Vlad el empalador

A painting in a series depicting historic figures in Romanian history. Vlad Tepes ("The Impaler") was a prince of Vallachia in the middle 1400s. His cruel methods gave him an aura of savagery and terror, but were very effective in eradicating crime and keeping the country free from occupation. He was one of the very few who stood up to the Ottomans and defeated them several times against impossible odds. And no, he was not a vampire :)