Dracula and Transylvania, Myth Vs Legend

Recently I was just wasting my time (like I was not busy enough) and I got in contact with some topics related to Dracula. There is a lot of literature on the internet about this subject but I decided to write a…let’s say “short” overview. The first thing to start with is that the character Dracula came up from the novel Dracula written in 1897 by Irish author Bram Stoker, featuring as its primary personage the vampire Count Dracula.
Stoker novel is actually based on the real life historical figure, Vlad III Dracula also known as Vlad The Impaler (in Romanian referred as to Vlad Tepes)
Who was Dracula??? History notes.
Vlad was a fifteenth century voivode or prince of Wallachia - a province of Romania bordered to the north by Transylvania and Moldavia -the other two Romanian provinces – and at that time, Walachia was a main trading route, and a strategic point in the battle between the Ottoman empire from the South-East and the Hungarian throne located in Budapest. This caused a very turbulent situation, as the fight of religions with these powerful neighbors was often held on these lands.
The life of Dracula.
Vlad III Dracula was born in December 1431 in the Transylvanian town of Sighisoara. His father, Vlad Dracul appointed as a military governor of Transylvania by the emperor Sigismung was awarded the same year with The Order of Dragon – a religious and semimilitary society founded in 1387 by the holy roman emperor. “The Order” explains the name “Dracula”. Dracul, in Romanian language means “dragon” or “devil” and the nobles (boyars) who knew the Impaler’s father induction in “The Order of Dragon”, decided to call him “Dracul”. “Dracula”, a diminutive which means “the son of Dracul” was used subsequently by Vlad the Impaler.
Dracula ruled as Prince of Wallachia on three separate occasions totaling about seven years. He first claimed the throne with Turkish support in 1448. On this occasion he ruled for only two months (November-October) before being driven out by a Danesti claimant supported by Hungary. Dracula spent the next eight years in exile before returning to Wallachia to kill the Danesti prince, Vladislav II, and reclaiming the Walachia throne but this time with Hungarian support.
Dracula's second ruling period stretched from 1456 to 1462. It was during this time that Dracula carried out his most famous military exploits against the Turks and also committed his most gruesome atrocities. Vlad was known for many things, most of which being his cruel and ruthless torture methods. Impalement was Vlad's favorite form of punishment, and he held no favorites, whether it be local thieves, foreign nobleman, or the sick and poor. The Turks called him Kaziglu Bey, or "the Impaler Prince. After major battles against the Turks in 1462, he escaped across the mountains into Transylvania and was held as a prisoner by the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus until the mid-1470s. He recovered the throne for a third time in 1476 but not for long, being killed in battle against the Turkish during the subsequent winter. Despite all his atrocities, in romanian history Vlad Dracula is considered to have been one of the greatest leaders who fought for the freedom of his land.
Now going back to the novel just know that Stoker did not make up the name "Dracula". Stoker didn't probably know much about him but he came across his name in a book entitled “An account of the principalities of Walachia and Moldavia (1820). What attracted Stoker to the name "Dracula" was a footnote by Wilkinson who stated that "Dracula in the Wallachian language means devil" and that is what Stoker copied into his notes. He was originally going to call his vampire "Count Wampyr" but changed it to "Count Dracula."
Here at the end just a few things to highlight: Transylvania and Vlad III Dracula are real; Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, never visited Transylvania and the Romanian province was not Stoker’s initial choice for Dracula’s homeland.
See the best detailed information on Dracula's Homepage.