Elizabeth Báthory - The Blood Countess

 

 Elizabeth Báthory - The Blood Countess 


 Countess Elizabeth Báthory, was a Hungarian noblewoman and also a reputed serial killer of hundreds of young women, in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Stories of her sadism and brutality, quickly became part of national folklore, her infamy earning her the nickname “The Blood Countess” or “Countess Dracula”.

 Elizabeth Báthory was born on the 7th August 1560.
Her father was Baron George VI Báthory, brother of the voivode of Transylvania, Andrew Bonaventura Báthory.

Her mother was Baroness Anna Báthory, daughter of another voivode of Transylvania.

Elizabeth was also the niece of Stephen Báthory, the king of Poland and the grand duke of Lithuania and prince of Transylvania.

 Little about Elizabeth Báthory's early childhood is known.
However, this is the period of her life where most of the speculation about the origins of her evil is centred.

One favorite conspiracy is that she suffered from seizures.
These were treated by rubbing the blood of a non-sufferer onto her lips - thus igniting her insatiable desire for blood.

 Another theory claims that she was trained by her family to be cruel, taught witchcraft, and exposed to Satanic worship.

There's absolutely no evidence to support this, other than it makes a good story.

What we do know is that she was raised in luxury and privilege, denied to the vast majority of Hungarian citizens at the time.

 At the age of ten, Elizabeth was betrothed to Ferenc Nádasdy, a nobleman and heir to one of the wealthiest dynasties in the region.

They married in 1575, when Elizabeth was 15, and Ferenc was 19.
It was a very grand affair, with approximately 4,500 guests invited to their wedding.

 Before marrying Nádasdy, Elizabeth had been in a relationship with a man of inferior birth.
Reportedly Elizabeth became pregnant and gave birth to a baby.

Nádasdy is said to have had the lover castrated, and torn to pieces by dogs.

The child was then hidden away from the public.

 The young couple lived in the Nádasdy castles in Hungary, and would go on to have four children together.

It's been said, that it was Nádasdy who introduced Elizabeth to the 'pleasures' of inflicting pain and torture.

While Nádasdy was away on his frequent trips, Elizabeth ran the estates, and took various lovers.

Nádasdy died in 1604 after developing a debilitating pain in his legs, eventually becoming permanently disabled.

 After her husband’s death, rumours of Elizabeth Báthory’s cruelty began to surface.

Peasant girls looking for servant work in the Čachtice Castle, were disappearing, and no one knew why.

But before long, many locals began to point their fingers at Countess Elizabeth Bathory......

 There had been earlier accounts of peasant women being murdered, but it was not until 1609, that rumours Elizabeth had also killed minor noblewomen, attracted attention.

The stories of Báthory’s murders were further verified, by physical evidence of mutilated, dying or dead victims at the time of her arrest.

 According to the testimonies, Báthory’s initial targets were servant girls aged between 10 and 14.

The daughters of local peasants, these victims had been lured to the estate by offers of work as maids or servants in the castle.

Two court officials claimed that they personally witnessed Báthory torture and kill young servant girls.

In all, Báthory was accused of having killed between 30 and 600 young women!

 Elizabeth Báthory was suspected of having committed many forms of torture on her victims.

Survivors and witnesses, reported victims experiencing severe beatings, burning or mutilation of hands, freezing or starving to death.

Victims would be covered in honey and live ants, or burned with hot tongs and then placed in freezing water.

 Elizabeth Báthory was said to have stuck needles into her victims’ lips or intimate body parts, stabbing at them with scissors or biting off their breasts, faces, and limbs.

Báthory’s victims were said to have been hidden in a variety of places - but the most common method was to have the bodies secretly buried in church graveyards in the dead of night.

 Witnesses claimed that Bathory’s favorite method of torture was using scissors to mutilate her victims’ bodies and faces.

She supposedly used the scissors to cut off their hands, noses, and genitals.

She sometimes even used scissors to slice open the skin between her victims’ fingers.

Whether these horrendous crimes were sExually motivated, or just the actions of an evil, twisted mind, is debated.

 Báthory was said to have enjoyed drinking the blood of virgins, believing that it would preserve her beauty and youthfulness.

She was also rumoured to bathe in the blood of her young victims.

However stories attesting to her vampiric tendencies were recorded years after her death, and are considered unreliable.

Modern historians have claimed that these stories originated from the widespread disbelief that women were not capable of such violence, for its own sake.

 On 30th December 1609, Báthory and her servants were finally arrested.

The servants were put on trial in 1611, and three were exEcuted for being Báthory’s accomplices.

Báthory herself was never tried.

A trial and exEcution would have caused a public scandal.
This would lead to the disgrace of a prominent and influential family that ruled Transylvania.

 Despite the overwhelming evidence and testimony against her, Báthory was saved from exEcution.

She was imprisoned within the Castle of Čachtice, in Upper Hungary, now Slovakia.

Báthory would stay in the castle until her death in 1614, at the age of 54.

 Elizabeth Báthory was initially buried in the castle church.

However, the exact location of her body today, is unknown.

The Čachtice church and the castle of Čachtice do not bear any markings of her possible grave.

 According to the Guinness World Records, Báthory is the most prolific female murderer of the western world.

This is despite the precise number of her victims remaining unknown.

To this day, the case of Elizabeth Báthory inspires rigorous debate.
Some believe that she was the victim of a politically motivated conspiracy, as a means to get control over her land.

Others have raised the possibility that she was targeted by the Lutheran Church, because of her Calvinist faith.

The Tudor Intruders (and more)
.

 Source~HistoryHit/amyscrypt

.
 Elizabeth Báthory from Zay artist.
Possibly a copy of a painting which is at the Hungarian National Museum, in Budapest.