16. Vlad Țepeș Slaughters the Transylvanian Saxons, Wallachia, Romania 1460

Vlad impales the Saxons
A page from the German pamphlet, “Dracole Waida,” printed by Ambrosius Huber at Nuremberg in 1499, depicting Vlad, after impaling all the Transylvanian Saxons he could grab, feasting in the midst of the chaos. This was a very popular image of Vlad. His reputation for cruelty started early and spread quickly.

Vlad Țepeș — Vlad the Impaler, also called Dracula, since he was the son of Vlad Dracul– had a reputation for cruelty even during his lifetime, due to the fact that Germany had the printing press and he had impaled the Transylvanian Saxons after destroying much of southern Transylvania. Nowadays, he’s conflated with Dracula the Vampire, but Bram Stoker made that up. But it was a war crime, even by late medieval standards, to impale an entire population on stakes. In this episode, Anne discusses history and medieval war crimes, and Michelle discusses vampires.  Because of Bram Stoker.

Link to the Podcast

Link to the Show Notes

Link to the Transcript