Vampirism Considered Epidemic
Published in HautLife
Where The Word “Vampire” Came From?
Austrian authorities tried to prevent spreading of the disease known as vampirism, in the early 18th century. They never invented the vaccine, but the word “vampire” had found its place in all the western dictionaries ever since.
The concept of the dead coming back for human blood is as old as the human race. Every tribe had its own term for those terrifying bloodsuckers. This particular word “vampire”, gained its universal use in the early 18th century, thanks to the article published in the Austrian magazine “Wienerisches Diarium.”
Yes, the term itself came from the Balkans, but the gentleman responsible for it was not the Romanian count. No, Dracula was just a fictional character made famous by the Irish guy Bram Stoker, who published his novel in 1897. The Irish author adopted the term vampire, in his time widely known, and combined it with the legend of the Romanian Prince Vlad Tepes. This Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia, was a member of the House of Draculesti. He preferred the short version, and often used only the name of Draculea or Dracula. Prince Dracula lived from 1431 to 1476, or maybe 1477, his biographers never agreed on that, which didn’t really matter, because “living forever”, became his specialty, at least in the novel.
The reputation of the real Vlad Dracula backed this legend firmly. He earned the nickname “Vlad the Impaler” for being known for his cruelty and impaling the enemies. Since he lived during the “Ottoman conquest of the Balkans”, this reputation was extremely important. The real Prince Dracula, served as one of the gatekeepers, those with the special task - to stop the Islamisation of Europe.
Confronted with the more powerful army than anyone could expect, Prince Dracula smartly used Ottomans’ own weapon – superstition. He managed to frighten Muslim warriors by convincing them that something strange, out of this world, was going on in Transylvania. The popularity of the Romanian Prince is not fading these days in Europe, quite the contrary.
Another gentleman, not from Romania but from the neighboring Serbia, is responsible for the internationalization of the term “vampire”. His name was Peter, or Petar Blagojevic originally. He lived, or still lives, in the village of Kisiljevo, in Serbia.
Sometime in the summer of 1725, the people of Kisiljevo (the name was Kisilova back then) reported frequent appearances of their fellow villager Peter Blagojevic. Nothing strange about it, except, this Peter was already dead. He had died 2 months earlier.
Peter simply came back home one night, asking for his shoes. They sent him to another world in some new tight shoes. Being a very practical man, Peter didn’t want to take off without his old comfy shoes. Traveling to heavens could be a long and tiresome journey, Peter explained to his family. Then, he gathered his personal belongings, and disappeared, just like that.
Mrs. Blagojevic, scared to death, left the village and never came back. Bad conscience, the villagers joked. But, very soon, a few people mysteriously died, mostly those with unsettled accounts with the deceased Peter. A wave of panic flooded the village, it turned out many had some sort of unfinished business with Peter. The villagers had no choice but to apply for permission to perform “the hawthorn stick ritual” (stabbing the hart with the stick), and stop that madness. It took time, though. Serbia was under the Austrian jurisdiction at the moment. Letters to Vienna traveled for days, sometimes weeks.
The authorities in Vienna first denied the application, but then another petition reached them. The second case of vampirism was reported, also in Serbia, but this time in a different village. The gentleman with the name of Paul (Arnold Paole, spelled by the Austrian officer, but the original name was Pavle nicknamed Arnaut) was accused for quenching his thirst by drinking human blood.
This biblical combination “Peter and Paul” triggered the serious suspicion among the Austrian officials. The investigation showed that Paul spent some time in Greece (or in Kosovo, according to different sources), where he killed a vampire. Soon after, he felt sick and returned to die in his home-village. The officials in Vienna took this very seriously. Since Paul was the Austrian mercenary (militiaman), they were afraid of spreading the disease among the Austrian soldiers. The special commission coordinated by the military doctors, Dr. Glaser and Dr. Fluckinger, was sent to Serbia. Their task was to investigate all the suspicious cases, and perform the hawthorn stick ritual, on every fresh looking corpse they found.
The report written by the Austrian deputy, Mr. Frombald, on the first case of vampirism in the village of Kisiljevo, was published in the Vienna’s magazine – “Wienerisches Diarium”. According to many sources, this was the first time the word “vampire” was mentioned in the western world.
The “craziness” stirred by this article resulted in “vampirophobia” all over Europe. Another article, published a few years later (in 1731), this time in Nuremberg’s “Commercium Litterarium”, caused the mass-hysteria and forced many local governments to take some measures. The new article was signed by Dr. Johann Friedrich Glaser Senior, the father of the doctor who was still in Serbia investigating the vampirism. His reports to Vienna were sent regularly.
In attempt to prevent the spread of the epidemic, corpses were exhumed, and certain official rituals according to “the protocol” were performed. Details on this strange epidemic might be found in many local archives in Austria, Germany, France, etc.
So, this Serbian gentleman, Petar Bogdanovic, is definitely responsible for the universalisation of the Serbian (the Slavic languages) word “vampir”. The French spelling with an extra “e”, vampire, was later widely adopted, and still used in many languages all over the world.
Photos by: Top-image Julia W|License |
Sources: Radio Televizija Serbije |RTS Google Translation | Dictionary
