Elizabeth Báthory

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A portrait of the Bloody Lady of Čachtice.
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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. After her husband's death, she and her four alleged collaborators were accused of torturing and killing numerous girls and young women. In 1611, she was imprisoned in Čachtice Castle, where she remained until her death three years later. Her nobility allowed her to avoid trial and execution. However, three of her four alleged collaborators were put to death.

The Báthory case inspired many stories, featuring the Countess bathing in her victims' blood in order to retain her youth. This inspired nicknames like the Blood Countess.

Contents

[edit] Life

Báthory was born in Nyírbátor, Hungary, on August 7, 1560 and died on August 21, 1614 in Čachtice (Csejte, Schächtitz), present-day Slovakia.

She spent her childhood at Ecsed Castle. At the age of 11 she was engaged to Ferencz Nádasdy and moved to Nádasdy Castle in Sárvár. In 1575, she married Nádasdy in Vranov nad Topľou. In 1578, he became the chief commander of Hungarian troops, leading them to war against the Turks. He was considered brave, but cruel. The Turks feared him and called him the "Black Beg".

Nádasdy’s wedding gift to Báthory was his home, 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 village and agricultural lands, bordered by outcrops of the Carpathian Mountains. In 1602, Báthory’s husband finally bought the castle from Emperor Rudolf II, so that it became a private property of the Nádasdy family. With her husband away at war, Báthory ran the castle's affairs and local defences. An educated woman who could read and write in four languages, her job was to keep the Turks away from Vienna at the behest of the Habsburgs who ruled Royal Hungary.[2] The threat was significant, for the village of Cachtice had been plundered by the Turks in 1599.[3] Sárvár was even more dangerous, as it was located near the border that divided Royal Hungary and Ottoman Hungary. This was during the height of the Long War, the result of which kept the Turks back from Vienna for several decades and rendered them a minimal threat to the West during the duration of the Thirty Years War.

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

  • Anastasia Báthory, illegitimate daughter (born 1574).
  • Anna Nádasdy (born c. 1585).
  • Katalin (Katherina) Nádasdy (born c. 1594).
  • Miklós.
  • Orsolya (Orsika) Nádasdy.
  • Paul Nádasdy (1598 - 1650).

Her husband died in either 1602 or 1604. Various sources attribute his death to an illness, to a murder at the hands of a prostitute, or to an injury sustained 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 Báthory family's power. Hapsburg Emperor Matthias II refused to pay her the debt he owed Nadasdy.

[edit] Criminal trial and death

It is believed that Elizabeth Báthory tortured and killed an indefinite number of young women between the years 1585 and 1610. Although her husband and her relatives knew about her sadistic inclination, they did not directly intervene. After her husband's death any restraints he may have imposed on her (or she on herself) seemed completely removed. It should be noted that besides supporting Giorgio Basta's marauding in Transylvania, the Habsburg King also refused to pay her the debt he had owed her fallen husband, this may have caused a change in her already violent character. [citation needed]

Her initial victims were local peasant girls, many of whom were lured to Čachtice by offers of well-paid work. Later she may have begun to kill daughters of lower gentry, who were sent to her castle by their parents to learn high society etiquette. Abductions seem to have occurred as well. [citation needed]

[edit] Investigation of her actions

Between 1602 and 1604, Lutheran parish priest Istán Magyari complained about atrocities both publically and with the court in Vienna, after rumours had spread[1].

The authorities took some time to respond to Magyari's complaints. Finally, in 1610, King Matthias II assigned Juraj Thurzó (Hungarian: György Thurzó), the Palatine of Hungary, to investigate. Thurzó ordered two notaries to collect evidence in March 1610[2]. Even before obtaining the results[3], Thurzó debated further proceedings with Báthory's son Paul and two of her sons in law. In case of a trial and execution, considerable property would have been seized by the crown, a public scandal would have been caused, and a noble and influential family disgraced. Báthory’s family was then extremely powerful: her relative Gabriel Báthory was the ruler of Transylvania.

It was decided that Elizabeth Báthory should be kept under strict house arrest, but that further punishment should be avoided[4].

Thurzó went to arrest Báthory on December 29, 1610. According to a letter by Thurzó to his wife, his party found one girl dead and one dying. Another woman was found wounded, others locked up[5]. Báthory remained prisoner in her own castle from that point on. A trial of her collaborators was hastily prepared and held on January 7, 1611 at Bytča.

[edit] Collaborators

A little-known figure named Anna Darvulia, possibly a local, is rumoured to have influenced much of Báthory's early sadistic career, but apparently died at an earlier time.

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

  • Dorottya Szentes, Dorota Sentéšová, or Dork
  • Ilona Jó, or Helena Jo
  • Katalin Benick, or Katarína Benická
  • the dwarf or youth János Újváry, Ján Ujvári, or Fičkó.

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

Benická's guilt could not be proven. Recorded testimony implies that she had been dominated and bullied by the other women. Two of the convicted had their fingers severed before being thrown onto a blazing fire, while Fickó, whose guilt was deemed the lesser, was beheaded before being consigned to the flames. A public scaffold was erected near the castle to show the public that justice had been done.

[edit] Documented crimes

Testimonies collected in 1610 and 1611 contain a total of over 300 witness accounts[6][7]. Trial records include testimonies of the four persons indicted, as well as 13 more witnesses. Priests, noblemen and commoners were questioned. Eye-witnesses include the castellan and other personnel of Báthory's Sárvár castle.

Some witnesses named relatives that died while in Báthory's gynaeceum. Others reported having seen traces of torture on dead bodies, some of which were buried in graveyards, and others in unmarked locations.

The descriptions of torture that emerged during the trials were often based on hearsay. The atrocities described most consistently included:

  • severe beatings over extended periods of time, often leading to death,
  • burning or mutilation of hands, sometimes also of faces and genitalia,
  • freezing to death or
  • starving of victims.

Biting and the use of needles was also mentioned by the collaborators in court.

According to the defendants, Báthory tortured and killed her victims not only at Čachtice, but also on her properties in Bécko, Sárvár, Keresztúr, Pozsony (Bratislava) and Vienna, and even en route between these locations.

In addition to the defendants, several people were named for supplying Báthory with young girls. The girls had been procured either by deception or by force.

One witness who spoke at the trial mentioned a book in which a total of 650 victims was supposed to have been listed by Báthory herself. This book was never mentioned anywhere else, nor was it ever discovered. However, this number became part of the legend surrounding Báthory[8].

The estimated number of victims differs greatly. Szentes and Fičkó reported 36 and 37 respectively, during their periods of service. The other defendants estimated a number of 50 or higher. Sárvár castle personnel estimated the number of bodies removed from the castle at between 100 and 200.

[edit] Last years and death

King Matthias II urged Thurzó to bring Báthory herself to trial. The same two notaries were sent to collect further witness accounts[9]. Letters exchanged between the King and his Palatine from 1611 to 1613 suggest that Thurzó was not keen to advance the case against Báthory herself, and she was never brought to court.

On August 21, 1614 Báthory died in her castle. She was buried in the church of Čachtice[10].

[edit] Modern perspectives

László Nagy and others have tried to establish Elizabeth Báthory as victim of a conspiracy[11], a view refuted by others[12]. McNally dismisses "attempts to whitewash Elizabeth's reputation" as "nationalistic in tone and idiosyncratic in argumentation."[citation needed]

[edit] Elizabeth Báthory in folklore and literature

[edit] 18th and 19th century: the Blood Countess

The case of Elizabeth Báthory inspired numerous stories and fairy tales. Eighteenth and 19th century writers liberally added or omitted elements of the narrative. The most common motif of these works was that of the countess bathing in her victims' blood in order to retain beauty or youth. Frequently, the cruel countess would discover the secret of blood bathing when she slapped a female servant in rage, splashing parts of her own skin with blood. Upon removal of the blood, that portion of skin would seem younger and more beautiful than before.

This legend appeared in print for the first time in 1729, in the Jesuit scholar Lásló Turóczi’s Tragica historia[13], the first written account of the Báthory case.

When quoting him in his 1742 history book, Matthias Bel[14] was sceptical about this particular detail[15], he nevertheless helped the legend to spread. Subsequent writers of history and fiction alike often identified vanity as the sole motivation for Báthory's crimes.

Modern historians Radu Florescu and Raymond T. McNally have concluded that the theory Báthory murdered on account of her vanity sprung up from contemporary prejudices about gender roles. Women were not believed to be capable of violence for its own sake.

At the beginning of the 19th century, this certainty was questioned, and sadistic pleasure was considered a plausible motive for Báthory's crimes[16]. In 1817, the witness accounts (which had surfaced in 1765) were published for the first time[17], demonstrating that the bloodbaths were legend rather than fact.

The legend nonetheless persisted in the popular imagination. Some versions of the story were told with the purpose of denouncing female vanity, while other versions aimed to entertain or thrill their audience. Some versions of the story incorporated more elaborate torture chamber fantasies, such as the use of an iron maiden, which were not based on the evidence from Báthory's trial. Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, whose name inspired the term masochism, was inspired by the Báthory legend to write his 1874 novella Ewige Jugend ("eternal youth")[18]

[edit] Elizabeth Báthory and the vampire myth

The emergence of the bloodbath myth coincided with the vampire scares that haunted Europe in the early 18th century, reaching even into educated and scientific circles. The strong connection between the bloodbath myth and vampire myth was not made until the 1970s. The first connections were made to promote works of fiction by linking them to the already commercially successful Dracula story. Thus a 1970 movie based on Báthory and the bloodbath myth was titled Countess Dracula.

Some Báthory biographers, McNally in particular, have tried to establish the bloodbath myth and the historical Elizabeth Báthory as a source of influence for Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula, pointing to similarities in settings and motifs and the fact that Stoker might have read about her. This theory is strongly refuted by other authors[19].

Meanwhile Báthory has become an influence for modern vampire literature or movies and their subgenres[20].

[edit] In popular culture

[edit] Film

There have been several movies about Elizabeth Báthory:

[edit] Music

Songs about Elizabeth Báthory include:

[edit] 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 (1968, reprinted in The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales, ed. Chris Baldick)
  • Báthory is an ancestor of the protagonist of the Half/Life series by Wm Mark Simmons; significantly in the second book.
  • 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.

[edit] Games

Allusions to Elizabeth Báthory or the bloodbath myth are found

  • In the VCR/DVD boardgame Atmosfear: a playable character portrayed as a vampiress
  • In the video game Castlevania: Bloodlines: a character named Elizabeth Bartley
  • In the PC game Diablo II: one of the quests
  • In the online role-playing game Ragnarok Online: a monster known as Bathory
  • In the online role-playing game EverQuest II: a quest called The Blood Countess Rises
  • In the VHS Board Game, Nightmare: a character named Elizabeth Bathory, the Vampire.
  • In the videogame Bloodrayne: as a boss. She appears as a vampire working for the SS.

[edit] Toys

Báthory is featured in McFarlane Toys 6 Faces of Madness series, a collection of action figures, including Rasputin and Vlad the Impaler. Báthory is depicted bathing in blood while the heads of some of her victims are impaled in a candelabrum.

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ Farin, Michael (2003). Heroine des Grauens. Elisabeth Báthory. Munich: P. Kirchheim. ISBN 3-87410-038-3, p.234-237
  2. ^ Letters from Thurzó to both men on March 5, 1610, reprinted by Farin p. 265-266 and p. 276-278
  3. ^ On September 19, 1610, Andreas of Keresztúr sent 34 witness accounts to Thurzó. On October 27, 1610 Mózes Cziráky sent 18 accounts.
  4. ^ Letter from December 12, 1610 by one participant, in-law Zrinyi, to Thurzó refers to agreement made earlier. Letter reprinted by Farin p. 291.
  5. ^ Letter from December 30, 1610 reprinted by Farin, p. 293
  6. ^ On September 19, 1610 Andreas of Keresztúr sent 34 witness accounts to Thurzó. On October 27, 1610 Mózes Cziráky sent 18 accounts.
  7. ^ 224 witness accounts were sent to Matthias II on July 28, 1611 by A. of Keresztúr, and 12 by M. Cziraky on December 14, 1611
  8. ^ Based on that account, it is believed by some that a diary existed or even exists today.[1]
  9. ^ 224 witness accounts were sent to Matthias II on July 28, 1611 by A. of Keresztúr, 12 by M. Cziraky on December 14, 1611
  10. ^ Farin p. 246
  11. ^ László Nagy: A rossz hirü Báthoryak. Budapest: Kossuth Könyvkiadó 1984
  12. ^ György Pollák: Az irástudók felelötlensége. In: Kritiká. Müvelödéspollitikai és kritikai lap. Budapest, January 1986, p. 21-22
  13. ^ in Ungaria suis cum regibus compendia data, Typis Academicis Soc. Jesu per Fridericum Gall. Anno MCCCXXIX. Mense Sepembri Die 8. p 188-193, quoted by Farin
  14. ^ Notitia Hungariae novae historico geographica, divisa in partes quator, […] Tomus quartus. Vienna Austriae, Impensis Paulli Straubii Bibliopolae. Typis Iohannis Petri van Ghelen, Typographie Regii, Anno MDCCXLII, p. 468-475. Quoted by Farin, p 21-27.
  15. ^ …ut spectatorem primi facinoris, cognitoremque cogitationum feminae fuisse, credi posset. … [so colorful that] one might think he had watched the first crimes and known the woman’s thoughts.
  16. ^ [Alois Freyherr von Mednyansky]Freyherr von M-y: Elisabeth Báthory in Hesperus, Prague, October 1812, vol. 2, No. 59, p. 470-472, quoted by Farin, p. 61-65
  17. ^ Hesperus, Prague, June 1817, Vol. 1, No. 31, p. 241-248 and July 1817, Vol. 2, No. 34, p. 270-272
  18. ^ Ewige Jugend. 1611. in Leopold von Sacher-Masoch: Ewige Jugend und andere Geschichten, Berlin: R. Jacobsthal 1886, pp 5-43.
  19. ^ Miller, Elizabeth: Dracula - Sense and Nonsense. Desert Island Books 2006. ISBN 190532815X
  20. ^ Bonnie Zimmerman: "Daughters of Darkness - Lesbian vampires", Jump Cut, no. 24-25, March 1981, pp. 23-24, available as online essay

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Báthory, Elizabeth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Báthory Erzsébet (Hungarian); Bátoriová(-Nádašdy), Alžbeta (Slovak); Bloody Lady of Čachtice (nickname); Lady Dracula (nickname)
SHORT DESCRIPTION Countess and serial killer
DATE OF BIRTH August 7?, 1560
PLACE OF BIRTH Nyírbátor, Hungary
DATE OF DEATH August 21, 1614
PLACE OF DEATH Čachtice, Slovakia
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