The Golden Book

It isn’t the Occio Lumen from THE STRAIN, but it’s the closest we’re likely to get in the real world. This magnificent gold-bound tome is located today in the Treasury of the National Museum of Romanian History in Bucharest, the city founded by Dracula himself. It is a “Tetraevangelium”, or a book containing the four Gospels, and was printed in 1693. Its golden covers were fashioned by a Sibiu goldsmith named Sebastien Hann, and was commissioned by Constantin Brancoveanu, the then voivode of Wallachia (which is, as all vampire marks should recognize, the title also held by Vlad Dracula III). Brancoveanu was of the Basarab lineage, so it’s a safe bet he and Dracula were related somehow, though not directly, as historian Marius-Mircea Crișan states in DRACULA: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE. But like Dracula, Brancoveanu had his own problems with the Turks.

Brancoveanu, or Saint Constantin, as he is now known in the Orthodox Church, was captured and executed in Istanbul (not Constantinople!) by the Turkish sultan in 1714, along with his sons and his attendant Ianache Vacarescu, when they refused to convert to Islam.

Constantin Brancoveanu, by the way, is the only Romanian official, other than Dracula, mentioned by Bram Stoker in his notes for DRACULA.

By TheCheezman

WAYNE MILLER is the owner and creative director of EVIL CHEEZ PRODUCTIONS, specializing in theatrical performances and haunted attractions. He has written, produced, and directed (and occasionally acted in) over two dozen plays, most of them in the Horror and True Crime genres. He obtained a doctorate in Occult Studies from Miskatonic University and is an active paranormal investigator. Is frequently told he resembles Anton Lavey. And Ming the Merciless. Denn die totden reiten schnell!

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