Dracula's Circumcision

The hard fact is that violence breeds violence, and that, in turn, breeds insensitivity. - John Douglas, FBI

Vlad the Impaler, courtesy: netsnake.com

(MONTEREY, CA) - More Dracula movies are made than any other genre. Was he insane, or his destiny just vengeance? He was born 13 November 1431. Dracula means Little Dragon. Historic differences exist, none directly mention his circumcision. Also, what did he learn when studying the bible as a child?

Genesis 41:13 (Pharaoh’s Dream): And things turned out exactly as he interpreted them to us: I was restored to my position, and the other man was impaled.

Historic Conditions

War was constant. Romania intersected the major powers from the 10th to 17th Centuries. The Turkish Ottoman Empire was East and Southeast. Northeast was Russia. Prussian German-Saxon Polish Empires were North and Northwest. The Austrian-Hungarian Empire was Westerly. The Holy Roman Empire was Southwest.

Rule was on agreement of princes, other progeny and landowning Boyars mostly from Hungary and Romania. Killing rivals was common. Two related lines vied for Wallachia, those of a Prince Dan and those from Dracula’s grandfather.

Parentage

Dracula’s great-grandfather was Wallachia’s prince driving out the Mongols and fighting Turks. His grandfather, Mircea the Elder, was also successful against the Turks. Dracula’s father was Basarab and when his father Mircea died his half-brother took the throne. Basarab married his second wife Princess Cneajna of Moldavia. His two sons by his first wife were MirceaII and Vlad Claugarul (The Monk).

Hungarian King Sigismund called Dracula’s father. Twenty-four kings and princes were to attack the Ottomans who just conquered Serbia and Bulgaria. King Sigismund put them in the Hungarian Order of the Dragon. Basarab was given Transylvania but wanted Wallachia then ruled by an opposing clan. Basarab now called himself Dracul meaning Dragon. Dracula was born and named Vlad.

The Ottoman Turks conquered Wallachia when Dracula’s cousin then ruling Prince Dan belonging to the opposing clan gave up. Dracula enlisted the aid of Hungarian King Sigismund. Dracula succeeded and took rule of Wallachia in 1436.

Early Life

Dracula’s youngest brother Radu was born. At age 5 Vlad was initiated into the Order of the Dragon. Dracula, Little Dragon, is diminutive to his father Dracul. From an early age Dracula and Radu received military training in archery and swordsmanship. Radu trained with a lesser heart preferring to play with certain other boys and this may be significant to his later decisions in life.

Along with continual military training their mother ensured her children receive an education. She, other wives of royalty and Catholic monks taught: mathematics, geography, science, languages, arts, philosophy and religion.

Betrayal

Yearly Dracul paid gold to the Turkish leader Murad II to keep cities safe and gave children as human tribute. The Hungarians wanted control of Wallachia and Transylvania replacing with Hunyadi ruling. Dracul wanted Ottoman support.

In 1442 Dracula met the Sultan bringing his two youngest sons at the Sultans request for good faith. It was a trap. They were immediately arrested. Hungarian Hunyadi with Boyar and rival support defeated Dracul’s son Mircea II when Dracul was with the Sultan. Dracul negotiated Ottoman support to regain rule. The Ottoman’s attacked and Dracul ruled again. Dracul left his two sons as human tribute. Taking Christian children tribute was common for Islam throughout Europe from Spanish territory they controlled centuries earlier with Jewish support.

At this time Mircea II fought the Ottoman’s successfully with full knowledge but no support from his father Dracul. In 1444 Dracul did not fight when Hunyadi of Transylvania with aid of new Hungarian king Ladislaus III fought the Turks. He was ordered to do so as a member of the Order of the Dragon but declined. Because Dracul’s sons were being held as human tribute the Pope gave him Dispensation. Hunyadi and the Christians were defeated and they blamed Dracul for not joining.

Slavery

According to Ottoman custom all Christian human tribute boys were circumcised in a public ceremony. Dracula was about 10 years old. Humiliated. Boys were then given religious instruction to become Muslims. They also received military training as Janissaries to serve Islam and the Ottoman Empire mainly as cavalry. Radu was easy to control, put under Sultan Murad II’s son Mehmed service including Mehmed’s pederasty.

Dracula was always defiant often severely beaten. Yet as philosopher and poet Ovid said It is right to learn, even from the enemy he did not neglect military training and education. He learned their language, religion and customs in disdain.

In December 1447 Hunyadi again with Hungarian, Boyar and rival faction support defeated Dracul and his so Mircea II. They killed Dracul. Then they blinded and buried Mircea II alive. During this conflict Dracula was put in a prison and severely beaten. He had a view of Ottoman executions including impalement.

Men were impaled anally, women vaginally. Their hands were bound behind their backs and they could only hold themselves up on the pole with their feet.

Release

When Hunyadi defeated and his men killed Dracul the Ottomans retook Wallachia and placed Dracula in rule hoping he was the best chance to maintain their control.

Dracula’s Hatred and Discontent as a severely abused child cemented at the appropriate age such things never leave. Betrayal is a main element in PTSD. More likely than not Betrayal in circumcision may have been his main Stressor Point with Humiliation exacerbating. Loss of Empathy resulted.

1) Circumcised publically at age 10, Humiliated.

2) Abandoned into punishing slavery by his father, Betrayed.

3) Favoritism by his father for children of first marriage.

4) Father’s betrayal of the Order of the Dragon in not fighting the Ottoman’s.

5) For his brother Radu converting to Islam.

6) The custom of pederasty especially that involving Mehmed.

7) Mehmed who his brother Radu was under and later became Sultan.

8) The Janissaries for being traitors.

9) Distrust of many Hungarians and Boyars especially Transylvanian Saxons.

10) Those that killed his father, though he had just reservations against his father.

11) Those that blinded and buried his brother Mircea II alive.

Vengeance

Life continued as usual. Dracula was ousted twice and ruled three times. His first wife committed suicide rather than be an Ottoman slave. His only military battles were against the Ottoman’s always using his father’s Toledo sword. Others he considered betrayers to himself and his country he handled on a personal basis.

Wallachia was in ruins due to corruption by Boyars and others with influence. Agriculture and business was dismal only benefiting the profiteering elite. He limited foreign trade to 3 cities. Petty crime was rampant. The peasants suffered so he armed them as a reserve army and gave some minor positions. Eventually he and Hunyadi reconciled closely because their main desire was defeating the Ottoman’s.

As a warning against petty crime Dracula had a gold cup placed at a capital’s community well. Any citizen or traveler could drink from the well using the cup. Anyone who took the gold cup would be hunted and punished. It was never stolen.

Once against Boyars he considered corrupt and in part responsible for killing his father and brother he made his own variant of Homer’s Ulysses Return in The Odyssey. The Boyars complained about his strictness inhibiting their profits. He invited them to come for an Easter banquet.

When present he had them arrested and those who survived impaled. Here it is said Dracula dipped a piece of bread in some of their collected anal blood and ate it. Such is legend.

Reaching back to his circumcision according to Ottoman custom he made a point to the new Sultan Mehmed who in their days of captivity looked after Radu in many favored ways. An offer he knew would be refused. Attempting to tax Dracula 10,000 ducats and 500 boys a year as human tribute Mehmed sent three emissaries.

Castle Bran

When they entered he requested they remove their turbans in his court’s presence according to his custom. They refused. He arrested them in fashion his father, brother and himself were. Then he had spikes driven into their heads so the turbans would not come off and sent the bodies back to Mehmed.

He was truly vicious against Ottoman combatants, especially the Janissary cavalry he was trained into and his brother Radu belonged. In one campaign he killed more than 23,000 Turks. Many were impaled by roadsides and left for warning. Once Mehmed was mounting a campaign and Dracula had 20,000 Ottomans impaled where the Ottoman’s were advancing. Mehmed saw this and retreated. Both Dracula and Mehmed applied brutal psychological warfare.

Dracula was killed toward the end of 1476. His head was cut off and given to Mehmed. It is not known who killed him or where he is buried.

Legacy

Vlad the Impaler

In death he has left a legacy of abject cruelty. Though there could be righteous behavior against many, he did not restrain himself properly much of the time against people who brought out his paranoia, sadism and need to control. This, too, may be said of his contemporaries in rivalry for powerful positions.

Similar types of feudalism existed everywhere at some time. Ancient Japan and China have given us fantasy in martial arts and sword fighting films. It existed in Africa where most slaves were defeated clans and sold to Muslims. Feudalism as this is present today in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

War is not as face-to-face as was in the beginning of civilization. With each new advance in technology the Kill Zone becomes larger, more distant and less personal. Through finesse in the West on a larger scale, but with the presence of a hopeful ballot box, is our time much different?

There are direct connections to an individual’s aberrant behavior as a result of all forms of child abuse. The same is true with societies that have acculturated child abuse with violence in both their internal societal expression and expressions of violence toward other societies other than their own that they come in contact with.

Violence breeds violence.  Dracula lived to kill.  Such is the twisted and twisting legacy of Dracula in madness made.

 Once he had killed, that taboo was gone.  He realized he could do it, enjoy it, and get away with it.
John Douglas, FBI.

Vainglorious: The Munchausen Complex

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/may262008/circ_richardm_5-24-08.php

Circumcision: Motivational Changes in the Meaning of the Word of God

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/july022011/circ-motivators-rm.php

Comixio Religionis: Circumcision NOT Jerusalemic

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/july242011/comixio-religionis-rm.php

Circumcision: Medicine Practicing Below the Usual and Customary Standards of Care in Ritual

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/september092011/circ-rituals-rm.php

Circumcision as Attenuated Homicides

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/november122011/circumcision-homicide-rm.php

Circumcision: Incest and the GAIA COMPLEX as the Opposite Side of the Oedipal Coin

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/january252012/freud-circumcision-rm.php

Circumcision: Culture Bound and Culture Specific Syndromes with Shared Psychotic Disorder

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/april242012/circumcision-culture-rm.php

Circumcision as an Organized Crime

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/april302012/circumcision-crime-rm.php

Circumcision: Captivity of a Sacrificial Caste

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/july162012/circumcision-caste-rm.php

German Court Circumcision Ban Correct in Parochial, Social and Secular Law

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/august072012/german-circ-ban-rm.php

All articles are Mandated Reports to the social body regarding socialized and acculturated abuse.

Richard Matteoli graduated from St. Mary's College of California in 1967 and Creighton University in 1971. He is retired from the US Navy where he spent most of his career attached to the United States Marine Corps and officially rated a Devil Doc. Other clinical experience outside private practice includes working for California Indian Health and California's Solano County Clinic for the poor as well as the Solano County Jail.

He is the author of the Handbook text references The Munchausen Complex: Socialization of Violence and Abuse and The Totemic Analogy in Bible Symbolism. Salem-News.com has carried several articles over the years. Dr. Matteoli has also been helpful in research for other articles we have carried, particularly with regard to military base contamination. We have been very pleased to have the honor of sharing his valuable writing with our readers.

You can write to Richard Matteoli at this address: richard.matteoli@goldrush.com