Vlad Dracula Thread

[Jacqueline]

Hello everyone.
I'm very interested in Vlad Tepes and I've learned a lot about him, but would like to learn more.
This documentary I watched showed him as a very cruel man, impaling people and all kinds of other stuff. If he did go crazy, and kill all these people I can see why, but there is still no excuse for hurting someone. How could a father and mother send their two youngest boys to turkey as hostages?
Anyway, there is more to it, but hopefully I can find friends who can discuss this with me.
Also, what is the correct way to pronounce valachia?
Thanks.

[IonPop]

Valachia is pronounced approximately as Valahhia in Romanian, and Vlad Tepes as Vlahd Tsepesh.

It was a very common practice in the Middle Age to send hostages to other countries, but those hostages were not prisoners, but they were living a free live as nobles, in much better conditions as the local population of those foreign countries. They use to be just a guarantee of friendship from the country that send them.
If the host country was more powerful, those hostages might have lived a better live than in their own country.

Vlad Tepes was not the first or the last person that impaled people, but what made him special was the big number of impaled enemies. Some of those enemies were local nobles that were against him, but most of them were foreign conquerers that wanted to conquer his country.

He was a little crazy for sure, but that was a dark age for many other parts of the world...

[Jacqueline]

Thanks so much for telling me about vlad dracula. I've heard his name pronounced two ways. draculea and dracula. which is correct? I'm very interested in his family too and his brother radu. also, I'd like to give you all my msn and yahoo messenger idees. my msn idee is tullfan2010@hotmail.com and my yahoo idee is jaxware82@yahoo.com if anyone wants to give me their messenger idees, please feel free tod o so.

[IonPop]

Yes, in the past they also used to call him Draculea, written as Drăculea" (if JAWS will read you "ă" differently than a simple "a").

In Romanian "drac" means "devil", but that name doesn't have any relation with the "drac". That name came from a title obtained in a foreign country, but I forgot which was it... maybe Polland or another one from the western Europe.

Vlad Tepes inherited the name "Vlad Dracul" but there is no relation between him and the Dracula, the vampire.

Vlad Tepes was not a king in Transilvania nor in Moldavia, but Dracula in the imagination of his writer lived in Transilvania, in the mountains that separate Transilvania and Moldavia.

And by the way, if you just heard about Dracula but didn't read that book, don't read it because it is very boring.

[Jacqueline]

Thanks for this useful information. I never read the vampire book but I'd like to read a book called dracula, prince of many faces. I think it's in english. Was vlad married? also how do you pronounce vlad? I know my jaws says it like plad, but that can't be the case. so where is the real dracula's castle? He didn't live in transylvania? interesting. wish you could get yahoo messenger so I could learn more about this.

[Manu]

Why not to talk here about this subject? This way we learn new things, I am sure many Romanians don’t know anything about Middle Ages. I think there are more Americans who knows something about Dracula than Romanians.

[Jacqueline]

Well I think some of you may know about dracula. some say he was a hero. Others say he was cruel. I'm also interested if he had any children, was married and what were their names if anyone knows and does anyone know about his parents, his brothers and things?

[Andreea Neagu]

The article on Vlad the Impaler on Wikipedia is a good place to start, if you haven't read it yet.
Regarding Vlad's brother, Radu the Fair, here's an article on him. Though shorter than the one about his brother, it does contain interesting information.
Best regards,
Andreea

[Jacqueline]

Thanks andreea for that. I read the thing about radu. It was very interesting. Are there any books I can look for about dracula and radu?

[Jacqueline]

I was just curious, but has anyone been to dracula's castle or to anywhere here he was in those times? Also, what did they look like and has anyone seen statues of vlad? I've heard from a document that he had long bklack hair and green eyes. is that true?