DOCSLIB.ORG

Bram Stoker's Vampire Trap : Vlad the Impaler and His Nameless Double

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Bram Stoker's Vampire Trap : Vlad the Impaler and His Nameless Double BRAM STOKER’S VAMPIRE TRAP VLAD THE IMPALER AND HIS NAMELEss DOUBLE BY HANS CORNEEL DE ROOS, MA MUNICH EMAIL: [email protected] HOMEPAGE: WWW.HANSDEROOS.COM PUBLISHED BY LINKÖPING UNIVERSITY ELECTRONIC PREss S-581 83 LINKÖPING, SWEDEN IN THE SERIES: LINKÖPING ELECTRONIC ARTICLES IN COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCE SERIES EDITOR: PROF. ERIK SANDEWALL AbsTRACT Since Bacil Kirtley in 1958 proposed that Bram Stoker’s Count Dracula, the best known literary character ever, shared his historical past with the Wallachian Voivode Vlad III Dracula, an intense debate about this connection has developed and other candidates have been suggested, like the Hungarian General János Hunyadi – a proposal resurfacing in the most recent annotated Dracula edition by Leslie Klinger (2008). By close-reading Stoker’s sources, his research notes and the novel, I will demonstrate that Stoker’s narrative initially links his Count to the person of Vlad III indeed, not Hunyadi, although the novelist neither knew the ruler’s first name, nor his father’s name, nor his epithet “the Impaler”, nor the cruelties attributed to him. Still – or maybe for this very reason – Stoker did not wish to uphold this traceable identity: In Chapter 25, shortly before the decisive chase, he removes this link again, by way of silent substitution, cloaked by Professor van Helsing’s clownish distractions. Like the Vampire Lord Ruthven, disappearing through the “vampire trap” constructed by James R. Planché for his play The Brides of the Isles in the English Opera House, later renamed to Lyceum Theatre and run by Stoker, the historical Voivode Vlad III Dracula is suddenly removed from the stage: In the final chapters, the Vampire Hunters pursue a nameless double. Smoothly performed, this piece of stage magic has gone unnoticed for more than one hundred years now. As a consequence, most of the arguments related to the Count’s lifetime identity turn out to suffer from ignoratio delenchi (the fallacy of irrelevant conclusion). The “marriage” of Count Dracula and Vlad the Impaler needs no divorce, as filed for by Toronto Prof. Em. Elizabeth Miller in 1998: As Stoker revoked this bond before his book went to print, it was never consummated and can be annulled without much ado. 1 http://ep.liu.se/ea/cis/2012/002/ 19 March 2012 Hans C. de Roos: Bram Stoker’s Vampire Trap TABLE OF CONTENTS AbsTRACT.............................................................................................................................................1 TABLE OF CONTENTS...........................................................................................................................2 PUBLICATION DATA; COPYRIGHT AND CITATION................................................................................3 DEDICATION, AcKNOWLEDGEMENTS..................................................................................................4 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................................5 I – FROM THE NAMELEss “COUNT____STYRIA” TO “COUNT DRACULA”.......................................6 II – VAN HELSING AND COUNT DRACULA ON THE VAMPIRE’S IDENTITY........................................6 III – SZEKLER OR WALLACHIAN?........................................................................................................ 7 IV – WILKINSON’S AccOUNT ON THE PRINCIPALITIES OF WALLACHIA AND MOLDAVIA.............7 • Text comparison Wilkinson/Stoker’s noTes/count Dracula’s speech............8 • Facsimile of Stoker’s noTes Rosenbach p. 71 and 72............................................9 V – JÁNOS HUNYADI OR VLAD DRACULA III?...................................................................................11 VI – VLAD THE IMPALER, RADU THE HANDSOME AND MICHAEL THE BRAVE.............................11 VII – OTHER VOIVODES OF THE DRAcULESTI LINE..........................................................................12 • PainTings of Vlad III and Michael II receiVing Turkish delegaTes....................13 VIII – “STOKER, LIKE WILKINSON, HADN’T A CLUE WHICH DRACULA WAS WHICH”....................14 IX – The current sTaTe of debaTe.............................................................................................15 X – The “FicTional fact paraDox”.............................................................................................15 xi – In the WriTer’s kiTchen.......................................................................................................16 XII – Bram Stoker’s vampire trap.............................................................................................17 APPENDIX A: HOUSE OF BASARAB Genealogical oVerVieW....................................................20 APPENDIX B: Samuelson on HunniaDes and Vlad the Impaler..........................................21 APPENDIX C: The Balllad of Stephen THE GREAT’s flight TO NIAMTZ................................22 APPENDIX D: Alleged Link oF Queen EliZabeTh II oF England to Vlad the Impaler.....22 WORKS CITED OR DIscUssED, SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY..............................................................23 2 http://ep.liu.se/ea/cis/2012/002/ 19 March 2012 Hans C. de Roos: Bram Stoker’s Vampire Trap PUBLICATION DATA This paper is an expanded and updated version of an essay which will be published in April 2012 as part of the planned book: The Ultimate Dracula Moonlake Editions, Munich, ISBN Nr. 978-3-943559-00-2 Published on 19 March, 2012 Linköping Electronic Articles in by Linköping University Electronic Press Computer and Information Science 581 83 Linköping ISSN 1401-9841 Sweden Series editor: Erik Sandewall COPYRIGHT AND CITATION © 2012 Text, title photo montage, lay-out by Hans Corneel de Roos, Munich, Germany. The Notes by Bram Stoker are property and © of the Rosenbach Museum & Library, Philadelphia. The stills showing “The New Transported Man” were derived from the movie The Prestige, USA/UK, 2006, © Touchstone Pictures/Warner Bros./Syncopy Fims; they appear here by way of “Fair Use,” for review, research and educational purposes only. The same conditions apply for the use of this document, see below. All other images are believed to be in the Public Domain already. Recommended citation: <Author>. <Title>. Linköping electronic articles in computer and information science, Vol. 15 (2012): no. 2. http://www.ep.liu.se/ea/cis/2012/002/ March 16, 2012. This URL will also contain a link to the author’s home page. The publishers will keep this article on-line on the Internet (or its possible replacement network in the future) for a period of 25 years from the date of publication, barring exceptional circumstances as described separately. The on-line availability of the article implies a permanent permission for anyone to read the article on-line, to print out single copies of it, and to use it unchanged for any non-commercial research and educational purpose, including making copies for classroom use. This permission can not be revoked by subsequent transfers of copyright. All other uses of the article are conditional on the consent of the copyright owner. The publication of the article on the date stated above included also the production of a limited number of copies on paper, which were archived in Swedish university libraries like all other written works published in Sweden.The publisher has taken technical and administrative measures to assure that the on- line version of the article will be permanently accessible using the URL stated above, unchanged, and permanently equal to the archived printed copies at least until the expiration of the publication period. For additional information about the Linköping University Electronic Press and its procedures for publication and for assurance of document integrity, please refer to its WWW home page: http://www.ep.liu.se/ or by conventional mail to the address stated above. 3 http://ep.liu.se/ea/cis/2012/002/ 19 March 2012 Hans C. de Roos: Bram Stoker’s Vampire Trap DEDICATION This essay is dedicated to my old friend Kathinka Stel in Amsterdam, accomplishing independent literary research on the Durch poet Max de Jong; the mechanism by which Bram Stoker let his Voivoide Dracula suddenly disappear from the stage was first penned down on her birthday. AcKNOWLEDGEMENTS At this place I would like to thank all persons and institutions who supported me and my team while dealing with the Dracula subject since May 2010. This paper, like the Dracula Maps essay, is a spin-off of a much broader effort to visualise Bram Stoker’s famous novel. Special thanks is due to Karen Schoenewaldt and her colleagues at the Rosenbach Library & Museum, Philadelphia, who also answered my third request most friendly, and to my circle of proofreaders, especially MacGregor Buchanan and his daughter Seonaid. Should any error have remained, I am responsible for it as the author, of course. Last but not least to Peter Berkesand and Prof. Erik Sandewall at Linkoeping University Electronic Press, who enabled me to publish this paper, too, at short notice and to my friends Alida Kreutzer, Friedo Niepmann, Reinhold Koch and Roy Hessing, for their ongoing interest in my projects. Munich, 15 March 2012 Hans Corneel de Roos 4 http://ep.liu.se/ea/cis/2012/002/ 19 March 2012 Hans C. de Roos: Bram Stoker’s Vampire Trap INTRODUCTION Bram Stoker’s notes, taken down since March 1890 while he was preparing and writing his novel Dracula (published 1897), offer us an unique chance to understand the development of the best-known
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Preda Buzescu – the Grand Ban of Craiova (1602-1608)
    SECTION: HISTORY AND CULTURAL MENTALITIES LDMD 2 PREDA BUZESCU – THE GRAND BAN OF CRAIOVA (1602-1608) Sorin Bulboacă, Assist. Prof. , PhD., ”Vasile Goldis” University of the West, Arad Abstract: During the 17th century, the grand ban of Craiova was the most important high official of Wallachia, most coveted by the big boyars, big dime with authority in the counties west of the river Olt. Preda Buzescu great dignity ban occupied briefly in the fall of 1600, called Michael the Brave Preda Buzescu Wallachian boyars filohabsburgice leader was an excellent military commander, who has proved his talent in fighting the Turks, decided partisan alliance with the Emperor Rudolf II. No other ban had the autority of Preda Buzescu, between 1602-1608, in the counties west of river Olt, during the 17th century. He had a chancellery that issued documents without invoking the authority of the prince regnant. Preda Buzescu has ordered the Wallachian*s army. For services faithful to the great dime Preda Buzescu full advantage of his generosity Radu Serban. Few months before his death Preda Buzescu, Radu Serban confirms his dominion over the villages Fauresti,, Novaci, Susani, Rudariu and Seaca. Keywords: ban, boyars, counties, millitary commander, Craiova În secolul al XVII-lea, în Ţara Românească, marea bănie a Craiovei este cea mai importantă dregătorie, cea mai râvnită de marii boieri, marele ban dispunând de o autoritate cvasidomnească în judeţele de la apus de râul Olt, cel puţin până la Matei Basarab. Marele ban al Craiovei este, de obicei, cel dintâi menţionat în lista martorilor din sfatul domnesc şi este singurul dregător care posedă o cancelarie proprie la Craiova, care emite documente, valabile în judeţele aflate la vest de Olt1.
    [Show full text]
  • Gidni 233 People and Places in the History Of
    Section – History and Cultural Mentalities GIDNI PEOPLE AND PLACES IN THE HISTORY OF TÂRGOVIŞTE Cristina Furtună, Assist., PhD Candidate, ”Valahia” University of Târgoviște Abstract: In history, Târgovişte has been an economic, administrative, political center but also a cultural one, particularly important for the Romanian culture. In Târgovişte, the topic of time returns obstinately (Prehistoric Time, Antiquity, Middle Ages, Renaissance Time, Modern Time), understood according to the definition given to it by St. Augustine – mobile image of eternity. Antiquity represented time symbolically as a circle, with 12 astrological signs on it and whose center symbolized the eternity of being. Similarly, Târgovişte is an eternal city of the Oriental Roman world. The symbolical passage from temporal to spatial involves the material evidence, seen as an adversary of extinction in the being’s fight for eternity, concept that permanently joined the terrestrial representation of the existence, so present in the area of Târgovişte. Keywords: Târgovişte, book, writers, places, history, culture, time Introduction In time, Târgovişte has been an economic, administrative, political but also cultural centre, particularly important for the Romanian culture. It was first attested by the documents at the end of the 14th century and culturally thrived at the beginning of the 15th century. Different writing and communication experts appear (grămătici, pisari, dieci but also logofeţi and princely emissaries/ soli domneşti), assuring the commercial and diplomatic connection with the neighboring countries. Târgovişte was also a princely residence and has preserved the marks of its cultural institutions. It is in Târgovişte that the first Romanian grammar appeared and it is also here that erudite scholars such as Macarie, Udrişte Năsturel, senechal Constantin Cantacuzino and voivodes who set up cultural institutions (such as Radu cel Mare, Neagoe Basarab, Mihai Viteazul, Matei Basarab) carried out their activity.
    [Show full text]
  • 01:510:255:90 DRACULA — FACTS & FICTIONS Winter Session 2018 Professor Stephen W. Reinert
    01:510:255:90 DRACULA — FACTS & FICTIONS Winter Session 2018 Professor Stephen W. Reinert (History) COURSE FORMAT The course content and assessment components (discussion forums, examinations) are fully delivered online. COURSE OVERVIEW & GOALS Everyone's heard of “Dracula” and knows who he was (or is!), right? Well ... While it's true that “Dracula” — aka “Vlad III Dracula” and “Vlad the Impaler” — are household words throughout the planet, surprisingly few have any detailed comprehension of his life and times, or comprehend how and why this particular historical figure came to be the most celebrated vampire in history. Throughout this class we'll track those themes, and our guiding aims will be to understand: (1) “what exactly happened” in the course of Dracula's life, and three reigns as prince (voivode) of Wallachia (1448; 1456-62; 1476); (2) how serious historians can (and sometimes cannot!) uncover and interpret the life and career of “The Impaler” on the basis of surviving narratives, documents, pictures, and monuments; (3) how and why contemporaries of Vlad Dracula launched a project of vilifying his character and deeds, in the early decades of the printed book; (4) to what extent Vlad Dracula was known and remembered from the late 15th century down to the 1890s, when Bram Stoker was writing his famous novel ultimately entitled Dracula; (5) how, and with what sources, Stoker constructed his version of Dracula, and why this image became and remains the standard popular notion of Dracula throughout the world; and (6) how Dracula evolved as an icon of 20th century popular culture, particularly in the media of film and the novel.
    [Show full text]
  • Aspects of the Hungarian-Wallachian Matrimonial Relations of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries
    MIHAI FLORIN HASAN ASPECTS OF THE HUNGARIAN-WALLACHIAN MATRIMONIAL RELATIONS OF THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES Abstract: In this study my aim was to demonstrate without doubts the fact that even in the case ofîransylvanian nobility, from the end of 13th century and all along the 14th century, a pattem is present in naming the offspring of nobles. This model of giving name of the father to one of the sons, or from the grandfather to one of the grandson, or from an uncie to a nephew was identified by French and Italian scholars at the middle of the 90's, as existing in medieval world of nobles, studying the primary sources [documents from chapters, convents etc.]. In this case I tried to demonstrate with the help of 18 th genealogica! tables, drawn from published collections of documents, the fact that, in part, an unspecified amount of Transylvanian nobles knew this rule and tried it in the century proposed for investigation. The main idea it's that the rule of name giving doesn't represent afirm rule for Transylvanian nobility, but, with a retard, is tending to impose itselfin some major clans but noi only, at the halfofthe 14th century. Keywords: Dynasty, Hungarian wives, royal marriage, genealogy, intemational relations. The genealogy of the ruling House of Basarab, as well as ofthe House of Muşat, has stirred the interest of Romanian historiography since the late nineteenth century1 and, so far, the studies examining this issue have been quite numerous. An aspect that is not insignificant as regards the genealogica! evolution of our ruling houses is that of the voivodesses or princesses consort,2 and thus far, there are considerable gaps and ambiguities in this niche.
    [Show full text]
  • Arc Peste Timp - 465 De Ani De La Moartea Lui Vlaicu Piscanul
    MUZEUL JUDEŢEAN ARGEŞ ARGESIS, STUDII ŞI COMUNICĂRI, seria ISTORIE, TOM XVIII, 2009 ARC PESTE TIMP - 465 DE ANI DE LA MOARTEA LUI VLAICU PISCANUL TEODOR DINA* Sfârşitul domniei lui Neagoe Basarab, la 15 septembrie 1521, a marcat începutul unor îndârjite lupte pentru domnie, sprijinite de mai multe fracţiuni (partide!) boiereşti care căutau, fie să se menţină la putere, fie să înscăuneze un domn favorabil intereselor lor**. Nevârstnicul fiu al voievodului ctitor al mânăstirii Argeşului, Teodosie, un copil de numai 13-14 ani, a fost proclamat domn în locul tatălui său, sub regenţa mamei sale, Doamna Despina, şi a unchiului său, Preda Craiovescu, dar boierii potrivnici, mai ales pribegii din Moldova, socotind momentul prielnic au venit în ţară, şi cu ajutorul altor boieri din părţile Buzăului, îl alungă şi înscăunează domn pe Dragomir Călugărul. Boierii Craioveşti, care sprijineau pe Teodosie voievod, cheamă în ajutor pe Mehmet beg, paşa de Nicopole, răstoarnă situaţia şi restabileşte calmul pentru scurt timp. Dragomir Călugărul este luat prizonier de către turci, trecut peste Dunăre şi, la stăruinţele comisului Bădica (unchiul lui Teodosie) este ucis. Victoria de la Târgovişte împotriva lui Dragomir Călugărul, fiind efemeră, Teodosie vodă, ca şi alţi înaintaşi ai săi, este nevoi să ,,ia drumul Stambului” pentru confirmare de către sultan. Din păcate, copilul-domn nu s-a mai întors din capitala imperiului otoman. Având o constituţie şubredă, ar fi murit acolo de ciumă. ,,Întru aceste tulburări, ce erau între boierii ţării – cităm din cronica lui Radu Popescu – Mehmet beg a scris la Poartă de a cerut domnia ţării, zicând că-l pofteşte ţara să ia domnia.
    [Show full text]
  • Making Sense of Mina: Stoker's Vampirization of the Victorian Woman in Dracula Kathryn Boyd Trinity University
    Trinity University Digital Commons @ Trinity English Honors Theses English Department 5-2014 Making Sense of Mina: Stoker's Vampirization of the Victorian Woman in Dracula Kathryn Boyd Trinity University Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/eng_honors Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Boyd, Kathryn, "Making Sense of Mina: Stoker's Vampirization of the Victorian Woman in Dracula" (2014). English Honors Theses. 20. http://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/eng_honors/20 This Thesis open access is brought to you for free and open access by the English Department at Digital Commons @ Trinity. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Trinity. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Despite its gothic trappings and origin in sensationalist fiction, Bram Stoker's Dracula, written in 1897, is a novel that looks forward. At the turn of the nineteenth century, Britons found themselves in a world of new possibilities and new perils –in a society rapidly advancing through imperialist explorations and scientific discoveries while attempting to cling to traditional institutions, men and woman struggled to make sense of the new cultural order. The genre of invasion literature, speaking to the fear of Victorian society becoming tainted by the influence of some creeping foreign Other, proliferated at the turn of the century, and Stoker's threatening depictions of the Transylvanian Count Dracula resonated with his readers. Stoker’s text has continued to resonate with readers, as further social and scientific developments in our modern world allow more and more opportunities to read allegories into the text.
    [Show full text]
  • SLAV-T230 Vampire F2019 Syllabus-Holdeman-Final
    The Vampire in European and American Culture Dr. Jeff Holdeman SLAV-T230 11498 (SLAV) (please call me Jeff) SLAV-T230 11893 (HHC section) GISB East 4041 Fall 2019 812-855-5891 (office) TR 4:00–5:15 pm Office hours: Classroom: GA 0009 * Tues. and Thur. 2:45–3:45 pm in GISB 4041 carries CASE A&H, GCC; GenEd A&H, WC * and by appointment (just ask!!!) * e-mail me beforehand to reserve a time * It is always best to schedule an appointment. [email protected] [my preferred method] 812-335-9868 (home) This syllabus is available in alternative formats upon request. Overview The vampire is one of the most popular and enduring images in the world, giving rise to hundreds of monster movies around the globe every year, not to mention novels, short stories, plays, TV shows, and commercial merchandise. Yet the Western vampire image that we know from the film, television, and literature of today is very different from its eastern European progenitor. Nina Auerbach has said that "every age creates the vampire that it needs." In this course we will explore the eastern European origins of the vampire, similar entities in other cultures that predate them, and how the vampire in its look, nature, vulnerabilities, and threat has changed over the centuries. This approach will provide us with the means to learn about the geography, village and urban cultures, traditional social structure, and religions of eastern Europe; the nature and manifestations of Evil and the concept of Limited Good; physical, temporal, and societal boundaries and ritual passage that accompany them; and major historical and intellectual periods (the settlement of Europe, the Age of Reason, Romanticism, Neo-classicism, the Enlightenment, the Victorian era, up to today).
    [Show full text]
  • The Dracula Film Adaptations
    DRACULA IN THE DARK DRACULA IN THE DARK The Dracula Film Adaptations JAMES CRAIG HOLTE Contributions to the Study of Science Fiction and Fantasy, Number 73 Donald Palumbo, Series Adviser GREENWOOD PRESS Westport, Connecticut • London Recent Titles in Contributions to the Study of Science Fiction and Fantasy Robbe-Grillet and the Fantastic: A Collection of Essays Virginia Harger-Grinling and Tony Chadwick, editors The Dystopian Impulse in Modern Literature: Fiction as Social Criticism M. Keith Booker The Company of Camelot: Arthurian Characters in Romance and Fantasy Charlotte Spivack and Roberta Lynne Staples Science Fiction Fandom Joe Sanders, editor Philip K. Dick: Contemporary Critical Interpretations Samuel J. Umland, editor Lord Dunsany: Master of the Anglo-Irish Imagination S. T. Joshi Modes of the Fantastic: Selected Essays from the Twelfth International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts Robert A. Latham and Robert A. Collins, editors Functions of the Fantastic: Selected Essays from the Thirteenth International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts Joe Sanders, editor Cosmic Engineers: A Study of Hard Science Fiction Gary Westfahl The Fantastic Sublime: Romanticism and Transcendence in Nineteenth-Century Children’s Fantasy Literature David Sandner Visions of the Fantastic: Selected Essays from the Fifteenth International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts Allienne R. Becker, editor The Dark Fantastic: Selected Essays from the Ninth International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts C. W. Sullivan III, editor Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Holte, James Craig. Dracula in the dark : the Dracula film adaptations / James Craig Holte. p. cm.—(Contributions to the study of science fiction and fantasy, ISSN 0193–6875 ; no.
    [Show full text]
  • U8: ISTORIE Dracula Sau Vlad Ţepeş? a Achiziţiona (Ez)
    Lexic U8: ISTORIE Dracula sau Vlad Ţepeş? a achiziţiona (ez) Ideea de a scrie o povestire cu vampiri îl obseda pe Bram Stoker, iar a croi (esc) el căuta un „tipar” care să-i confere un aer de autenticitate. În jurul crud, crudă, cruzi, crude dragon, i (m) anului 1890, a cunoscut un savant maghiar, profesorul universitar fiu, fii (m) Arminius Vambery, ale cărui conferinţe cu note de călătorie îi erau împărat/ţi (m) familiare. Cei doi au luat cina împreună şi, pe parcursul discuţiilor, închinat, ă, i, e Stoker a fost impresionat de istorisirile profesorului despre Dracula, a înfige „înfigătorul de ţepe”. După ce Vambery s-a întors la Budapesta, Bram a (se) însoţi (esc) Stoker i-a scris, cerându-i mai multe detalii despre faimosul prinţ din a masacra (ez) secolul al XV-lea şi despre locul în care acesta a trăit. Transilvania i se a omorî părea a fi un loc ideal pentru o poveste cu vampiri. păgân, ă, i, e Pe de altă parte, Bram Stoker a găsit în sala de lectură de la British poreclă/e (f) Museum o serie de cărţi vechi, printre care şi legenda românească în prinţ, i (m) propriu, proprie, proprii care se spunea că „în Valahia, Vlad al V-lea, fiul lui Vlad Dracul, şi-a sabie, săbii (f) croit drum la tron cu sabia în mână şi şi-a menţinut domnia printr-o teroare/ori (f) cumplită teroare şi tiranie”: „a masacrat, a tras în ţeapă, a omorât fără tipăritură/i (f) discernământ, pentru propria-i plăcere şi pentru a-şi asigura tronul”.
    [Show full text]
  • Dracula: Hero Or Villain? Radu R
    Dracula: Hero or Villain? Radu R. Florescu racula is the real name of a Left: Portrait of Dracula Wallachian ruler, also known to at Castle Ambras, near DRomanian chroniclers as Vlad lnnsbruck, Austria. The the Impaler. Dracula is a derivative of artist is unknown, but his father's name, Dracul, which in this appears to be a Romanian means the devil. According to copy painted during the those more charitably inclined, the second half of the 16th father was so known because he had century from an earlier been invested by the Holy Roman original that was proba­ Emperor with the Order of the Dragon, bly painted during dedicated to fighting "the Infidel:' Dracula's imprison­ Dracula was, therefore, either the son of ment at Buda or evil or the son of good, villain or hero. Visegnid after 1462. Dracula ruled the Romanian princi­ pality of Wallachia on three separate occasions: in 1448, from 1456 to 1462, Right: The Chindia and, briefly, shortly before his assassina­ watchtower at Tirgo­ tion in 1476. These dates correspond to vi~te; a 19th-century one of the most crucial periods in the reconstruction. Apart country's history. Constantinople had from its role as an fallen in 1453, most of the lands south of observation post, it Wallachia had been converted into enabled Dracula to Turkish pashaliks, and the last hero of watch impalements in the Balkan crusades, John Hunyadi, had the courtyard below. died in the plague of Belgrade in 1456. Images courtesy The Danube was thus the frontier of Radu R. Florescu Christendom at a time when Moham­ med the Conqueror was planning fur­ chronicle which mentions Dracula, dat­ Genoese, English, and French chroniclers ther Turkish inroads.
    [Show full text]
  • Protodiplomacy Across the Mediterranean: the Catalan Participation in the First Congresses of Byzantine Studies in South- Eastern Europe During the Interwar Period
    Protodiplomacy Across the Mediterranean: The Catalan Participation in the First Congresses of Byzantine Studies in South- Eastern Europe During the Interwar Period LUCILA MALLART Universitat Pompeu Fabra In the interwar period, Catalan nationalists sought to participate actively in post-World War I political forums in order to inscribe Catalonia in discussions on national minorities. Figures like Lluís Nicolau d’Olwer (1888-1961) or Joan Estelrich (1896-1958) unsuccessfully fought to have their claims heard at organisations such as the League of Nations. This has been considered a form of protodiplomacy (Núñez-Seixas 2010). This paper will explore the ways in which Catalan politicians and intellectuals, such as the abovementioned Lluís Nicolau d’Olwer and Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1867-1956), engaged in forms of protodiplomacy in the same period, in the context of the Byzantine Studies Congresses that were organised in South-Eastern Europe in 1924 and 1927. This engagement is significant for a number of reasons. Firstly, it shows that territorial entities with conflicting agendas (separatist, in the case of Catalonia; agglutinating, in the case of Romania) could build narratives that reciprocally reinforced each other’s nationalist objectives. Secondly, it alters the conventional narrative according to which Josep Puig i Cadafalch, former president of the Catalan Mancomunitat (1917-1923) retired from politics after General Primo de Rivera’s coup d’état, and devoted himself to merely academic practices (e.g. Balcells 2013). Instead, his participation in those Congresses should be framed in the both implicit and explicit political character of those meetings (Maufroy 2010). Finally, the approach of this paper highlights the eminently transnational character of the spaces in which those nationalist narratives and claims where discussed and negotiated (Alcalde 2018).
    [Show full text]
  • Ana-Teodora Kurkina Department of History Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich / University of Regensburg
    East European Quarterly Vol. 44, No. 1-2, pp. 53-76, March-June 2016 © Central European University 2016 ISSN: 0012-8449 (print) 2469-4827 (online) WORDS AND WITS: A TERRITORIAL DEBATE AND THE CREATION OF AN EPISTEMIC COMMUNITY IN INTERWAR DOBRUJA (1913-1940) Ana-Teodora Kurkina Department of History Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich / University of Regensburg Abstract This article establishes a link between a creation of an epistemic community and a territorial debate while addressing the Romanian-Bulgarian dispute regarding Dobruja. Moving beyond approaches centered on an investigation of similar territorial debates over contested lands and their immediate outcomes, the paper primarily analyses the potential of a political conflict for generating a community of intellectuals who become involved in propagating their respective state and nation-building causes. Putting the case of interwar Dobruja into the context of “entangled history”, the study clarifies its place within the framework of similar debates regarding other borderlands. Relying on the publications of the participants of the debate, the article claims that a conflict over a territory and the possibilities of its integration binds together influential public actors, various representatives of the local intellectual elite, uniting them in an unlikely epistemic community. Keywords: epistemic community, social networking, state-building, Dobruja Introduction A borderland is not only a contact zone (Pratt 1992, p. 4), but a constant source of political creativity for the local public actors. Territorial frames of an idealized nation-state are usually vague, contested, based on various interpretations of multiple historical legacies and their application to practice.
    [Show full text]