Dec 29 2008
Dracula
For those of you, who have read my first instalment in this series of literature postings, you shall be familiar with the association between the Templars and Gothic architecture; so it seemed only right that I should now give time to the English Gothic novel. Whilst I use the term English, it should be remembered that Bram Stoker was born in Dublin. He did, however, move to London and work at the Lyceum Theatre long before beginning his serious fiction writing career. It should also be remarked upon that the Victorians were very interested (even intrigued) by death, and the lengthening of ones lifespan. Books such as ‘The Mummy’ and ‘Frankenstein’ had already cashed in on this interest in the afterlife, and had particularly Egyptian and scientific influences. Both Egyptology and Science were traditionally regarded as going against God, and as evil. Certain Christian sects still do not allow doctors to treat them nowadays.
By 1897, English society was perfectly ready to embrace another tale of immortality, and the battle between traditional (Catholic) good and (Templar/Protestant) evil. Chuck in a good dose of life-beyond-death, a taste of sensuous eroticism, a historical, nostalgic sense of drama and blood-letting, and every Victorian lady would be gripped! Bram Stoker gave them all this and much more, and we can continue to enjoy the same today. Of course, Bram did not invent the Vampire; instead, he took all that the Occult, Paganism and the Catholic Church had ascribed to Vampirism, and bundled it into a single European gentleman: the suave, wealthy, well-bred, and charming Count Dracula - everything a Victorian lady of standing would desire in a prospective husband.
We should examine some of the known details and documentation on Vampires, before examining Dracula himself (as the embodiment of many of these traits), and where Bram may have encountered them. The reader may well be surprised by the amount of writing on the subject in the 250 years PRIOR to the famous novel. The earliest known writings on Vampires is found in the Torah of Judaism, in ancient China, and in writings of the Greeks. I shall commence with the Torah, as this particular text is still the basis of an incredibly large modern day religion. Many people today will be unaware that Adam had a wife before Eve, but that this particular lady refused to be subservient to her husband, so God excommunicated her, and cast her out. Lilith, as she was called, was clearly the first ever feminist. She felt that being beneath Adam during the act of sex was unbecoming as she was his equal. She was cursed by God, and is portrayed as the killer of young children, and drinker of their blood. There has been a lot recently written, and shown in films like ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ & ‘Da Vinci Code’, about sex within religion, so it would seem insulting to the reader to mention this aspect of gnosticism and Templar life regarding feminine equality and the sexual act (needless to say that the act prefered by Adam is still known to this day as ‘Missionary Position’!).
The Incubus/Succubus is also known as a creature that sucks ones lifeforce from a person during the sexual act, and I’m sure many ladies may feel that their partner is hardly alive after fulfilling the act, if not actually dead! The removal of the male seed, and the metaphor of the seed as a form of life, or lifegiving, ia also very clear. It is opportune to mention that Bram is really an abbreviation of the authors first name, Abraham. The ancient Greek writers had told stories about a variety of living-dead types, who kept themselves alive by imbibing the lifeforce of the living through different techniques, including the drinking of blood. These beasts lived within the realms of the Underworld, but could on occassion, pass to Earth. These creatures were known as Vrykolakas. I mention these creatures, as, in 1645, a famous study of these creatures and the writings about them was published by Leo Allatius, and Bram may well have been familiar with this text. Now, briefly, to the East, and the love of Oriental writers for the ‘Kiang Shi’, who took on the life force through blood consumption from the living, to continue their existence. In Japan, this Chinese fascination has continued today, with many Vampires appearing in Manga magazines, and anime movies. Whilst it is unlikely that Mr Stoker would have encountered the ‘Kiang Shi’ in his research, I have included this example to show that this kind of story has been about us forever, and across all societies. As a final footnote on these ancient texts, it should be noted that a Vampire named Algul appears in the ‘Tales of the Arabian Nights’.
As this hub is regarding the Templars and their fellow gnostics, it is I feel, time to allow the Roman Catholic Church to enter the affray. The first RC reference to Vampires can safely be ascribed to Pope Innocent III, who referred to such evil characters in 1215, although the church’s official stance on Vampires was not properly communicated until 1489, when these beasts appear among the list of devils and demons which only the church has the ability and authority to combat, in the Malleus Maleficarum. These creatures seem to harken back to the Apocryphal tales of Lilith, who sought refuge from Adam among the devils around the Red Sea. Their inclusion has roots within Catholic doctrine from before this time. One of the church’s attributes of the Vampire, is that its body does not decay after death. Ironically, this is also a step in the proof of Sainthood! For fans of the film Nosferatu, where Fritz Lang has deftly intertwined the association of the Black Death with Vampirism, and an old tale from Bremen (to reset the story in post-World War I Germany); the change from Whitby to Bremen is not a chance one. Apparently, in 10th Century Bremen, the Archbishop, St Libentius, excommunicated several sailors. Many years later, the grave of one of these sailors was disturbed, and the body found not to have decayed. This so disturbed the locals, that the latest Archbishop had to pardon the sailors, so their souls could leave their bodies, and the corpses decay naturally. This concept of excommunication meaning that the soul could not leave the body, but instead to be trapped, again reinforces the idea that only the church held the power to combat Vampires.
The Roman Catholic church stayed steadfast in its teachings on Vampires until the middle of the 18th century. That it had changed its stance at this time, still required many further years before being absorbed by the average Catholic person living after that period. It was Dom Augustine Calmet, in 1746, who first started the ball rolling against the church on the existence of Vampires, and the long-term effect was so slow in coming, that Voltaire was astonished to attend a discussion on the existence, or not, of Vampires at the Sorbonne!I suggest that I have now spent sufficient time painting a historical context for the novel, though have left one particular person out of the picture; for it is with he that many people falsely relate the eponymous character. I take you on a journey, across Europe and time, back to 1431, and the birth of a young boy in Romania: Vlad the Impaler, governor of Transylvannia under Emperor Sigismund, and member of the Teutonic ‘Order of the Dragon’, regarded by the Wallachians as ‘the Evil One’. The term Dracul has been given 2 strong meanings, though which you choose to believe, I shall leave to the reader. It could refer to his being within the aforementioned order, as Dracul is the Romanian word for Dragon, or, it could be the Wallachian word for Evil. Both apply to Vlad, though alas, he is not the inspiration for the novel’s Count. The pertinence of Romanians has more to do with the term Romany, and the fact that Romanian could also be used to describe the gypsies whose persecution by the church, and protection by the Templars, has already been addressed in the first hub. Within the novel, it is of interest to note that these gypsies (known as the Szgany) are the keepers and protectors of Dracula. A hint that Bram Stoker regards these people as noble, contrary to the church’s stance, is contained in the final chapter where Van Helsing remarks that the leader of the gypsies was ‘a splendid looking fellow, who sat his horse like a centaur’, bestowing respect, and a mythical accent upon the man. It is, in fact, from the very mouth of the church’s hero, Van Helsing, that we glean the Templar tendencies of Bram Stoker. Having now entered the realms of the novel itself, I should examine that most Christian of the characters, and so, ladies and gentlemen, I introduce Abraham Van Helsing.
I have already mentioned that Bram’s first name was actually Abraham, and all the history and aplomb that the Jewish and Christian faiths have bestowed upon that name, Bram donated to his hero (if you, in fact regard the vampire slayer as the hero, not the adversory). There could hardly be a name that holds so much within it, as Abraham. A name as old as time, a devoted man, and father of a nation. As for the surname “Van Helsing,” a number of possibilities have been suggested. It may derive from Dr Hesselius, the fictional narrator of Sheridan Le Fanu’s famous Vampire tale “Carmilla” (1872). Given Stoker’s familiarity with Shakespearean plays as manager of the Lyceum Theatre, the origin is possibly “Elsinore” - the Danish town in which Hamlets’ castle is located. This is a bit of a stretch, but possibly reflects the similarities between Van Helsing and Hamlet. A third consideration is Van Helmont, an ancient alchemist mentioned briefly in T J Pettigrew’s On Superstitions Connected with the History and Nature of Medicine and Surgery (1844), one of Stokers known source-texts for Dracula. The last of these texts may raise a few eye-brows, although Bram Stoker’s name appears several times within lists of members of the ‘Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn’,
