Dracula - history or legend? (Part 2)

Thus, Vlad the Impaler resorts to an authoritarian style of leadership by imposing honesty and hard work as virtues to be had; dishonesty (thievery) and sloth were punished harshly by impaling - a practice which was to make him infamous. Every single one of those who chose not to observe the laws or the freedom of the country - regardless of whether they were Transylvanian traders, Turkish soldiers or local landowners (boyars) - would receive this punishment if they were found guilty of any such crimes. Such abominable punishment can be understood in the context of the times when punishments such as crucifixion, or being burnt at the stake were an all too common occurrence.

A quite conclusive episode that proves his unflinching desire to strengthen central authority in the face of rulers becoming mere tools in the hands of various boyar interest groups is the one mentioned in the German chronicles. Here, Vlad summons around 500 boyars to accuse them of bearing responsibility for the disastrous state of the country. Before saying, "the responsibility was borne by your shameful disunity" he asked them how many reigns they had lived under. As most had lived under an average of seven, this was to be their last one as Vlad understood that this occurrence owed a lot to their devious intrigues so he impaled every single one of them.

Another unforgiving deed of his rather cruel reign was the revenge of his father and brother's killing right on Easter Day when he proceeded to impale the entire elderly population of Targoviste while sparing the younger ones only to condemn them to hard labour to erect the Poienari citadel.