Elizabeth Báthory

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A portrait of the Bloody Lady of Čachtice

Countess Elizabeth Báthory (Báthory Erzsébet in Hungarian, Alžbeta Bátoriová(-Nádašdy) in Slovak), August 7?, 1560 – August 21, 1614), the Bloody Lady of Čachtice, was a Hungarian countess who lived in the Čachtice Castle near Trenčín, in present-day Slovakia.

She is considered the most famous serial killer in Slovak and Hungarian history. She spent most of her life at the Čachtice Castle. She and her alleged four collaborators were accused of torturing and killing numerous girls and young women. In 1611, she was imprisoned in solitary confinement, where she stayed until her death three years later. Her nobility allowed her to avoid an immediate execution. However, three of her four alleged collaborators were put to death.

The Bathory case inspired many stories, featuring the Countess bathing in her victims` blood in order to retain her youth. Therefore she is also known as "The Blood Countess".

Life

She was born in Nyírbátor in present-day Hungary on August 71560 and died on August 21 1614 in Čachtice, present-day Slovakia.

She spent her childhood at the Ecsed Castle; details from this period are unknown. At the age of 11 she was engaged with the noble and successful warrior Ferencz Nádasdy and moved to the Nádasdy Castle in Sárvár. In 1575, she married Nádasdy in Vranov nad Topľou, who in 1578 became the chief commander of Hungarian troops in their war against the Turks. He was considered a very brave, but also very cruel, person. The Turks feared him and called him the Black Beg.

Nádasdy’s wedding gift to Elizabeth was his home, the Čachtice Castle (situated in the Carpathians in present-day western Slovakia near Trenčín, then part of Royal Hungary) together with the Čachtice country-house and seventeen adjacent villages. The castle itself was surrounded by a peasant village and rolling agricultural lands, interspersed with outcroppings of the Carpathian Mountains. In 1602, Elizabeth’s husband definitively bought the castle from Emperor Rudolf II, so that it became a property of the Nádasdys. Since battles with the Turks occupied her husband, Elizabeth became the lady of the castle. At this time she was able to read and write in four languages.

Elizabeth had six children. Two of them died at an early age:

Her husband died in either 1602 or 1604, either from an illness, at the hands of a prostitute, or in battle. Another view holds that he was murdered by general Giorgio Basta, whose reign of terror in Transylvania at that time led to a sharp decline in the Bathory family's power.

It is alleged that Elizabeth started to kill young women between the years 1585 and 1610, and that her husband and her relatives knew about her sadistic inclination, but they did not directly intervene. While her husband lived, she apparently kept her activities to a moderate level, but upon his death any restraints he may have imposed on her (or she on herself) were completely removed. It is said that people living around her castle hated her so much that she only left the castle under an armed escort. However, she did torture some girls at her properties in Sárvár and Keresztúr. Her possible victims were initially local peasant girls, many of whom were lured to Čachtice by offers of well-paid work. However, when stories spread of the countess's inclinations, the supply of new maids began to dwindle. At this point, she may have begun to kill daughters of lower gentry, who were sent to her castle by their parents to learn noble manners; Báthory had allegedly erected a sham school to entice the lower gentry to hand their daughters over to the Countess. In the early 17th century, parents of substantial position often wished their daughters to be educated in the social graces and etiquette. As rumours spread further throughout the Hungarian Kingdom concerning the actions of the Countess, she may have had girls kidnapped both locally and from more distant areas.


Investigation of her actions

After the parish priest of Čachtice and the monks of the relatively nearby Vienna had lodged several complaints with the court in Vienna about cries from the castle, the King Matthias assigned Juraj Thurzo (Hungarian: György Thurzó), the palatine of Hungary, to investigate these complaints. Thurzo and his men invaded Čachtice in the morning of December 29 1610 and caught Elizabeth in the act in the Čachtice country-house; she was torturing several girls--one of them had only just died. She and four collaborators were charged with sadistic torture, as well as mass murder. Despite the overwhelming evidence found by investigators, Elizabeth herself was not brought to trial. Her son Paul and his tutor Megyery raised valid concerns that, apart from the public scandal and family disgrace, by law the family inheritance would go to the crown. Moreover, Elizabeth’s nephew Gabriel Báthory was the ruler of Transylvania and Thurzo feared his reaction. While she was investigated in absentia, Elizabeth was kept under tight house arrest and waged a spirited defense by a furious stream of letters. The outcome was inevitable. The bloody countess was bricked up in her own private chamber of her castle, kept alive only by food poked through a slit in the door, and died there on August 21 1614. Further details regarding her collaborators are recorded below.

More than 300 people were interrogated before her death in 1614. The evidence against her would not be considered acceptable in most developed countries by today's standards, since it was obtained hastily and in the case of her accomplices, through torture. However, the interrogations did produce some corroborating testimonies, albeit ones that cast doubt on the motives described in legends and fiction about her.

Motives

Elizabeth was born in a brutal environment in which her family often used violence to maintain their power (e.g. the Transylvanian ruler Zsigmond Báthory who liked to have his retainers killed). Alternatively, inbreeding is sometimes believed to have caused various psychotic disorders that the family was rumored to have. McNally and Radu Florescu imply that she learned techniques of torture from her husband, the "Black Beg", or Karabeg in Turkish. Some writers claim the Báthorys were brutal individuals even for the time, but others accuse such writers of selling fiction at any cost and slandering a family that achieved great things for Hungary[1].

Her crimes, arrest, and imprisonment can be seen in the context of a financial wartime power struggle she and her family eventually lost to the Habsburgs. The Báthory family's influence had declined in its base, Transylvania, after their involvement in the Long War with the Turks and subsequent betrayal at the hands of their allies. After her husband's death, the Emperor had refused to pay debts owed to the late "Black Beg". Elizabeth's relative Gabriel Báthory (listed as a brother, cousin, or nephew depending on the source) was involved in anti-Habsburg intrigue following the Long War and she was said to have been linked to these activities[2][3].

While she was almost certainly a very ruthless individual, many have cast doubt on the motives of legend. That she was killing the girls in order to bathe in their blood and, thus, stay forever young or improve her complexion was not mentioned at her trial, but lurid legends about her continued even after it was made against the law to speak her name in Hungary. The tortures described in the actual recorded documents of the case are different from the overtly sexual atrocities alleged in sensational fictional stories about her.

Collaborators

A shadowy figure named Anna Darvulia, a suspected local who dabbled in black magic and satanic ritual, is rumoured to have influenced much of Elizabeth's early sadistic career, but apparently died before the major events of Elizabeth's reign of terror commenced.

Elizabeth's main collaborators after Anna's death were her maids:

Except for Katarína, they were all executed at Bytča on January 7 1611.

Katarína's guilt could not be proven, and according to McNally's sources from recorded testimony by all witnesses, she seems to have been dominated and bullied by the other executed women. Two of the women had their extremities hacked off before being thrown onto a blazing fire, while Fickó, whose guilt was deemed the lesser, had the mercy of being beheaded before being consigned to the flames. A public scaffold was erected near the castle to show the public that justice had been done.

The confessions and testimony against Báthory were taken under torture by Thorzo.

Elizabeth Báthory in folklore and literature

The case of Elizabeth Báthory inspired numerous stories and fairy tales. 18th and 19th century writers liberally added or omited elements of the narrative. The most common motif of this works was the countess' bathing in her victims' blood in order to retain beauty or youth. Another element mentioned quite consistently is her accidental discovery of the bloodbath practice. The countess, typically characterized as cruel person, would slap a female servant in rage, splashing parts of her own skin with blood. Upon removal of the blood, that portion of skin would seem more beautiful than before [citation needed].

McNally, not finding evidence for the bloodbath legends being based on reality, concluded that they were attempts to explain how a woman could be guilty of causing so many deaths. Women were not believed capable of violence for its own sake, thus the idea emerged that vanity was the root cause, in order to reconcile Báthory's actions with common belief of what could motivate women[citation needed].

Some versions of the story were told with the purpose of denouncing (female) vanity, while other versions intended to entertain or thrill their audience. Those would indulge in torture chamber fantasies, adding elaborate, but largely generic methods and devices of torture, including spiked cages or iron maidens[citation needed].

Later authors introduced a clearly sexual perspective. Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, whose favourite motif of female dominance would later coin the term masochism, was inspired to write his 1886 novella "Ewige Jugend" (eternal youth)[citation needed].

Many works of fiction portray the countess as bisexual or lesbian, drawing on the belief that her victims were exclusively women[citation needed].

In film

There have been several movies about or inspired by Elizabeth Báthory:

In music

  • The black metal band Bathory took its name from the blood countess, and their first three albums all (at least partly) have songs about her, including "Woman of Dark Desires". Lyrics
  • The extreme metal band Cradle of Filth has many songs about the countess, and its 1998 album, Cruelty and the Beast, is completely dedicated to Elizabeth.
  • Progressive power metal band Kamelot have a three-part song on their Karma album about Bathory called "Elizabeth".
  • British thrash metal band Venom have a song called "Countess Bathory".
  • Hungarian black metal band Tormentor has a song called "Elisabeth Bathory" on their Anno Domini album. Later this song was covered by Swedish blackened death metal band Dissection on Where Dead Angels Lie and by the portugal black metal band Azagatel in "Nautilus". Lyrics The name was misspelled as "Elisabeth Bathori".
  • American hardcore band Boy Sets Fire recorded a song called "Bathory's Sainthood" on their 2003 album, Tomorrow Come Today.
  • The final track of the album "Black One" by experimental doom metal band Sunn O))), titled "Bathory Erzsebet", is in part dedicated to her. The vocal tracks to the song were actually recorded with session vocalist Malefic of the black metal band Xasthur nailed inside a coffin, to recreate the kind of terror those that Countess Bathory tortured must have felt.
  • Texas death metal/grindcore band Erzebet took its name from the countess.
  • A Finnish black metal band Barathrum has a title called "Countess Erszebeth Nadasdy" on their album "Saatana"
  • A black metal band God Dethroned has a song called "Villa Vampiria" about her and her desire to bathe in blood on their album "Ravenous"

In fiction

  • Báthory is a major character in the alternative history/fantasy novel This Rough Magic by Eric Flint, Dave Freer and Mercedes Lackey.
  • The Blood Countess is a novel by Andrei Codrescu, a Romanian native and descendant of Elizabeth Báthory, currently a professor of writing at LSU and columnist with NPR.
  • "The Bloody Countess" by Alejandra Pizarnik was a short gothic work of fiction written in 1968. It has been reprinted in The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales, ed. Chris Baldick.
  • Báthory is an ancestress of Christopher Cséjthe, the protagonist of the "Half/Life" series by Wm Mark Simmons; this blood relationship, merely alluded to in the first book, becomes a major plot point in the second book.
  • Báthory plays a background role in the novel Managra by Stephen Marley.
  • Several chapters of the Sorcerer Hunters manga surround the heroes dealing with a deranged noblewoman that drinks the blood of girls to stay youthful.
  • In the VHS Board Game, Nightmare, one of the characters involved is named "Elizabeth Bathory, the Vampire".
  • In the TV series Quantum Leap, in an episode called Blood Moon, a ceremony is held in honor of one Count Bathory, a vampire. The ceremony requires the participants to sacrifice a living person(s).
  • An anthology of short stories based in the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Tales of the Slayer", included a tale which involved an ancient Slayer sneaking into Bathory's castle to slay her.
  • McFarlane Toys released a figurine of Elizabeth bathing in a blood-filled bathtub as part of a line of infamous historical figures.
  • In the science fiction short story "Rumfuddle" by Jack Vance, a baby who would have grown up to be Elizabeth Báthory is taken to a different time and place in history.
  • "Elizabeth Bathory" is a seven part comic book series by Raulo and published by Eros comics. It is a pornographic horror fantasy depicting the erotic adventures of Elizabeth Bathory.
  • Fictional story "The Blood Confessions" by Alison M. Libby tells the story of Elizabeth from early childhood to her lock-up.
  • Carmila in Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust is based in part on the vampire Carmilla and in part on Countess Elizabeth Báthory. Her name in the Japanese dub is Carmila Báthory.

In games

  • In the VCR/DVD boardgame Atmosfear, Elizabeth Bathory is a playable character and is portrayed as a vampiress.
  • The video game series Castlevania has characters that represent or in most cases, have strong connections to Bathory
  • In the video game Castlevania: Bloodlines, there is a character named Elizabeth Bartley, whose history is strikingly similar to Báthory's. Given the idiosyncrasies of phonetic translation between Japanese and other languages, it is likely that this character is indeed Elizabeth Bathory.
  • In the PC game Diablo II, one of the quests in the game is to find the tower belonging to the "Countess," who, in the game, is said to have been buried alive for bathing in the blood of a hundred virgins.
  • In the online role-playing game Ragnarok Online, there is a monster known as the "Bathory" that inhabits the Clock Tower. Bathory is depicted as an old witch in purple on a broomstick.
  • In the online role-playing game EverQuest II, there is a quest called "The Blood Countess Rises", which tells the tale of a countess who killed her people and bathed in their blood, in order to have eternal youth. As a punishment for her crimes she is not killed, but sealed away in ice until her death.

In toys

She is featured in McFarlane Toys 6 Faces of Madness series, a collection of action figures that included, among others, Rasputin and Vlad the Impaler. Bathory's character is depicted bathing in blood while the heads of the some of the victims are impaled in a candelabra. The toy is also set for an upcoming re-release in a box set of three female action figures released previously by McFarlane Toys.

References and further reading

  • McNally, Raymond T. (1983). Dracula Was a Woman: In Search of the Blood Countess of Transylvania. New York: McGraw Hill. ISBN 0070456712.
  • Farin, Michael (2003). Heroine des Grauens. Elisabeth Báthory. Munich: P. Kirchheim. ISBN 3-87410-038-3. (all relevant sources in German translation).
  • Nash, Jay Robert (1983). Look For the Woman. New York: M. Evans and Company, Inc. ISBN 0871313367.
  • Varesi, Andreas. Das Geheimnis der Bathory. Facility Management Publ. ISBN 3000172165.
  • Thorne, Tony (1997). Countess Dracula. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0747529000.
  • Penrose, Valentine (1970). The Bloody Countess. Calder & Boyars. ISBN 0714501344.
  • Codrescu, Andrei (1995). The Blood Countess. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc. ISBN 0684802449.
  • Bathory Al Babel, Gia (2006). The Trouble with the Pears: An Intimate Portrait of Erzsebet Bathory. Authorhouse. ISBN 1425910394.
  • Guinness World Records (2006); page 133

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