Vampire Historical Chronology & Notes

Prehistory Vampire beliefs and myths in all cultures of the world.
1047 First appearance of the word upir, the root of vampire, in a written document referring to a Russian prince as Upir Lichy or "wicked vampire".
1190 Walter Map’s De Nagis Curialium includes accounts of vampire like beings in England.
1196 William of Newburgh’s Chronicles records several stories of vampiric revenants in England.
1428(29?) Vlad Tepes, Son of Vlad Dracul, is born.
1436 Vlad Tepes becomes Prince of Wallachia and moves to Tirgoviste.
1442 Vlad Tepes is imprisoned with Dracul by the Turks.
1443 Vlad Tepes becomes a hostage of the Turks.
1447 Vlad Dracul is beheaded.
1448 Vlad Tepes briefly gains the Wallachian throne. Dethroned, he goes to Moldavia and befriends Prince Stefan.
1451 Vlad and Stefan flee to Transylvania.
1455 Constantinople falls.
1456 John Hunyadi assists Vlad Tepes to attain the Wallachian throne. Vladislav Dan is executed.
1458 Matthias Corvinus succeeds John Hunyadi as King of Hungary
1459 Easter massacre of boyers(boyars?) and rebuilding of Castle Dracula. Bucharest is established as second governmental center.
1460 Attack upon Brasov, Romania.
1461 Successful campaign against Turkish settlements along the Danube. Summer retreat to Tirgoviste.
1462 Following the battle of Dracula’s castle, Vlad flees to Transylvania and begins thirteen years of imprisonment
1475 Summer wars against the Turks in Serbia. In November, Vlad resumes the throne of Wallachia.
1476/77 Vlad Tepes is assassinated.
1560 Elizabeth Bathory is born.
1610 Elizabeth Bathory arrested and tried for the killing of several hundred people, estimates stand at 650 based upon evidence given at her trial. She is known to have bathed in their blood. She is sentenced to life imprisonment within her castle.
1614 Elizabeth Bathory dies imprisoned in her castle.
1645 First modern treatment of vampires; Leo Allatius’ "De Graecorum hodie quirundam opinationabus".
1657 Fr. Francoise Richard produces "Relation de ce qui s’est passe a Sant-Erini Isle de l’Archipel", linking witchcraft and vampirism.
1672 Wave of vampire hysteria in Istra.
1679 "De Masticatione Mortuotum", a German vampire text, is produced by Philip Rohr.
1710 Wave of vampire hysteria in East Prussia.
1725 Wave of vampire hysteria in East Prussia, the sequel.
1725-30 Wave of vampire hysteria in Hungary.
1725-32 Wave of vampire hysteria in Austrian Serbia produces the cases of Peter Plogojowitz and Arnold Paole(Paul).
1734 The word "vampyre" enters the English language in translations of accounts of vampire hysteria in Germany.
1744 Cardinal Giuseppe Davanzati publishes "Dissertazione sopre I Vampiri".
1746 Dom Augustin Calmet publishes "Dissertations sur les Apparitions des Anges des Demons et des Espits, et sur les revenants, et Vampires de Hundrie, de Boheme, de Moravie, et de Silesie.
1748 "Der Vampir", by Heinrich August Ossenfelder, the first modern vampire poem is published.
1750 Yet another wave of vampire hysteria in East Prussia.
1756 Peak of vampire hysteria in Wallachia.
1772 Wave of vampire hysteria in Russia.
1789 French Revolution
1810 Reports of vampiric sheep mutilations sweep through Northern England.
1847 Bram Stoker is born.
1854 First widely published account of vampirism in America; Ray family of Jewett, Connecticut.
1872 Vincenzo Verzeni is arrested and convicted in Italy of killing two people and drinking their blood.
1874 Irish reports of vampiric sheep mutilations.
1924 Fritz Harmaann is convicted of killing more than 20 people in a "vampiric" crime spree.
1931 Peter Kurten of Germany is executed for committing "vampire" murders.
1939 World War II begins.
1945 World War II ends.

 

 

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