Fan Casting Vlad The Impaler in A Courtesan of Rome

Vlad III, known as Vlad the Impaler (or Vlad Dracula; 1428/31 1476/77), was a voivode (meaning "warlord" or "military leader", or a prince) of Wallachia, three times between 1448 and his death. He was the second son of Vlad Dracul, who became the ruler of Wallachia in 1436. Vlad and his younger brother, Radu, were held as hostages in the Ottoman Empire in 1442 to secure their father's loyalty. Vlad's father and eldest brother, Mircea, were murdered after John Hunyadi, Regent-Governor of Hungary, invaded Wallachia in 1447. Hunyadi installed Vlad's second cousin, Vladislav II, as the new voivode.