Count Dracula
Vlad Tepes Dracula was born in the year 1431 in Transylvania, in a little town named Sighisoara. Same year as he was born, his father, Dracul, was nobled and made a knight of the Dragon Order, by king Sigismund in Nürnberg. To be a member of this order ment, that you vowed your whole life to battle the turks in Europe. ‘Dracul’ can mean two things; devil or dragon. The name does not just fit the oath, he made, but also his person (I talk about ‘our’ Dracula here). In the year 1447 the boy´s father died. The son had in many years been a prison at the turks, but returned home after the death of the father, to take over the throne. He fought in many years to keep this throne, lost it and won it again several times. The story tells, that he rewon the throne in 1456, and garthered more hundreds boyars (turks) in his capital city Targoviste, and he invited them into his palace with bishops and other high valued men. He now asked them each, how many goverments they had survived. After this Dracula ordered, that every boyar who had survived a certain number of goverments, should be speared on big spears around the palace. He knew, that the ones, who killed his father, must be between them. Not long after this, he began to build his castle. In the rest of his life he fought the Turks, and killed them in the most discusting ways. Some was undressed, and got the skin ripped off, som were put on spears and some were fried on glowing coal. It all ended, when he was captured and held prison in Hungary in 12 years. He tried to escape unnumerous times, but never succeded. There are several stories about his death, but whatever happened, his head was cut off and sent to the Turk sultan in Constantinopel, and put on a spear like he did with so many others. This was the real dracula.
In Bram Stoker´s book we find ourselves in the ending of the
18th century, and a young, english (sagfører) is going to
Transylvania to fix some buissnes about a house, Count Dracula
wish to buy in England. Jonathan Harker, as the (sagfører) is
named, is being held prison at the castle. We are now being
introduced to the vampire, which was set to be the classical
vampire in many years. Jonathan never see Dracula in daylight,
and there are no mirrors on the castle, ´cause a vampire has no
(spejlbillede). He doesn´t like crusifixes and garlic either. At
last Jonathan excapes from the castle, and flees back home to
England, where Dracula also is. Here Dracula meets Mina,
Jonathans fiance and later wife, who is just like his long lost
love. Both her and her friend Lucy are victims to Dracula. Lucy
dies. Jonathan is being helped to fight Dracula (or he helps) by
dr. Van Helsing and some other men, who once loved Lucy. Since
this time Van Helsing has been Draculas classical enemy. Dracula
flees back to Transylvania, where they finally kill him - or did
they?
