Vlad III reclaims the throne of Wallachia

The dreaded “Impaler” is proclaimed prince for the third time

The proclamation of Vlad III – also called Vlad Dracula (“son of the dragon”) – as prince of Wallachia, in what’s now Romania, in November 1476 may not have been greeted with universal joy. For one thing, it didn’t exactly signal a new dawn: this would be his third stint as ruler. His first had lasted a mere two months before he was deposed. His second, though, was longer and more memorable – for all the wrong reasons.

During that reign, from 1456 to 1462, Vlad became infamous for the cruel violence he used against those who slighted or opposed him. When Ottoman envoys refused to remove their turbans in his presence, he ordered their headwear nailed to their skulls. And he reputedly had many of those who displeased him skewered on long wooden spikes, earning the gruesome moniker Vlad Țepeș (“The Impaler”).

As young boys, Vlad and his younger brother Radu had been held as hostages by the Ottomans for five years, and for much of his reign Vlad was at war with that empire. In 1462, Radu joined an imperial army fighting Wallachia; during the conflict that followed, many thousands of Ottoman soldiers were impaled by Vlad, who was nonetheless forced into exile.

In 1475, though, Radu died, and Vlad took Wallachia for a third time the following year. He was proclaimed prince on or before 26 November 1476 – but his final reign was brief. While marching into battle in 1477, Vlad was ambushed and killed by Ottoman forces. The location of his corpse remains unknown, and this – coupled with his dark reputation – prompted rumours that he was undead: a vampire. Centuries later, these eerie tales partly inspired Bram Stoker’s blood-sucking Count Dracula.