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¥2¤3      DRACULA

¥1¤1
  The film ¤9 Bram Stokers Dracula¤1 tells
one  side of the story  about Dracula.
The other side comes here:

  ¤9Dracula's¤1  real name was ¤9Vlad III¤1 of
Valacia. He was  born in  1430  and he
died  in  1476.   Dracula  was  called
¤4"the Devil's-"¤1 or ¤4 "the Dragon's son"¤1.
He was  not a vampire, but ¤9Bram Stoker¤1
wrote that  in his book in 1897. It is
that book that  you now can see at the
movies,  in    ¤9F.F.Coppolas¤1   version.
Dracula  wasn't a vampire, but already
while  he  was  living, he  got  to be
known  as  one of  history's  grimmest
persons.  But on the  other  hand, the
Roumanians  consider  him  as a  great
patriot who saved his country from the
Turks.
ð
¤1  As a king, Dracula  and  his country
were often at war, and his writer kept
a  close  count   during  the   army's
encounters with the Turks. At one time
Dracula had  sent two bags filled with
ears,  noses  and  heads  to  king  of
Hungary  along  with the  message that
¤723 833¤1 Turks  had been killed. He also
sent his  complaints that  the enemies
¤8"wich had  been burnt in  their houses
or whose heads  hasn't been brought to
our  officials"¤1 hadn't been  accounted
for.  In the  winter 1462  the Turkish
army  was  situated   five  kilometers
north of Valacias capital  ¤2Tirgoviste¤1,
ready to  storm it.  When they arrived
they  were  met  by  a  well  arranged
scenario.
  In front  of them there  were a wall
of pierced  people,  a wall  three kms
long  and  one  km  wide.   The  Greek
historic   ¤9Laonic Chalekondyles¤1,   who
Ð
accompanied    the    Turkish    army,
estimated the number of pierced people
to  20 000!  After  that  the  Turkish
troopers called Dracula ¤4"kasiklu voda"
¤1-the pierce vojvod.

Chalekondyles wrote this down:
  ¤2"The  troopers  who  saw  this  were
terrified.  There  were infants  still
holding  on to  their pierced  mothers
who  were hanging  from the poles, and
the birds had  laid their  eggs in the
pierced peoples chests."¤1

  ¤9Vlad Dracul¤1 was probably born in the
city  of Sighisoara, a house  in  that
city is still  claimed to be his place
of birth. When he was eight years old,
he  was  sent  as  a  hostage  to  the 
present  sultan.  Dracula  became king
for a short time in 1448, but the time
when he  had most  power  was  between
1456-1462. In his three first years as
ð
a powerfull man he  suceeded in having
20 000 aristocrats killed.

¤2 Already during his lifetime he became
a myth. The first book  about  him was
printed  in   Germany  in  1480.   The
Germans  hated him  almost as  much as
the   Turks.   To  protect   his   own
tradsemen,   Dracula   assembled   all
foreign   tradesmen  present   in  his
country  in  1459  and  had  them  all
pierced  along  with  their  families!

  ¤1In 1462  the Turks  managed to force
Vlad  Dracul  of  his  throne,  but he
escaped to  the king  of  Hungary, who
recieved  him but  locked him in.  For
twelve  years he was  in a comfortable
prisonship at the castle of Amlas.  In
1474 the  Hungarian king released Vlad
who, with Hungarian help, again sat on
his throne two years later.
Ð
¤1Scared of the thought of having him on
the   throne    again   the   Valacian
aristocrats decided to murder him, and
they suceeded.  Vlad sat on the throne
as a king for  only two  months before
he  died.   ¤2His   head   was  sent  to
Konstantinople  where it was  shown in
public so that everyone could see that
Vlad Tepes, Dracula, finally was dead.
Ð