I know this site is in english and I should write and put documentaries in english, but Voyager is one of the best (if not the best) science TV shows in Italy. Also, some readers might know/understand italian, so today I propose this documentary:
Basically, it presents the Dracula of the literature, "born" in 1897 when Bram Stoker's novel was published. Stoker mentioned that the book's idea come after a small disturb generated by a crabs/seafruit salad. But we know that he studied books and maps in British Museum, looking for legends and traditions about the vampires. Seems like his interest in vampires started when he found out about the Wallachian ruler Vlad III (Vlad Dracula). The presentation of Vlad III (well, here I disagree with the expression Vlad Tepes III while Vlad III has been given the names Tepes and Dracula. So there was no Vlad Tepes I or Vlad Tepes II ) starts at min. 2:54, with the presentation of Sighişoara, were Vlad was born in 1931. Life of Vlad Dracula is then placed in the historic context, all presented with maps of the XV-th century Europe. Seizing of the Wallachian throne is than presented.
Then Bran castle is presented as Dracula Castle, with mention that he used to impale people in front of the castle. In my research I never found any proof that Dracula would've spent longer time in Bran. As we know today, his princely residence was at Târgovişte and then in Bucharest, never at Bran.
I just found this slideshow presenting some interesting old maps, three portraits of Vlad Dracula (of which the first is the copy on the only one preserved since it's XV-th century, the ancient badge and cross of the Order of the Dragon, The Night Attack a painting by Theodor Aman, one of Romania's most famous painters. We also get presented images from Chindia Tower, at 00:31 Very interesting is: - Vlad Dracula's coat of arms, at 00:36 - 00:40 - a map of Europe in the XV-th century - is clearly how Wallachia and Moldova were under pressure from the big empires: the Austro-Hungarian and the Ottoman one, - a detailed map of Wallachia; - one image from a cemetery, I'm quite sure is from the cemetery in Sighişoara.
Well, a good slideshow, congratulations to the author!
Vlad’s psychological war against the Turks take every possible form and reach its apex with the scene of Târgovişte where Mehmet, a man used to the horrors of an war sees a scene that terrifies him: a field of 20.000 impaled men in front of Vlad's Palace. This gives rise to Vlad’s Turkish nickname: Kaziklu Bey – The Impaler Warlord.
Vlad has retreated into the mountains, in Poienari Castle, from where he runs in Transylvania. He will return on the Wallachian throne for a short period. In 1476 Dracula dies in a battle against the Turks, around Bucharest, but the cause of his death are still unknown. Three are the most probable causes of Vlad Dracula’s death: · he gets killed by a paid man or · he really dies fighting an enemy or · he climbs a small hill to see his army throwing away the Turkish army, as he has the habitude to change clothes , wearing enemy’s clothes. Some of his men did not recognize him and killed him by mistake. Anyway, while his “official” thumb is in Snagov Monastery, a monastery in the middle of a lake, there is no body there. Now there is a mystery to clear out: as mentioned by Matei Cazacu in his book in 1933 a thumb is found with a body that was wearing the purple coat, with golden needlecrafts. The archaeologists (Dinu Rosetti e George Florescu) could easily notice they were facing the thumb of a man wearing a purple or green coat, and they were sure they have seen the true thumb of Vlad Dracula – the Impaler. However, the so documented History Channel didn't mention this and I'm seriously asking myself: "why ?". However we know from historical sources that Dracula has been decapitated and his head sent to the Sultan as a proof of his death. But the Turks were only cutting the skin, therefore letting the skull (cranium).
Third part of the documentary made by History Channel about Vlad the Impaler (Dracula).
Well, here today I have a pretty bad Internet connection, therefore I started posting after seeing just a part of the documentary. I thought it starts with what could be considered a mistake, made by many, probably due to the images presented in the German brochures that made Dracula famous in the XV-th century. I'm talking about the shape of the stakes: many historians (like Matei Cazacu, for example, consider the stakes where not sharpen at the top, as presented here and in every image one could see. The technique of impaling was perfected by Vlad and others, therefore the stakes were having a rounded top, so the impaled did not have the internal organs destroyed (that would have lead to a faster death). However, the next seconds give my confidence in History Channel’s documentaries back. Here you can read more about impaling.
The story of building Poienari Castle - the real castle Dracula is presented, with unforeseen images of how the castle looked before. The castle is built on the strategic place, from where the valley going to Vlad's Capital, Târgovişte, can be surveyed, but also the Valley descending from Făgăraş Mountains, that's from the neighbor Transylvania., where the merchants are threatening Vlad Dracula’s grip on power.
Since Vlad need to build to castle swiftly he relies on unconventional techniques and slave labor.
The Castle of Poienari seems to have started during Vlad's father, Vlad Dracul, but Dracula is the one that fortifies it. The Castle not only occupies to whole summit of the Poienari hill, but enlarges it. The walls surrounding the castle, still visible today, give it the strange appearance. The unusual building structure is made up of red brick, sitting on top of gray stone base. The walls are 9 feet thick, just imagine !! This was achieved by using a byzantine construction method: first of all the two external walls were built in brick, then infill the walls with stones. This combination was resulting in an absolutely powerful structure. What tights the walls together, so they made it thru the centuries was the lime mortar –the secret of Poienari castle’s survival in an area that is very close to an earthquake zone – the earthquakes took place in another area in Carpathians, Vrancea, in the Carpathian’s arch, only 200 km away from Poienari. It has the property that it does not completely set, but allows the walls to move, that is very useful in this earthquake situation. Therefore they don’t suffer severe cracks and damages as it would if it were cement. The construction methods used show that master builders must have been involved, as the techniques used are really advanced.
Everything needed to build Poienari Castle was available in the river valley below: sand for mortar, gravel and small rocks for the byzantine wall filler, steady river-stones that formed the castle’s base. When finished , the castle offer an almost perfect security and the control over a key strategic pass in the mountains, between Transylvania and Wallachia.
From the History Channel, the second episode of "The Lost World of Dracula":
It starts with the presentation of Bran Castle, where Vlad Dracula stopped by in 1415. The castle has been modernized by the Romanian Royal Family (remember, Bran Castle belonged to the royal family in the first half of the XX-th century), so its interior is very different from what it was in middle-ages. But, by using floor plans of the castle the experts pieced together how it looked 500 years ago.
Here is a simulated image of Bran Castle, obtained by high class computer simulation. Compare it with a picture of the nowadays Bean Castle and you'll be amazed of how different it is. It was not the gothic castle that we see today, but a strong, secured border castle. Placed of the Transylvanian border with Wallachia, the castle occupies a strategic place. However, building the castle was a huge undertaking. The territory was not allowing easy construction and the first difficulty was getting the stuff on the place. What few people know is that Dracula, in order to build-up his dream (a strong, independent country of Wallachia) , he had started one of the most ambitious building programs in his small country.
Vlad III set his capital city in Târgovişte. Is the place where most of Dracula's atrocities took place. in the XV-th century the rule was pretty very simple in politics: kill or be killed . Vlad's first thought was getting rid of the boyars, that were representing the power in the country, changing the ruling prince upon them wish. The princely court in Târgovişte is strengthened, he build something more imposing than every building erected before. The whole complex was surrounded by walls of 5 feet thick. The construction was made up of cellars. The arches, typical for the byzantine architectural style of building, were constructed using a timber framework and helped creating huge volumes. Once Târgovişte was transformed in a highly secured head-quarter, Dracula had begun exterminating his enemy boyars.
Well, folks, I found another nice History Channeldocumentary about Vlad Dracula the warlord that became known allover Europe. Among other images a scene described as one of the most terrifying landscape in history, a forest of impaled people in front of Vlad's residence in Târgovişte is presented. Also, images from Chindia Tower (The Sunset Tower) in Târgoviste, from Bran Castle or from "one of Eastern Europe's most breathtaking mountain-top castles", from many places in Transylvania or from Bucharest can also be seen. The computer animation is amazing, it really brings back to life the lost world of Dracula.
Sighişoara, the place where Vlad Dracula was born (in 1431) is presented in details, with images and a short history of the town and of it's inhabitants. Vlad's father, Vlad Dracul, has been killed in 1446 together with his son Mircea.
2. After following the first video here is a proffesional documentary, emphasizing more the myth part of the story around Vlad Ţepeş (Vlad the Impaler), somehow normal considering this is a commercial movie. However I didn't find big errors in the movie, my comments are inside the post.
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