Vlad was born in 1431 and reigned on and off from 1448 as Prince Woiwode of Walachei, the southern part of today's Romania, clashing regularly with the Ottoman Empire, Hungary's King Matthias Corvinus, and the Saxon cities of Transylvania. Although he achieved important victories over the Ottomans, Corvinus took him prisoner, and he was killed in 1477 in renewed fighting with Ottoman troops.