Transylvania, Romania and Other Musings

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What If?

Posted by Rebecca A Emrich on January 18, 2009

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What if the Transylvania Saxons never existed?

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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

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 not happy about this news. He had the servant castrated

Map of Transylvania: After World War One

I found this to be a very useful map of Transylvania and the surrounding area which is after World War One. This is how the Kingdom of Romania looked after the Great War, and you can easily see where Transylvania is. The important thing to note on this map is that the Banat is included as a different area than Transylvania. Although, for the most part many people do consider that the Banat and other regions are a "part" of Transylvania-- but not on this map !. This hold most true when one compares it to a map of Transylvania years before the First World War, in this case this map is based on the year 1600, and this was when the three principalities were joined together by Michael the Brave.

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 i

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