Vlad III; Prince of Wallachia (1431-1476/77); was a member of the House of Dracule?ti; a branch of the House of Basarab; also known; using his patronymic; as (Vlad) Draculea or (Vlad) Dracula.

He was posthumously dubbed Vlad the Impaler (Romanian: Vlad ?epe?); 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 as well as other parts of Europe for his protection of the Romanian population both south and north of the Danube. A significant number of Romanian and Bulgarian common folk and remaining boyars (nobles) moved north of the Danube to Wallachia; recognized his leadership and settled there following his raids on the Ottomans.

As the cognomen 'The Impaler' suggests; his practice of impaling his enemies is part of his historical reputation. 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. Pictures From History