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Things About Transylvania, Romania and Other Musings

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To Live

Posted by Rebecca A Emrich on January 31, 2009

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What does it take to live in a mountainous region?

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Who Was Vlad Tepes' First Wife?

In previous posts, I've talked a lot about Vlad Tepes, or Count Dracula, and I've also touched upon his extended family. A topic I have been meaning to touch on is the first wife of Vlad Tepes, and I'd like to talk about how she has worked herself into the Dracula myths. Not much is known about the first wife of Vlad Tepes other than that they truly did love each other; this was uncommon in marriages during the Medieval Era. They were also very loyal to each other. Vlad Tepes trusted his wife rule in his stead while he was away fighting. After one battle, word got back to Vlad's his wife that he had died in battle. In truth, he had not died, but believing that he had, Vlad’s wife threw herself off a cliff and killed herself. Vlad eventually did remarry. Things were a little different in the Dracula myths. It is always reported that Dracula’s wife was killed, that she was murdered by someone. There are some myths where she was killed by followers of Dracula. I...

Maps of Transylvania

Every picture tells a story, and every picture will have a different meaning for each person. When it comes to Transylvania, the pictures are important, and maps tell more of a story. It shows the history of a land and its people. Transylvania is not a country of its own, but as with most areas which have different cultures and history there, it has a story. Some of those are simple. A map can show a person "where is Transylvania?" and can give them a sense of where something important is. It can show details- such as mountains ranges. It takes time and effort to learn about history with maps, because all too often we don't want to expand on our knowledge or sometimes, we don't want to learn that our former believes were wrong. It is a challenge to look at an older map and learn, for example, that Bran Castle is closer to south than one might have felt. Or that there are countless different names for the same city, based upon language. Transylvania ...

Elizabeth Bathory and Her Family

Hey everyone. I hope all of you are enjoying the holidays. Something that I really think about during this time of year is family. Everyone has a family that they care about, even if others don’t agree with how someone shows how they care for their family. Elizabeth Bathory may have been a serial killer, but she was also a woman with a family. She was married to Count Ferenc Nadasdy of Hungary, and she had 7 children with him. They had 4 sons and 3 daughters. Elizabeth also had a daughter outside of wedlock just before she married Ferenc. The family may not have been the most typical of families, but they were a family nonetheless. Elizabeth was only 12 years old when she was engaged to Ferenc. When she was 13 or 14, Elizabeth was reported to have had an affair with one of the servants at her family home. The result of this affair was Elizabeth’s first child, Anastasia Bathory. Needless to say, Count Ferenc was no...

Is Transylvania a Real Place?

I was asked this question the other day, and as much as it pains me to repeat myself, it does need to be said: Transylvania is a true and real place, and it is a part of the country of Romania. As much as we all love to see the magical and wonderful TV shows about Transylvania, people do forget that it is a part of an Eastern European country. In an effort to tell people where my family lived, I mentioned that they came from the northern part of Romania, which is Transylvania. This lead to some fairly odd looks. Within a minute I was explaining that I was not joking and that there is a place by this name. Their main question could be summed up like this: is Transylvania a real place? It didn't seem to me like the person asking me this was being funny, but rather the person really wasn't sure about geography or history in general. The person seemed to be well-read because we talked about Europe and the changes that have happened since the Second World War,...

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