Vlad the Impaler -Dracula legend

Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler) was the second sun of another Wallachia Voivode, Vlad Dracul (1436-1442, 1443-1447) and Mircea the Old’s grandson. He was the Voivode of Wallachia for three times: in the autumn of 1448, between 1456 and1462, and in November – December 1476. Between 1442 and 1448, the Ottomans, on the custom of those times, kept him prisoner. The voivode on the throne had to send one of his sons in Constantinople as a warranty for his obedience. For a while, he was exiled in Moldavia and Transylvania (1449-1456), waiting for the best moment to take over the throne of Wallachia. He was related with the Voivode of Moldavia, Steven the Great, who was his cousin. When he left the throne in 1462, Tepes was caught and imprisoned in Buda, on the King of Hungary Mathias Corvin order, until 1475. His last reign in Wallachia was short, the boyars preparing a coup against him. He was 45 years old when he died killed by Turks with the help of the boyars and the future Voivode Basarab Laiota.

An authoritarian cruel voivode, he impressed his contemporaries who gave him the nickname of Tepes (the Impaler) inspired from his torture and execution system – Teapa (the stake). However, he was not the inventor of this system, used on a large scale especially in the Ottoman Empire, and some parts of Europe.
He was also known as Dracula, a name that became due to an abundant literature the prototype of a bloody tyrant. In fact, this was his father’s name, Vlad Dracul (with the origin in the Dragons Order, a chivalrous Order of that time). As a consequence, he became the Devil’s son, Draculea, Dracula. The Saxons from Transylvania, who were menaced to lose their privileges by the protectionist policy of the Wallachia voivode, spread the tales on Tepes cruelties. We can consider, anyway, that Vlad Tepes was a man of his times, since the cruelty was one of the methods used by the rulers to rich their goals .
When we think of Vlad Tepes, we have in mind a few places: Bucharest, Snagov, Bran, Sighisoara. In real life, Vlad Tepes was much more dynamic, covering many areas of the country. We will try to connect these places with the main monuments seen by the voivode in his long campaigns in the coutry.

1: Suceava (Suceava County).
1448 was the years of the first Vlad Tepes.short reign.After he was exiled he lived for a while in Suceava. From that period, the Fortress Capital Residence shoul be see. Unfortunately, on the Ottomans order the fortress was blown into the air in 1675.
2: Geoagiu (Hunedoara County).
In 1456, Vlad Tepes began his secon reign, and finished it in 1462. People say that in 1456 was the first murder attempt upon him. From those times, Geogiu preserves only a church (in the old times included in a monastery built by another Wallachian Voivode Radu from Afumati), which changed its initial look due to some changes and demolitions. The mural painting is woth to be mentioned.
3: Sibiu (Sibiu County).
Tepes signed an agreement with Sibiu Municipality, in order to support each other against the Ottomans (1456). Even if they had many diputes, in 1475 Tepes ask the inhabitants of Sibiu to allow him to build a house in Sibiu.Probably, he was even thinking to move in that town. Sibiu preserves since those times the Old Citty Hall, and Thomas Altemberger (1470-1491) House with an residence tower and valuable Gothic frames.
4: Turnu Rosu (Valcea County).
A pass on Olt Valley. The road used by Vlad Tepes army to enter in Transylvannia (1457). Turnu Rosu Fortress was built in the 13th -14th centuries. Vlad Tepes added new defence walls still visible today alongsides of the ruins of the fortress.
5: Bucharest.
During Vlad Tepes reign, Bucharest is mentioned for the first time in a document issued in September 20, 1459. The town became the second capital of Wallachia, after Targoviste; Vlad Tepes rebuilt the Princely Court with a fortress look from Dambovita river banks.
6: Cisnadie (Sibiu County).
In 1462, Tepes was defeated by Ottomans and found a refuge in this Sibiu place. The Evangelist Church was already built in the first half of the 13th century, as a Roman basilia. In the end of the 15th century, it was turned into a Gothic one.
7: Turnu Magurele ( Teleorman County).
Vlad Tepes was waiting here for the Turkish Army to cross the Danube, in 1462. The fortress built on the foundation of a Roman fortress dates since the end of the 14th century.
8: Giurgiu (Giurgiu County) and the suroounding areas
Are the palce where Vlad Tepes fighted with the Ottoman Army in 1462 (the sultans’s messanger was caught here and killed, and the fortress was conquered and burnt). The fortress from the islet mentioned by the chronicles was built in the end of the 14th century. Its ruins can be seen even today.
9: Rucar (Arges County).
The fight to capture Tepes took place in the beautiful settlement from the north of Arges County (1462), after the Ottomans succeeded to put Radu the Hansome on the throne of Wallachia. Excepting the landscape, today nothing remebers Rucar of those times.
10: Balcaciu (Alba County),
A small place included in Jidvei (an area famous throughh its white wines, especially Feteasca Alba). The strenghtened local church was built in the 14th century and rebuilt in the 15th. In the same time, in the autumn of 1475 to be more specific, Vlad Tepes lived in this village for a short time before he returned on the throne (1476).

11: Medias (Sibiu County). Vlad Tepes lived in the summer of the year 1476 in this old fortress, built around a church from the 14th – 15th centuries, close to a Gothic church from the 14th – 15th century (very important due to its Gothic mural paintings, made between 1380 and 1500) .
12: Campulung (Arges County). It was an exchange place for the Saxon merchants. Since Vlad Tepes times the only monument in Campulung was Baratia Church. It was built by the Saxon merchant sin the end of the 13th century. Today, only the quire, recently restored, can be seen.
13: Comana (Ilfov County). A monastery built, most probable, by Vlad Tepes, rebuilt in 1588, and restored in 1699-1703.
14: Fagaras (Brasov County). The castle, mentioned since 1310, was rebuilt and extended in the 15th century. For a while it was owned by Vlad Tepes
15: Hunedoara, Huniad Castle (Hunedoara County). Vlad Tepes was prisoner for a while in the old Royal castrum (from the beginning of the 15th century), transformes and extended in a Gothic style by Iancu of Hunedoara (in the middle of the 15th century).
16: Poenari (Arges County). A tower with a square section was built here in the 14th century. In the 15th century, it was strenghtened with defence walls. Vlad Tepes was also among those who made the transformation works. Some people from Targoviste, who took part in the assasination of one of Vlad Tepes’s brothers, were forced to work at the construction site of this fortress.
17: Sighisoara (Mures County). The house where Vlad Tepes was born is to be found here. The fortress considered the most beautiful Medieval urban sites in our country, was built in the 14th century, while the church of the monastery was mentioned for the first time in the 13th century. The works were ended in the 15th century.
18: Snagov.Vlad Tepes is one among the founders of the church. It seems that his grave is also located here.
19: Targoviste (Dambovita County). The former fortress capital of Wallachia was mentioned for the first time in 1396. It had many glorious moments until de 16th century. In Chindia Tower, built in the 15th century, can be seen the genealogy of the Wallachia voivodes, including also Vlad Tepes.
20: Tismana (Gorj County). The monastery was built in the end of the 14th century (1375-1378) by the monk Nicodim. Vlad Tepes is one of the voivodes who endowed even more the monastery