Vlad the Impaler

Vlad Tepes is better known as Vlad "The Impaler" due to a history of ruthless rule. Vlad had three reigns as the Prince of Wallachia. His first reign was mostly peaceful, but then he started torturing people for his final two reigns. Vlad would soon flee during his second reign and end up creating a secret army to take out the Sultan of Turkish army once and for all.

Contents 1 History 2 Reign 1447-1448 3 Reign 1456-1462 4 Reign 1476 5 Death 6 Filed Under 7 References

History

Vlad Tepes is a very well known historical figure but he went by many other names other than Vlad Tepes, such as Vlad the Impaler, Vlad III, Dracula, Drakulya, or Tepes. Born in 1431 in the Citadel of Sighisoara, Transylvania, Vlad had three reigns; when he was Prince of Wallachia from 1447-1448, 1456-1462 and finally in 1476.^[1]

Vlad got the name Vlad the Impaler from his last name "Tepes", meaning "Impaler" in Romania. His name became his distinction as he was known for leaving people to die gruesome deaths.^[2] Vlad got the name Impaler because his preferred way of killing people was by impaling them. Vlad would do this by having a persons legs split apart by horses and have ropes tied around the persons legs. Vlad would then have a sharpened stake inserted between the buttocks and the anus. The stake would be greased with pig-fat before being inserted so that it was easier to insert and also stop the body from going into shock. Vlad would then insert the stake through the buttocks and the body carefully so that they don't hit any major organs. once through the body they would lift the impaled person above the ground and was staked into position and they would die slowly, sometimes taking up to several days before they were declared dead. ^[3]

Reign 1447-1448

In the winter of 1447, Vlad's father Vlad Dracul was assassinated by a Turkish soldier. Some sources say this soldier may have been a relative to the family. At the same time of Vlad's fathers assassination, Vlad's older brother died by the same soldier because they were with each other at the time. The Turkish soldier took Vlad's brother and gouged out his eyes and then buried him alive. Since Vlad's father was dead Vlad was up next to be Prince of Wallachia. Vlad took reign in 1447-however, it was short lived. A rival Hungarian Knight (John Hunyadi) defeated the prince and assumed power.^[4]

Reign 1456-1462

Vlad Dracula became Prince of Wallachia again in 1456. Once he returned to power, he became a vicious person committing ruthless acts of cruelty toward humans. Vlad had slaves working on building his castle. A lot of people were working naked because their clothes had fallen off from wear, and they were being starved. The worse case of cruelty Vlad had done was boarding up a building and setting it on fire, killing thousands of people. Vlad did this by inviting the local beggars as well as old people and the sick people to a feast. Once everybody was drunk, he asked if the people wanted to be without cares and lack nothing in the world. The people responded with yes. Vlad then ordered that the building they were having the feast in be boarded up and set on fire. Some of the other cruel things Vlad did was beheading people, had their eyes gouged out, had people skinned alive, hand people boiled, burnt, dismembered, eviscerated or physically disfigured all for his own amusement. Many of Vlad noble counterparts describe Vlad as being a monster There were rumors about how Vlad would eat people's flesh and drink the blood of humans. ^[5]

In 1461, at the end of his second reign, Vlad took on the Turkish Army; but he was outnumbered and Vlad was defeated. Vlad fled to Hungary to find protection, because Vlad knew the Turkish wanted him dead. During this time while Vlad fled to Hungary, another of Vlad's brothers had taken power over of Wallachia. Once Vlad made it to Hungary, he was under custody of King Matthias and Matthias had him put in prison for his wicked ways. Vlad was eventually allowed to come and go as he pleased, since there were no real definite terms for him to go to prison as long as he reported to King Matthias regularly. Vlad was eventually given his own dwelling. It was said that Vlad still had a thirst for blood, so he would sometimes find a rat or cat or big insects and drink the blood from the animals. ^[6]

Reign 1476

After nine years of being in the hands of Hungarian King Matthias, Vlad wanted to be the Prince of Wallachia again. He knew people still liked him and his brother was falling out of people's favor, but Vlad didn't want to dethrone his own brother. Vlad created a Christian Army to attack the Turkish Army. The Turkish Army was weakened greatly, and while Vlad was fighting, his brother died. Vlad took back reign of for the 3rd and final time. Vlad wanted to once and for all finish off the Turkish Sultan; a feat he had previously failed at, but one at which he would never succeed. The Sultan had defeated Vlad a few time, while Vlad had never defeated the Sultan before. Vlad and his Christian Army again went to defeat the Turkish Army for the final time, but unknown to Vlad and his army, the Turkish Army was waiting for them, and Vlad lost. ^[7]

Death

Vlad's Army was extremely undermanned and the Turkish Army was immense. Vlad knew he was the underdog, but as a fearless warrior he fought the Turkish army. Vlad's army lost, and their leader was killed in the process. The Turkish Army then took Vlad's head, put it on a stick and brought it back to the Sultan to show him that Vlad was dead once and for all. Some people say the Sultan took Vlad's head and put it in a preserved jar of honey to prove to people that Vlad was dead.^[8] By the end of Vlad’s three reigns, it is believed that Vlad executed anywhere from 40,000 to 75,000 people.^[9]

Filed Under

• Category:Mass Murderers
• Category:Serial Killers
• Category:History
• Category:People
• Category:Europe

References

1. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_III_the_Impaler
2. ↑ http://www.castleofspirits.com/vlad.html
3. ↑ http://hubpages.com/hub/Vlad-the-Impaler
4. ↑ http://www.allsands.com/history/people/vladtepespri_wry_gn.htm
5. ↑ http://www.allsands.com/history/people/vladtepespri_wry_gn.htm
6. ↑ http://www.vladtepes.info/vlad-tepes-biography.html
7. ↑ http://www.vladtepes.info/vlad-tepes-biography.html
8. ↑ http://www.vladtepes.info/vlad-tepes-biography.html
9. ↑ http://www.allsands.com/history/people/vladtepespri_wry_gn.htm