Horace Walpole (September 1717- March 1798) first applied the term “Gothic” to his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto. When he set out to write his novel he intended to combine elements of the medieval and the modern style. Set in a haunted castle, the novel follows the story of a Prince who develops a passionate infatuation with the young woman that is betrothed to his son. After the rather ominous death of his son, the Prince spends the rest of the narratives trying to avoid further destruction. This novel introduced some of the tropes that became integral to the conventions of Gothic fiction such as impending curses, mysterious rooms, and the direct or indirect involvement of the supernatural.