Who was Count Dracula?
Dracula was Prince Vlad the 3rd Dracul, known also as Vlad the Impaler. The Ottomans called him Kaziglu Bey. He was the Prince of Wallachia but, the legends say that he was born in Transylvania, which was under Hungarian possession. Wallachia was formed in 1290 by Radu Negru (the Black). It was dominated by Hungary until 1330, when it became independent. The first ruler of this new country was Prince Basarab the Great (1310-1352). Dracula was born in November or December 1431. His baptism name was Vlad. He had an older brother, Mircea, and a younger brother, Radu the Hansom. Their mother was probably a princess from Moldavia or a noble woman from Transylvania. It is said that she educated Dracula in his first years. Later on, he was trained for the dignity of the knight by an old Turkish boyar who fought for the Ottomans. His father, named also Vlad, was born around 1390 and educated in Hungary and Germany. He served as a page for King Sigismund of Hungary, who became Emperor Roman the
