History of Dracula

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.

A team of experts explore Vlad's construction projects. After seizing the throne of the princedom of Wallachia, in 1456 , he began an extensive building project, trying to impose order in an unruly land.

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.


The documentary is to be watched more that once:



See also:

• Sky News documentary about Vlad Dracula and Bran Castle
• History of Dracula on Discovery Channel

Medieval festival in Braşov

The organizers of Etnovember festival in Braşov, now arrived at XVI-td edition, prepared a marathon of music, photography, poetry, design, architecture and, generally, the medieval spirit of Braşov.
The festival will be officially open Saturday, November 17th at 12:00 at the university Transylvania of Braşov, with an exposition of architecture, furniture design, picture, sculpture and photos. The Sunday will be dedicated to the medieval era.
I remember Vlad Dracula inhabited in Braşov before seizing the Wallachian throne for his second and longest reign.

History by Art

I call this posts History by Art because here is a nice summary of the medieval history (in fact, starting earlier, since 1100, up to 1600). We have nice comments, although in French, about the history of art, the evolution of mankind being presented in parallel with the evolution of it's art.
Of course, few seconds are dedicated to our Vlad Dracula, being presented the well-known paintings of the famous Wallachian ruler, a very very short history of his life.

Here is an addiction to the Media Library, this nice detail from the Medieval Church in Targsor, Prahova. The photo was taken by myself in April 2007. I remember Targsor was an important medieval town in Wallachia, now disappeared after Ploiesti rise in close nearby. Note the bricks and the care for architectural details:

The True Story of Vlad Dracula

The Dark Prince: the true story of Vlad Dracula (part 3):

Vlad marry the beautiful Lidia, daughter of a nobleman, just when she was about to go to a convent.
He obtain from Hunyadi the Wallachian Throne. On his return he is shocked by the poverty people lives in, by the unfair treatment they have from the boyars (unguilty people being beaten in the public square, just for ...not being rich enough).
He decides to change the things, even by risking his life! After killing the ruling prince, Vladislav (called Karl in the movie, I don't know why) Vlad claims the throne of Wallachia. People is happy about it, he promises justice and freedom for all

Sighişoara - birth place of Vlad III Dracula

Sighişoara in the medieval era


Before presenting Dracula’s life I think it would be interesting to have an idea about the nice town he lived in: Sighisoara. Attested for the first time in 1280 under the name of Castrum Seg (the town on the hill – in Hungarian Seg means hill). Although I encountered many times the name of Castrum Sex, I prefer to use Castrum Seg (sincerely I haven’t seen the original document). From which Segsburg and the actual German name Schassburg, with the same meaning, the town on the hill. Is easily understandable the name, as it is really placed on a small hill, near Târnava River. One would have to climb the clock tower to have a perfect view of the geography of the place. Even the Romanian name seems to come from the Hungarian name (Segesvár)



Fourteen square towers were placed on the wall protecting the citadel. A second defending wall has been built around the lower town by the end of the XIVth century.
During Vlad‘s life the town was counting about 2000 inhabitants, so much fewer than Braşov (6000) and Sibiu (4000). The first official census, dates from the end of the XVth century. Sighişoara was sheltering 638 families, so about 3000 inhabitants. The majority of them were Saxons (hospites in Latin), 600 families.


The inhabitants were organized in guilds (bresle in Romanian). Each guild was having it's own tower. They were shoe-makers, coopers, goldsmiths, tinsmiths, spurs-makers, woodcarvers, leather dressers, butchers, carpenters, etc. Nowadays some of the towers are still preserved, and, more than this, still inhabited.




The town was being governed by a local judge, with power over the 16 neighboring communities forming the Stuhl (headquarter of the justice).The judge was seconded by the mayor and the local council (formed of 12 wise old-men). The population was speaking one of the Germanic dialects called Saxons. This was common to the 35 villages around, grouped in three ecclesiastic communities.



What characterized the Saxons in the 240 German villages is Transylvania is although the clothes they used to wear. As mentioned by Dávid FRÖLICH in Medulla Geographiae Practicae (1639) the men’s clothes are almost identical to the Hungarians’, except the men like larger clothes. The sacerdotes were using a purple coat, a blue or red belt, a dark-color cape called “reverenda”. The women were wearing tight clothes, with the shoulders uncovered.



A short video from a parade of middle-age wearing in Sighisoara is to be seen here:
The quality of the video is not the best, but at least we can have an idea:

The Life of Vlad Dracula

As M. Cazacu mentions in his book, Vlad Dracula was born between 1430 and 1436, most probably in Sighişoara (Schassburg, as the town was called in the XV-th century). The house that has now a plate saying this was where Dracula born was used at that time as mint. And is known that Vlad Dracul, his parent, was in charge with the mint, between 1431 – 1436. Therefore, we can accept that he lived in that house and consequently, that Vlad Tepes was born there. In 1442, Jean de Wavrin (uncle of the Burgundian knight Waleran de Wavrin that led an expedition against the Turks, on lower Danube) mention the only son of Vlad Dracul (Vlad being imprisoned by the Turks) as being about 13 - 14 years old. So Mircea, the first son of Vlad Dracul was born around 1428-1429, therefore Vlad couldn't have been born before 1429-1430.
Meantime, when Vlad Dracul took the throne of Wallachia, in 1437 he mentions his two sons; therefore we can suppose Vlad’s birth to be between 1430 and 1436. So, in his house next to the clock tower in Sighişoara.

Adolescence of Vlad III (Ţepeş) was not the most peaceful possible...