Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia (14311476/77), was a member of the House of Drculeti, a

branch of the House of Basarab, also known, using his patronymic, as (Vlad) Drculea or
(Vlad) Dracula.
He was posthumously dubbed Vlad the Impaler (Romanian: Vlad epe, pronounced [vlad
ttsepe]), and was a three-time Voivode of Wallachia, ruling mainly from 1456 to 1462, the
period of the incipient Ottoman conquest of the Balkans. His father, Vlad II Dracul, was a
member of the Order of the Dragon, which was founded to protect Christianity in Eastern
Europe. Vlad III is revered as a folk hero in Romania and Bulgaria for his protection of the
Romanians and Bulgarians both north and south of the Danube. Following his raids on the
Ottomans, a significant number of Bulgarian common folk and remaining boyars resettled north
of the Danube to Wallachia and recognized his leadership.[1]
As the cognomen "The Impaler" suggests, his practice of impaling his enemies is part of his
historical reputation.[2] During his lifetime, his reputation for excessive cruelty spread abroad, to
Germany and elsewhere in Europe. The name of the vampire Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's
1897 novel Dracula was inspired by Vlad's patronymic and reputation.[2]