The St. Gall Dracula Manuscript - 1500.

The Library Of St. Gallen, Switzerland. 

St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Codice Sang. 806, p283 to p288.

This is another collection of stories concerning Vlad III Dracula that have emanated from the Michael Beheim poem of 1463 through the Dracole Waida of 1488 and into this work from 1500, I present this translation as an act of completion. It is not a total translation but the best I could achieve, it will certainly give you the gist of the original, which is housed in the St. Gallen Library in Switzerland.

King Caspar of Hungary sent old Daniel to the land of the Turks, and he had him say that he should bring him the Turk's tribute, which he had formerly promised to give every year.

Then Daniel went to the Turks and brought the tribute and gave it. But the Turks were angry about this, and they wished to seize the land of Wallachia.

And there was a lord named Dracula, who sat in that land as prince.

Then they began to quarrel with him and seized some of his people. But Dracula caused them to be seized again and punished.

Then they came again with an army and wanted to drive him out of the land. But he resisted them bravely and did them much harm.

Then the Turks marched into Wallachia with a great host. Dracula had his people withdrew into the forests and mountains and left the country empty.

Thus the Turks came into the land and found nothing to take. They burned villages and took prisoners wherever they could find them.

But Dracula followed them continually with his men and attacked them, often by night.

And he caused great fear among them, so that they did not know where they were safe. Then he set traps for them in the roads and in the woods. 

And many Turks were taken and impaled. He also caused many of them to be burned and others to be flayed.

And he did many strange things in order to frighten the Turks.

Jane Pye And The Morpeth Witch Trial of 1651.

Mid seventeenth century Britain was a volatile place, we had religious extremism, civil war and regicide. In 1649 the Scots Covenanter parliament passed an extension on the Scottish Witchcraft Act of 1563, this made it a capital crime to blaspheme, beat or curse against your parents, worship false gods, or consult familiars or devils.

This sparked a rise in witch hunts in Scotland that soon spilled over the border into Northumberland, at Newcastle the Puritan magistrates employed a Scottish witch finder to help them with this scourge. He would receive 20 shillings per witch found. Of course witch hunts were not uncommon in England, there had been witch hunts, on and off, since the fifteenth century. The infamous Matthew Hopkins had been terrorising East Anglia during the 1640s, up to his death from tuberculosis in 1647.

All you had to do was to denounce a woman as a witch and she would be arrested and placed on trial for her life. During 1650 thirty women of Newcastle were taken to Newgate Gaol, and one, Jane Martin, was taken to Newcastle Castle, as this was the prison for those resident in Northumberland.

All 31 were tried, on the 21st August 1650 sixteen were found guilty and were hanged along with other malefactors on the Town Moor. Witches in England were typically hanged not burned as they were in Scotland, the only witches burned in England had other crimes levelled against them such as treason or murdering their husbands. But this was not the end of this persecution, it is now 1651, and we travel north to the charming market town of Morpeth.

Perfect Diurnall of Some Passages and Proceedings - 6th October - 13th October 1651.

"From Newcastle October 4 thus: 

The Gaol delivery at Morpeth began on Wednesday last and ended on Saturday night; Col. Wastel was judge, there was six notorious thieves brought from Carlisle and five of them was condemned, and twelve more, whereof one Armstrong was to be pressed to death for murdering a woman (for saving his land) and two witches were condemned, old Mistress Pye of Morpeth, and Anne Cheney of Sheales; 18 of them were hanged and Mistress Pye was the first.

There was about 30 felons in prison, and many out upon bond that were not tried, because Colonel Wastel would not stay any longer, but he was very honest for the time he was there, (Mistress Pye's gold would not save her) Col. Fitch was at the Gaol delivery, and went to Wallington on Saturday night, and so for Carlisle, to provide and make ready for his march into Scotland.

The list of felons at Morpeth follows;

Frances Anderson, alias David Shealhoxson

Robert Armstrong, alias Hob The Lord

James Armstrong, alias Kinsmonth

Mr Elliot, alias Mow The Wallet

Henry Noble, George Armstrong, Will Duglasse, Robert Fletcher, James Turner, John Kea, John Henderson, John Thompson, Alex Hunter, Rich Dowthait, James Foster, Thomas Greene.

John Armstrong pressed to death to save his land, for killing a woman.

Mistress Pye of Morpeth, and Anne Cheney of Sheales, both witches."

Colonel Wastel was most likely the Parliamentarian officer Colonel Daniel Axtel who was in charge of security during the trial of Charles I in 1649, and was involved in the Cromwellian war in Ireland where he won several battles. 

His killing of prisoners would later get him court marshalled and sent back to England. 

After the restoration in 1659 he was arrested and in 1660 was executed at Tyburn by being hanged, drawn and quartered for regicide.

The others hanged with Pye were quite possibly mosstroopers, brigands who were very active on the borders at this time, the mosstroopers were the descendants of the border reivers.

So who were the Pye family?

According to "Hodgson the Historian" (John Hodgson-Hinde) in the Morpeth Herald - Saturday 12th January 1861;

"The family were old and respectable occupants of this town. Richard Pye was a bailiff in 1580 and 1584; John Pye in 1595, 1607, and 1612; Thomas Pye in 1628 and John Pye in 1632 and 1647, and Francis Pye in other successive years.

Three of the name Pye were rectors of Morpeth in the seventeenth century. A lady of the family, Jane Pye, was executed for witchcraft in 1658..... It is certain, however, that the present Queen's Head, in Bridge Street, in this town, belonged to this family."

The Queen's Head Prior to The Mock Tudor Facelift

The Morpeth Witch Trials were the subject of a lecture by Mr Jas Fergusson at a meeting of the Young Men's Mutual Instruction Association in the St. Georges Presbyterian Schoolroom, published in the Morpeth Herald - Saturday 5th November 1881;

"In dealing with the Morpeth witches he told first of all how the renowned magician of the twelfth century, Michael Scott, undertook to make the tide flow right up to Morpeth, and how through the fear and curiosity of a woman it stopped at Sheepwash.

Coming then to the seventeenth century, full details were given of the famous Morpeth witch case......which attracted a great attendance of magistrates in the town, the accusation made by Ann Armstrong against Ann Baites minutely described; also the burning of Jane Pye in Goosehill, and the appearance of the 'woman in white' - said to have been Margaret Milbourne - on the High Stanners, as testified by Isabell Fletcher, and added to by Dorothy Himers. The absurdities, inconsistencies, incongruities of the evidence were fully pointed out. Both Ann Baites and Margaret Milbourne survived the accusation."

A more detailed account came from an article on the Pye family published in the - Morpeth Herald - Thursday 2nd October 1997;

"A very surprising fact is that a lady of this family was convicted of witchcraft in 1658 and at Goosehill was executed.

Ann Armstrong, a notorious witchfinder, accused a coven, which among others included Ann Bates of Morpeth, wife of a tanner, 'of dancing with the devil at Riding Bridgend.' It seems she did not suffer the fate of Jane Pye."

Jane Pye was not burned at the stake, but the execution site is interesting, Goosehill. In later centuries Fair Moor was used, and Morpeth Gaol, but this is the first time I have heard of Goosehill as a place of execution, I believe a Gaol from the sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century was located in this area.

A Map Showing Morpeth Castle 1604

Further information concerning Goosehill was published in an article called "Disappearing Morpeth" - Morpeth Herald - Friday 17th July 1964;

"The demolition of the Goosehill cottages has begun; that is, the terrace of five or six with another short terrace behind and running to the river. There is a tradition that these little houses were built for warders at the county gaol.....

Goosehill itself, by that name, goes back to 1658, when Jane Pye, of the family that lived in the Queen's Head was executed at this place for witchcraft, just two years after the date on the coat of arms of the Pyes in the hotel building. It does not have this name on the 1604 map, however, but instead a partly illegible name like 'Watgrene.'"

Ever since the 1861 and 1881 newspaper articles the date of Jane Pye's execution has been erroneously placed in 1658 instead of 1651, it has also been stated that she was burned, this was not the policy of executing witches in England, she was hanged. Another poor victim of religious fanaticism, among thousands.

Roll up! Roll Up! Come And See The Amazing Enigmarelle.

New York 1904, Mr Frederick J. Ireland introduces his automaton wonder 'Enigmarelle' to the world's stage, according to the Langport & Somerton Herald on Saturday 29th October 1904;

"Science and Invention. The latest automaton has made its debut in New York. It is called 'Enigmarelle,' and it will walk, dance, write its name on a blackboard, go through calisthenic exercises, and smoke a cigarette. It has even been arrested for furious riding on a bicycle."

After being shown around the US Enigmarelle was ready to cross the pond, in 1905 Mr Ireland, the automaton's owner, creator, constant companion and booking agent landed in Great Britain. Their first performance was at the London Hippodrome Theatre.

The Penny Illustrated Paper - Saturday 17th June 1905.

"Another startling novelty has made its first bow at the London Hippodrome this week. The directors have engaged a really enigmatical turn called 'Enigmarelle.' When Mrs Shelley wrote that marvelously sensational romance 'Frankenstein' it was prophesied that sooner or later science would discover a means whereby her brilliant ideas would be carried into complete execution, or, at least, nearly so.

The occasion has now arisen. The modern Prometheus, who has invented 'Enigmarelle,' has evidently based his plans upon those of 'Frankenstein,' and succeeded far beyond the expectations of even himself in producing the most startling reproductions of a human figure possible.

It is purely mechanical. The marvel is, this modern Prometheus has not succeeded in making it talk. When wound up, or rather, set going, 'Enigmarelle' walks straight, or at angles, or in circles without the slightest assistance, and, astounding to relate, writes its own name on a blackboard.

It weighs 190 pounds, and is six feet in height. Another remarkable phenomenon regarding 'Enigmarelle' is the dismemberment of the legs, arms and head; a complete exposure of the interior of the head and body, and immediately afterwards, the revivification of the automaton. We have heard of the Iron Horse, but the magneto-electric-cum-human nondescript is certainly new and strange.

'Enigmarelle' consists of nearly as many component parts as a ninety horsepower racing motorcar, and probably cost ten times more to construct. It took ten years to complete, the latter five being expended on solving the problems of making it write its own name without assistance.

Frederick Ireland Showing The Inner Workings.

To those who are interested in mathematics, in scientific research, in horology, and the solution of the vexed question of perpetual motion, 'Enigmarelle' will undoubtedly prove a splendid object for study; while to the lay mind it will prove itself one of the most curious inventions of the human brain.

Until the inventor (the modern Prometheus) discloses his secret of maintaining the perfect equilibrium of this enormous moving weight, it will remain to everybody exactly what it is, 'an enigma.'"

The Folkestone Express, Sandgate, Shorncliffe & Hythe Advertiser - Saturday 24th June 1905.

"The Mechanical Man. 

Some time ago we were puzzling over 'Phroso,' who was (so some people said) a man behaving like a machine. Now we have 'Enigmarelle,' who is a machine behaving like a man.

Enigmarelle is a piece of work indeed, in action something like Mlle. Genee (Dame Adeline Genee DBE, a famous dancer in Edwardian times) in the first part of the doll ballet (only Mlle. Genee cannot help being graceful, and Enigmarelle cannot help being clumsy): in apprehension like enough, at any rate, to a man to be able to ride a bicycle round the arena alone and to write his name unaided on a blackboard.

He is made of 365 different parts; his back bristles with switches and handles and knobs; the front of his chest opens to show the wheels go round; his head comes in two and proves to be full of electric lights; and his forearm and legs come off to show the magnets and metals of which they are made.

And through it all he preserves a pleasant smile on his waxen face, and does not stop his turn, like the pygmies, when you applaud him. His exhibitor makes no secret of his composition, or so it appears to a layman in electricity. His remarks bristle with storage accumulators, volts, amperes, rheostats, and so forth, as thickly as Enigmarelle's back with switches. The result of it all is a most uncanny monster."

With the Hippodrome run complete it was time to take the mechanical wonder on tour, however, not everything went to Mr Ireland's plan, during a promotional event in London Enigmarelle fell foul of the law.

Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper - Sunday 20th August 1905.

"Obstruction by Advertisement.

At West London Police Court on Thursday Mr E. H. Dobson, manager of the Shepherd's Bush Empire music hall; Mr W. A. Bennett, Press representative at the hall; Mr F. Ireland, and George Dee, were summoned for being concerned in causing an obstruction in Goldhawk Road by parading a mechanical figure called 'Enigmarelle,' which has been exhibited at the hall.

Enigmarelle in Goldhawk Road

The magistrate (Mr Garrett), after hearing evidence, observed that there was no question that an obstruction was caused, and the common sense view of it was that the defendants wished to advertise the mechanical figure. 

The larger the crowd the better the advertisement, and the object of the defendants was 'to cause a crowd to assemble.' He fined Ireland 40s, Dobson and Bennett 20s each, and Dee 5s."

A description of one such spectacle was published in the London and Provincial Entr'acte - Saturday 26th August 1905.

"Drives A Coach And Horses Round Nottingham.

'There he is; can't you see him walking along there? He's walking right enough.'

These and similar exclamations were uttered by a crowd that jostled and swayed outside the Empire at 11.15 on Wednesday - a crowd so varied in its units as to force upon one philosophical reflections of how universal a failing is curiosity.

South Sherwood Street was impassable, blocked by people who had come to see Enigmarelle, the marvellous electric 'man,' who heads the Empire bill for the week, and whose appearance caused quite a sensation in London recently. 

The announcement had been made that Enigmarelle would drive a coach and horses in the streets of the city, and the sceptical and those who have seen the Empire performance and were, perhaps, convinced that Enigmarelle is really a dummy and does not contain a living figure of any kind, were at one in their anxiety to see how it could handle the reins.

Dressed in its black velvet and gold braided costume, with its pink cheeks and fixed waxen smile, Enigmarelle walked, with its ponderous, staggering gait, to the coach that was waiting; climbed, with some assistance, up a ladder on to the box, and abruptly sat down.

The the reins were strapped to its wooden fingers; on the moving of a lever in its back there was a sound of the sharp growling of an electric contact spark, the figure raised its arms from the elbow, and off started the horses. With an excited, amused, wondering crowd following, the coach was steered down Kings Street, through the Great Market Place, along the Poultry, up Clumber Street, and Milton Street, and along Mansfield Road to Carrington.

Then, turning turning the coach to the left, the dummy drove along Gregory Boulevard, down Radford Road, Alfreton Road, and Derby Road, and then into Wheeler Gate. Still the crowd followed as the coach proceeded down Arkwright Street to Trent Bridge, and, 'doubling' to the left, returned up London Road to Speinton, and by way of Lace Market to the Great Market Place.

All the while Enigmarelle's 'manager' sat behind the figure and manipulated the switch board on its back, and an assistant, sitting beside it, gave it what little assistance it required in controlling the four horses."

Frederick Ireland toured Enigmarelle around Europe for the next couple of years, finally returning to America in 1908. He still entertained crowds with his grand creation, but by 1913 it was wearing a bit thin. The automaton was wheeled out (I believe) for the last time at the Exposition Internationale Du Surrealisme, Paris in 1938, however, he failed to perform to everyones disappointment.

A Hoax?

Was Enigmarelle really such an intricate automaton? A carefully crafted machine who could perform amazing feats at the beck and call of its creator. In fact, no, it wasn't, inside the colossus of cogs, wheels and flashing lights, Enigmarelle alas had a human heart, Frederick Ireland never gave the secret away.

Mr Alba W. Root

So who was the powerhouse within the new Prometheus, his name was Alba W. Root, Root had lost both of his legs in a railway accident when he was a child. 

Later in life he would perform tricks on bicycles while wearing wooden legs, and work closely with vaudeville comedy act the Kelly Brothers, he was promoted as "the champion legless bicyclist."

Members of Roots family remember seeing Enigmarelle's head in the family home attic, a terrifying spectacle I'm sure! It is said that Kelly and Root owned Enigmarelle and they employed Frederick Ireland as manager, they performed in the USA, Great Britain and Germany, and by 1905 - 06 they were earning around $250 USD per week.

It was one of the best hoaxes of the Edwardian period, an audacious stunt that paid off handsomely, well played those men. Now that's what I call Steampunk!

Alba Root Performing His Bicycle Tricks.