1670 AD
Castlevania: Order of Shadows
Nearly 100 years after Dracula's first defeat at the hands of Christopher Belmont, an order of his followers arose dedicated to the mission of resurrecting their lord, Dracula once more. Led by cult leader Rohan Krause, this Order of Shadows wanted to cover the lands in darkness, letting the Dark Prince bring about the promised dominion of humanity.
But a cult of Dracula couldn't arise without the Belmonts hearing about it. Previously to 1670 AD, the Belmont clan had been on the scene to thwart Rohan's previous attempt to conjure the magics needed. They had stopped the cult, but in the process the two Belmonts, husband and wife, gave their lives, succumbing to the wounds they suffered in the battle. This passed the famed magical whip of the clan, the Vampire Killer, on to their son, Desmond.
Desmond might have had the whip but he wasn't the only members of the clan prepared to defend their homelands from the evils of the Order. Desmond's younger sisters, Dolores and Zoe, where heroic youths in their own right. When words got around that the Order was up to trouble again, Dolores and Zoe charged off before their brother could stop them, sneaking into the castle to find out what the Order was up to (as well as stealing one of their important relics, the Gauntlet of Alchemy). This information (and, eventually, the relic) they passed off to Desmond as aid in his eventual battles.
Working his way through the castle, Desmond took on many of the threats within, battling the worst the Order could throw at him. He had to work fast, he knew, because Dracula could have been resurrected at any moment and that would mean the potential end of the world. Dracula had to be stopped, and that meant putting an end to the Order of Shadows before they could even perform their ritual. Anything less than the complete protection of Romania would be viewed as a failure.
Battling to the top of the Order's fortress, Desmond eventually came face to face with Lord Krause. After much boasting on the part of Krause, the two did battle, fighting fiercely for the fate of humanity. It was Desmond that came out on top, seemingly preventing the ritual from being completed. And technically it was true that Krause failed to resurrect the Dark Lord in his own lifetime as it was his last drop of living blood that brought forth the vampire. Dracula had returned, feeding on the life of his lead disciple, ready to attempt his rule once more. But Desmond was ready and he fought back, taking on the Dark Lord as he had Krause.
In the end Dracula was once again no match for the whip-wielding hero in front of him. The Dark Lord died, sent back to his (so recently vacated) grave once more, while Desmond went home, with his sisters, to train the next generation of Belmont heroes. Dracula would return and the trio wanted to make sure there would always be a hero at the ready to defeat him.
Important Information
No exact date has been given for Castlevania: Order of Shadows, and it may not actually even be a canon release; 1670 AD is just a best guess given what little information is known about the title. Even if it is canon with the Castlevania timeline, the title is considered a side-story gaiden adventure at best (putting it in the same boat as Castlevania: Circle of the Moon). Though Dracula does appear at the end, the title isn't really about him but one of his various orders of followers.
Krause claimed to have defeated Desmond's father in combat, killing the elder Belmont. The Vampire Killer, though, ended up in Desmond's hands anyway, showing that Krause was really bad at the whole "evil villain" shtick. He should have kept the sword, instead of letting it slip away (presumably in the hands of Desmond's mother before she, too, died). This is why Dracula always gets defeated: his minions are awful at managing the details.
Krause also had a Magic Gauntlet, an item of some significance from Castlevania: Lament of Innocence; the magic gauntlet allowed Krause power over alchemical magics (not unlike some of the power it gave to hero Leon Belmont). This gauntlet, too, Krause lost, as Desmond's sisters were able to invade the castle and steal it for Desmond. It's a really crappy Order when even people not wielding the Vampire Killer can just invade, steal powerful relics, and then escape scot free. Wow.