11 Facts About Vlad III the Impaler

What kind of man would you have to be to inspire writers to mold a character that drinks the blood of their victims? Enter Vlad III the Impaler, who lived during the 1400's and gained quite the reputation for inflicting cruel punishments on his victims. In this article, you will encounter 11 facts concerning the man who once held the post of primary commander of a Romanian military force.


1) While Vlad the Impaler received a great deal of attention in the history books, he was also called Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia; Vlad Ţepes; Vlad Dracula; and Dracula for short.

2) Vlad reigned on three separate occasions: 1448, between 1456 and 1462, and 1476.

3) When it came to torture and execution, impalement was Vlad's method of choice. A victim was subjected to objects being driven through their body. The end results are deep stabbing wounds.

4) Vlad served as the inspiration for the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.

5) Vlad was born in 1431 in Soghisoara, Transylvania and died in December of 1497 at the age of 45 years old. He was in Bucharest, Wallachia at the time of his death.

6) Vlad married two women during his lifetime. The first was an unnamed Transylvanian noblewoman that bore him one son, Mihnea cel Rau. His second wife was named Ilona Szilagy, whom married Vlad after one of his stints in prison. She gave birth to two sons. One was named Vlad Dracula, while the second son's name does not appear in any records. For unknown reasons, the younger son spent his days with the Bishop of Oradea (in Transylvania) until he returned to his parents, who were in the city of Buda, where he died soon after from a terminal illness.

7) Vlad's father, Vlad II Dracul, was given the name 'Vlad the Dragon.' He ruled from 1436 to 1442, and once more from 1443 to 1447.

8) Vlad had siblings – three other brothers who would rule Wallachia at some point or another. No one would gain the same notoriety as Vlad. Mircea II and Vlad shared the same mother. Mircea ruled in 1442. Radu the Handsome was younger than Vlad, while Vlad Calugarul was older and known as the more religious out of all the brothers.

9) Vlad's mother was Princess Cneajna of Moldavia.

10) During his early years of life, Vlad was forced to live outside of his intended native country of Wallachia because his family was living in exile in Transylvania. At the time, his father had been relieved of his position by pro-Ottoman boyars, which were high-ranking aristocrats.

11) During the same year that Vlad was brought into the world, his father was vested into the Order of the Dragon, while living in Nuremberg. When Vlad turned five years old, he also joined the Order.