Elizabeth+Bathory

Born... 7th August 1560 Died... 21st August 1614
 * Elizabeth Bathory ** ** The Blood Countess **

Contents:
1. The Bathory Family 2. Birth, Marriage and Children 3. Psychotic Behaviour 4. Accomplices 5. Trial and Death 6. Travels 7. Timeline 8. Legacy 9. Sources 10. Picture Gallery 11. Activities 12. Reading List

** The Bathory Family **

Elizabeth Bathory was born to Baron George Bathory and Baroness Anna Bathory. The Bathory’s were a powerful Hungarian Protestant family; she was brought up to believe in her superiority. Her cousin Stephen became Prince of Transylvania in 1571 and was later elected King of Poland. Elizabeth ancestor Stephen Bathory had fought alongside Vlad Dracula in one of his many successful attempts to reclaim the Wallachian throne. Other members of the family were less respectable including Elizabeth’s brother Stephen who was a drunkard and lecher.

( (Right: Picture Credit: Dennis Bathory-Kitsz []) ** Birth, Marriage and Children ** Elizabeth was born on the 7th August 1560 in Transylvania, it is said that at the age of 4 or 5 she suffered from violent seizures which may have being caused from epilepsy or some other neurological disorder.

In 1574 she fell pregnant to a peasant lover and gave birth to a young daughter who she named Anastasia. However Anastasia was given away because Elizabeth was ashamed about having a daughter with a peasant. At the age of 15 she married Count Fenrec Nadasdy and moved to Castle Cséjthe in the Hungarian province. The count spend a lot of time away from home fighting in wars, for a brief time Elizabeth eloped with a dark stranger but on her return to the castle her husband forgave her.

For the first ten years of their marriage Elizabeth bore no children, then around 1585 Elizabeth gave birth to her first child, a girl who she called Anna. Over the next nine year she gave birth to two more daughters, Ursula and Katharina and her first son Paul. In letters to her family members she seemed to be a loving wife and caring mother to her four children. In 1604 Elizabeth's husband died of an infected wound, which resulted in the countess becoming one of the richest land owners of Central Romania. Her first act was to banish her mother-in-law, Ursula, from the country. Ursula took her grandchildren, Elizabeth's children, with her.

** Psychotic Behaviour ** Elizabeth Bathory had a lot in common with her husband, Fenrec Nadasdy. They both had an interest in torture and spent hours coming up with new ways of inflicting pain on Fenrec's enemies. They soon began to practise the same methods on their servants. But the most well known part of her psychotic behaviour, that went down in legend, began with her becoming increasingly obsessed with staying young and beautiful She spent long hours staring at herself in the mirror while servants brushed her hair, when one day she lashed out at a maid who accidently tugged at it. In her rage, Elizabeth cut the maids hand and the blood from the wound splashed onto the countess's own hand. Later that day, Elizabeth noticed that where the blood had splashed, her skin's complexion had improved. She decided that blood from young virgin girls would be able to restore her body to its past youthful appearance. After believing she had discovered the secret of eternal youth she had two accomplices strip the maid and drain her body of all her blood. The blood was then put into a huge vat, which Elizabeth bathed in to create the youthful look on her whole body. This began the period of time that had Elizabeth prowl around the countryside looking for young peasant girls who she could take and drain of blood. In 1609, Elizabeth's lover, Anna Darvula, also an accomplice, died, which influenced the countess to find a new accomplice, who was named Erszi Majorova. Together they devised a plan to target young girls who belonged to noble families suffering from financial problems as Elizabeth believed peasant blood would not have the same pleasing effect as noble blood. She would offer the young girls a job in her castle, then would lead them through a series of underground passageways that led to the dungeons where they were tortured, killed and drained. After awhile, Elizabeth wasn't fully content with just bathing in the blood, so she took to standing under the body as it hang there draining and drank the blood immediately.  ** Accomplices ** Elizabeth had many accomplices to help her torture the servants, kidnap and kill the young girls that she needed the blood from. Her accomplices were:
 * **Anna Darvulia:** was Elizabeth's main accomplice during the period of time following her Fenrec's death. When Anna died in 1609, after being very ill, Elizabeth obtained a new accomplice...


 * **Erzsi Majorova:** a widow of a local farmer, who encouraged Elizabeth to kill noble girls aswell as peasants. She was also thought to be the brains behind the disposing of the murdered girls bodies.
 * **Ficzko:** Elizabeths manservant, was the only male servant to help with the torturing of the girls. He was described as a "dwarflike cripple".


 * **Dorothea Szentes:** also known as Dorka, was a witch who instructed Elizabeth in the ways of witchcraft and black magic. Dorka was Elizabeth's helping hand when she decided she wanted to disipline her servants through methods of torture. Dorka also helped the torturing and killing of the peasants and noble girls for Elizabeth.


 * **Iloona Joo:** also known as Helena Jo, was Elizabeth's old nurse from when she was a child. She was also the nurse of Elizabeth's children, and participated in the torturing's and killing's.

The different techniques that Elizabeth and her accomplices used to torture the servants and other victims included: They also enjoyed making the servants sit naked outside in winter while having buckets of icy water poured over them. This often led to them freezing to death.
 * Beatings
 * Whippings
 * Burning with hot irons
 * Burning and mutilation of hands and faces
 * Starving
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Sexual abuse
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Needles
 * <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">Surgery, often fatal

** Trial and ** **Death** <span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","Book Antiqua",Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">After several years of hunting innocent young women Elizabeth Bathory was finally captured when rumours spread all over Hungary about her activities. <span style="color: black; font-family: "Palatino Linotype","Book Antiqua",Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">King Matthias of Hungary <span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","Book Antiqua",Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;"> sent Juraj Thurzo, Elizabeth’s cousin and a bunch of soldiers to raid the castle. What they found horrified all of them. Buried all over the castle grounds, and even hidden inside the castle itself, hundreds of corpses and skeletons, all bearing horrific injuries. Soldiers recalled corpses with no eyes, no arms or legs. Clothing and personal effects of the kidnapped girls were also found, and several graves were found, dug hastily around the castle grounds. Elizabeth was put on house arrest straight away and on the 2nd of <span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","Book Antiqua",Palatino,serif; line-height: 23px;">January 1611 she was put on trial. Elizabeth however did not attend her t<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","Book Antiqua",Palatino,serif;">rials due to her nobility. <span style="display: block; font-family: "Palatino Linotype","Book Antiqua",Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: justify;">The testimonies of the four accomplices placed the body count between thirty and sixty, but a fifth witness heard at the January 7th trial revealed the missing piece of the puzzle: testimony from a witness identified only as "the maiden Zusanna," no last name being mentioned. After describing the tortures by Helena Jo, Dorothea, and Ficzko...and after making a plea for mercy in the case of Katarina Beneczky, Zusanna then revealed the single most shocking piece of evidence in this trial, a list or register in the Countess's chest of drawers, which put the number of girls killed at 650 and that was in her Ladyship's own handwriting. <span style="display: block; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 15px; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">After two trials the King of Hungary found her guilty but because of her nobility she was not sentenced to death but instead imprisoned in a room of her castle with only a small hole to fit food and water through. Her accomplices were however all sentenced to death for their crimes. <span style="display: block; font-family: "Palatino Linotype","Book Antiqua",Palatino,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px; text-align: justify;">Manservant Janos Ujvary was beheaded and female attendants Ilona Jo and Dorottya Szentes had their fingers ripped off and burned. On the 7th of August 1614 one of her guards wanted to have a look at the countess, who was still one of the most beautiful women in Hungary. He found her lying on the ground of her cell dead at the age of 54. <span style="display: block; font-family: "Palatino Linotype","Book Antiqua",Palatino,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: "Palatino Linotype","Book Antiqua",Palatino,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: "Palatino Linotype","Book Antiqua",Palatino,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 23px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","Book Antiqua",Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 23px;">Elizabeth Bathory did not travel very much, she was born on her family estate in Nyirbator, Hungary and spent her childhood at Esced Castle. After marrying Fenrec Nadasdy she moved to Cachtice castle in Little Carpathians near Trencin in Slovakia. She lived in the castle until the day she died, however she often went on little excursions around the surrounding villages where she hunted for peasant girls. She also at one point after her husbands death traveled to Vienna.
 * Travels **

<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","Book Antiqua",Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%; line-height: 23px;">This map shows Elizabeth Bathory's travels from East Hungary to North Slovakia where she lived and then to Vienna in Austria. It also shows the area in which she hunted for peasant girls and then later nobles. ** Timeline ** <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">**1560-** Elizabeth born to George and Anna Bathory

<span style="direction: ltr; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">**1571-** Elizabeth was engaged to 16 year old Fenrec Nadasdy, which was arranged by his mother Ursula

<span style="direction: ltr; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">**1574-** Was contained in a remote Bathory Castle, after falling pregnant to a peasant she was having an affair with, until the illegitimate <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">baby girl was born. She was named Anastasia.

<span style="direction: ltr; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">**1574-** Elizabeth married Count Fenrec Nadasdy

<span style="direction: ltr; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">**1578-** Fenrec began fighting and winning battles against the Turks, which earned him the nickname "Black Hero of Hungary"

<span style="direction: ltr; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">**1585-** Elizabeth's first daughter of 3, to Fenrec, was born, named Anna

<span style="direction: ltr; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">**1594-** Elizabeth's second daughter, to Fenrec, was born with the name Katalin.

<span style="direction: ltr; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">**1594-** Elizabeth's only male servant who participated in the torturing processes was hired. His name was Ficzko.

<span style="direction: ltr; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">**1598-** Her son was born, named Paul.

<span style="direction: ltr; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">**1604-** Fenrec died of an infected wound. This brought along the witch, Anna Darvulia; around this time the torturing and killings <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">increased dramatically.

<span style="direction: ltr; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">**1609-** Elizabeth invited 25 young noble women from financially struggling families to stay at the castle during winter. She killed them <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">all, then claimed that one of them killed the others for jewellery then committed suicide.

<span style="direction: ltr; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">**1610-** Having financial difficulties, Elizabeth sold Castle Blindoc. Later in the year, Megyery put a formal complaint in before the Hungary Parliament. This resulted in an enquiry into the countess's crimes. Castle Csejte, where the countess was living, was raided on the 30th of December. This also was the date of Elizabeth's arrest.

<span style="direction: ltr; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">**1611-** January 2nd; the first trial held of 2. Elizabeth was not brought to trial, but her accomplices were. Three of them, Dorka, Ficzko <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">and Helena Jo, were found guilty with another accomplice, Katalin, left for further evidence. January 7th; the second trial. Elizabeth petitioned the court, asking to appear and defend herself. But her cousin, Thurzo, would not allow it as it would disgrace the Bathory name. Elizabeth was not punished for her crimes, even though she was condemned by the court. Her three accomplices that were guilty were punished then killed, while Elizabeth tried to escape the country during her trial, resulting in a lifelong house arrest in the castle Csejte. She was placed in a small, walled up room in the castle, with only a small number of ventilation slits and a food hatch.

<span style="direction: ltr; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">**1614-** Elizabeth wrote her last will and testament on July 31st. Later in the year, one of her guards found her lying face-down on the floor <span style="direction: ltr; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0.375in; margin-top: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; vertical-align: middle;">dead. The date was reported to be the 7th of August

** Legacy ** <span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","Book Antiqua",Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">When she died, Elizabeth Bathory left behind a bloody, gruesome legacy of sadism. She was considered to be the most prolific and first female serial killer of all time, and no one has managed to best her in that regard. Her legacy also brought about an written law in Hungary, which forbade anyone from speaking the countess's name, although the people in the surrounding regions called her "The Hungarian Whore".

<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","Book Antiqua",Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">The case of Elizabeth Báthory inspired numerous stories during the 18th and 19th centuries. The most common motif of these works was that of the countess bathing in her victims' blood in order to retain beauty or youth. <span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","Book Antiqua",Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">This legend appeared in print for the first time in 1729, in the Jesuit scholar László Turóczi’s //Tragica Historia//, the first written account of the Báthory case. At the beginning of the 19th century, this certainty was questioned, and sadistic pleasure was considered a far more plausible motive for Elizabeth Báthory's crimes. In 1817, the witness accounts (which had surfaced in 1765) were published for the first time,suggesting that the bloodbaths were legend. <span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","Book Antiqua",Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">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. The ethnic divisions in Eastern Europe and financial incentives for tourism contribute to the problems with historical accuracy in understanding Elizabeth Báthory. During the twentieth and 21st centuries, Elizabeth Báthory has continued to appear as a character in music, films, plays, books toys and to serve as an inspiration for similar characters.

** Sources ** <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: "Palatino Linotype"; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">Source 1:

// “They tied the hands and arms very tightly with Viennese cord, they were beaten to death until the whole body was black as charcoal and their skin was rent and torn. One girl suffered more than two hundred blows before dying” // // –Elizabeth Bathory’s accomplice Ficzko during her trial- // <span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","Book Antiqua",Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">This source tells us how Elizabeth Bathory sometimes tortured the young girls. It also tells us that Elizabeth Bathory did not care for any of these poor children. She only wanted to look younger and she did not mind if she had to kill innocent girls to achieve that. It reveals to us just how much the girls suffered and also how much her accomplices would go to, to not be put to death. It is said that Elizabeth's accomplices only testified at her hearing because they thought that if they did they would not get such a harsh charge. However all of them were sentenced to death for their crimes and the one person who didn't testify was not executed, Elizabeth Bathory. This reveals to us a lot about her legacy and how she treated her subjects and victims as well as much about her career as a serial killer.

Source 2:

(Picture Credit: Dennis Bathory-Kitsz [])

<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","Book Antiqua",Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">This painting reveals to us what Elizabeth Bathory looked like. Not much is clear about her appearance except that she was very pretty. It is said that she had long, black, silky hair and a pale complexion. This painting reveals that Elizabeth Bathory was in fact very beautiful however it does not show her sadistic side but a more calm side, which would be seen when she was around her children, this painting was probably done before she started killing. It also shows us a little about 17th century fashion, long dresses, lots of jewelry and puffy sleeves.

Source 3: (Picture Credit: Dennis Bathory-Kitsz [])

<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","Book Antiqua",Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">This source shows us that Elizabeth was educated enough to have a signature, which many noblemen and women didn't have around that time, as it was widely regarded that the higher classes didn't have a need to be educated. It also reveals that the countess, even though she was imprisoned at the time, was respected enough to be allowed to dictate a final will and testiment. The source doesn't reveal much about the countess's career or legacy as such, but does allow us to get a glimpse of the way she was treated and at her education.

<span style="font-family: "Palatino Linotype","Book Antiqua",Palatino,serif; font-size: 120%;">The three sources tell us a lot about the different perspectives of Elizabeth Bathory. The first source tells us about how she tortured and killed her victims. This is from one of her accomplices perspective, he tells of her beating and killing girls in such a horrific way. This perspective is of her being cruel and sadistic unlike the second source. The second source is a painting of her from before her killing spree began. It shows us nothing of her cruel side but a more calm side, we even see a small smile curling in the corner of her lips. Unfortunately the last source does not shows us much of a perspective because it is too hard to read but it does show us that she was a well educated women even if she was cruel and heartless to her victims.

** Picture Gallery ** (Above: Picture Credit: Dennis Bathory-Kitsz [])

(Above: Picture Credit: Dennis Bathory-Kitsz [])

(Above left and right: Pictures Credit: Dennis Bathory-Kitsz []) (Above: Picture Credit: Dennis Bathory-Kitsz [])



** Activities ** Activity 1: True or False

1. Elizabeth Bathory was born in Slovakia............... True/False 2. When Elizabeth was 15 she became engaged to Fenrec Nadasdy...................... True/False 3. Elizabeth had five main accomplices Anna Darvulia, Erzsi Majorova. Ficzko, Dorothea Szentes and Iloona Joo...... True/False 4. After Fenrec's death Elizabeth found a new lover, her bisexual aunt Anna Darvulia......................... True/False 5. Elizabeth was having financial difficulties in 1610..................... True/False 6. Elizabeth gave birth to a illegitimate daughter named Victoria........................ True/False 7. Elizabeth's second cousin was elected King of Poland........................................ True/False 8. Elizabeth's second daughter to Fenrec was named Katalin...........................True/False

Activity 2: Cryptogram

Activity 3:

Imagine you are a peasant living in the village below the Cachtice Castle, your ten year old daughter has just gone missing. Construct a letter addressed to the King describing what has being happening in your village and who you suspect it is.

Activity 4:

Discuss with a partner the possibility that the story "Dracula" was based on the countess's life. Give evidence to support you ideas.

Activity 5:

Create your own plan for a story based on Elizabeth Bathory.

** Reading List ** -//Bad Girls and Wicked Women...//by Jan Stradling -//Countess Bathory: the Life and Times of Elizabeth Bathory...//by Tony Thorne -//Dracula was a Woman: In Search of the Blood Countess of Transylvania...//by Raymond T. McNally -//The Natural History of the Vampire//...by Anthony Masters

** By Kara Leverett and Tessa Houze **