[imagesource:wikicommons]

New technology is allowing scientists to find out increasingly intimate information about famous figures from the past and one of those figures that have inspired countless horror movies is Vlad the Impaler, a notoriously ruthless 13th-century Romanian ruler.

Rumours of Vlad’s incredible cruelty and bloodthirstyness have made him one of the scarier figures from our darker past, with his exploits even becoming the basis for the fictional character Dracula.

The ‘real’ Count Dracula has now been the focus of cutting-edge science as a group of researchers used a new chemical analysis to look at a series of letters the infamous count wrote. Surprisingly, or perhaps not.. the letters have indicated that the Romanian ruler might have had a rare condition that made him shed bloody tears.

The ruthless military ruler, sometimes known as Vlad III, presided over the medieval territory of Wallachia and rose to notoriety by impaling unfortunate captives to death on poles.

A 15th-century representative of the Pope, Nicholas of Modrussy, once described the prince as “not very tall, but very stocky and strong, with a cruel and terrible appearance, a long straight nose, distended nostrils, a thin and reddish face in which the large wide-open green eyes were framed by bushy black eyebrows, which made them appear threatening.”

The recent study used mass spectrometry to examine the personal letters written by the guy responsible for this reign of terror in an effort to understand him better. The surface of the letter was sampled for proteins and peptides using this sophisticated method.

Even though the researchers acknowledged they couldn’t be certain the molecules were left by Vlad III himself, they still underwent additional testing on all of the molecules that were thought to be of human origin.

The prince most certainly had a number of medical conditions, according to the main conclusions drawn from this new data. In addition to showing signs of respiratory sickness, one letter dated 1475 CE also included proteins connected to the retina, which suggested Vlad III may have wept tears that contained some blood.

This condition, known as hemolacria, is usually caused by either an infection like bacterial conjunctivitis or some kind of injury or other environmental damage. The letter was written in 1476 or 1477, about a year or two before Vlad III passed away. The researchers’ analysis came to the conclusion that he “probably suffered, at least in the last years of his life” from the illness.

It’s incredibly difficult to peer back through history and be absolutely sure about anything, but if the results do indicate Vlad had a rather sticky end himself, it gives credence to that old saying: If you impale people for fun, you will cry bloody tears.

Okay, I just made that one up, but I doubt anyone who encountered the inspiration for a character like Dracula would have shed tears over his suffering.

[source:artnet]