Who was the real Dracula? Vlad the Impaler is believed to have been born in 1431 in what is now Transylvania, the central region of modern-day Romania.
Bram Stoker's Dracula, the iconic 1897 tale of a vampire from Transylvania, is often thought to be inspired by a formidable 15th-century governor from present-day Romania named Vlad the Impaler.
In 1476, while marching to yet another battle with the Ottomans, Vlad and a small vanguard of soldiers were ambushed, and Vlad was killed and beheaded — by most reports, his head was delivered to Mehmed II in Constantinople as a trophy to be displayed above the city's gates.
Count Dracula was inspired by one of the best-known figures of Romanian history, Vlad Draculea, nicknamed Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler), who was the ruler of Walachia during mid-1400s. Born in 1431 in Sighisoara - Transylvania, Vlad resided most of his adult life in Walachia (southern Romania).
Visiting the Dracula Castle in Transylvania, Romania
Are there descendants of Vlad the Impaler alive today?
However, Vlad's descendants in the female line do exist and his other relatives include our own Prince of Wales. Thanks to his great-grandmother Mary of Teck, Prince Charles can trace his lineage back to Vlad the Monk, half-brother of Vlad the Impaler, and one of the few Drăculeşti to die a natural death!
However the fictional character, created by author Bram Stoker, was in fact based on a real historical figure called Vlad the Impaler. Vlad the Impaler, also known as Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia, was a 15th-century warlord, in what today is Romania, in south-eastern Europe.
In 1417, Wallachia was forced to accept the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire; this lasted until the 19th century. In 1859, Wallachia united with Moldavia to form the United Principalities, which adopted the name Romania in 1866 and officially became the Kingdom of Romania in 1881.
1. Bran Castle. Bran Castle is perhaps the most famous Dracula location and is now one of the most respected national landmarks in Romania. The fortress is situated on the border between Transylvania and Wallachia.
In 2006, Bran Castle was legally returned to the descendants of Princess Ileana. Today, it is owned by the Archduke Dominic von Habsburg of Austria-Tuscany and his two sisters, Archduchess Elisabeth and Archduchess Maria Magdalena.
Professor Abraham Van Helsing (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈaːbraːɦɑm vɑn ˈhɛlsɪŋ]) is a fictional character from the 1897 gothic horror novel Dracula written by Bram Stoker.
Jure Grando Alilović or Giure Grando (1578–1656) was a villager from the region of Istria (in modern-day Croatia) who may have been the first real person described as a vampire in historical records. He was referred to as a štrigon, a local word for something resembling a vampire and a warlock.
What is the difference between a vampire and a Dracula?
The key difference between vampire and Dracula is that vampire is a blood-sucking creature and Dracula is a fictional character in the gothic novel 'Dracula'. Vampires are mythological creatures from folklore. They are undead creatures who drink the blood of humans. Dracula is a fictional character based on vampires.
In the original 1897 Dracula novel by Bram Stoker, the 1931 film, and the 1992 film Dracula will not / does not burn in the sunlight. In the original novel Dracula was nocturnal, the day is not his natural time. It's his usual time of rest but he can move about by day.
Moffat and Gatiss settle on this answer: Dracula is frightened of death and the Cross confronts him with a man, Jesus, who was willing to die. They reject superstition and tradition in favour of something far neater, more relatable and very in fashion.
In Bram Stoker's original tale, it was never revealed precisely how he became the monster, although it was heavily implied through the research Van Helsing did into his past: when he was still alive, Dracula frequented “Scholomance”, a school of dark magic in Transylvania run by the Devil; it seems as though this was ...
Transylvania, historic eastern European region, now in Romania. After forming part of Hungary in the 11th–16th centuries, it was an autonomous principality within the Ottoman Empire (16th–17th century) and then once again became part of Hungary at the end of the 17th century.
The castle is real, though, as Stoker based Dracula's home on Romania's Bran Castle, and it's for sale—if you have $66 million to invest in a historic fixer-upper with 57 bedrooms and no indoor plumbing, that is.
The modern Romanian state was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877.
Vlad Tepes (aka Impaler) is his famous nickname! Vlad Dracul is the name of his father (and the founder of Draculescu branch of Wallachian rulling family). So, his family name was Draculescu!
In February 1462, he attacked Ottoman territory, massacring tens of thousands of Turks and Muslim Bulgarians. Mehmed launched a campaign against Wallachia to replace Vlad with Vlad's younger brother, Radu.
In Europe, where much of the vampire folklore originates, the vampire is usually considered a fictitious being; many communities may have embraced the revenant for economic purposes. In some cases, especially in small localities, beliefs are still rampant and sightings or claims of vampire attacks occur frequently.
Last but not least, it is said that Anastasia, Vlad's wife suicide in the same year of 1462 at Poenari castle. She was supposedly jealous because she found out that he intended to marry one of his mistresses, a girl named Katharina from Brasov.
Dracula was a real person, more commonly known in medieval Romania as Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia or Vlad the Impaler. I know, the “impaler” is not a nice nickname, and unfortunately Vlad III did like to impale people and was famous for it.
