The Blood Countess
Countess Elizabeth Báthory of Ecsed, born 7 August 1560, was a countess from the renowned Báthory family. Although she has been labelled the most prolific serial killer in history, evidence of her crimes is limited in quantity and her guilt debated. She is nevertheless remembered as the "Blood Countess" or "Bloody Lady of Čachtice".
Elizabeth married in 1575, on the 8th of May to Ferenc Nádasdy who later became the chief commander of Hungarian troops, leading them to war against the Ottomans. 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.
She was an educated woman who could read and write in four languages.
In 1585, Elizabeth gave birth to a daughter, Anna. A second daughter, Ursula, and her first son, Andrew, both died at an early age. After this, Elizabeth had three more children, Katherine (born in 1594), Paul (born around 1597) and Miklós. All of her children were cared for by governesses.
Elizabeth's husband died in 1604 at the age of 47, reportedly due to an injury sustained in battle. The couple had been married for 29 years. Due to the marriage probably being a political arrangement within the circles of the aristocracy, I am not sure how much she cared.
Between 1602 and 1604, Lutheran minister István Magyari complained about atrocities both publicly and with the court in Vienna, after rumors had spread. Authorities took some time to respond to Magyari's complaints, and finally in in 1610, King Matthias assigned György Thurzo, the Palatine of Hungary, to begin an investigation in the hopes of protecting a noble family name from such rumours.
Thurzó went to Čachtice Castle on 30 December 1610 and arrested Báthory and four of her servants, who were accused of being her accomplices. Thurzó's men reportedly found one girl dead and one dying. They reported that another woman was found wounded, others locked up.
King Matthias requested that Elizabeth be sentenced to death while the countess was put under house arrest (and remained so from that point on). However, Thurzo successfully convinced the King that such an act would negatively affect the nobility. Hence, a trial was postponed indefinitely.
A trial was held on 7 January 1611 at Bicse, presided over by Royal Supreme Court judge Theodosious Syrmiensis de Szulo and 20 associate judges. Bathory herself did not appear at the trial.The defendants at that trial were Dorottya Szentes, also referred to as Dorka, Ilona Jó, Katarína Benická, and János Újváry ("Ibis" or Ficko).
Dorka, Ilona Jó and Ficko were found guilty and put to death on the spot. Dorka and Ilona had their fingernails ripped out before they were thrown into a fire, while Ficko, 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. Katarína Benická was sentenced to life imprisonment, as implied by recorded testimony, she only acted under the domination and bullying by the other women.
The use of needles was mentioned in court several times, as accusations of what Elizabeth had done seemed to steadily rise.
According to all this testimony, her initial victims were the adolescent daughters of local peasants, many of whom were lured to the castle by offers of well-paid work as maidservants. Later, she is said to have begun to kill daughters of the lesser gentry, who were sent to her gynaeceum by their parents to learn courtly etiquette. Abductions were said to have occurred as well.
The descriptions of torture that emerged during the trials were often based on hearsay. The atrocities described most consistently included acts such as;
* 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
* Surgery on victims, often fatal
* Starving of victims
* Sexual abuse
Bathory took pleasure in bathing in the blood of her victims, saying it made her more beautiful, and kept her skin smooth. She was not alone in her vile activities. Others knew, approved, and participated with her. In fact, it was supposedly Majorova, a widow and little-known figure, who encouraged kidnapping girls from the lesser nobility.
German anthropologist Michael Wagener points out that Erzsébet continued to use torture after her husband's death, and even refined her methods. "The unhappy girls who were lured to the castle, under the plea that they were to be taken into service there, were locked up in a cellar. Here they were beaten till their bodies were swollen. Elizabeth not infrequently tortured the victims herself; often she changed their clothes which dripped with blood, and then renewed her cruelties. The swollen bodies were then cut up with razors. Occasionally she had the girls burned, and then cut up, but the great majority of them were beaten to death." Many accounts say that she was psychotic, and that her mental illness grew worse with age.
Sometimes she would sew a servant girl's mouth shut, force her to eat strips of her own flesh, or burn her genitals, while Wagener indicates that "she would stick needles into those who sat with her in a carriage, especially if they were of her own sex." He also advanced another legend: "When she was ill, and could not indulge her cruelty, she bit a person who came near her sick bed as though she were a wild beast." This was, in fact, trial testimony, albeit gained via torture.
Elizabeth died alone on 21 August 1614 in her castle, however since there were several plates of food untouched, her actual date of death is unknown. Her body was moved to her birth home at Ecsed after she was buried in the church of Csejte, due to the villagers' uproar over having "The Tigress of Csejte" buried in their cemetery. It now is interred at the Báthory family crypt.
Countess Elizabeth Báthory of Ecsed, born 7 August 1560, was a countess from the renowned Báthory family. Although she has been labelled the most prolific serial killer in history, evidence of her crimes is limited in quantity and her guilt debated. She is nevertheless remembered as the "Blood Countess" or "Bloody Lady of Čachtice".
Elizabeth married in 1575, on the 8th of May to Ferenc Nádasdy who later became the chief commander of Hungarian troops, leading them to war against the Ottomans. 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.
She was an educated woman who could read and write in four languages.
In 1585, Elizabeth gave birth to a daughter, Anna. A second daughter, Ursula, and her first son, Andrew, both died at an early age. After this, Elizabeth had three more children, Katherine (born in 1594), Paul (born around 1597) and Miklós. All of her children were cared for by governesses.
Elizabeth's husband died in 1604 at the age of 47, reportedly due to an injury sustained in battle. The couple had been married for 29 years. Due to the marriage probably being a political arrangement within the circles of the aristocracy, I am not sure how much she cared.
Between 1602 and 1604, Lutheran minister István Magyari complained about atrocities both publicly and with the court in Vienna, after rumors had spread. Authorities took some time to respond to Magyari's complaints, and finally in in 1610, King Matthias assigned György Thurzo, the Palatine of Hungary, to begin an investigation in the hopes of protecting a noble family name from such rumours.
Thurzó went to Čachtice Castle on 30 December 1610 and arrested Báthory and four of her servants, who were accused of being her accomplices. Thurzó's men reportedly found one girl dead and one dying. They reported that another woman was found wounded, others locked up.
King Matthias requested that Elizabeth be sentenced to death while the countess was put under house arrest (and remained so from that point on). However, Thurzo successfully convinced the King that such an act would negatively affect the nobility. Hence, a trial was postponed indefinitely.
A trial was held on 7 January 1611 at Bicse, presided over by Royal Supreme Court judge Theodosious Syrmiensis de Szulo and 20 associate judges. Bathory herself did not appear at the trial.The defendants at that trial were Dorottya Szentes, also referred to as Dorka, Ilona Jó, Katarína Benická, and János Újváry ("Ibis" or Ficko).
Dorka, Ilona Jó and Ficko were found guilty and put to death on the spot. Dorka and Ilona had their fingernails ripped out before they were thrown into a fire, while Ficko, 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. Katarína Benická was sentenced to life imprisonment, as implied by recorded testimony, she only acted under the domination and bullying by the other women.
The use of needles was mentioned in court several times, as accusations of what Elizabeth had done seemed to steadily rise.
According to all this testimony, her initial victims were the adolescent daughters of local peasants, many of whom were lured to the castle by offers of well-paid work as maidservants. Later, she is said to have begun to kill daughters of the lesser gentry, who were sent to her gynaeceum by their parents to learn courtly etiquette. Abductions were said to have occurred as well.
The descriptions of torture that emerged during the trials were often based on hearsay. The atrocities described most consistently included acts such as;
* 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
* Surgery on victims, often fatal
* Starving of victims
* Sexual abuse
Bathory took pleasure in bathing in the blood of her victims, saying it made her more beautiful, and kept her skin smooth. She was not alone in her vile activities. Others knew, approved, and participated with her. In fact, it was supposedly Majorova, a widow and little-known figure, who encouraged kidnapping girls from the lesser nobility.
German anthropologist Michael Wagener points out that Erzsébet continued to use torture after her husband's death, and even refined her methods. "The unhappy girls who were lured to the castle, under the plea that they were to be taken into service there, were locked up in a cellar. Here they were beaten till their bodies were swollen. Elizabeth not infrequently tortured the victims herself; often she changed their clothes which dripped with blood, and then renewed her cruelties. The swollen bodies were then cut up with razors. Occasionally she had the girls burned, and then cut up, but the great majority of them were beaten to death." Many accounts say that she was psychotic, and that her mental illness grew worse with age.
Sometimes she would sew a servant girl's mouth shut, force her to eat strips of her own flesh, or burn her genitals, while Wagener indicates that "she would stick needles into those who sat with her in a carriage, especially if they were of her own sex." He also advanced another legend: "When she was ill, and could not indulge her cruelty, she bit a person who came near her sick bed as though she were a wild beast." This was, in fact, trial testimony, albeit gained via torture.
Elizabeth died alone on 21 August 1614 in her castle, however since there were several plates of food untouched, her actual date of death is unknown. Her body was moved to her birth home at Ecsed after she was buried in the church of Csejte, due to the villagers' uproar over having "The Tigress of Csejte" buried in their cemetery. It now is interred at the Báthory family crypt.
