clothing

We are, of course, talking about the portrait made during Vlad`s captivity at Visegrad, a dungeon near Buda, where he was a prisoner for 13 years by order of Matthias Corvinus.
The portrait is now preserved in the Ambras Castle [Austria], and the few copies are scattered in private collections owned by descendants of the Hungarian nobles that were part of the Hungarian king`s most exclusive entourage.
There are several brochures [I would rather call them caricatures] that spread through Europe in the fifteenth century via print – the embellished German stories. The image presented is strictly negative and exaggerated, designed to instill horror in the imagination of the people, because, let’s not forget, these brochures were spread by the merchants and nobles of Brasov and Hungary – Dracula’s adversaries.

Pope Pius the 2nd described him as “a brave and honest man in appearance, whose face looks worthy of a prince, so is the human soul different from the appearance.”
[translated from “Dracula” by Matei Cazacu]

Niccolo of Modrussa expressed himself as follows:

“[He wasn`t] too tall, but very strong, with a cruel and fierce appearance, large and aquiline nose, swollen nostrils, with smooth red facial skin, very long eyelashes surrounding the green eyes, often wide open, made threatening by bushy black eyebrows; his face and beard were shaved, except for the mustache. His big temples made his head look bigger. He had broad shoulders on which black curly hair fell.”

[translated from “Dracula” by Matei Cazacu]

Matei Cazacu presents us in his historical novel dedicated to the medieval ruler, with a detailed description that can only be the result of a careful analysis:

“[…] The prince is featured in half profile, wearing on his long and curly hair a red velvet cap adorned in the lower half with eight strings of pearls. Above the forehead, an eight-pointed gold star, with a huge square emerald supporting five pearls of considerable size. The arched eyebrows allow us to discover his gray-green eyes wide open. A long and slightly arched nose with prominent nostrils covers part of the long brown mustache that cuts the face on almost all its width. The read outstanding lower lip, like that of the Habsburgs, marks the chin with a slight pragmatism. This combination of curved nose over red lips is called “parrot beak over two cherries”. Vlad Dracula wears a red shirt – almost orange-, a bright red tunic with shades of purple, buttoned with big round buttons adorned with jewels.”

๑۞๑ Related:๑۞๑
† Vlad the Impaler
† Count Dracula

This case came into the spotlight in 2009 when the police discovered that the grave of Ghiulten Memedali had been tampered with and the corpse mutilated. But it begins in 2008 when, on the 27th of March, the 39 year old woman from Medgidia [south-est region of Romania] died of a heart attack.
On the 14th of May her grave was assaulted by her relatives and others that lived in the neighborhood of Ali Baba. They claimed that the woman had turned into a vampire and that she was making her presence known to her family by moving objects around, making strange apparitions in the house she once inhabited and having strange conversations with friends of the family [she would demand certain things].
At night they said she wouldn`t let them sleep and repeatedly pinch and slap them.
In May of 2008 the mob [counting 200 people] couldn`t take the necessary actions because the police had been notified of their intentions and squads were dispatched to the cemetery to ensure that nothing illegal would be conducted.
To calm down the public opinion the corpse was exhumed and rituals according to their religion were performed [they were Muslims].
Of course they made their observations on the spot and came to the conclusion that they were right. It seams the cross was bent and there were some strange holes in the ground – presumably used by the undead to escape her grave at night.
Then she was reburied and the mob was dispersed.

At a later date, unknown to the authorities, it seams that the family got it`s way because when Ghiulten was exhumed in September 2009 for [what they believed] the second time she had several strange objects in her coffin and the heart was missing. The chest had a large hole and the ribs were smashed as if something sharp was used on the body to puncture.
At her side they observed: masks, a stake, some clothing and cotton.

What I find interesting about this case is the fact that they chose to practice the “elimination ritual” specific to a vampire on what seams to be more of a poltergeist phenomenon. There were no night attacks reported that could fall into the category of the undead and even more confusing, the newspapers claimed that the woman had appeared in daylight to speak with relatives.
Now I cannot say that this is all true because it is in fact reported by media and we all know how some reporters treat this kind of subjects… but taking into consideration the “symptoms” haunting seams more likely than vampiric activity.

๑۞๑ Related: ๑۞๑
† Superstitions
† Legends
† Vampire Accounts

Scarlett Memories

The Vampires Realm

All posts tagged clothing

Dracula`s portrait

Ghiulten Memedali – the supposed vampire of Medgidia

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