Ralf-Peter Märtin (1951–2016)

En el siglo XV, la antigua Valaquia, conocida hoy como Transilvania, fue escenario de cruentas luchas entre turcos, cristianos y los propios habitantes de esta zona geográfica –entre otros, eslavos, macedonios, serbios y croatas-. Ésta es la historia de Vlad III Dracul, llamado por sus contemporáneos “el Empalador”, quien, en medio de estos combates sin cuartel, luchó con tales medios por la independencia de sus país que hasta hoy se recuerda su crueldad sin límites. De él se cuenta, entre otros muchos detalles pavorosos, que solía almorzar rodeado de sus prisioneros agonizantes atravesados por un palo. El camino que conduce desde la historia real hasta la leyenda es oscuro y tortuoso, pero no es de extrañar que en el siglo XIX el escritor irlandés Bram Stoker se inspirara en el sanguinario príncipe Vlad Dracul para concebir la figura del conde Drácula, sediento de sangre, y al que, ya en el siglo XX, el cine convertirá en uno de nuestros mitos más terroríficos.… (més)

The book was published in time for the millennium celebrations of the famous (well, once-famous) battle, and it covers much more ground than just the battle. The first chapters provide basic introductions to the Germanic tribes, the Romans, Roman history just prior to the main event etc and most of it is familiar, so there’s time to notice a large number of typos and grammatical slip-ups. (People who cannot tell das and dass apart are a pet peeve of mine)
But these are negligible irritations, forgotten once he gets to the establishment of the Roman province Germania. From here on in the book is fascinating, because he includes lots of recent research and findings from the Kalkriese digs. There was no splendid isolation of the Germanic tribes beyond the Rhine, unpolluted by Roman decadence as the 19th century would have it. The reach of the legions and the incredible amount of material and work they put into the building of a new province, which are obvious from a few recently explored sites and probably represent only a fraction of the actual effort, are simply amazing. I had heard about these whenever findings of new archaeological discoveries went through the press, but to read about it in such detailed, structured form is illuminating. So why did they let it all go to waste? The jury’s still out on that question.
One other big surprise is Tiberius. He’s had a bad press in his afterlife, and I remember him as a rather unsympathetic character from I, Claudius. Here he comes across as the embodiment of (aristocratic) Roman virtues, efficient, competent, patient, dutiful. And either realistic or simply tired of wasting money and lives on the effort of controlling an obscure region without exploitable resources.
Märtin is a meticulous note-keeper which may put off lay readers, but I appreciated this very much. The enormous bibliography is a treasure trove for further reading. However, the annoying typos and misspellings result in less than full marks.

edited for typo… (més)

Already in its seventh printing, this concise biography of the historical Dracula, Vlad III Tepes, situates him in the religious wars that plagued Southeastern Europe. As the general history of that corner of Europe is outside the mainstream, Märtin offers a good introduction of the political and military situation. Europe's pointman, the king of the Hungarians, was usually to distracted by his Western rivals to support the smaller kingdoms and duchies in their fight against the modernized Ottoman Empire.

In an already violent era (dealt with in a genial excursus about cruelty in the later middle ages), the battles, sieges and raids along both sides of the Danube rank second to none.In search of power, religion justified even the vilest acts against helpless civilians. Vlad Tepes certainly ranks among the worst. Märtin's applies Elias Canetti's words about power and violence to Vlad Tepes, It is lack of power, his status as vassal to both Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, his constrained financial and manpower resources, that led him on his ultra-violent path. Being a sociopath made his acts extreme and repulsive to other actors with plenty of blood on their hands themselves. One tiny mistake: Märtin still proclaims Vlad Tepes to be buried in Snagov monastery which is unlikely.

A quick, entertaining read on an often ignored area. Isn't it strange that history books owe their existence solely due to a fictional monster? Hopefully, there will be more books to shed light into this European corner.… (més)