The name Dracula didn't come from a vampire. It came from a fifteenth-century prince, a secret knightly order, and a gold dragon insignia placed around his neck in a cathedral in Nuremberg. This is the true story of the man who started it all.

The man who gave Dracula his name has been forgotten. This book brings him back.

Everyone knows Dracula. Almost no one knows the man who actually created the name. Vlad Dracul, father of the infamous Impaler and the real origin of the world's most famous monster, has been buried under centuries of vampire fiction and his own son's bloody reputation. This is the first full-length study to tell his story.

In February 1431, in the German city of Nuremberg, a Wallachian prince knelt before the Holy Roman Emperor and was inducted into the Order of the Dragon, an elite crusading brotherhood. He was draped in scarlet and green, a gold dragon insignia placed around his neck. From that day forward, he was called Dracul. The name meant "the Dragon." It would later come to mean something very different.

A.K. Brackob, drawing on Ottoman chronicles, papal documents, Byzantine sources, and Wallachian royal diplomas, reconstructs the life of a ruler who kept his tiny principality alive while Bulgaria and Serbia were wiped off the map. Vlad Dracul fought the Turks when he had to and negotiated with them when he couldn't. He was imprisoned by the Sultan, betrayed by allies, and overthrown by the very man he had once called a friend. A Burgundian crusader who knew him personally called him "renowned for his valor and wisdom" and "very loved by his people."

This is the origin story behind one of history's most recognizable names, told through the life of the man who earned it.

If you think you know Dracula, start here.