Vlad II Dracul
voivode of Wallachia
Years: 1393 - 1447
Vlad II (c. 1393 – December 1447), known as Vlad Dracul (English: Vlad the Devil), is a voivode (English: duke) of Wallachia.
He reigns from 1436 to 1442, and again from 1443 to 1447.
He is the father of Mircea II, Vlad Călugărul (English: Vlad the Monk), Vlad III Dracula, who becomes posthumously known by the epithet Ţepeş (English: the Impaler), and Radu III the Beautiful.
Vlad II receives the surname Dracul in 1431, after being inducted into the Order of the Dragon, founded in 1408 by King Sigismund of Hungary (the later Holy Roman Emperor), as part of a design to gain political favor from the Catholic Church and to aid in protecting Wallachia against the Ottoman Empire.
