VLAD III DRACULEA PRINCE OF WALLACHIA

Vlad III was born in 1431 in Sighisoara in Wallachia and he was known with the name of "Vlad Tepes" (that in Rumanian means impaler). Vlad was a member of the order of the Dragon: this order had the aim to protect the Christendam and to fight against the Turk invasion. Vlad III was the son of Vlad II that was called Dracul (dragon or devil in Rumaninan) and for this reason Vlad Tepes was called also the "Devil's son". During all his life, the prince of Wallachia had to fight against the Turks and he bacame famous for his atrocity towards his enemies: he tortured them by impalling them with two different methods (depending on the social class of the victim).
We can see Vlad's cruelty in some different episodes: in 1460 in the city of Sibiu, he impaled 10000 people and spread the corpses with honey in order to attract every kind of insect; in 1461 an ambassador of the Sultan didn't take off his turban in the presence of Vlad so the prince made nail it on the messenger's head. Vlad reigned on the Wallachia for three times: the first on 1448, the second from 1456 to 1462 and the third in 1475. During all his reigns he impaled between 40000 to 100000 people until he died in 1476 during a battle against Ottomans. We hadn't precise informations about Vlad's corpse: some people think that it was burned, some others think that it was divided and exposed in Istanbul and some others think that it was buried in a church in Snagov.

Francesco Poggi