VLAD III

Vlad III from Valacchia was a Polish voivode.
Also known as Vlad Tepes or Vlad The Impaler, he was the prince of Valacchia in 1448, from 1456 to 1462, and in 1476. Thanks to his dominion Valacchia principality kept its indipendence from Ottoman empire. Because of his cruelty he was called Tepes, that in Rumanian language means “impaler”.
He was as cruel as other contemporaneous western princes, but some narrations about his cruel deeds gave a distort vision of the national Rumanian hero.

THE NAME NATURE
Vlad, like his father Vlad II, belonged to the Dragon Order, one of some medieval religious knightly orders. It was founded in 1408 by Sigmund from Luxembourg, who was a Hungarian king, and his second wife, Barbara Cilli. The order’s purpose was to protect Christianity and to fight against Turkish people.
Vlad’s father was called “Dracul”, which means “dragon”, because it became his symbol. So the son was called “Draculea”. In Rumanian language “Dracul” also means Devil and so Vlad was called “Devil’s Son”. Probably this is the reason of the leggend about his character.

VLAD’S ATROCITIES
His favourite way to torture was the impalement. His methods were substantially two: the first consisted in the use of a spiky pole which perforated the condemned in the abdomen and put him up. Death could be immediate or could come after some hours.
The second impalement method consisted in the use of a rounded bar which was spreaded with grease and introduced into victim’s rectum. After that the condemned was put up and his own weight made the bar pass into his body; death could come also after two days. He adopted this method by Turkish people and created come differente methods to impale robbers, enemy warriors and treacherouses. Rich men were impaled with a Silver bar and put up above the others. Unfaithful women were impaled in front of their houses.

VLAD’S DEATH
Vlad was delivered in 1475. Then he had to organize a sort of crusade against Turkish people. In 1496, after some successes, he was bordered by Ottoman army; he died on battlefield. There are some hypotesis about the place where his corpse was put. Some think that it was burnt, others think that it was cut to pieces. Some people also think that the corpse was found in the city of Snagov, but archaeological searches found out only horse bounds.


Andrea Navicelli