Sua Sponte
12-08-2006, 04:31 AM
More than anything else, Vlad III Ţepeş is known for his exceeding cruelty. Impalement was Ţepeş's preferred method of torture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture) and execution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution). His method of torture was a horse attached to each of the victim's legs as a sharpened stake was gradually forced into the body. The end of the stake was usually oiled, and care was taken that the stake not be too sharp; else the victim might die too rapidly from shock. Normally the stake was inserted into the body through the anus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anus) and was often forced through the body until it emerged from the mouth. However, there were many instances where victims were impaled through other bodily orifices or through the abdomen or chest. Infants were sometimes impaled on the stake forced through their mother's chests. The records indicate that victims were sometimes impaled so that they hung upside down on the stake.
As expected, death by impalement was slow and painful. Victims sometimes endured for hours or days. Vlad often had the stakes arranged in various geometric patterns. The most common pattern was a ring of concentric circles in the outskirts of a city that constituted his target. The height of the spear indicated the rank of the victim. The corpses were often left decaying for months.
Thousands were often impaled at a single time. 10,000 were impaled in the Transylvanian city of Sibiu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibiu) (where Vlad the Impaler had once lived) in 1460. The previous year, on Saint Bartholomew's Day (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Bartholomew%27s_Day) (in August), Vlad the Impaler had 30,000 of the merchants and officials of the Transylvanian city of Braşov (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bra%C5%9Fov) that were breaking his authority impaled. One of the most famous woodcuts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodcut) of the period shows Vlad the Impaler feasting amongst a forest of stakes and their grisly burdens outside Braşov, while a nearby executioner cuts apart other victims.
Impalement was Vlad the Impaler's favourite but by no means his only method of torture. The list of tortures employed by the prince is extensive: nails in heads, cutting off of limbs, blinding, strangulation, burning, cutting off of noses and ears, mutilation of ****** organs (especially in the case of women), scalping, skinning, exposure to the elements or to animals, and boiling alive.
No one was immune to Vlad the Impaler's attentions. His victims included women and children, peasants and great lords, ambassadors from foreign powers and merchants. However, the vast majority of his European victims came from the merchants and boyars of Transylvania and his own country, Wallachia. Many have attempted to justify Vlad's actions on the basis of nascent nationalism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalism) and political necessity. Most of the merchants in Transylvania and Wallachia were Saxons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transylvanian_Saxons) who were seen as parasites, preying upon Romanian natives of Wallachia, while the boyars had proven their disloyalty time and time again (Vlad's own father and older brother were murdered by unfaithful boyars). It is highly contested whether he was actually insane, though he certainly had no problem giving that impression. His domestic atrocities were largely driven by one or more of three motives: personal or political vendettas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendetta), the establishment of iron-fisted law and order in Wallachia, and nationalizing the province's economy through policies that would be identified today as economic nationalism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_nationalism).
Vlad Ţepeş committed even more impalements and other tortures against invading forces, namely Ottomans. It was once reported that an invading Ottoman army turned back in fright when it encountered thousands of rotting corpses impaled on the banks of the Danube. In 1462 Mehmed II (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehmed_II), the conqueror of Constantinople (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Constantinople), a man not noted for his squeamishness, returned to Constantinople after being sickened by the sight of 20,000 impaled corpses outside of Vlad's capital of Târgovişte. Many of the victims were Turkish prisoners of war Vlad had previously captured during the Turkish invasion. The total Turkish casualty toll in this battle reached over 40,000. The warrior sultan turned command of the campaign against Vlad over to subordinates and returned to Istanbul, even though his army had initially tripled Vlad's in size and was better equipped.
Vlad the Impaler began his reign of terror almost as soon as he came to power. His first significant act of cruelty may have been motivated by a desire of revenge as well as a need to solidify his power. Early in his reign he gave a feast for his boyars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyars) and their families to celebrate Easter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter). Vlad was well aware that many of these same nobles were part of the conspiracy that led to his father's assassination (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination) and the burying alive of his elder brother, Mircea. Many had also played a role in the overthrow of numerous Wallachian princes. During the feast Vlad asked his noble guests how many princes had ruled during their life times. All of the nobles present had outlived several princes. One answered that at least thirty princes had held the throne during his life. None had seen less than seven reigns. Vlad immediately had all the assembled nobles arrested. The older boyars and their families were impaled on the spot. The younger and healthier nobles and their families were marched north from Târgovişte to the ruins of Poienari Castle in the mountains above the Argeş River. Vlad the Impaler was determined to rebuild this ancient fortress as his own stronghold and refuge. The enslaved boyars and their families were forced to labor for months rebuilding the old castle with materials from another nearby ruin. According to the reports, they labored until the clothes fell off their bodies and then were forced to continue working naked. Very few of the old gentry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentry) survived the ordeal of building Vlad's castle.
Throughout his reign, Vlad systematically eradicated the old boyar class of Wallachia. The old boyars had repeatedly undermined the power of the prince during previous reigns and had been responsible for the violent overthrow of several princes. Apparently Vlad Ţepeş was determined that his own power be on a modern and thoroughly secure footing. In place of the executed boyars, Vlad promoted new men from among the free peasantry and middle class; men who would be loyal only to their prince. Many of Vlad's acts of cruelty can be interpreted as efforts to strengthen and modernize the central government at the expense of the decaying feudal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudal) powers of nobility carried over from the Middle Ages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_the_Impaler
Your Opinion?
As expected, death by impalement was slow and painful. Victims sometimes endured for hours or days. Vlad often had the stakes arranged in various geometric patterns. The most common pattern was a ring of concentric circles in the outskirts of a city that constituted his target. The height of the spear indicated the rank of the victim. The corpses were often left decaying for months.
Thousands were often impaled at a single time. 10,000 were impaled in the Transylvanian city of Sibiu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibiu) (where Vlad the Impaler had once lived) in 1460. The previous year, on Saint Bartholomew's Day (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Bartholomew%27s_Day) (in August), Vlad the Impaler had 30,000 of the merchants and officials of the Transylvanian city of Braşov (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bra%C5%9Fov) that were breaking his authority impaled. One of the most famous woodcuts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodcut) of the period shows Vlad the Impaler feasting amongst a forest of stakes and their grisly burdens outside Braşov, while a nearby executioner cuts apart other victims.
Impalement was Vlad the Impaler's favourite but by no means his only method of torture. The list of tortures employed by the prince is extensive: nails in heads, cutting off of limbs, blinding, strangulation, burning, cutting off of noses and ears, mutilation of ****** organs (especially in the case of women), scalping, skinning, exposure to the elements or to animals, and boiling alive.
No one was immune to Vlad the Impaler's attentions. His victims included women and children, peasants and great lords, ambassadors from foreign powers and merchants. However, the vast majority of his European victims came from the merchants and boyars of Transylvania and his own country, Wallachia. Many have attempted to justify Vlad's actions on the basis of nascent nationalism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalism) and political necessity. Most of the merchants in Transylvania and Wallachia were Saxons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transylvanian_Saxons) who were seen as parasites, preying upon Romanian natives of Wallachia, while the boyars had proven their disloyalty time and time again (Vlad's own father and older brother were murdered by unfaithful boyars). It is highly contested whether he was actually insane, though he certainly had no problem giving that impression. His domestic atrocities were largely driven by one or more of three motives: personal or political vendettas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendetta), the establishment of iron-fisted law and order in Wallachia, and nationalizing the province's economy through policies that would be identified today as economic nationalism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_nationalism).
Vlad Ţepeş committed even more impalements and other tortures against invading forces, namely Ottomans. It was once reported that an invading Ottoman army turned back in fright when it encountered thousands of rotting corpses impaled on the banks of the Danube. In 1462 Mehmed II (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehmed_II), the conqueror of Constantinople (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Constantinople), a man not noted for his squeamishness, returned to Constantinople after being sickened by the sight of 20,000 impaled corpses outside of Vlad's capital of Târgovişte. Many of the victims were Turkish prisoners of war Vlad had previously captured during the Turkish invasion. The total Turkish casualty toll in this battle reached over 40,000. The warrior sultan turned command of the campaign against Vlad over to subordinates and returned to Istanbul, even though his army had initially tripled Vlad's in size and was better equipped.
Vlad the Impaler began his reign of terror almost as soon as he came to power. His first significant act of cruelty may have been motivated by a desire of revenge as well as a need to solidify his power. Early in his reign he gave a feast for his boyars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyars) and their families to celebrate Easter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter). Vlad was well aware that many of these same nobles were part of the conspiracy that led to his father's assassination (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination) and the burying alive of his elder brother, Mircea. Many had also played a role in the overthrow of numerous Wallachian princes. During the feast Vlad asked his noble guests how many princes had ruled during their life times. All of the nobles present had outlived several princes. One answered that at least thirty princes had held the throne during his life. None had seen less than seven reigns. Vlad immediately had all the assembled nobles arrested. The older boyars and their families were impaled on the spot. The younger and healthier nobles and their families were marched north from Târgovişte to the ruins of Poienari Castle in the mountains above the Argeş River. Vlad the Impaler was determined to rebuild this ancient fortress as his own stronghold and refuge. The enslaved boyars and their families were forced to labor for months rebuilding the old castle with materials from another nearby ruin. According to the reports, they labored until the clothes fell off their bodies and then were forced to continue working naked. Very few of the old gentry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentry) survived the ordeal of building Vlad's castle.
Throughout his reign, Vlad systematically eradicated the old boyar class of Wallachia. The old boyars had repeatedly undermined the power of the prince during previous reigns and had been responsible for the violent overthrow of several princes. Apparently Vlad Ţepeş was determined that his own power be on a modern and thoroughly secure footing. In place of the executed boyars, Vlad promoted new men from among the free peasantry and middle class; men who would be loyal only to their prince. Many of Vlad's acts of cruelty can be interpreted as efforts to strengthen and modernize the central government at the expense of the decaying feudal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudal) powers of nobility carried over from the Middle Ages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_the_Impaler
Your Opinion?