The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Erzsebet Bathory, known more commonly in the Western world by the anglicised name Elizabeth, was born August 7th, 1560, the daughter of Baron George Bathory and Baroness Anna Bathory. George and Anna were both Bathorys by birth; he a member of the Ecsed branch of the family and of the Somlyo. Such inbreeding was not uncommon in the aristocracy of 16th Century Eastern Europe, as the purity of the noble line was seen as paramount.



The Bathory were one of the most powerful Protestant families in Hungary, and numbered warlords, politicians and clerics among its members. Elizabeth's ancestor Stephan Bathory had fought alongside Vlad Dracula in one of his many successful attempts to reclaim the Wallachian throne, and his namesake, Elizabeth's cousin, became Prince of Transylvania in 1571, and was later elected King of Poland. Other members of the family were less respectable however, including Elizabeth's brother (also called Stephan), a noted drunkard and lecher.



Elizabeth was highly-educated for her time, being fluent in Hungarian, Latin and Greek in a time when most Hungarians of noble birth - even men, who generally would have been better schooled than their female kin - were all but illiterate. She is also said to have been a great beauty, although it is unlikely that anyone would have openly said otherwise of the daughter of such a prominent family. At the age of eleven, Elizabeth was engaged to Count Ferenc Nadasdy, a skilled warrior and athlete, but as reported by his own mother's hand, 'no scholar'. He was - by varying reports - five or 15 years Elizabeth's senior. It was Ferenc's mother, Ursula, who arranged this engagement, one which would give considerable prestige to the Nadasdy family.



In seeking to divine the genesis of Elizabeth's sadistic behaviour it has been suggested that she might have been insane from childhood. It is said that the young Elizabeth suffered from seizures accompanied by loss of control and fits of rage, which may have been caused by epilepsy, possibly stemming from inbreeding. She was also able to witness the brutal justice handed down by her family's officers on their estates at Ecsel. One anecdote describes an incident in which a gypsy, accused of theft, was sewn up in the belly of a dying horse with only his head exposed, and left to die. Such tales afford a grisly reminder that her own acts - while excessive even by the standards of the time - were not so very far removed from deeds which would have been considered quite normal.



In 1574 Elizabeth fell pregnant by a peasant lover. She was quietly sequestered until the child, a daughter, was born and given to peasant foster parents to be raised. In 1575 she was married to Ferenc in a gala festival to which the Holy Roman Emperor himself, Maximillian II, was invited, sending a delegation and a lavish gift with an apology for his unavoidable absence. His reason was the danger of travelling in turbulent times, and there is little to suggest that he was seeking to avoid either family. Elizabeth retained her maiden name, and Ferenc added it to his own, less distinguished one, becoming Ferenc Bathory-Nadasdy



After her marriage, Elizabeth was established as mistress of the Nadasdy estate around Castle Sarvar. Here the Nadasdys enjoyed a reputation as harsh masters, and while much of Elizabeth's cruelty is doubtless due to her own nature, Ferenc is said to have shown her some of his own favoured ways of punishing his servants. There are also tales of the couple engaging in diabolic rites and patronising various occultists and satanists. It is unusual, although far from unheard of, for retellers of the story to claim that Ferenc was unaware of his wife's perversions.



Elizabeth is reported to have been a good wife in her husband's presence, but Ferenc was a warrior by nature, and frequently absent. To occupy her time she is said to have taken numerous young men as lovers. She even ran away with one of these, but returned after a very short time to her husband. She also spent time visiting her aunt, noted at the time for her open bisexuality, and contemporary reports seem to consider Elizabeth's sexual ambivalence to be an integral part of her overall perversion.



After ten years of marriage Elizabeth finally gave her husband children; three daughters and at last a son, delivered in quick succession from 1585 onwards. By all reports, Elizabeth was an excellent and doting mother.

A painting of the macacre court of Elizabeth bathory also known as the Blood Countess



It was in her husband's absence that Elizabeth is reputed to have begun torturing young servant girls for her own pleasure, although this may in fact have been a pastime to which Ferenc himself introduced her to. Her accomplices at this time were Helena Jo, her childrens' wet-nurse, Dorothea Szentes, also known as Dorka, a peasant woman of noted physical strength alleged to be a witch, and Johannes Ujvary, also referred to as Ficzko, a manservant sometimes described as a dwarf-like cripple. Among the activities attributed to Elizabeth in this period were beating her maidservants with a barbed lash and a heavy cudgel, and having them dragged naked into the snow and doused with cold water until they froze to death.



In January 1604, Ferenc Nadasdy died of an infected wound, reportedly inflicted by a harlot whom he refused to pay. Elizabeth transferred herself to the royal court at Vienna with almost unseemly haste, and took to spending much time at her castle at Cachtice (pronounced Chakh-teetsay) in north-west Hungary (now Slovakia). Here she took up with Anna Darvula, described as the most active sadist in her entourage, and, like Dorka, alleged to be a witch. Darvula was also said to be Elizabeth's lover. This was the period in which Elizabeth is said to have committed her greatest atrocities, under the guidance of Darvula.



It is also at this time that legend tells us that she discovered, on striking a servant girl who accidentally pulled her hair whilst combing it, that blood appeared to reduce the signs of ageing on her skin. The popular version of events tells how Elizabeth took to bathing in the blood of young girls2, although of the various horrific eye-witness accounts of her crimes, none describe these blood baths.



Elizabeth's proclivities went largely undetected - or at least ignored - until around 1609. In fact the Lord Palatine of Hungary, Count Cuyorgy Thurzo, probably knew of her activities much earlier. He was her cousin however, and to protect the family name took no official action, although he may have tried to have Elizabeth confined to a nunnery. In 1609 however, Darvula died, and Elizabeth seems to have taken up with a new accomplice/lover, the widow of one of her tenant farmers, named Erszi Majorova, and it was perhaps at Erszi's instigation or encouragement that Elizabeth turned her hand against a number of girls from families of noble blood but little wealth.



The deaths of peasant girls might be overlooked, but the murder of nobles, even those of such limited means as those Elizabeth selected, could not go unnoticed. The King of Hungary ordered her arrest, and Count Thurzo moved quickly to save the family as much face as possible by affecting her capture on his own terms. On 30 December he led soldiers in a night raid on Castle Cachtice; as it was Christmas, the Hungarian Parliament would not have been in session, allowing the Lord Palatine to act unhindered. This raid supposedly found a dead girl in the hallway, and many other victims dead, dying or awaiting torture in cells. Dorothea, Helena and Ficzko were arrested, along with Katarina Beneczky, a washerwoman newly entered into the Countess' service. Erszi Majorova escaped capture in the raid but was later also arrested. Elizabeth herself was held but not taken away with her associates.



In January 1611 Elizabeth's accomplices were subjected to two hurried show trials, in which they gave evidence, almost certainly extracted under torture, and were convicted of their heinous crimes in a matter of days. In the second trial, another servant named as Zusanna gave evidence of the existence of a register, in her mistress' handwriting, which recorded over 650 victims who had died at the Countess' hands over the years. This evidence was shaky as the register was never actually produced, but it was enough to convict the servants.



Helena Jo and Dorothea Szentes were named as the foremost perpetrators and sentenced, as witches, to have the fingers which had 'dipped in the blood of Christians' torn out with red-hot pincers, and then to be burned alive. As a lesser offender, Ficzko was decapitated before his body was burned alongside the two women. On 24 January, Erszi Majorova was also sentenced and executed. Of those tried, only Katarina Beneczky escaped the death sentence, exonerated by her fellow defendants and also by the testimony of Zusanna.

The ruins of Castle Cachtice



Elizabeth Bathory was present at neither trial, and was convicted of no crime. However, when she attempted to flee, her cousin had her confined to the castle at Cachtice, although her family stubbornly refused the King's demands that she be tried for her crimes. While he was probably shocked by the extent of the Countess' deeds, the King's desire for justice was almost certainly in part due to a large debt incurred against Ferenc in his lifetime. Elizabeth's conviction would have allowed the King to not only write off that debt, but also to seize the Nadasdy lands, and those held by Elizabeth as a Bathory. Consequently, the Bathorys must have brought all of their considerable influence to bear to keep that from happening.

From the Horse's Mouth - Testimony of Elizabeth Bathory's Crimes



The following are examples of the testimony of the servants recorded at the trial of Elizabeth's accomplices.



... a 12-year-old girl named Pola somehow managed to escape from the castle. But Dorka, aided by Helena Jo, caught the frightened girl by surprise and brought her forcibly back to Cachtice Castle. Clad only in a long white robe, Countess Elizabeth greeted the girl upon her return. The countess was in another of her rages. She advanced on the 12-year-old child and forced her into a kind of cage. This particular cage was built like a huge ball, too narrow to sit in, too low to stand in. Once the girl was inside, the cage was suddenly hauled up by a pulley and dozens of short spikes jutted into the cage. Pola tried to avoid being caught on the spikes, but Ficzko manoeuvered the ropes so that the cage shifted from side to side. Pola's flesh was torn to pieces.



One accomplice testified that on some days Elizabeth had stark-naked girls laid flat on the floor of her bedroom and tortured them so much that one could scoop up the blood by the pailful afterwards, and so Elizabeth had her servants bring up cinders in order to cover the pools of blood. A young maid-servant who did not endure the tortures well and died very quickly was written out by the countess in her diary with the laconic comment 'She was too small...'



At one point in her life Elizabeth Bathory was so sick that she could not move from her bed and could not find the strength to torture her miscreant servant girls... She demanded that one of her female servants be brought before her. Dorothea Szentes, a burly, strong peasant woman, dragged one of Elizabeth's girls to her bedside and held her there. Elizabeth rose up on her bed, and, like a bulldog, the Countess opened her mouth and bit the girl first on the cheek. Then she went for the girl's shoulders where she ripped out a piece of flesh with her teeth. After that, Elizabeth proceeded to bite the girl's breasts.

- From Dracula was a Woman McNally, R The Fate Of Elizabeth Bathory Close up of the tower that ELizabeth's badroom was in & where is walled in for punishment



Although she was never convicted of any crime, Elizabeth Bathory's family declared her a menace to their name, and she was walled up within her bed chamber, with only small slits for ventilation and the passing of food left open. After three years, a guard looking through one of the slots saw the infamous Blood Countess lying face down on the floor of her chamber, dead.



Elizabeth died in Castle Cachtice on 21 August, 1614. The bulk of her estate was divided, according to her will, between her children. She was taken from the castle and buried at her birthplace at Ecsed. She was to have been buried at Cachtice, but the local populace would not hear of such a woman being interred in their parish, let alone on consecrated ground. While the views of the peasantry would have been of little matter, it would perhaps be feared that Elizabeth's grave would be desecrated, bringing further insult upon the family name.

- From an article intitled: "Elizabeth Bathory - the Blood Countess"

wriiten by Mr. Prophet and originally posted at www.bbc.co.uk.

Time Line



1560: Erzsebet (Elizabeth) Bathory born to George and Anna Bathory



1569: Codrescu, in his fictional The Blood Countess, has the nine-year-old Erzsebet witness the murder of her two older sisters by rebelling peasants. I haven't found any corrboration of this event in the non-fictional sources, so I don't know if it's true.)



1571: The eleven-year-old Erzsebet was engaged to the sixteen-year-old Ferencz Nadasdy; the match was arranged by his mother, Ursula.



1574: Erzsebet became pregnant from an affair with a peasant; she was sequestered at a remote Bathory castle until the bastard, a daughter, was born.



1575: Erzsebet married Count Ferencz Nadasady on May 8th. She took over household affairs at Castle Sarvar, the Nadasdy family estate. Ferencz made war his "career", and began scoring victories against the Turks as early as 1578. He eventually earned the nickname "Black Knight of Hungary". He also lent the Hungarian Crown a great deal of money to finance the war against the Turks.



1585: Erzsebet gave birth to the first of her three daughters, Anna.



1598: The Countess' only son, Paul, was born. He had three older sisters: Anna, Orsika (Ursula), and Kato (Katherina). Helena Jo served as his wet nurse, as well as having been the nurse for his older sisters.



1594: Janos Ujvary--Ficzko--came into Erzsebet's service. He was a dwarflike cripple, and the only male servant who got to participate in torturing.



1604: Ferencz Nadasdy died on January 4th. Erzsebet moved to Vienna only four weeks after his death, shocking the royal court. She also began to spend time at estates at Blindoc (Beckov) and Csejthe (Cachtice). According to the terms of Ferencz's will, Paul was placed under the guardianship of Imre Megyery. The witch, Anna Darvulia, began serving Erzsebet sometime during this year; with her arrival, the torture and killings escalated.



1607: After demanding for years that the Crown repay the debt owed to Ferencz, the Countess was so financially strapped that she was forced to sell her castle at Theben. At this point, the women in her employ began to actively procure girls, acting like "madams".



1609: In the winter, the Countess invited around twenty-five impoverished noblewomen to stay at Csejthe. Erzsebet accused one of them of killing others for jewelry and then committing suicide.



1610: Darvulia probably died during this year. Still having financial problems, Countess Bathory sold Castle Blindoc. The Bathory family secretly decided to spirit the Countess off to a convent for the rest of her days, but before this could be accomplished, Megyery deposed a formal complaint against her before the Hungarian Parliament. Inquiry into Erzsebet's crimes began late in the year by the Lord Palatine, Count Gyorgy Thurzo, who was her cousin, and one of the members of the Bathory family who had planned to have her retired to a convent. Thurzo raided Castle Csejthe and arrested Countess Bathory on December 30th.



1611: Two trials in January. In the first trial, on January 2nd, only Erzsebet's accomplices were brought to trial. Three of them, Helena Jo, Dorka, and Ficzko, were found guilty, while the fourth, Katalin, was held pending "further evidence". The second trial, was convened on January 7th, and although Erzsebet petitioned the court to allow her to appear and defend herself against the charges, her cousin Thurzo would not allow her to appear and so disgrace the Bathory name. While the court condemned the Countess' actions, she was not actually to be punished. Helena Jo and Dorca had all the fingers torn out by a pair of red-hot pinchers, and were then thrown alive onto a fire. Ficzko was decapitated and then burned. Erzsebet attempted to escape to Transylvannia during the trial, and was consequently condemned by Thurzo to lifelong imprisonment in Castle Csejthe.



King Matthias II of Hungary continued to try and bring Erzsebet herself to trial, and took depostions from witnesses in July and December. However, her relatives lobbied very hard to keep a trial from actually taking place, and the king finally conceeded defeat. The Countess was walled up inside a small room in Castle Csejthe, with only a very small food hatch and a few ventilation slits. Although Matthias did seem quite outraged about Countess Bathory's crimes, his motives in wanting to bring her to trial more involved his desire to seize her lands and cancel the debt owed her husband by the Crown than any feelings of justice for the poor girls she murdered.



1614: Countess Bathory writes her last will and testament on July 31st. Later in the year, she was found face-down on the floor, dead, by one of her guards. The date is reported as either August 14th or the 21st.