Vlad The Impaler: History's Greatest Monster?

WARNING: CONTENT CONTAINS DETAIL SOME READERS MAY FIND UPSETTING OR DISTURBING. THE FOCUS OF THIS BLOG POST IS LESS ON HISTORICAL FACT AND MORE ON TALES THAT CIRCULATED ABOUT VLAD THE IMPALER. SOME OF THE TALES WILL BE, UNFORTUNATELY, FACT, OTHERS THE FALSEHOOD OF VLAD'S ENEMIES THAT SERVED AS PROPAGANDA. AND THERE WILL BE SOME STORIES THAT MAY HAVE TRUTH IN THEM BUT WERE GROSSLY EXAGGERATED.

Vlad The Impaler is one of the most memorable figures in all history but for all the wrong reasons. His penchant for having people impaled is truly ghastly but to make matters worse, this wasn't the only form of execution Vlad used. Stories circulated about different methods of execution that Vlad concocted which were all cruel in the most inhumane way. He slaughtered over 20,000 Ottoman Turks and even nearly killed their Sultan, Mehmed II. And it wasn't just prisoners of war Vlad targeted. Men, women, young and old were victims of his brutality. Here, we'll look at some of the stories told that detailed Vlad's cruelty. In many of them, his viciousness seemed to be born on a whim as perfectly innocent people fell victim to his rage. However, it must be said that some of these stories were written by Vlad's enemies a few years after his death so we have to take it all with a pinch of salt. Whilst some of the tales are clearly false or at least heavily embellished, other cases are historically proven.

Gaining control of Wallachia in 1456, Vlad had villages across Transylvania burned to the ground with men, women and children all perishing. Some of the survivors were brought back to Wallachia and allegedly impaled. It was said that Vlad then had 400 young boys, from noble families sent to his land to learn the language, burned alive. Vlad was also not averse to using psychological torture. Some ambassadors sent to him from Hungary and surrounding regions were kept in lodgings filled with large wooden stakes, evidently for their impalement in case of some treachery on their part. The envoys were kept in this fearful state for some weeks.

Vlad's depravity seemed to know no bounds and one particularly malicious act was when he held a funeral service for one of his victims whilst he was still alive. Vlad made the man dig his own grave before having him beheaded. On one occasion, Vlad had a gypsy arrested for stealing and he ordered that he should be hanged by his companions. When they refused, the thief was boiled alive in a pot with the rest ordered to eat his flesh. When some Italian ambassadors arrived in Vlad's lands, they greeted him by removing their hats although leaving their caps on underneath. When Vlad asked why this was, they said it was simply their custom. In response, Vlad nailed the caps to their head. One of Vlad's mistresses told him she was pregnant. When this was found not to be the case, he had her disembowelled. 

But, of course, impalement is the execution that Vlad will be forever remembered for. On one occasion, after attacking Transylvania, Vlad took the ordinary citizens of one town and had them impaled. The ghoul then sat down to enjoy his lunch in the midst of such terrible suffering. Vlad's brutality left even experienced men of war flabbergasted. Mehmed II and his Ottomans were on the march against Vlad when they stumbled on a truly horrifying sight. Thousands upon thousands of Ottoman men, women and children impaled on wooden stakes. Mehmed was said to have been stunned at what he saw.

Nonetheless, Vlad is and was regarded by some as being a strong ruler, a capable military leader and a man who took a particularly hard line with his enemies. It may be this last factor why some many stories of Vlad's incredible violence circulated after his death.