The female counterpart of Dracula, what makes this lady so terribly frightening is the fact that she is no mere figure of an author's imagination, but a very real person. Elizabeth Bathory, and the horror stories surrounding her are proof that fact, sometimes, is indeed stranger (and more terrifying) than fiction.
She was born on August 7, 1560 in Nyirbator, Kingdom of Hungary to Baron George and Baroness Anna Bathory, both of whom had important aristocratic family connections in Hungary and other neighboring countries. Papa George was the brother of Andrew Bonaventura Bathory, who had been the voivode (warlord) of Hungary. Mama Anna counted among her notable relatives an ancestor, Stephan Bathory, who had fought alongside Vlad Dracul in one of his many attempts to reclaim the Wallachian throne. His namesake (Elizabeth's cousin) became Prince of Transylvania in 1571 and was later elected King of Poland. There have even been persistent rumors that Elizabeth was related to Vlad Tepes himself, though the blood connection remains unclear.
She spent her childhood at her father's ancestral home of Ecsed Castle where she enjoyed all the privileges that wealth and rank could afford her, including a high education almost unheard of in those times for women. Trained to be fluent in Hungarian, Latin, and Greek, among other things, young Elizabeth proved to be as brilliant of mind as she was fair of face. And woe to the person who failed to compliment her on either. Even at a young age, her vanity, and the fits of rage she would suffer because of it were quite legendary. There is the theory that due to inbreeding (her parents were both members of the Bathory family, albeit different lines), she suffered from insanity, and that the 'fits of rage' were, in fact, epileptic seizures. Of course, one can also argue that because she was also able to witness the brutal justice handed down by her family's officers on their estates at Ecsel, it affected her to the point that she was incapable of feeling empathy for another human. Seeing a gypsy thief sewn up in the belly of a dying horse with only his head exposed, and left to die would certainly affect me!! Of course, one must remember that such things were really the norm for the time so, I guess Elizabeth can't use that for an excuse after all.
When she was 14, Elizabeth became pregnant with the child of a peasant lover, and was quietly sequestered away until her daughter was born. The child was taken away and given to peasant foster parents to be raised, and in 1575, she wed Count Ferenc Nadasdy, whom she had been engaged to since the age of 11. Ferenc was, by varying reports, anywhere from 5-15 years her senior, a warrior and athlete, but no scholar. Ferenc was of a lower family than Elizabeth and upon marriage, he would add her name to his, becoming Ferenc Bathory-Nadasdy. Elizabeth's wedding gift from her husband was Cachtice Castle, located close to the Carpathian Mountains. The castle had been bought by his mother and given to Ferenc, who transferred it to Elizabeth during their nuptials. I want a wedding present like that!
She was born on August 7, 1560 in Nyirbator, Kingdom of Hungary to Baron George and Baroness Anna Bathory, both of whom had important aristocratic family connections in Hungary and other neighboring countries. Papa George was the brother of Andrew Bonaventura Bathory, who had been the voivode (warlord) of Hungary. Mama Anna counted among her notable relatives an ancestor, Stephan Bathory, who had fought alongside Vlad Dracul in one of his many attempts to reclaim the Wallachian throne. His namesake (Elizabeth's cousin) became Prince of Transylvania in 1571 and was later elected King of Poland. There have even been persistent rumors that Elizabeth was related to Vlad Tepes himself, though the blood connection remains unclear.
She spent her childhood at her father's ancestral home of Ecsed Castle where she enjoyed all the privileges that wealth and rank could afford her, including a high education almost unheard of in those times for women. Trained to be fluent in Hungarian, Latin, and Greek, among other things, young Elizabeth proved to be as brilliant of mind as she was fair of face. And woe to the person who failed to compliment her on either. Even at a young age, her vanity, and the fits of rage she would suffer because of it were quite legendary. There is the theory that due to inbreeding (her parents were both members of the Bathory family, albeit different lines), she suffered from insanity, and that the 'fits of rage' were, in fact, epileptic seizures. Of course, one can also argue that because she was also able to witness the brutal justice handed down by her family's officers on their estates at Ecsel, it affected her to the point that she was incapable of feeling empathy for another human. Seeing a gypsy thief sewn up in the belly of a dying horse with only his head exposed, and left to die would certainly affect me!! Of course, one must remember that such things were really the norm for the time so, I guess Elizabeth can't use that for an excuse after all.
When she was 14, Elizabeth became pregnant with the child of a peasant lover, and was quietly sequestered away until her daughter was born. The child was taken away and given to peasant foster parents to be raised, and in 1575, she wed Count Ferenc Nadasdy, whom she had been engaged to since the age of 11. Ferenc was, by varying reports, anywhere from 5-15 years her senior, a warrior and athlete, but no scholar. Ferenc was of a lower family than Elizabeth and upon marriage, he would add her name to his, becoming Ferenc Bathory-Nadasdy. Elizabeth's wedding gift from her husband was Cachtice Castle, located close to the Carpathian Mountains. The castle had been bought by his mother and given to Ferenc, who transferred it to Elizabeth during their nuptials. I want a wedding present like that!
In 1578, Ferenc took off to do his 'soldierly duty', leading the Hungarian Army into battle against the Ottoman Turks. During her husband's absence, it fell to Elizabeth to manage his estates and affairs, which included providing for the peasants; there are accounts that she would go to great lengths to do so. It seems the 'heartless one' had a soft spot for destitute women, as seen in her defense of them. including a woman whose husband was captured by the Turks and a woman whose daughter was raped and impregnated. Of course, before we get all misty-eyed and start cooing over her bravery, let us hold off on those humanitarian awards and remember who we are dealing with, shall we?
The couple was reported to be very harsh with their servants, and it during her husband's absence that Elizabeth is reputed to have begun her reign of torture and murder. Between 1602-1604 complaints about atrocities committed by Bathory came to light, but it was not until 1611 that they would be brought to trial with notaries collecting testimonies from over 300 witnesses. Initially her victims were adolescent daughters of local peasants, many of whom were lured to Cachtice by offers of well-paid work as maidservants in the castle. Later, she is said to have begun to kill daughters of the lesser gentry, who were sent to her by their parents to learn courtly etiquette, and she is even rumored to have abducted some of her victims. The amount of young women who suffered at the hands of Bathory is unknown, though it is estimated to be as many as 650.
In the words of those who can tell it best, the following are examples of the testimony of the servants recorded at the trial of Elizabeth's accomplices (namely 4 of her servants):
The couple was reported to be very harsh with their servants, and it during her husband's absence that Elizabeth is reputed to have begun her reign of torture and murder. Between 1602-1604 complaints about atrocities committed by Bathory came to light, but it was not until 1611 that they would be brought to trial with notaries collecting testimonies from over 300 witnesses. Initially her victims were adolescent daughters of local peasants, many of whom were lured to Cachtice by offers of well-paid work as maidservants in the castle. Later, she is said to have begun to kill daughters of the lesser gentry, who were sent to her by their parents to learn courtly etiquette, and she is even rumored to have abducted some of her victims. The amount of young women who suffered at the hands of Bathory is unknown, though it is estimated to be as many as 650.
In the words of those who can tell it best, the following are examples of the testimony of the servants recorded at the trial of Elizabeth's accomplices (namely 4 of her servants):
... a 12-year-old girl named Pola somehow managed to escape from the castle. But Dorka, aided by Helena Jo, caught the frightened girl by surprise and brought her forcibly back to Cachtice Castle. Clad only in a long white robe, Countess Elizabeth greeted the girl upon her return. The countess was in another of her rages. She advanced on the 12-year-old child and forced her into a kind of cage. This particular cage was built like a huge ball, too narrow to sit in, too low to stand in. Once the girl was inside, the cage was suddenly hauled up by a pulley and dozens of short spikes jutted into the cage. Pola tried to avoid being caught on the spikes, but Ficzko manoeuvered the ropes so that the cage shifted from side to side. Pola's flesh was torn to pieces.
One accomplice testified that on some days Elizabeth had stark-naked girls laid flat on the floor of her bedroom and tortured them so much that one could scoop up the blood by the pailful afterwards, and so Elizabeth had her servants bring up cinders in order to cover the pools of blood. A young maid-servant who did not endure the tortures well and died very quickly was written out by the countess in her diary with the laconic comment 'She was too small...'
At one point in her life Elizabeth Bathory was so sick that she could not move from her bed and could not find the strength to torture her miscreant servant girls... She demanded that one of her female servants be brought before her. Dorothea Szentes, a burly, strong peasant woman, dragged one of Elizabeth's girls to her bedside and held her there. Elizabeth rose up on her bed, and, like a bulldog, the Countess opened her mouth and bit the girl first on the cheek. Then she went for the girl's shoulders where she ripped out a piece of flesh with her teeth.
- From Dracula was a Woman McNally, R
Three of her accomplices were found guilty and put to death, another was given life imprisonment. Elizabeth herself was never brought to trial, but was imprisoned by her family in Cachtice Castle. She was walled up within her bed chamber, with only small slits for ventilation and a means of passing food left open. She remained there for three years, her body found by a guard looking in through one of the slits on August 21, 1614. She was buried initially in the Church of Cachtice, but the locals raised such a fuss that the body was removed and interred in the Bathory family crypt in her birth place of Ecsed.
History has dubbed her with the dubious monikers of "Lady Dracula", "The Bloody Countess", and "The Bloody Lady of Cachtice", among others. She has been accused of filling her court with satanists, alchemists, and sorcerers for advisers, and she herself has been linked to vampirism, lycanthropy, and witchcraft. The most persistent legend concerning "Lady Dracula", however, would have to be that of her infatuation with her own youth and beauty that led her to bath in the blood of her victims. This legend appeared in print for the first time in 1729, in the Jesuit scholar, László Turóczi’s Tragica Historia, the first written account of the Bathory case.
And just when you thought it couldn't get any weirder....
Elizabeth Bathory had four children, 3 daughters and a son. By all accounts, she was a loving and doting mother. Go figure!
History has dubbed her with the dubious monikers of "Lady Dracula", "The Bloody Countess", and "The Bloody Lady of Cachtice", among others. She has been accused of filling her court with satanists, alchemists, and sorcerers for advisers, and she herself has been linked to vampirism, lycanthropy, and witchcraft. The most persistent legend concerning "Lady Dracula", however, would have to be that of her infatuation with her own youth and beauty that led her to bath in the blood of her victims. This legend appeared in print for the first time in 1729, in the Jesuit scholar, László Turóczi’s Tragica Historia, the first written account of the Bathory case.
And just when you thought it couldn't get any weirder....
Elizabeth Bathory had four children, 3 daughters and a son. By all accounts, she was a loving and doting mother. Go figure!
Please proceed to Assignment 5 for your homework.