In the 1500s a prince known as Vlad III, emperor of Wallachi, acquired a nickname; Vlad the Impaler. Before that, he was known as Vlad the Dracula.
In the days of military campaign where villages and nations would be subdued by mightier empires, wars, death and destruction was a disturbing normality. In those days the life of a human being was equivalent to that of animals unless you were a member of the nobility.