Elizabeth Báthory

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Elizabeth Báthory
Elizabeth Báthory
Born	Báthori Erzsébet 7 August 1560 Nyírbátor, Kingdom of Hungary
Died	21 August 1614(1614-08-21) (aged 54) Csejte, Kingdom of Hungary (now Čachtice, Slovakia)
Other names	Bloody Countess[1]
Known for	Hungarian noblewoman, subject of folklore, alleged serial killer
Spouse	Ferenc II Nádasdy
Relatives	Stephen Báthory, King of Poland (uncle) Stephen VII Báthory (paternal grandfather) Stephen VIII Báthory (maternal grandfather) Konrad the Red, Duke of Masovia and Warsaw (paternal great-grandfather) Anna Radziwiłł (paternal great-grandmother) Andrew Báthory (cousin)
Family	Báthory

Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed (

Elizabeth was born in 1560 on a family estate in

At the age of 13, before her first marriage, Báthory allegedly gave birth to a child.[17] The child, said to have been fathered by a peasant boy, was supposedly given away to a local woman who was trusted by the Báthory family.^[17] The woman was paid for her actions, and the child was taken to Wallachia.^[17] Evidence of this pregnancy came up long after Elizabeth's death, through rumours spread by peasants; therefore, the validity of the rumour is often disputed.

Marriage and land ownership

In 1573,

On 8 May 1575, Báthory and Nádasdy were married at the palace of Varannó (today Vranov nad Topľou, Slovakia).^[10] The marriage resulted in combined land ownership in both Transylvania and the Kingdom of Hungary.^[10]

Nádasdy's wedding gift to Báthory was his household, Castle of Csejte (Čachtice),^[10] situated in the Little Carpathians near Vág-Ujhely and Trencsén (present-day Nové Mesto nad Váhom and Trenčín, Slovakia).^{[citation needed]} The castle had been bought by his mother in 1569 and given to Nádasdy, who transferred it to Elizabeth during their nuptials, together with the Csejte country house and seventeen adjacent villages.^{[citation needed]}

After the wedding, the couple lived in Nadasdy's castle at Sárvár.^[10]

In 1578, three years into their marriage, Nádasdy became the chief commander of Hungarian troops, leading them to

Báthory's daughter, Anna Nádasdy, was born in 1585 and was later to become the wife of Nikola VI Zrinski. Báthory's other known children include Orsolya (Orsika) Nádasdy (1590 – unknown) who would later become the wife of István II Benyó; Katalin (Kata or Katherina) Nádasdy (1594 – unknown); András Nádasdy (1596–1603); and Pál (Paul) Nádasdy (1598–1650), father of Franz III Nádasdy, who was one of the leaders of the Magnate conspiracy against Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I.^{[citation needed]} Some chronicles also indicate that the couple had another son, named Miklós Nádasdy, who married Zsuzsanna Zrinski. However, this cannot be confirmed, and it could be that he was simply a cousin or died young, as he is not named in Báthory's will from 1610. György Nádasdy is also supposedly the name of one of the deceased Nádasdy infants, but this cannot be confirmed. All of Elizabeth's children were cared for by governesses, as Báthory herself had been.^{[citation needed]}

Ferenc Nádasdy died on 4 January 1604 at the age of 48. Although the exact nature of the illness which led to his death is unknown, it seems to have started in 1601 and initially caused debilitating pain in his legs. From that time, he never fully recovered, and in 1603 became permanently disabled.^{[citation needed]} He had been married to Báthory for 29 years. Before dying, Nádasdy entrusted his heirs and widow to György Thurzó, who would eventually lead the investigation into Báthory's crimes.^{[citation needed]}

Accusations

Between 1602 and 1604, after rumours of Báthory's atrocities had spread throughout the kingdom,

Báthory is said to have begun killing daughters of the lesser gentry, who were sent to her gynaeceum by their parents to learn courtly etiquette.^[4] The use of needles was also mentioned by the collaborators in court. There were many suspected forms of torture carried out by Báthory.

Some witnesses named relatives who died while at the gynaeceum. Others reported having seen traces of torture on dead bodies, some of which were buried in graveyards, and others in unmarked locations.

Arrest

On 13 December 1612, Nikola VI Zrinski confirmed the agreement with Thurzó about the imprisonment of Báthory and distribution of the estate.

Most of the witnesses testified that they had heard the accusations from others, but did not see it themselves. The servants confessed under torture, which is not credible in contemporary proceedings. They were the king's witnesses, but they were executed.[24] Ilona Jó and Dorottya Szentes had their fingers torn out with a pair of red-hot pincers and were then burned alive. Due to his youth and the belief that he was less culpable, János Újváry was executed by a much less painful method: beheading. Afterwards, his body was burned on the same pyre as Jó and Szentes. Another servant, Erzsi Majorova, initially escaped capture but was burned alive after being apprehended. Katarína Benická received a life sentence after evidence showed that she'd been abused by the other women.

The accusations of murder were based on rumours. There is no document to prove that anyone in the area complained about the Countess. In this time period, if someone was harmed, or someone even stole a chicken, a letter of complaint was written.^[5][7][25] Two trials were held in the wake of Báthory's arrest: the first was held on 2 January 1611, and the second on 7 January 1611.^[26]

The highest number of victims cited during the trial of Báthory's accomplices was 650, but this number comes from the claim by a servant girl named Susannah that Jakab Szilvássy, Báthory's court official, had seen the figure in one of Báthory's private books. The book was never revealed and Szilvássy never mentioned it in his testimony.^[27]

Confinement and death

Aerial view of Castle of Csejte

Main tower at the Castle of Csejte

On 25 January 1611, Thurzó wrote a letter to King Matthias describing that they had captured and confined Báthory to her castle. The palatine also coordinated the steps of the investigation with the political struggle with the Prince of Transylvania.^{[clarification needed]} She was detained in the castle of Csejte for the remainder of her life, where she died at the age of 54. As György Thurzó wrote, Elizabeth Báthory was locked in a bricked room, but according to other sources (written documents from the visit of priests, July 1614), she was able to move freely and unhindered in the castle, more akin to house arrest.^[28][29]

She wrote a will in September 1610, in which she left all current and future inheritance possessions to her children.^[20] In the last month of 1610, she signed her arrangement, in which she distributed the estates, lands and possessions among her children.^{[30][8][contradictory]} On the evening of 20 August 1614, Báthory complained to her bodyguard that her hands were cold, whereupon he replied "It's nothing, mistress. Just go lie down." She went to sleep and was found dead the following morning.^[31] She was buried in the church of Csejte on 25 November 1614,^[31] but according to some sources due to the villagers' uproar over having the Countess buried in their cemetery, her body was moved to her birth home at Ecsed, where it was interred at the Báthory family crypt.^[32] The location of her body today is unknown but believed to be buried deep in the church area of the castle. The Csejte church and the castle of Csejte do not bear any markings of her possible grave.^{[citation needed]}

Veracity of accusations

Several authors, such as László Nagy and Irma Szádeczky-Kardoss, have argued that Elizabeth Báthory was a victim of a

There are counter-arguments made against this theory. The investigation into Báthory's crimes was sparked by complaints from a Lutheran minister, István Magyari.[19] This does not contribute to the notion of a Catholic/Habsburg plot against the Protestant Báthory, although religious tension is still a possible source of conflict, as Báthory was raised Calvinist, not Lutheran.^[14] To support Báthory's innocence, the testimony of around 300 witnesses ^{[citation needed]} and the physical evidence collected by the investigators have to be addressed or disputed. That evidence included numerous bodies and dead and dying girls found when the castle was entered by Thurzó.^[9] Szádeczky-Kardoss argues that the physical evidence was exaggerated and Thurzó misrepresented dead and wounded patients as victims of Báthory, as disgracing her would greatly benefit his political state ambitions.^[5]

Folklore and popular culture

The case of Elizabeth Báthory inspired numerous stories during the 18th and 19th centuries. The most common

Báthory has been labelled by Guinness World Records as the most prolific female murderer, though the number of her victims is debated.^[39]

Ancestry

Báthory was the great-great-granddaughter of Barbara Aleksandrówna and Bolesław IV of Warsaw, and Mikalojus Radvila the Old; the 3rd great-granddaughter of Bolesław Januszowic; the 4th great-granddaughter of Vladimir Olgerdovich; and the 5th great-granddaughter of Algirdas.

Popular culture

• Countess Dracula – 1971 horror film directed by Peter Sasdy
• Les Lèvres Rouges – 1971 Belgian erotic vampire thriller directed by Harry Kümel
• Immoral Tales – 1973 portmanteau film; the third story is 'Erzsébet Báthory'
• Eternal – 2004 Canadian thriller about Elizabeth Kane, actually Countess Erzebeth Bathory
• Stay Alive – 2006 supernatural horror movie featuring Elizabeth Bathory as the main antagonist, written and directed by William Brent Bell.
• Bathory – 2008 historical drama written and directed by Juraj Jakubisko
• The Countess – 2009 drama historical film written and directed by Julie Delpy
• Blood Countess
  – 2020 fictional novel written by Lana Popović
• Countess Bathory – the 1982 song by Venom
• Bathory – Swedish metal band 1983–2004
• Elizabeth – 2010 song by Swedish rock band Ghost

See also

• Elizabeth Branch
• Elizabeth Brownrigg
• Kateřina of Komárov
• Delphine LaLaurie
• Catalina de los Ríos y Lisperguer
• Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova
• List of serial killers by country

References

Further reading

• ISBN 978-0-07-045671-6. Raymond T. McNally (1931–2002) was a professor of Russian and East European History at Boston College
• ISBN 978-0-7475-2900-2
  .
• ISBN 978-0-9714578-2-9
  . Translation from the French Erzsébet Báthory la Comtesse sanglante
• Craft, Kimberly (2009). Infamous Lady: The True Story of Countess Erzsébet Báthory.
  ISBN 978-1-4495-1344-3
  .
• Ramsland, Katherine. "Lady of Blood: Countess Bathory". Crime Library. Turner Entertainment Networks Inc. Archived from the original on 11 March 2014.
• Zsuffa, Joseph (2015). Countess of the Moon. Griffin Press.
  ISBN 978-0-9828813-8-5
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Elizabeth Báthory.

• The Blood Countess? - Epitome of Szádeczky-Kardoss Irma's research
• Elizabeth Bathory - the Blood Countess BBC piece on Erzsébet Báthory, Created 2 August 2001; Updated 28 January 2002
• "Elizabeth Báthory Drop of Blood Festival: 16 August 2014" (in Slovak). Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Festival in Čachtice, Slovakia
• A complete genealogy of all descendants Elizabeth Báthory (17th-20th century)
• Novotny, Pavel (2014). Die Gräfin Elisabeth Bathory und das Geheimnis hinter dem Geheimnis [400 Years of Bloody Countess - The Secret Behind the Secret] (Motion picture). Archived from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 27 May 2014. (Documentary film)