Vlad the Impaler

Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia (1431–1476), was a member of the House of Drăculești, a branch of the House of Basarab, also known by his patronymic name:Dracula. He was posthumously dubbed Vlad the Impaler, and was a three-time Voivode of Wallachia, ruling mainly from 1456 to 1462, the period of the incipient Ottoman conquest of the Balkans. His father, Vlad II Dracul, was a member of the Order of the Dragon, which was founded to protect Christianity in Eastern Europe. Vlad III is revered as a hero in Bulgaria as well for his protection of the Bulgarian population both south and north of the Danube. A significant number of Bulgarian common folk and remaining boyars (nobles) moved north of the Danube, recognized his leadership and become part of Wallachia, following his raids on the Ottomans.

Vlad III spent much of his rule campaigning against the Ottoman Empire and its expansion. As the cognomen 'The Impaler' suggests, his practice of impaling his enemies is central to his historical reputation. During his lifetime, his reputation for excessive cruelty spread abroad, to Germany and elsewhere in Europe. The total number of his victims is estimated in the tens of thousands. The name of the vampire Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula was inspired by Vlad's patronymic. (wikipedia)

Both cards are new.


Vlad Dracul's house is in Sighisoara and it is, probably, the birthplace of Vlad the Impaler.

Sighisoara

The city in the XVIIIth century.
New postcard. For swap.


Sighisoara is one of the 7 fortified Saxon cities in Transylvania, known as "Siebenburgen", together withBrasov (Kronstadt), Cluj (Klausenburg), Sibiu (Hermannstadt), Bistrita (Bistritz) Medias (Mediasch), Sebes (Mühlbach). According to the legend the lost children of Hamelin emerged from the ‘Almasch’ (Varghis) cave into Transylvania - just to the north of Baraolt in 1284, lured there by the magical tune of the Pied Piper, a 'Romany' who had been cheated by the burghers after ridding them of their plague of rats. This is the 'romantic' explanation for the presence in Transylvania of Germans following ancient customs, yet isolated by hundreds of kilometers from Germany. The reality is that the fortified towns and villages of Transylvania were established in the 12th Century by settlers from the Moselle region, referred to locally as 'Saxons'( Romanian-'sashi'). They were attracted to Transylvania by favorable market rights by the Hungarian rulers who wanted them there to guard the mountain passes against Tatar and Ottoman raiders. They created the 'Siebenbürgen', the seven fortified cities, while in villages they constructed fortified churches in which they could shelter during times of siege. UNESCO has designated several of these villages and the mediaeval citadel of Sighisoara as Heritage Sites