Elizabeth Báthory

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Countess Elizabeth Báthory (Báthory Erzsébet in Hungarian, Alžběta Báthoryová in Czech, Alžbeta Bátoriová(-Nádasdy) in Slovak, Elżbieta Batory in Polish, August 7(?), 1560 – August 21, 1614), was a Hungarian countess from the renowned Báthory family. The family is famous for defending Hungary against the Ottoman Turks. She is known as the most infamous serial killer in Central European history and is remembered as the "Blood Countess" and as Bloody Lady of Čachtice, after the castle near Trenčín, in Royal Hungary, present-day Slovakia, where she spent most of her life.

After her husband's death, she and four collaborators were accused of torturing and killing hundreds of girls and young women, with one witness attributing to them over 600 victims, though she was only convicted on 80 counts. In 1610, she was imprisoned in Čachtice Castle, where she remained in her room bricked in until her death four years later. Since she was a Countess she was never formally tried in court. The Báthory case has inspired many legends, including the false story of the countess bathing in the blood of virginal girls whom she killed in order to retain her youth. Like Wallachia's (now Romania) Vlad Ţepes the Impaler, who inspired the creation of Dracula, these stories have led to the modern nicknames of the Blood Countess and Countess Dracula.

Life

Early years

Elizabeth Báthory was born on a family estate in Nyírbátor, Hungary, on August 7, 1560 and spent her childhood at Ecsed Castle. Her father was George Báthory, a brother of Andrew Bonaventura Báthory, who had been Voivod of Transylvania of the Ecsed branch of the family, while her mother was Anna Báthory (1539-1570), daughter of Stephen Báthory, another Voivod of Transylvania, of the Somlyó branch. Through her mother, she was the niece of Stefan Batory, King of Poland.

Married life

At the age of eleven, Báthory was engaged to Ferenc Nádasdy and moved to Nádasdy Castle in Sárvár. In 1575, at age 15, she married Nádasdy in Varannó. At age 14 she had her first baby

Nádasdy’s wedding gift to Báthory was his home, Csejte Castle, situated in the Carpathians near Trencsény, together with the Csejte country house and seventeen adjacent villages. The castle itself was surrounded by a village and agricultural lands, bordered by outcrops of the Carpathian Mountains. In 1602, Nádasdy finally bought the castle from Rudolf II, Habsburg Rudolf, so that it became a private property of the family.

In 1578, Nádasdy became the chief commander of Hungarian troops, leading them to war against the Ottomans. He was considered brave. The Ottomans gave him the nickname "Black Knight". With her husband away at war, Elizabeth Báthory managed business affairs and the estates. That role usually included providing for the Hungarian and Slovak peasants, even medical care.

During the height of the Long War (1593-1606), she was charged with the defense of her husband's estates, which lay on the route to Vienna. The threat was significant, for the village of Csejte had previously been plundered by the Ottomans while Sárvár, located near the border that divided Royal Hungary and Ottoman occupied Hungary, was in even greater danger.

She was an educated woman who could read and write in four languages. Based on the letters Elizabeth left behind, she said that she had affairs with young men, one of them was named Patorica Napstrow, we know of several instances where she intervened on behalf of destitute women, including a woman whose husband was captured by the Turks and a woman whose daughter was raped and impregnated. She was interested in science and astronomy.

Her husband died in 1604 at the age of 47. His death is commonly reported as resulting from an injury sustained in battle, while other sources alleged that he was murdered by a prostitute, or by General Giorgio Basta whose reign of terror in Transylvania at that time led to a sharp decline in the Báthory family's power. Later, King Matthias refused to pay her the debt he owed Nádasdy.

Arrest

Early investigation

Between 1602 and 1604, Lutheran parish priest István Magyari complained about atrocities both publicly and with the court in Vienna, after rumours had spread.

The Hungarian authorities took some time to respond to Magyari's complaints. Finally, in 1610, King Matthias assigned György Thurzó, the Palatine of Hungary, to investigate. Thurzó ordered two notaries to collect evidence in March 1610. Even before obtaining the results, Thurzó debated further proceedings with Elizabeth's son Paul and two of her sons-in-law. A trial and execution would have caused a public scandal, disgraced a noble and influential family (which at the time ruled Transylvania) and Elizabeth's considerable property would have been seized by the crown. Thurzó agreed that Elizabeth Báthory should be kept under strict house arrest, but that further punishment should be avoided. It was also determined that King Mattias did not have to repay a large debt for which he lacked sufficient funds.

Arrest and trial

Thurzó went to Csejte/Čachtice on December 29, 1610 and arrested Elizabeth Báthory and four of her servants, who were accused of being Elizabeth's accomplices. Thurzó's men reportedly found one girl dead and one dying. Another woman was found wounded, others locked up.

While the countess was put under house arrest (and remained so from that point on), her accomplices were brought to court. A trial was hastily prepared and held on January 7, 1611 at Biccse. The trial was presided over by Royal Supreme Court judge Theodosious Syrmiensis de Szulo and twenty associate judges. Elizabeth herself did not appear at the trial. The trial process included intimidation and torture and did not follow modern judicial standards. She was also accused of witchcraft and pagan rituals, which at the time were believed inherently malevolent and classified as serious criminal offenses in their own right, rather than as mere evidence used to demonstrate guilt of (an)other crime(s), as in modern courts.

The defendants at that trial were:

Dorottya Szentes, also referred to as Dorko
Ilona Jó
Katalin Benicka
János Újváry, "Ibis" or Fickó.

Dorko, Ilona and Fickó were found guilty and executed on the spot. Dorko and Ilona had their fingers ripped out before they were thrown into a fire, while Fickó, who was deemed less guilty, was beheaded before being consigned to the flames. A public scaffold was erected near the castle to show the public that justice had been done. Katalin Benicka was sentenced to life imprisonment, as she only acted under the domination and bullying by the other women, as implied by recorded testimony.

Last years and death

Elizabeth was never brought to trial but remained under house arrest in a single room until her death.

King Matthias urged Thurzó to bring her to court and two notaries were sent to collect further evidence. but King Matthias forbade the countess to emerge from her prison.

On 21 August 1614 Elizabeth Báthory died in her castle. She was buried in the church of Csejte.

Accusations

In 1610 and 1611 the notaries collected testimonies from more than 300 witness accounts. Trial records include testimonies of the four defendants, as well as 13 more witnesses. Priests, noblemen and commoners were questioned. Witnesses included the castellan and other personnel of Sárvár castle.

According to these testimonies, her initial victims were local peasant girls, many of whom were lured to Csejte by offers of well-paid work as maidservants in the castle. Later she is said to have begun to kill daughters of lower gentry, who were sent to her gynaeceum by their parents to learn courtly etiquette. Abductions seem to have occurred as well. She was also accused of witchcraft and pagan rituals.

The descriptions of torture that emerged during the trials were often based on hearsay. The atrocities described most consistently included:

severe beatings over extended periods of time, often leading to death.
burning or mutilation of hands, sometimes also of faces and genitalia.
biting the flesh off the faces, arms and other bodily parts.
freezing to death.
bad surgery on victims, often leading to death.
starving of victims.

The use of needles was also mentioned by the collaborators in court.

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.

According to the defendants' confessions, Elizabeth Báthory tortured and killed her victims not only at Csejte but also on her properties in Sárvár, Sopronkeresztúr,Pozsony (Bratislava) and Bécs, and even between these locations.

In addition to the defendants, several people were named for supplying Elizabeth Báthory with young women. The girls had been procured either by deception or by force.

A little-known figure named Anna Darvulia was also rumoured to have influenced much of Báthory's early sadistic career but apparently died long before the trial.

The number of young women tortured and killed by Elizabeth Báthory is unknown, though it is often cited as being in the hundreds, between the years 1585 and 1610. The estimates differ greatly. During the trial and before their execution, Szentes and Fickó reported 36 and 37 respectively, during their periods of service. The other defendants estimated a number of 50 or higher. Many Sárvár castle personnel estimated the number of bodies removed from the castle at between 100 to 200. One witness who spoke at the trial mentioned a book in which a total of over 650 victims was supposed to have been listed by Elizabeth Báthory herself. This book was never mentioned anywhere else, nor was it ever discovered; however, this number became part of the legend surrounding Báthory.

László Nagy has argued that Elizabeth Báthory was also victim of a conspiracy, a view opposed by others. Nagy argued that the proceedings were largely politically motivated. However the conspiracy theory is consistent with Hungarian history at that time.

Folklore, literature and popular culture

The case of Elizabeth Báthory inspired numerous stories during the 18th and 19th centuries. The most common motif of these works was that of the countess bathing in her victims' blood in order to retain beauty or youth.

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 Báthory case.

At the beginning of the 19th century, this certainty was questioned, and sadistic pleasure was considered a far more plausible motive for Elizabeth Báthory's crimes. In 1817, the witness accounts (which had surfaced in 1765) were published for the first time, demonstrating that the bloodbaths, for the purpose of preserving her youth, were legend rather than fact. The legend nonetheless persisted in the popular imagination. Some versions of the story were told with the purpose of denouncing female vanity, while other versions aimed to entertain or thrill their audience. During the 20th and 21st centuries, Elizabeth Báthory has continued to appear as a character in music, film, plays, books, games and toys, and as well to serve as an inspiration for similar characters.

Vampire legends

The emergence of the blood seeker legend coincided with the vampire scares that haunted Europe in the early 18th century, reaching even into educated and scientific circles. The strong connection between the blood seeker myth and vampirc myth was not made until the 1970s. The first connections were made to promote works of fiction by linking them to the already commercially successful Dracula story.

Some biographers of Elizabeth Báthory, Raymond McNally in particular, have tried to establish the blood seeker of myth and the sadistic killer of history both, as a source of influence for Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula, pointing to similarities in settings and motifs and the fact that Stoker might have read about her. This theory is opposed by other authors.

Popular Culture

Swedish Viking metal band Bathory are said to have derived their title from Elizabeth Bathory, and wrote a song called "Woman Of Dark Desires" that is about her.

English Heavy metal band Cradle of Filth have a concept album entitled Cruelty and the Beast that is the story of Elizabeth Bathory

English Black metal band Venom have a song titled "Countess Bathory".

Black metal band Dissection wrote a song entitled "Elisabeth Bathori".

Symphonic metal band Forever Slave have a song titled "Ezrebet Bathory".

A quest in Diablo II involves a countess, accused of bathing in young women´s blood.

In the 2007 Horror film Hostel: Part II, a female character credited as Elizabeth Báthory, kills a woman named Lorna by ripping into her body with a scythe and bathing in her blood.

American Power metal band Kamelot have a trilogy song called "Elizabeth" partI: Mirror Mirror, partII: Requiem For The Innocent, partIII: Fall From Grace, on their "Karma" album, inspired by Elizabeth Báthory.

References

External links

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Last updated on Thursday March 13, 2008 at 08:28:12 PDT (GMT -0700)
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