Vlad Țepeș Slaughters the Transylvanian Saxons, Wallachia, 1460

Vlad Țepeș -- Vlad the Impaler -- had a reputation for cruelty even during his lifetime, due to the fact that Germany had the printing press and he had impaled the Transylvanian Saxons after destroying much of southern Transylvania. Nowadays, he's conflated with Dracula, and it's true Vlad Dracula was one of his names, but it had nothing to do with vampires and Bram Stoker made the whole thing up. But it was a war crime, even by late medieval standards, to impale an entire population on stakes. In this episode, Anne discusses history and medieval war crimes, and Michelle discusses vampires.  Because of Bram Stoker.