Dracula, the vampire prince of Transylvania, was, according to Bram Stoker's plan, the reincarnation of a real commander from the 15th century. Where does history end and literature begin? This character really existed. The Prince of Wallachia (Romania) is known as Vlad III the Piercer. Among many works about him, this book by the famous specialist in the history of the Byzantine and post-Byzantine periods, Matei Cazacu, is the first complete historical biography. For historians, Dracula is both a brave, visionary commander and a bloody tyrant; for writers, a mysterious vampire. Who was he really: a hero of battles with the Turks, a sophisticated torturer, a sinister vampire? The interest that he still arouses among people proves that Dracula still managed to do what everyone was so afraid of - he lives after death .