with a Vampire...). Dracula has thus become a major attraction in Romania.
In the footsteps of Dracula
Numerous hotels and restaurants exploit the Dracula vein, usually in a very kitsch vein, with plenty of medieval or pseudo-fantasy staging. In Bistrița, you can stay at the Golden Crown Hotel, where Jonathan Harker spends his first night in Stoker's novel. Except that this large building has little to do with the inn of the time: it was erected in the 1980s by the Communist regime, anxious to please travelers in search of the vampire. Ditto for the Hotel Castel Dracula, built near the Borgo Pass (Bârgău in Romanian), where the writer situates the Count's castle. Still, the location, which links Transylvania to Moldavia, is spectacularly beautiful, offering panoramic views of the surrounding relief.
In Sighișoara, you can discover Vlad Țepeș's supposed birthplace, a large yellow building right in the center, where the future voivode is said to have spent the first years of his life, from 1431 to 1436. You can even enjoy a Dracula-style stew or barbecue here: Casa Vlad Dracul has been converted into a restaurant, which is very touristy, but good value. It features a 15th-century fresco of Vlad Dracul, the only known portrait of the father of the Impaler. Upstairs, for an additional charge, you can admire one of these kitschy stagings. A few blocks away, The Dracula Investigation is a far more instructive experience. This immersive exhibition plunges you into the life of the voivode.
Misrepresented as Dracula's castle, Bran Castle has no connection with either Stoker's novel or the story of Vlad Țepeș, who probably never set foot there. Only its resemblance to the Count's home described by Stoker has earned it this label, designed to lure tourists. But that's fair enough: Bran Castle, refurbished by Queen Marie in the 1920s, is one of the most beautiful in the country. The castle's bizarre architecture and its location on a rocky peak in the middle of the mountains make it a spectacular place to imagine. You'll also glean insights into Țepeș, Dracula and the strigoi, while the torture chamber will satisfy those in search of thrills.
Țepeș's real castle would rather be the citadel of Poenari, a fortress perched on a Carpathian ridge at the foot of the Făgăraș mountains. Vlad the Impaler made it his second home and enlarged it. According to legend, it was here that he took refuge from the Turks in 1462, when they invaded the region. You have to climb some 1,400 steps to reach the ruins, which offer panoramic views of the surrounding mountains. Please note that the citadel has been closed to the public since 2019, for rehabilitation work. Reopening is scheduled for 2024.
Some thirty kilometers further south, Curtea de Argeș is the first capital of Wallachia, founded in the 14th century. It was here that Vlad Țepeș is said to have been crowned in 1456. The princely court features several religious monuments, including a monastery housing the royal necropolis. Wallachia's second capital, established by Mircea the Elder, Țepeș's grandfather, Târgoviște is another emblematic place of his reign. He is credited with building the Chindia tower, the city's symbol. Vlad III also resided at Bucharest's princely court (Curtea veche), in the Lipscani district. These ruins are the city's oldest medieval monument. The complex, which houses a museum, has been closed for renovation since 2015. A bust of the voivode can still be seen.
In Hunedoara, don't miss a visit to the castle of Mathias Corvin, King of Hungary. Initially an ally of Țepeș, he turned against him after his defeat by the Ottomans in 1462 and held him prisoner for several years. With its Gothic architecture, it's one of the country's most impressive castles.
The Țepeș journey ends at Snagov, a monastery located on an island in the middle of a lake, 40 km north of Bucharest. This is where the voivode is said to have been buried, although no evidence has been found to confirm this. A vault was discovered in the church during excavations in the 1930s, beneath a gravestone whose inscription had faded. But the body inside decomposed in a few minutes on contact with air, making identification impossible. Yet another mystery in the Dracula legend.
