the smedley log - suburban scrawl

Was Dracula a Christian Hero?

Cziltang spotted this sidebar item from the BeliefNet quiz I mentioned a couple days ago, and he was kind enough to pass it along via email. I’d never heard this version of the story before; but then, I honestly never knew Dracula was that closely based in reality. Color me clueless, and quite fascinated, if the version in this story is accurate:

To fans of the Bram Stoker novel “Dracula” or the dozens of Hollywood adaptations that have followed it, Dracula, the legendary Eastern European vampire, is usually viewed as an enemy of Christianity. But in her new best-selling novel, “The Historian,” Elizabeth Kostova offers a surprising look at a Dracula whose choices are often informed by faith. … (read the whole BeliefNet interview)

“Christian hero” my bony ass.

Vlad II, warlord of the province of Wallachia in Romania, was a member of the secretive Order of the Dragon, a military brotherhood similar to the Knights Templar, but with an agenda more political than religious. Because his territory in Romania was a gateway between the Western Catholic nations and the Turkish empire to the east, Vlad was in a particularly tricky situation. He was accepted for entry into the Order in 1431, which bound him to the Christian side of affairs, but did switch alliances several times. Thus, Vlad’s involvement in the “Christian” order had more to do with the esteem it brought him (as well as the political alliances) than any piety. Also, it gave him the übercool nickname of “Dracul” (“dragon” in Romanian).

Once Vlad II was betrayed by his Christian allies, one of his sons (Vlad III) took the throne in 1448, keeping the dragon insignia of his father without actually being a member of said order. Vlad III (son of dragon, or “Dracula”) was the one that gained infamy for his impaling of his enemies.

Because Dracul(a) can also mean (son of the) Devil in Romania, when German monks in neighboring provinces published word of the atrocious punishments meted out by the warlord he became a thing of legend, and it was precisely this legend, as described in printed pamphlets, that a young Irish author named Bram Stoker read before penning the famous novel.

So, Kostova’s novel appears to have melded the possiblysortof-Christian political involvement of Vlad II with the hates-the-Christian-establishment-and-impales-enemies Vlad III.

[…] the post mid-day. But today, Matt beat me to it. Then Schodinger’s Cat is Dead (who added to the Dracula enlightenment) threw in his weekly installment

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