The Drăculeşti were one of two major rival lines of Wallachia

Wallachia

Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...

n voivodes of the House of Basarab

House of Basarab

The Basarabs were a family which had an important role in the establishing of the Principality of Wallachia, giving the country its first line of Princes, one closely related with the Muşatin rulers of Moldavia...

, the other being the Dăneşti

House of Danesti

The House of Dănești was one of the two main lineages of the Wallachian noble family House of Basarab. They were descended from Dan I of Wallachia.The other lineage of the Basarabs is the House of Drăculești....

.

These lines were in constant contest for the throne from the late fourteenth to the early sixteenth centuries. Descendents of the line of Drăculeşti would eventually come to dominate the rule of this principality

Principality

A principality is a monarchical feudatory or sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a monarch with the title of prince or princess, or by a monarch with another title within the generic use of the term prince....

 until its unification with Transylvania

Transylvania

Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...

 and Moldavia

Moldavia

Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...

 by Mihai Viteazul in 1600.

As the house of Dăneşti, the line of the Drăculeşti began with Vlad II Dracul

Vlad II Dracul

Vlad II , known as Vlad Dracul , was a voivode of Wallachia. He reigned from 1436 to 1442, and again from 1443 to 1447...

 , one of the sons of one of the most important rulers of Basarab dynasty, Mircea cel Bătrân.
The name Drăculeşti is derived probably from the membership of Mircea's son Vlad II Dracul

Vlad II Dracul

Vlad II , known as Vlad Dracul , was a voivode of Wallachia. He reigned from 1436 to 1442, and again from 1443 to 1447...

 "the Dragon" in the Order of the Dragon

Order of the Dragon

The Order of the Dragon was a monarchical chivalric order for selected nobility,founded in 1408 by Sigismund, King of Hungary and later Holy Roman Emperor The Order of the Dragon (Latin Societas Draconistrarum) was a monarchical chivalric order for selected nobility,founded in 1408 by Sigismund,...

 (founded 1408).
The son of Vlad II was Vlad III Drăculea ("Dracula", i.e. "[son] of Dracul").

Members of the Drăculeşti line

Members of the Drăculeşti line who held the throne of Wallachia include the following:

Ruler	Remark
Vlad II Dracul Vlad II Dracul Vlad II , known as Vlad Dracul , was a voivode of Wallachia. He reigned from 1436 to 1442, and again from 1443 to 1447...	1436-1442, 1443-1447; son of Mircea cel Bătrân
Mircea II Mircea II of Wallachia Mircea II was a one time ruler of the principality of Wallachia, in the year 1442. He was the oldest son of Vlad II Dracul and brother of Vlad Ţepeş and Radu the Handsome...	1442; son of Vlad II
Vlad III Drăculea Vlad III the Impaler Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia , also known by his patronymic Dracula , and posthumously dubbed Vlad the Impaler , was a three-time Voivode of Wallachia, ruling mainly from 1456 to 1462, the period of the incipient Ottoman conquest of the Balkans...	1448, 1456-1462, 1476; son of Vlad II
Radu cel Frumos Radu cel Frumos Radu III the Fair, Radu III the Handsome or Radu III the Beautiful , also known by his Turkish name Radu Bey , was the younger brother of Vlad Ţepeş and voivode of the principality of Wallachia, of the four brothers he converted to Islam and entered Ottoman service...	1462-1473, 1474; son of Vlad II
Vlad Călugărul Vlad Calugarul Vlad IV Călugărul, translated as Vlad the Monk, was the pious half-brother of Vlad III , and one of many rulers of Wallachia during the 15th century...	1481, 1482-1495; son of Vlad II
Radu cel Mare Radu cel Mare Radu IV the Great was a Voivode of Wallachia from September 1495 to April 1508. He succeeded his father, Vlad Călugărul, who was one of the three brothers to Vlad III the Impaler . He was married to Princess Catalina Crnojević of Zeta, and was succeeded by his first cousin Mihnea cel Rău, son to...	1495-1508; son of Vlad Călugărul
Mihnea cel Rău Mihnea cel Rau Mihnea cel Rău , the son of Vlad III Dracula , and his first wife, was Voivode of Wallachia from 1508 to 1509, having replaced his first cousin Radu cel Mare. During his reign, he ruled alongside his son Mircea III Dracul in the year 1509...	1508-1509; son of Vlad III
Mircea III Dracul Mircea III Dracul Mircea III Dracul was Hospodar of Wallachia in 1510. He was married to Maria Despina and was the father of Alexandru II Mircea. His father was Mihnea cel Rău and mother, Mihnea's second wife, Voica. It is known that Mircea was a physically strong and brutal man since he had caught some of the...	1510; son of Mihnea cel Rău
Vlad cel Tânăr	1510-1512; son of Vlad Călugărul
Radu de la Afumaţi	1522-1523, 1524, 1524-1525, 1525-1529; son of Radu cel Mare
Radu Bădica	1523-1524; son of Radu cel Mare
Vlad Înecatul Vlad Înecatul Vlad VI of Wallachia was the voivode [prince] who ruled Wallachia between June 1530 and September 1532. He has been historically referenced as Vlad Înecatul ["Vlad the Drowned"], as a description of the manner of his death....	1530-1532; son of Vlad cel Tânăr
Vlad Vintilă de la Slatina	1532-1534, 1534-1535; son of Radu cel Mare
Radu Paisie Radu Paisie Radu Paisie also known as Petru de la Argeş was a ruler of the principality of Wallachia in the 16th century. He reigned from September 1534 to November 1534, and again from June 1535 to March 1545....	1534, 1535-1545; son of Radu cel Mare
Mircea Ciobanul Mircea Ciobanul Mircea the Shepherd was the Prince of Wallachia three times: January 1545 –16 November 1552; May 1553–28 February 1554 ; and January 1558–21 September 1559.-Biography:He was the fifth son of Radu cel Mare...	1545-1552, 1553–1554, 1558-1559; son of Radu cel Mare
Pătraşcu cel Bun Pătraşcu cel Bun Pătraşcu cel Bun was the Prince of Wallachia . He was the son of Radu Paisie and the father of Michael the Brave; he was a member of the House of Drăculeşti...	1554-1558; son of Radu Paisie
Petru cel Tânăr	1559-1568; son of Mircea Ciobanul
Alexandru II Mircea Alexandru II Mircea Alexandru II Mircea was Hospodar of Wallachia from 1568 to 1574 and 1574 to 1577. He was the father of Mihnea II Turcitul. His parents were Mircea III Dracul and Maria Despina...	1568-1574, 1574-1577; son of Mircea III Dracul
Vintilă	1574; son of Pătraşcu cel Bun
Mihnea Turcitul Mihnea Turcitul Mihnea II Turcitul was Prince of Walachia between September 1577 and July 1583, and again from April 1585 to May 1591....	1577-1583, 1585-1591; son of Alexandru II Mircea
Petru Cercel Petru Cercel Petru II Cercel was a Voivode of Wallachia from 1583 to 1585, bastard son to Pătraşcu cel Bun and alleged half-brother of Mihai Viteazul. A polyglot and a minor figure as a poet, Petru is noted for having written his verses in Tuscan...	1583-1585; son of Pătraşcu cel Bun
Mihai Viteazul	1593-1600; possibly a son of Pătraşcu cel Bun

Sources

• Constantin C.Giurescu - Istoria românilor vol. II, Editura ştiinţifică şi enciclopedică, Bucureşti 1976

See also

• List of rulers of Wallachia