the reputation of vlad :
Vlad's reign is best known, at least outside Romania, for his cruelty. Many of the stories have an element of legend; it is hard to know how much the tales have grown in the telling.
Many accounts of Vlad's rule are delivered from defamation pamphlets printed by ethnic Germans, utilizing the then-recent invention of the printing press. According to these accounts, he had a terrifying habit of pillaging towns that did not obey his rule, and murdering great numbers of people. The most notorious picture of Vlad is a woodblock print from one of these pamphlets depicting Vlad eating his dinner on a grassy hill surrounded by a forest of dead Turks. True to his name, most of the victims were impaled. The pamphlets also claim that to massacre more victims at once, he would herd captured Turks over cliffsides onto beds of spikes below. From these victims he was able to create an infamous "forest of the impaled" surrounding his capital to dissuade any attacking army from invading.
Other examples of his notoriety abound in other European records of history and folklore. On one occasion Vlad is supposed to have invited many beggars to his castle, then burnt it to the ground, killing them all, so that nobody would be poor in his kingdom. (However, this may be a reattribution, as the same gambit is also attributed to others.)
Soon after gaining his throne, Vlad invited the Boyars of his region to his castle in Targoviste, as well as bishops and archbishops. After a day of festivities, he summoned the boyars to his court, where he asked them how many reigns they had survived. This was actually a deceptive question; he knew that those who were most likely to turn against him would give an outrageous figure like thirty reigns. Many were impaled as an example of Vlad's princely authority.
When an Ottoman emissary invoked his custom, refusing to remove his turban when in Vlad's presence (thus offending him), Vlad told him that he wished only to strengthen and honour the Ottoman custom - then nailed the emissary's turban to his head.
Conversely, just as Vlad responded harshly to insult, he responded favourably to flattery. Allegedly, when a messenger arrived with news from neighboring Hungary, Vlad grew very angry, and invited him to dinner. Seeing the dining room filled with dead and dying people impaled on stakes, and guards behind him holding a gold-plated stake, the messenger grew very anxious. When Vlad asked him if he knew why he was asked to dinner, the messenger thought quickly and responded, "I do not know, but I know you are a wise and great ruler, and no matter what you command, even if you were to command my death, it should be done". Impressed, Vlad waved the soldiers away, and said "Had you not answered so well, I would have impaled you on the spot." The messenger was showered with gifts, before being sent back to Hungary.
Another anecdote tells of a foreign merchant who was in Vlad's capital city. The merchant left his wagon out, knowing the strict punishment for breaking the law. When he came back to the wagon in the morning he found that 16 ducats were missing. He went to Dracula and told him of the stolen money. Vlad told him he would have his money by sundown. He then told the people that if they did not find the thief, then he (Vlad), would burn down the city. He then told one of his servants to place 17 ducats in the merchant's wagon. After the merchant discovered the ducats, he went to Dracula and told him that there was an extra ducat. At this point the thief was brought to Dracula who ordered him impaled, and Dracula also told the merchant that if he had not returned the extra ducat, he would have been impaled along with the thief.
It became widely known that Wallachian justice was harsh and Vlad had many criminals impaled, regardless of their crimes. In another anecdote, two wandering monks arrived in Targoviste and saw for themselves the draconian punishments implemented by Vlad. When summoned to his castle, Vlad asked them what they thought of his rule. One monk commended him for keeping law and order in the kingdom, while another harshly denounced Vlad as the Devil because of his cruelty. Although it is not truly known which of the monks was ordered impaled, supposedly, Vlad ordered the first monk impaled, seeing through his cowardly lies, and commended and rewarded the second for his honesty.
On a kinder note, another story tells that Vlad placed a golden cup at a well-travelled spring so travelers could drink. Not once during his entire reign was the cup ever stolen. The legend also says that the very day people saw the cup missing they knew that Vlad was gone.
Some legends say that he was taken captive by the Hungarians. Then, they supposedly burned out his eyes and buried him alive. The next day, they dug up the spot where he was buried and found no corpse. Several years later there were numerous mysterious deaths at his castle.
A good description of Vlad Dracula survives courtesy of Modrussa, who wrote:
He was not very tall, but very stocky and strong, with a cruel and terrible appearance, a long straight nose, distended nostrils, a thin and reddish face in which the large wide-open green eyes were enframed by bushy black eyebrows, which made them appear threatening. His face and chin were shaven but for a moustache. The swollen temples increased the bulk of his head. A bull's neck supported the head, from which black curly locks were falling to his wide-shouldered person.
Count Dracula, the monstrous central character of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula is thought to be named after Vlad, but it is unclear whether the resemblance is any more than superficial. Recent research suggests that Stoker knew little of the Prince of Wallachia. Some have claimed that the novel owes more to the legends about Erzsébet Báthory. (See Dracula - Origins for more detail).
Of the recent literary works written in Romania about the real Vlad, only Marin Sorescu's contemporary play Vlad Dracula, the Impaler has been translated into English.........
