Elizabeth Báthory was born in Nyírbátor in Hungary on 17th August 1560. She was married off at the age of fifteen and widowed at the age of forty-four. Elizabeth was very intelligent and educated, for example she could read and write four languages: a great feat during that time when many people were completely illiterate.
During her married life she was left alone for long periods of time as her husband was away on campaigns. To ease her boredom she began to engross herself in various occult studies, which would result in horrific actions after her husband's death in 1604.
Elizabeth's Married Life
Elizabeth was married to Ferenc Nádasdy. Their union was a great political one, Elizabeth being, among other relations, the niece of the King of Poland. Both husband and wife also had, supposedly, madness running in their families, and spent time torturing victims together and exhanging tips on how to carry out torture more effectively.
Ferenc was away a lot on campaigns, so their first child was not born until 1585, ten years after they entered marriage. Elizabeth, however, spent her time quite pleasantly as it is believed she had several male lovers and also some female ones to amuse her while her husband was away.
She gave birth to six children of which four survived, and it is said she was a good and protective mother which wasn't unusual for nobility who would nonetheless be cruel to their servants without a second thought as these were considered lesser beings and therefore not worth any other treatment.
Elizabeth's Belief that Blood was Beneficial
When Elizabeth was widowed she became an interesting woman on the market as she had several valuable connections and property. However, she wanted power for herself, so she needed to be able to snare the right husband. The only problem was that she had begun aging, being as she was forty-four years old.
According to sources a servant girl was combing her hair and accidentally pulled a strand which angered Elizabeth to the point of actually hitting the girl so hard her stroke drew blood. This blood fell upon Elizabeth's hand and a few hours later when she examined the place it had fallen, she was convinced the skin there looked younger and refreshed.
It was now her slaughter began and witnesses claim that she took baths in the blood of virgin girls. She was kidnapping girls from the nobility and also from the peasants in the surrounding villages. The younger and more beautiful the girls the more effective she believed her 'treatment' to be. However, this may not be entirely true, although what she was actually carrying out to, according to the records, hundreds of young women was not much better.
Elizabeth's Torture Methods and Fall
Although she might not have been bathing in the blood of young virgins, she was definately much fascinated by inducing suffering and pain. According to witnesses she was beating girls to death, biting them, keeping them in cages, whipping them and pricking them all over with needles- just to mention a few of her pastimes.
Eventually, of course, rumours began to spread since girls kept disappearing and dying and King Matthias II of Hungary decided to take action. He sent György Thurzo, the Palatine of Hungary, to investigate Elizabeth in 1610.
They found proof of what the rumours said and Elizabeth was brought to justice. She had some accomplices who were punished, however, Elizabeth herself was not convicted and punished as such but only sentenced to house arrest as it was believed anything else would cause unrest within the nobility. She remained in house arrest until her death 1614.
Elizabeth Inspiring Stories
The actions performed by Elizabeth were abhorrent. Nonetheless, rather than being erased from the memory of mankind, she is still known today since her story has inspired a lot of gothic tales and horror tales. It is thought that Bram Stokes was inspired partly by her when writing his novel Count Dracula. Even today new tales inspired by her are created such as Erzsébet: The Opera, which will be performed next year.
Sources:
Lady of Blood: Countess Bathory
Amanda Lindberg - Amanda Lindberg is a young woman with a broad spectrum of interests. She has studied Creative Writing and Literature for two years at the ...
Join the Conversation