![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
On this day, 1890CE, Henry Edward Yelverton, 19th Baron Grey de Ruthyn, died. Henry is connected, in a very loose way, to the modern myth of the Vampire. In a manner of speaking, the Baron lived in Dracula's winter estate. Remember that show, Connections? Hold on, here it comes.
Dracula, of course, is the now immortal character (ironic, no?) that came from the mind of Bram Stoker. While there is a tenuous connection between the Count and the historical Vlad the Impaler, there is a stronger connection to another historical figure who, amazingly, is even more interesting than the Prince of Wallachia. That fellow is George Gordon Byron. While not a Count or a Prince, he was a Baron.
A major figure in English Romantic literature, Lord Byron is responsible for not one, but two major contributions to Gothic horror literature and early Hollywood monster movies. And the catalyst for this was a dreary summer in 1816 at Lord Byron's in Villa Diodati in Switzerland.
Among the guests at the Villa were Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin ( not yet Shelly) and Byron's personal physician John William Polidori. After many evenings of reading ghost stories, notably German tales in the Gothic style, Byron challenged his guests to try their hand at their own stories. Byron himself and Percy Bysshe Shelley were the big literary names of the day, but two others would have the most influence horror fiction history.
Many know that this summer Mary, who would be Mary Shelly by the time her novel was completed, started to write Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. But there was another notable novel, or novella, published from Byron's challenge.
Byron never finished his story, writing barely a chapter. His physician, Dr. Polidori, used that chapter as the beginning of his own work, The Vampyre. When first published in 1819, the story was attributed to Byron, not Polidori. Both men vocally objected to this, but the damage, and the hype, was done.
The main character of The Vampyre, Lord Ruthven bore an unmistakable resemblance to Byron himself. This, along with the popularity of the Gothic horror genre at the time, made to story extremely popular in it's day.
Many of his contemporaries noted Lord Byron's almost supernatural charisma. He lived extravagantly, had many public affairs, and was plagued by scandalous rumors of bisexuality and incestuous relations. Lady Caroline Lamb, one of his lovers, described him as "mad, bad, and dangerous to know."
As the inspiration for Lord Ruthven, and the catalyst for the writing of The Vampyre, Byron helps to introduce the aristocratic undead into English literature. Such a character didn't exist before then, though a notable version would appear 76 years later in the form of Dracula.
Though some time passes between works, it's unlikely that Stoker was unfamiliar with that other Lord vampire. In a very real sense, even more so than that Romanian Vlad fellow, Lord Byron is the inspiration for Count Dracula.
Oh, and the Baron Grey de Ruthyn, the guy who died on this day in 1890? He rented Newstead Abby from Baron Byron. Strange but true.
Dracula, of course, is the now immortal character (ironic, no?) that came from the mind of Bram Stoker. While there is a tenuous connection between the Count and the historical Vlad the Impaler, there is a stronger connection to another historical figure who, amazingly, is even more interesting than the Prince of Wallachia. That fellow is George Gordon Byron. While not a Count or a Prince, he was a Baron.
A major figure in English Romantic literature, Lord Byron is responsible for not one, but two major contributions to Gothic horror literature and early Hollywood monster movies. And the catalyst for this was a dreary summer in 1816 at Lord Byron's in Villa Diodati in Switzerland.
Among the guests at the Villa were Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin ( not yet Shelly) and Byron's personal physician John William Polidori. After many evenings of reading ghost stories, notably German tales in the Gothic style, Byron challenged his guests to try their hand at their own stories. Byron himself and Percy Bysshe Shelley were the big literary names of the day, but two others would have the most influence horror fiction history.
Many know that this summer Mary, who would be Mary Shelly by the time her novel was completed, started to write Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. But there was another notable novel, or novella, published from Byron's challenge.
Byron never finished his story, writing barely a chapter. His physician, Dr. Polidori, used that chapter as the beginning of his own work, The Vampyre. When first published in 1819, the story was attributed to Byron, not Polidori. Both men vocally objected to this, but the damage, and the hype, was done.
The main character of The Vampyre, Lord Ruthven bore an unmistakable resemblance to Byron himself. This, along with the popularity of the Gothic horror genre at the time, made to story extremely popular in it's day.
Many of his contemporaries noted Lord Byron's almost supernatural charisma. He lived extravagantly, had many public affairs, and was plagued by scandalous rumors of bisexuality and incestuous relations. Lady Caroline Lamb, one of his lovers, described him as "mad, bad, and dangerous to know."
As the inspiration for Lord Ruthven, and the catalyst for the writing of The Vampyre, Byron helps to introduce the aristocratic undead into English literature. Such a character didn't exist before then, though a notable version would appear 76 years later in the form of Dracula.
Though some time passes between works, it's unlikely that Stoker was unfamiliar with that other Lord vampire. In a very real sense, even more so than that Romanian Vlad fellow, Lord Byron is the inspiration for Count Dracula.
Oh, and the Baron Grey de Ruthyn, the guy who died on this day in 1890? He rented Newstead Abby from Baron Byron. Strange but true.