The Order of the Dragon was a semi
military and
religious society, originally created in 1387 by the
Holy Roman Emperor and his second wife, Barbara Cilli.
The main goals of such a secret
fraternal order of
knights were to protect the interests of
Catholicism, and to
crusade against the
Turks.
The boyars of Romania, who knew of Vlad Tepes' father's induction into the Order of the Dragon, decided to call him 'Dracul', which in Romanian means 'Dragon' or 'Devil'.
'Dracula', a diminutive meaning 'the son of Dracul', or 'son of the Devil' or 'Little Dragon', was a surname to ultimately be used by Vlad Tepes.
The Order's official dress was a black cape over a red garment to be worn only on Fridays or during the commemoration of Christ's Passion, was one of the few things accurately reproduced even into modern cinema.