By Ferran Garcés

The novel Dracula, written by Bram Stoker, was published in 1897. The first imatge of the famous count appeared in the edition of 1901 (see above) The action of this well-known histori takes place a little earlier, in 1893 (1), and begins with the journey of lawyer Jonathan Harker to Transylvania to prepare the documentation for properties purchased by a count named Dracula…

This year, 1893, Joan Grau i Vallespinós, the bishop of Astorga, suffered a serious accident while Antoni Gaudí, a friend of his, was constructing the Episcopal Palace in the Leonese city. Aware that he had little time left before receiving the anointing of the sick, the bishop entrusted the architect with the documentation of a property he had bought shortly before: the Bellesguard estate. Gaudí, after burying his friend in a tomb designed by himself, returned to Barcelona with this documentation. The buyer did not appear right away; however, in 1900, it was acquired by Maria Sagués i Molins, the widow of Jaume Figueras i Barulls, another friend of Gaudí who died suddenly. The new owner, however, was reunited with her husband in 1907, before Gaudí completed the project, three years later. A project that anticipated the restoration of medieval ruins…

Logically, all this is just a coincidence, but the coincidences do not end here…

Contemporaries of the father of Dracula
First Half of the 15th Century

The historical Dracula was not a count, but a voivode, a title of Slavic origin that is often translated as “prince” (2). His name was Vlad III Tepes, or Draculea, “son of the dragon,” because his father was named Vlad II Dracul, in honor of his allegiance to the Order of the Dragon, and this is where the coincidences do not end…

In 1408, two events took place: first, the purchase of the estate where Martin I the Humane would build the castle that Gaudí would restore five centuries later (he was the one who named it Bellesguard), and second, the founding of the Order of the Dragon by Sigismund I, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. The insignia of the Order was the ouroboros, or uroboros (from the Greek oúra, tail, borá, food), the serpent, or dragon, that eats its tail, symbolizing the union of opposites, as well as the longing for immortality. A few years earlier, Martin I the Humane, like his father, Peter IV the Ceremonious, had also adopted a dragon as a family insignia, but its form was that of a wyvern, better known as a winged dragon. This is the so-called Royal Crest (3).

On the other hand, in 1408, Martin I the Humane was a widower, and only one of his children had survived to adulthood. The following year, already settled in his castle of Bellesguard, the aging and sickly monarch received news of the unexpected death of this only heir (4). Martin then sought a new wife in the hope of begetting a new successor. The two main candidates were Cecilia d’Urgell and Margarida de Prades, two young women close to the court of Barcelona. The choice was the second, and the wedding took place at the castle of Bellesguard, but, as the funeral of the heir was still recent, the union was conducted modestly.

Among the few attendees, one should note a widowed queen, Violant de Bar, the wife of Martin I’s brother, a pope, or antipope, Benedict XIII, better known as Pope Luna, and a future saint, Vincent Ferrer. However, despite their blessings, eight months later, in mid-1410, the king died without descendants, and the new queen was not pregnant. Before long, nearly all the attendees of that wedding, contemporaries of Vlad II Dracul, would begin to die. Only one, or perhaps a woman, would remain contemporary of his son, Vlad III, the true Draculea. Which one, or which one…?

In 1412, to decide who would be the new king of Aragon, the Compromise of Caspe was held. The winner was Ferdinand I of Antequera, from the Trastámara lineage. Discontent with the result, James II of Urgell, Cecilia’s brother, confronted the new monarch but was defeated, and the family, one of the largest in the realm, fell into disgrace. Violant de Bar, despite having supported a French candidate, like herself, managed to retain her position, albeit discreetly.

In 1416, Benedict XIII, Pope Luna, would also suffer a setback. That year, various personalities of the time gathered in the French city of Perpignan. Instead of kings, the goal now was to decide who the true pope was, after a period known as the Western Schism, during which up to three pontiffs coexisted. One of them was Benedict XIII, but during this meeting in Perpignan, he was discredited, leading to his misfortune.

However, in the French city, gallant episodes also took place. Old acquaintances gathered there: Margarida de Prades, Vincent Ferrer, and Ferdinand I of Antequera, along with other new characters. In particular, Emperor Sigismund I, the founder of the Order of the Dragon eight years earlier, and Oswald von Wolkenstein, one of his servants, who, besides being a troubadour, would also become a member of the order of the ouroboros.

In the poem “Es fügt sich” (5), the troubadour recalls the moment in Perpignan when the young widow queen, schön und zart (“beautiful and delicate”), tied a ring to his beard with her white and delicate fingers and added two holes to his ears to put on earrings. Other poets of the time complimented the beauty of Margarida de Prades. Unfortunately, fortune would not take long to turn against the troubadour’s muse from Perpignan. Surrounded by financial difficulties, by around 1422, she would have to part with the Bellesguard palace and would die in a monastery in 1419. The void left by her absence was filled by Violant de Bar, the other widowed queen, the wife of Martin I the Humane’s brother, until her death in 1431.

1431 is an important year in this parallel history because it was then that Vlad II was appointed a member of the Order of the Dragon by Emperor Sigismund I. More importantly, around 1431 is when his son, Vlad III Tepes, also known as Draculea, was born. Who of the characters we have encountered so far will be contemporary of him…?

Contemporaries of the father of Dracula
First Half of the 15th Century

In 1431, the king of Aragon -Alfonso the Magnanimous, son of Ferdinand I of Antequera (who died in 1416)- was also a member of the Order of the Dragon. At that time, many of the people who had attended the wedding at Bellesguard were dead (Pope Luna, for example, had died in 1423), or were about to die (Juan II of Urgell would expire in prison in 1433). Who was residing at Bellesguard at that time…?

Against all odds, the owner of the old palace was Cecilia d’Urgell, the only member who had managed to survive the misfortune of the family after her brother’s defeat, and she would reside there until her death in 1460, meaning she was the person closest to the years when Vlad III earned his other grim nickname: Tepes, “The Impaler.”

The tomb would not claim Draculea until 1476 or 1477, murdered or fallen in battle, according to sources. Similarly, the Bellesguard palace, built at the same time the Order of the Dragon was founded, had entered a long slumber from which it would not awaken until 1900, five centuries later, when Antoni Gaudí resurrected it almost at the same time that Bram Stoker rescued the feared voivode from oblivion with his novel Dracula.

Logically, all this is just a coincidence, and this is where the coincidences should end, or not?

Today is Halloween… Good night!

Notes

(1) Molina Foix, Juan Antonio (1993), editor of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, published by Cátedra-Letras Universales, Madrid, p. 26.

Possibly, Antoni Gaudí, who died in 1926, never heard of Dracula, and if he did, it would have been very remotely. The popularity of the novel, as Juan Antonio Molina Foix states, worldwide came later, “in the wake of its success on the screens” (Op. cit, p. 11), and the first film adaptations date back to 1922, Nosferatu by Wilhelm Murnau, and 1931, Dracula by Tod Browning.

(2) For an updated study on the real and fictional character of Vlad III, as well as the bibliography closest to his time, see: Moreno Delgado, Juan Carlos (2021), “Epilogue,” in Vlad Draculea: The Impaler of Wallachia, EMSE EDAPP, S.L, pp. 103-115.

(3) Garcés, Ferran (04/26/2024), “The 4 Dragons of Torre Bellesguard: Part II,” on our blog.

(4) Garcés, Ferran (07/26/2024), “On this Day: Birth and Death of a King,” on our blog.

(5) Link to the original text of the poem Es fügt sich: lyrics (go to part III, which begins with the phrase “Ain künigin von Arragon” the Queen of Aragon). Link to the sung piece: music.