THE BIG SIX #5: D R A C U L A, Continued.

There is controversy over whether Stoker based his character on the fifteenth-century prince of Wallachia, Vlad III the Impaler. Vlad, also known as Vlad Tepes, and Vlad Dracula, defended Wallachia against the Ottoman Empire (a Turkish state). Stories of his cruelty, ruthlessness and sadistic punishments continued through the centuries. The Romanian surname Draculea comes from his father's title Dracul, meaning Son of the Dragon or The Devil. In the fifteenth-century the word also meant Demon; it arose from the Latin word Draco, also meaning Dragon.

1499 German woodcut of the prince having a meal while Saxon merchants who refused to pay taxes for conducting business in Wallachia are punished.