The Middle Ages was one of the darkest and barbaric times in European history, and it was also the period when the most brutal monarchs appeared.
The 16th century was England’s most difficult period under the reign of Queen Mary I, an ardent Catholic. As the daughter of King Henry VIII – a passionate and cruel king, famous for beheading his wife, Mary even surpassed her father in cruelty so much that the people had to give her the nickname “Bloody Mary” or “Bloody Mary” . “Blood Queen”.
Portrait of Queen Mary I (right) with her husband – King Philip II of Spain.
When her brother Edward died, Mary assembled a horseman to depose and execute Queen Jane Grey. After becoming Queen, she ordered brutal persecution and execution of many Protestants to force them to convert to Catholicism.
One of the most feared crimes committed by Queen Mary I in British history was ordering 300 people to be burned alive on a red pyre amid the screams of the people.
During her time in power, she really indulged in the pastime of burning her dissidents alive. Even dignitaries in the Church of England such as Archbishop Cranmer, Nicolas Ridley, Hugh Latiner … all shared the same fate, in turn were ordered by Mary I to be nailed to a wooden post in the middle of the square and burned alive because they had grown up. voice protesting against her unruly actions.
During the reign of “Bloody Mary”, Protestants were forced to choose between converting or being massacred.
After marrying King Philip II – a famous tyrant of Spain, Mary I was like a fish in water, learning many new methods of killing.
However, towards the end of her life, she lived quietly, alone in despair and regret in a castle few relatives visited and often heard the people’s complaints and curses about her. According to many accounts, before she died, Mary I even went mad and writhed, groaning, “Oh! Blood, blood! Blood covered everyone!”.
Emperor “Ivan the Terrible” also known as Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich was a notoriously brutal king. After the death of his wife, Tsar Ivan loses control of himself and gradually becomes a cold-blooded killer.
Ivan “the tyrant” is one of the most famous tsars in the history of the Russian people.
Ivan the “tyrant” has set up a secret army called Oprichniki to sweep and destroy the possible uprisings that the tsar wants to quell “in their infancy”. And the name of the brutal tsar is associated with the massacre of 60,000 people in Novgorod.
Not only that, Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich also ruthlessly killed his son when his daughter-in-law wore revealing clothes. Specifically, this tsar hit his daughter-in-law, causing her to miscarry. When witnessing that scene, the son of Tsar Ivan stood up to protect his wife but was angry and killed by his father. A few years later, he also died of heart disease.
The name of the brutal tsar is associated with the massacre of 60,000 people in Novgorod.
The famous novel “Dracula” written in 1897 by writer Bram Stoker has the main character as Count Dracula – a vampire specializing in blood-sucking with extremely barbaric and brutal actions.
Few people know that, many details in the famous novel “Dracula” are completely based on a real character in history, that is Vlad Tepes III – who is seen as a demon.
Born in 1431 in Romania, Vlad Tepes III is the son of Lord Vlad II Basarab – a powerful general of Romania, who led the Romanian army against the Turkish invasion for many years.
Because of his glorious feats, the Romanian emperor bestowed Vlad II Basarab with the title Dracul, meaning “son of the dragon”. Therefore, after Vlad Tepes III came to power, people in the region often called him Dracula, which means son of Dracula.
Count Dracula is a real historical figure.
Some history books in Romania record that the daily life of Prince Vlad Tepes III could not be without killing.
He was addicted to murder, seeing it as a pastime, and only laughed the most when he saw the victim slowly dying in excruciating pain.
One of the most barbaric punishments Vlad still preferred was to put stakes in the ground and throw people over them. In addition, Dracula has hundreds of other horrible and cruel executions.
Once, a merchant from a neighboring country came to Dracula’s castle to report that someone had searched his carriage and had stolen 160 of his gold coins.
Dracula comforts the unhappy man, promising to find the thief. Immediately, Dracula ordered the soldiers to enter the merchant’s carriage with 161 gold coins.
The next morning, when he returned, the merchant counted the money and discovered that there was an excess of one coin. He went back to tell Dracula that he had received the money, but had a dime left over. Dracula’s answer scared the merchant:
Dracula did this on purpose and if the merchant did not report the change, he himself would be impaled.
Another story tells that there were two emissaries visiting Dracula. When they met Dracula, the two emissaries refused to take off their hats, explaining that it violated their country’s custom.
Dracula immediately nailed the hat to the two emissaries to never violate the traditions of their people.
Count Dracula is addicted to murder, seeing it as a pastime.
It was Count Dracula’s brutality that created the seed of the collapse of his power. Final,
In the end, Count Dracula was deposed and hunted down. He escaped the castle through a secret passage, leaving his beloved wife behind. Frustrated and scared, Dracula’s poor wife threw herself from the top floor.
After escaping, Dracula went to the king of Hungary for help, but was imprisoned for 12 years. In 1476, the Hungarian king handed over Dracula to the Turks, he was executed and buried in the monastery of Snagov.
After the death of the tyrant, horror stories about him continued to be circulated and inspired writer Bram Stoker to create a fascinating classic novel: “Dracula”.