 Byron was also credited with the first prose fiction piece concerned with vampires : The Vampyre ( 1819 ) . This was in reality authored by Byron 's personal physician , John Polidori , who adapted an enigmatic fragmentary tale of his illustrious patient , " Fragment of a Novel " ( 1819 ) , also known as " The Burial : A Fragment " . Byron 's own dominating personality , mediated by his lover Lady Caroline Lamb in her unflattering roman @-@ a @-@ clef , Glenarvon ( a Gothic fantasia based on Byron 's wild life ) , was used as a model for Polidori 's undead protagonist Lord Ruthven . The Vampyre was highly successful and the most influential vampire work of the early 19th century . 
