From: cgc2646@usl.edu (Cech Claude G)
Newsgroups: alt.vampyres
Subject: Re: Vlad Tepes, a defense
Date: 7 Sep 92 02:27:42 GMT
Organization: University of Southwestern Louisiana

In article <1992Sep6.143803.21832@nwnexus.WA.COM> vmzmeu@halcyon.com (Zmeu Vladimir-Martin) writes:
>cgc2646@usl.edu (Cech Claude G) writes:
>....
>>I'll second the defense, at least to this correction:  Vlad was emphatically
>>NOT associated with rumors of vampirism.  He was actually a very canny
>>chieftain, but didn't use that particular version of psychological warfare:
>>Given all the other things he did, he didn't have to!  :-)
>
>At one time, when he was committing acts of terror on the Saxon population
>of Brasov and Sibiu, he was reported to have dined amidst his impaled 
>victims and would dip his bread in their blood.  This was further expanded 
>and exaggerated by Michael Boeheim, a German Meistersinger and soldier 
>of fortune, who wrote a long ballad which included a verse suggesting 
>that Vlad was a blood drinker.  See _Dracula, Prince of Many Faces_ by 
>Radu Florescu and Raymon T. McNally.
>
>>On the other hand, not too far away, Elizabeth Bathory was bathing in the
>>blood of servants and kidnapped people because she had thought that some
>>blood accidentally spilled on her skin softened and whitened it.  Better
>>historical paradigms for blood crimes are to be found in Bathory and Gilles
>>de Retz (several variant spellings of his name exist:  cf. also Rais), as
>>opposed to the "Little Dragon."
>
>Quite true regarding E.B., however, she lived a good century after Vlad 
>Dracula.  A note on his name:  While the word "dracula" can have at least 
>four different meanings, "dracul," meaning "dragon" or "devil," combined
>with the ending "-a," "son of" or denoting a diminutive, it is more likely 
>in this case to mean "Son of the Dragon" because his father was Vlad 
>Dracul, who was honored with the Order of the Dragon.  
>
>Al dumitale amic
>in noapte eterna,
>
>Zmeu Vladimir-Martin
>Voivoda de Ardeal si Conte de Timisoara

(Sorry for repeating all the stuff above, but I think it is relevant...)

Yes, absolutely.  The source I'm using is Gabriel Ronay, _The Truth About
Dracula_ (horrific title, but decent book:  Good companion book to the one
cited above).  Ronay points out that Vlad 3 was the one who was known during
his lifetime as Dracul.  He was also apparently highly regarded by his sub-
jects, so that name wasn't meant as a put-down or as denoting his cruelty.
Vlad 3 ruled up until 1446; Vlad 4 (I suppose we really should use Roman
Numerals here rather than Arabic ones) or Vlad the Impaler ruled to 1462,
as well as from 1475 to 1476.  EB's 'indictment,' on the other hand, was on
January 7, 1611.

Brief quotation from Ch. 9:
       "The list of Dracula's cruelties, meticulously recorded by Renais-
         sance pamphleteers and historians alike, is long and exhaustive,
         but it does not include charges of vampirism.  Nor is there any
         justification for the vampire Dracula in folk legend.  Vlad the
         impaler must, therefore, be exonerated of vampirism...Yet there is
         a strong belief in vampires in the valleys of the Carpathians--the
         backdrop to Stoker's vampire Count.  And, curiously, the undead
         persons who top the horror charts of Transylvanian folklore are
         always females."  
After which, Ronay starts talking about Bathory.  Hope this proved of
interest.
				Claude
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