Also known as Prince Dracula and Dracula the Impaler.

Vlad Dracula's was born between 1429 and 1437, In Transylvania. Now called Romanian. The seconded of 3 sons. Mircea, Vlad, and Radu. His father was forced to break treaty with the Turks. Afterward he was obligated to send his children (either through his own idea of keeping peace, or the Turks'), Dracula, 12 or 13, and Radu, about 9, to the Turks as hostages. Dracul would not dare break any more treaties with the Turks for fear of them retaliating against the children.

Dracula spent nearly four years in Turkish captivity, although most of it was probably not spent in a jail cell. While there Dracula learned the Turkish language, finished his education and learned Turkish methods for welfare. Later on, when Vlad Dracul broke another treaty with the Turks, the boys' stay became harsher. Radu, weaker in nature, most likely ended up in the Sultan's harem, and later became a favorite of the Sultan.

Vlad was kept solely as a prisoner, as he was more rebellious. It is here that most scholars think Dracula learned his brutal ways. He certainly got his inclination towards impaling from the Turks, as well as, most likely, a deep abiding hatred for his father who sent him there, and his brother Mircea, who was allowed to stay at their father's side, out of harm's way.

Vlad was made a knight of the Order of the Dragon. Among the rules of th Order there were those that give us some interesting cluse into the making of Dracula's legend.

The following was required from a new knight: The wearing of two capes -- one green -- reminisecent of the dragon's color, to be wron over red garments representing the blood of the martyrs. The other cape was black, later adopted by Bram Stoker's Count Dracula, to be worn only on Fridays or on the occasion of a celebration.

In addition, each member of the Order was required to wear a medallion with the insignia of the dragon artfully created by a master craftsman.The dragon was represented with two wings and for paws outstretched, jaws half open, and its tail curled around its head and its back cleft in two, hanging prostrate in front of a double cross. This symbolized the victory of Christ over the forces of darkness. The medallion had to be worn at all times until the member's death and it was to be placed in the coffin after death.

When Vlad returned to his native country, the people at large, unfamiliar with Vlad's knighthood, seeing a dragon in his shild and later also on his coins, called him "Dracul" with the meaning of the "devil," the dragon represented the devil. The word drac, moreover, can either mean the dragon or the devil in the Romanian language.
The entire family of Vlad came to be known as "Dracul."

The beginning of his reign was hailed by the passing of a comet over Europe, and astrologers of the time regarded this as a omen of bad luck. to earthquakes, illness, plagues, wars. Dracula, on the other hand, saw it as a fateful start to his dominance, and inscribed the comet on one side of his coins. Dracula established his main residence at Tirgoviste.

Dominated by a watchtower he had built from which he could survey the countryside and keep vigil for an impending attach from the Turks, and from which he could also observe the daily slaughtering he ordered in the courtyard below. From where the dreaded Prince watched his subjects impaled and tortured in the courtyard. Dracula gained fame far beyond his position in world politics, greater even than his time in history, a rough and dangerous period beset by constant war, He created a 'forest of the impaled' which lined the roads to welcome invading troops and indeed all visitors at the borders of his country.

Pregnant women, children, young and old men were staked, the sharp poles thrust between their buttocks, the body being pulled downwards until the sharp point appeared through the throat or top of the head, the wooden poles was then planted in the monstrous forest. This was the fist sign to deter anyone, intended to prevent crime or treason against the terrible Drakul leader of this wretched country.

Impalement victim had legs pulled by horses onto a stake ... which was rounded at the end and oiled so as NOT to cause immediate death.
Impalement could be top down, bottom up or through the navel.

Dracule is famous also for cutting off limbs, strangling, blinding, boiling and burning his victims. Unfaithful wives and promiscuous women were punished by Dracule by cutting off their sex organs, skinning them alive and exposing them in public with their skin hanging from a nearby pole .

Dracula may or may not have been a cannibal (ie werewolf) but he most certainly forced others into it ... often forcing mothers to eat their babies.

Vlad died in 1476.

Was he Just a very cruel sick person,

That enjoyed the Tourcher or Was he a Vampyer??

Ill leave that up to you.