High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia (1431-1476), also known by his patronymic Dracula (son of the Dragon (Vlad II) Dracul), and posthumously dubbed Vlad the Impaler (Romanian: Vlad epe pronounced ), 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 was a member of the Order of the Dragon (Dracul) and Dracula means son of the Dragon to indicate his father's title within the Order of the Dragon.