WeWriWa 2/9/2020 - Draculesti Dynasty - Torture Chamber

 Welcome back to this week's excerpt for the Weekend Writing Warriors weekly blog hop! We are deep in the throes of my reader letter, which precedes my newest novel, Defender of the Faith, book #1 in the Draculesti Dynasty series.

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Without further ado . . . let's journey into the torture chamber.

So how do we make the jump from Defender of the Faith to Vlad the Impaler? Vlad’s battlefield tactics of impaling people on stakes are legendary and make us cringe today, but history tells us that Vlad’s were tactics worked against the Turks – an enemy that utilized equally brutal tactics, as seen in Vlad’s early life and years of captivity. He beat the Turks at their own game in terms of sensationalistic brutality. Would anything less monstrous, by today’s standards, have worked against an enemy so brutal? Vlad didn’t think so – and the stories that have swirled down through history about his time(s) on the Wallachian throne proves he was right.

While Vlad is characterized as a bloodthirsty sadist remembered namely for his methods of execution, we must remember that torture and execution were very popular during the Middle Ages and were carried out almost as an art.

Public hangings and public beheadings were festival-like occasions, with people streaming into town from miles around to witness the bloody spectacle as excitedly as we might sit down in our living rooms with our families to binge a new Netflix series. Hangings and beheadings were the tamer counterparts to other torture and execution methods of the day, such as being dragged through the streets, hanged until half dead, cut down, genitalia cut off with red-hot blades, gutted while still alive, then hopefully beheaded before being torn into four sections, or quarters. No matter how death was dealt out, families watched and cheered and added to the hype and hysteria, always turning out in droves.

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WeWriWa 2/2/2020 - Defender of the Faith (Draculesti Dynasty #1)

Welcome back for the next excerpt from Defender of the Faith (Draculesti Dynasty #1). We are still in my throes of the first section of my reader letter, which outlines why Dracula? Why this book? Why in the world would I write something positive about someone that, through history, has been little more than a devil?

In the reader letter, I answer these questions and more and prove that, just as the narrator stated in the opening lines of Braveheart, history is written by those who've hanged heroes. Perhaps that is the case for Vlad Draculea III of Wallachia.

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Most boys, Wallachian and European, turned while under Turkish (Ottoman) rule and became Janissaries, or members of an army of foreign boys loyal to the Turkish cause.

Vlad’s younger brother, Radu the Handsome, was imprisoned along with Vlad. Not long after their arrival, Radu became a favorite of the Sultan, Mehmed II, and shifted his loyalty to the side of the Turks, leaving Vlad to endure the hellish captivity and experiences on his own, with only his Catholic faith to lean on. Vlad’s experiences while in Ottoman captivity that are detailed in this book, while fictionalized, are based on real events detailed by Vlad and historians alike. When Vlad’s captivity was over, he held fast to his Catholic faith and left his little brother, now a lover of the Sultan and a practicing Muslim, in Turkey.

That's it, folks! I hope you enjoyed this week's excerpt from my reader letter!

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Out of the Shadow of Count Dracula . . . The Order of The Dragon

Welcome back to this week's edition of Out of the Shadow of Count Dracula. 

Today, we're going to delve into The Order of The Dragon. 

What was it? How does it have anything to do with Vlad Draculea III? 

Let's go see, shall we?

What was The Order of The Dragon? 

The Order of The Dragon was founded in 1408 by The King of Hungary, Sigismund von Luxembourg. Interestingly but not surprisingly, von Luxembourg later became The Holy Roman Emperor.

The Crest of The Order of The Dragon

The Order of The Dragon was a monarchical chivalric order made up of knights and fashioned after the Catholic Crusades, which we all know and love. Membership was by strict invitation only, and those invited were only those of noble and Catholic blood.

The sole reason for the establishment of The Order of The Dragon was to protect Christendom, which was solely Catholic and Orthodox in the days before Martin Luther's and King Henry VIII's splitting of the church, from the threat of invading Ottoman's.

What does The Order of The Dragon have to do with Vlad?

Vlad III's country, Wallachia (modern day Transylvania) was one of the handful of countries allowed membership into the noble order, which also included Aragon and Hungary. They were loyal to The Holy See (The Pope) and The Holy Roman Empire.

Vlad's father was the original member of The Order of The Dragon. 

The word DRAGON is an Old (medieval) Romanian word that translates Dragon from the word Dragul. Modern Romanian, however, translates Dragul -- the name Vlad's dad took to honor the Pope's holy, chivalric Order -- today translates to DEVIL. Which doesn't do Vlad any favors.

Symbolism in the Crest 

The flag of St. George rests on the dragon's curved back. The cross featured here is strikingly similar to the cross commonly associated with The Knights Templar . . . I'll let you draw your own conclusions there.

Only one dragon crest survives in its entirety and that's in the Bavarian National Museum. However, many coins, art, and writings from Vlad's time depict the dragon.

It also boasts a Latin phrase . . . O Quam Misericors est Deus, Pius et Iustus . . . which translates to O how merciful is God, faithful and just.

The ceremonial sword belonging to The Order of The Dragon 

Thank you for journeying back to medieval Romania with me today.  Until next Thursday . . . <3