Elizabeth Báthory

Countess Elizabeth Báthory of Ecsed (, ; ; 7 August 1560 – 21 August 1614) was a Hungarian noblewoman and alleged serial killer from the powerful House of Báthory, who owned land in the Kingdom of Hungary (now Slovakia). Báthory and four of her servants were accused of torturing and killing hundreds of girls and women from 1590 to 1610. She and her servants were put on trial and convicted. The servants were executed, whereas Báthory was imprisoned within the Castle of Csejte (Čachtice) until she died in her sleep in 1614.

The charges levelled against Báthory have been described by several historians as a witch-hunt. Other writers, such as Michael Farin in 1989, have said that the accusations against Báthory were supported by testimony from more than 300 individuals, some of whom described physical evidence and the presence of mutilated dead, dying and imprisoned girls found at the time of her arrest. Recent sources claim that the accusations were a spectacle to destroy her family's influence in the region, which was considered a threat to the political interests of her neighbours, including the Habsburg empire.

Stories about Báthory quickly became part of national folklore. Legends describing her vampiric tendencies, such as the tale that she bathed in the blood of virgins to retain her youth, were based on rumours and only recorded as supposedly factual over a century after her death. Although these stories were repeated by at least three historians in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, they are considered unreliable by modern historians. Some insist that Elizabeth's story inspired Bram Stoker's novel ''Dracula'' (1897), although Stoker's notes on the novel provided no direct evidence to support this hypothesis. Nicknames and literary epithets attributed to her include ''Blood Countess'' and ''Countess Dracula''.

Biography

Early life and education

Elizabeth was born in 1560 on a family estate in Nyírbátor, Royal Hungary, and spent her childhood at Ecsed Castle. Her father was Baron George VI Báthory (d. 1570), of the Ecsed branch of the family, brother of Andrew Bonaventura Báthory (d. 1566), who had been ruling Voivode of Transylvania. Her mother was Baroness Anna Báthory of Somlyó (1537–1570), member of the other line of the Báthory family, daughter of Stephen Báthory of Somlyó, Palatine of Hungary. Through her mother, Elizabeth was the niece of Stephen Báthory (1533–1586), Prince of Transylvania, who became the ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. She had several siblings; her older brother Stephen (1555–1605) served as a Judge Royal of Hungary.

Báthory was raised a Calvinist Protestant, and learned Latin, German, Hungarian, and Greek as a young woman. Born into a privileged noble family, she was endowed with wealth, education, and a prominent social rank. A proposal made by some sources in order to explain Báthory's cruelty later in her life is that she was trained by her family to be cruel.

As a child, Báthory had multiple seizures that may have been caused by epilepsy. At the time, symptoms relating to epilepsy were diagnosed as falling sickness and treatments included rubbing blood of a non-sufferer on the lips of an epileptic or giving the epileptic a mix of a non-sufferer's blood and piece of skull as their episode ended.

At the age of 13, before her first marriage, Báthory allegedly gave birth to a child. 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. The woman was paid for her actions, and the child was taken to Wallachia. 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, Báthory was engaged to Count Ferenc Nádasdy, a member of the Nadasdy family. It was a political arrangement within the circles of the aristocracy. Nádasdy was the son of Baron Tamás Nádasdy de Nádasd et Fogarasföld (1498–1562) and his wife, Orsolya Kanizsai (1523–1571).

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

Nádasdy's wedding gift to Báthory was his household in the Castle of Csejte (Čachtice), situated in the Little Carpathians near Vág-Ujhely and Trencsén (present-day Nové Mesto nad Váhom and Trenčín, Slovakia). At the time, King Maximilian II owned the castle, but made Ferenc's mother, Orsolya Kanizsai, official steward in 1569. Nádasdy finally bought the castle in 1602 from Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, but during his constant military campaign, Elizabeth maintained the castle in his absence, along with the Csejte country house and seventeen adjacent villages.

After the wedding, the couple lived in Nadasdy's castle at Sárvár.

In 1578, three years into their marriage, Nádasdy became the chief commander of Hungarian troops, leading them to war against the Ottomans. Báthory managed business affairs and the family's multiple estates during the war. This role usually included responsibility for the Hungarian and Slovak people, providing medical care during the Long War (1593–1606), and Báthory was charged with the defence of her husband's estates, which lay on the route to Vienna. The threat of attack 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.

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. 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.

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. 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.

Accusations

Between 1602 and 1604, after rumours of Báthory's atrocities had spread throughout the kingdom, Lutheran minister István Magyari made complaints against her, both publicly and at the court in Vienna. In 1610, Matthias II assigned György Thurzó, the Palatine of Hungary, to investigate. Thurzó ordered two notaries, András Keresztúry and Mózes Cziráky, to collect evidence in March 1610. By October 1610 they had collected 52 witness statements; by 1611, that number had risen to over 300.

Bathory is said to have tortured or killed peasants for years; their disappearances were not likely to provoke an investigation. The abuse of lower classes by nobles was frowned upon but not actually prohibited by law. However, she eventually began killing daughters of the lesser gentry, some of whom were sent to live with her hoping to learn from her and benefit from a connection to the high-ranking countess.

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.

Veracity of accusations

Beginning in the 1980s, scholars have questioned the truthfulness of the claims against Bathory. Several authors, such as László Nagy and Irma Szádeczky-Kardoss, have argued that Elizabeth Báthory was a victim of a conspiracy. Nagy argued that the proceedings against Báthory were largely politically motivated, possibly due to her extensive wealth and ownership of large areas of land in Hungary, which increased after the death of her husband. At that time, Hungary was embroiled in religious and political conflicts, especially relating to the wars with the Ottoman Empire, the spread of Protestantism and the extension of Habsburg power. The Habsburgs were Catholic and Báthory was a Protestant. Her nephew, Prince Gábor Báthory, ruled in Transylvania, which was influential in the movement for Hungarian independence from Habsburg rule, providing the Habsburgs a motivation to discredit the family. Prince Gábor also desired the throne of Hungary, presenting a threat to King Matthias. Elizabeth Báthory's vast land holdings included fortresses that could have aided the Transylvanian army if Gábor had sent it to challenge Matthias. Matthias, who had originally ordered the investigation into Báthory, owed her a large debt, which was cancelled after she was arrested.

The investigation into Báthory's crimes was sparked by complaints from a Lutheran minister, István Magyari, which does not align with the notion of a Catholic/Habsburg plot against the Protestant Báthory. However religious tension is still a possible source of conflict, as Báthory was a raised Calvinist rather than Lutheran.

Thurzó, the investigator into the accusations, had political state ambitions that would benefit from disgracing Báthory.Irma Szádeczky-Kardoss
"The Bloody Countess? An Examination of the Life and Trial of Erzsébet Báthory"
translated by Lujza Nehrebeczky, Hungarian original published in ''Élet és Tudomány '', September 2005 An ally of King Matthias, he had been involved in an assassination attempt on Báthory's cousin Prince Gábor, and he had ambitions for his son to become Prince of Transylvania, in competition with Elizabeth Báthory's son. Thurzó alleged that he found numerous dead and dying girls when he entered the castle, but Szádeczky-Kardoss argues that the physical evidence was exaggerated and Thurzó misrepresented dead and wounded patients as victims of Báthory. Landowners like Báthory were responsible for medical care of tenants, so sick and injured subjects were brought to her castles. Female landowners were charged with care of female patients.

Arrest

On 13 December 1610, Nikola VI Zrinski confirmed the agreement with Thurzó about the imprisonment of Báthory and distribution of the estate. On New Year's Eve 1610, Thurzó went to Csejte Castle and arrested Báthory along with four of her servants, who were accused of being her accomplices: Dorottya Szentés, Ilona Jó, Katarína Benická and János Újváry ("Ibis" or Ficzkó). According to Thurzó's letter to his wife, his unannounced visit found one dead girl and another living "prey" girl in the castle, but there is no evidence that they asked her what had happened to her. She recovered but did not testify in the trials. Although it is commonly believed that Báthory was caught in the act of torture, she was having dinner. Initially, Thurzó made the declaration to Báthory's guests and villagers that he had caught her red-handed. However, she was arrested and detained prior to the discovery or presentation of the victims. It seems most likely that the claim of Thurzó's discovering Báthory covered in blood has been the embellishment of fictionalised accounts.

Thurzó debated further proceedings with Báthory's son Paul and two of her sons-in-law, Nikola VI Zrinski and György Drugeth. Her family, which ruled Transylvania, sought to avoid the loss of Báthory's property which was at risk of being seized by the crown following a public scandal. Thurzó, along with Paul and her two sons-in-law, originally planned for Báthory to be sent to a nunnery, but as accounts of her actions spread, they decided to keep her under strict house arrest.A letter from 12 December 1610 by Elizabeth's son-in-law Zrínyi to Thurzó refers to an agreement made earlier. See

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.
In the first trial, seventeen witnesses testified, including the four servants who were also fellow suspects. These suspects had been tortured before the proceedings. They confessed, and stated that they were acting on Elizabeth's orders. After the trial, they were executed as her accomplices. 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 had been abused by the others.

The accusations of murder were based on rumours. There is no document to prove that anyone in the area complained about the Countess. During this period, letters of complaint were written whenever someone was harmed, even in a matter of a stolen chicken. Although 300 witnesses testified against Báthory, none were victims or eyewitnesses of the torture.

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 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.

Confinement and death

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. She was detained in the castle of Csejte for the remainder of her life, where she died at the age of 54. György Thurzó wrote that Báthory was locked in a bricked room, but according to documents from the visit of priests in July 1614, she was able to move unhindered in the castle, more akin to house arrest.

She wrote a will in September 1610, in which she left all current and future inheritance possessions to her children. In the last month of 1610, she signed her arrangement, in which she distributed the estates, lands and possessions among her children. 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.Infamous Lady the true story of Countess Erzsebet Bathory Kimberly L. Craft 2009 p. 298 She was buried in the church of Csejte on 25 November 1614, 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 intered at the Báthory family crypt. 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.

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.

Folklore 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 virgin victims' blood 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. The story came into question in 1817 when the witness accounts (which had surfaced in 1765) were published for the first time. They included no references to blood baths. In his book ''Hungary and Transylvania'', published in 1850, John Paget describes the supposed origins of Báthory's blood-bathing, although his tale seems to be a fictionalised recitation of oral history from the area. It is difficult to know how accurate his account of events is. Sadistic pleasure is considered a far more plausible motive for Báthory's crimes.

Báthory has been disregarded by ''Guinness World Records'' as the most prolific female murderer, because the number of her victims is debated.

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

* Raymond T. McNally (1931–2002) was a professor of Russian and East European History at Boston College
*
* Translation from the French ''Erzsébet Báthory la Comtesse sanglante''
*
*
*Zsuffa, Joseph (2015). ''Countess of the Moon''. Griffin Press. .

External links

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
* Festival in Čachtice, Slovakia
A complete genealogy of all descendants Elizabeth Báthory (17th–20th century)
* (Documentary film)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bathory, Elizabeth

1560 births
1614 deaths
16th-century criminals
16th-century Hungarian nobility
16th-century Hungarian women
16th-century landowners
16th-century women landowners
17th-century criminals
17th-century Hungarian people
17th-century Hungarian women
17th-century landowners
17th-century women landowners
Elizabeth
Deal with the Devil
Hungarian female serial killers
Hungarian people who died in prison custody
People from Nyírbátor
Royalty and nobility with epilepsy
Serial killers who died in prison custody
Torturers
Vampirism (crime)
Violence against women in Europe