Vlad the Impaler
The fictional vampire in the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker was inspired by the legends of this Wallachian prince. The cruel person of the Impaler was a suitable character for Stoker's purposes possibly combined with Oscar Wilde, a poet whom dated Stoker's wife and was outed as homosexual near the making of Stoker's famous novel. The events of Vlad's life happened in a region of the world that was still medieval in Stoker's time.