Prince of Wallachia, also known as Vlad III, Vlad the Impaler, Vlad Dracula, or Vlad Tepes. Born between 1428 and 1431, the second of four sons of Eupraxia of Moldavia and Vlad II Dracul of Wallachia. In 1442, he accompanied his father and brother, Radu, on a diplomatic mission. The three were captured, but Vlad II was released while his two sons remained as hostages to ensure the father's behavior. In the ensuing five years of captivity, the brothers were said to have been instructed in the art of war, science, and philosophy, and were alleged to also have been subjected to torture and beatings. It is thought that it was during this time that Vlad developed his hatred of the Ottomans. In 1447, Vlad II was ousted as ruler of Wallachia by local boyars and was killed with his son, Mircea. Vlad III, released by the Ottomans, embarked on a campaign to regain his father's seat. He won a temporary victory in 1448, but within months, the usurper, Vladislav II returned from crusade and forced Vlad out. His next actions become difficult to trace in the historic record, but in 1456, he did seize the throne as Vlad III, after Vladislav II was defeated and killed. To consolidate his power and assert his dominance, he invited what was said to have been hundreds of boyars and members of their families to a banquet. He had his guests killed, and their bodies impaled on spikes, and then dined within the resulting forest of spiked bodies. One of his first orders was then the cessation of an annual tribute to the Ottoman sultan. In 1462, he moved against the Ottomans sacking and plundering local strongholds. The sultan responded by invading Wallachia with the aim of installing the pro-Ottoman Radu on the throne. After an hours long night battle, Vlad was forced to retreat, and ordered an reported 20,000 Ottoman prisoners to be impaled on stakes outside the city of Târgoviște. When the victorious Sultan Mehmed II viewed the field of the dead, he was reportedly so horrified that he fled to Constantinople. Vlad was forced into exile and was imprisoned in Hungary. During that same period, he married and had at least two children. Radu, who held the Wallachian throne, died in 1475, and local boyars, favored Vlad's return. In 1476, with the support of the ruler of Moldavia, Vlad successfully took back the throne. Later that same year, however, while moving against the Ottomans, he and his vanguard were ambushed, and he was killed. His grave location is in question; some claim he was buried in the monastery chapel in Snagov, while other claim him to have been buried at the Monastery of Comana, which was close to the reported location of the battle in which he fell.