Erzsébet Báthory (b. August 7, 1560), was born into one of the oldest and wealthiest families in Transylvania, the daughter of Baron and Baroness George and Anna Báthory. The Báthory family held power in broad areas of east central Europe including Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania. Stemming from the Hun Gutkeled clan they came into significant power in the 13th century and fell from it in 1658. After abandoning their tribal roots they took on the family name of Bátor, meaning 'valiant' after one of their estates. The ranks of the Báthory's ranged from kings and princes to holders of civil posts.
Like many noble lines in those times, there was a considerable amount of inter-marriages. From these come the expected abnormalities this practice would result in. This is believed to be one of the factors causing the cruel and sadistic characteristics of several Báthory family members, namely Erzsébet. It's speculated that she had a neurological disorder which caused her to have violent seizures as a child and psychotic behaviour later in life.
Erzsébet was raised as Magyar royalty and was highly educated, even more so than most noble men of her time. She became fluent in Latin, Hungarin and German.
At the age of 11, Erzsébet was engaged to Ferenc Nadasdy, nicknamed the "Black Hero of Hungary". The couple went to live in his mothers home, the Castle of Csejthe, located in the Carpathian mountains (which is now central Romania). They married May 8th, 1575. Erzsébet kept her name because the Nadasdy family was of lesser social status, Ferenc hyphenated his name.
About ten years after their marriage, Erzsébet gave birth to a girl whom she named Anna. This was not officially her first child. During an affair early on in the marriage she gave birth to a child. It was given to a peasant along with a sum of money. After Anna, over a 9 year period, she bore 2 more girls, Ursula and Katherina and a son, Paul. Surprisingly, Erzsébet was apparently a very good mother. She was quite protective of her children and treated them with great care.
Her husband's death was a bit of a mystery. There are two theory's as to how he died in January 1604. One source claims he died of stab wounds inflicted by a peasant in Bucharest. Another claims his death was caused by a serious illness.
Crimes
Erzsébet was not content with life in the castle while Ferenc was away fighting in the war with the Turks. Being an active teenager, she became increasingly bored and set out to find something to occupy her time. It was then that she began dabbling in the occult. Her man servant Thorko introduced her to these crafts. She began to gather about her a group of people claiming to be alchemists, witches, sorcerers and even those claiming alligence with the Devil.
She took a great deal of interest in learning these sinister arts from her new tenants, but even this did not satisfy her. Following the lead of her husband, whom perfected different torture devices for the war, she took up the unusual practice of torturing.
Erzsébet often visited her wealthy aunt Klara. Klara was an open bisexual (Erzsébet was speculated to have dabled in bisexuality as well.) and encouraged Erzsébet's odd tastes. She provided her with plenty of peasant girls in which Erzsébet could occupy her time with.
After Ferenc died, Erzsébet's real reign of terror began. She became obsessed with aging. She feared her youth and beauty would soon diminish and with it her power would fall. Erzsébet thought she had found the secret of youth. While getting ready one morning, one of her servant girls was attempting to fix Erzsébet's headdress, when Erzsébet struck her with a hairbrush. The blow was hard enough that blood was drawn from the girl and fell onto Erzsébet. Upon wiping the blood off, Erzsébet thought her skin looked fresher and more vibrant. She consulted her alchemists and they were quick to agree that young blood, especially virgin blood, was the answer to maintaining her youth. And thus began the infamous bloodbaths, which spanned a period of 10 years.
She enjoyed the kill and would sometimes prolong it for days, weeks and even months at a time, using various methods of torture. She would have them cut in different ways to provide herself with streams of blood for baths. A cage was even fashioned to hang from the ceiling, in it girls would be poked and prodded with needles so that Erzsébet could have a blood shower. There are even rumours of her biting the flesh of these girls and drinking their blood.
At first, Erzsébet went out of her way to make sure the victims were given a proper Christian burial. As the death count rose, so did suspicions, and the pastor refused to continue burying the girls. Now having to dispose of the bodies herself, they were buried carelessly around the castle in such places as the vegetable garden, dumped in the stream behind the castle and even buried in the basement of the castle. Her carelessness even extended to her choice of victims. Instead of sticking to peasants and servant girls, who's death would not draw much attention, she got desperate for young blood and started an 'academy' for noble girls. The wealthy would send their children to Castle Csejthe to complete their daughters education. 25 girls at a time would enroll and they too would become Erzsébet's prey.
It was around this time that authorities began to suspect her of the mysterious murders. The governor of the province who happened to be Erzsébet's cousin, Count Gyorgy Thurzo, was ordered to raid Castle Csejthe by King Matyas. What they discovered in the castle horrified them. There was a dead girl in the main room whom had been drained of blood. Several girls were found barely alive, their bodies pierced with multiple holes and the remains of over 50 bodies were exhumed from the dungeon of the castle.
Aftermath
Soon after the December 30, 1610 raid of the castle, a trial was held at Bitcse. Erzsébet refused to plead her guilt or innocence and never even appeared in the trial, partly due to her royal status. Many of Erzsébet's accomplices were tried and testified in the trial. Johannes Ujvary, major-domo, claimed that about 40 unmarried girls had been killed, a small few of which he had recruited to the castle himself. Erzsébet's old nurse claimed the same. A testimony from a witness, named Zusanna, revealed the most pertinent peice of evidence, Erzsébet's diary containing a list of all the girls murdered and her methods of doing so. The count of deaths by Erzsébet and her staff totalled over 600. The servants were found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. Only one managed to escape the death penalty, Katarina Beneczky. Dorka and her witches were considered the main perpetrators of the gruesome crimes and given the ultimate punishment. First their fingers were ripped out by red-hot pincers, then they were burned alive.
Erzsébet was not tried, but was sentenced by Count Thurzo. His sentence was as follows: "You Erzsébet, are like a wild animal, you are in the last months of your life. You do not deserve to breathe the air on earth, nor to see the light of the Lord. You shall disappear from this world and shall never reappear in it again. The shadows will envelop you and you will find time to repent your bestial life. I condemn you, Lady of Csejthe, to lifelong imprisonment in your own castle."
A small room in the Castle Csejthe's tower was walled up with only a small slot for food left open. For 2 years Erzsébet was confined to the room until late August 1614, when she was found dead by one of her jailers. She was to be buried at the church in town, but locals protested. Her body was taken to Ecsed, the original town of the Bathory line and remains there today.
Legend
The legend of Erzsébet Báthory is still very much alive today. Nicknamed the "Blood Countess of Hungary" and "Countess Dracula", myths claim her to be one of the first real life vampires. The media has protrayed her as the beautiful dark mistress with a lust for the blood of young girls. It's no wonder she has been the inspiration of many stories and films. Author Bram Stoker modeled his infamous novel Dracula after Erzsébet's sadistic pasttimes. Her legacy is celebrated on the silver screen in such films as The Black Harvest of Countess Dracula (1971, directed by León Klimovsky), Countess Dracula (1971, directed by Peter Sasdy), Daughters of Darkness (1971, directed by Harry Kümel), and Ceremonia Sangrienta (1973, directed by Jordi Grau). She appears even in music, from the lyrics of death metal band, Cradle of Filth, to an in progress opera about her life by one of her last living relatives, Dennis Báthory-Kitsz.
Whether you view the life of Erzsébet Báthory as an interesting peice of the past or entirely too gruesome to speak of, she will forever hold a place in history as one of the most notorious serial killers of our time.
