ELISABETH
BATHORY
She has been accused of killing hundreds of young women and girls.
The legend tells us she bathed in their warm blood to preserve her
beauty.
Elizabeth was born Erzebet Bathory to a wealthy and prominent
family. She was the daughter of Baron George and Baroness Anna
Bathory. Elizabeth enjoyed a cultured life, she was educated,
spoke fluent Hungarian, German and Latin.
At the age of 11 she was betrothed to Ferenc Nadasdy, the
"Black Hero of Hungary". Because the Nadasdy family
was of a lesser social status, Elizabeth kept her name and her
husband hyphenated his. Elizabeth went to live with her future
mother-in-law and while there the young woman had a brief yet
torrent affair with one of the peasant villagers. The liaison
produced a daughter which was quickly given away to the man and his
wife along with a substantial amount of money to keep the affair and
offspring a secret..
One day an incident changes the course of Elizabeth's life. The
Countess hits one of her maidservants hard across the face. So
hard in fact, that blood was drawn. Some of the maid's blood
fell onto Elizabeth, who cleaned it away in disgust. However,
Elizabeth noticed that the skin below the blood seemed to be younger and
more vibrant. It was the undoing of up to 600 women and girls.
In
1575, to Castle Csejthe in Nyitra, Hungary was where the 21 year old
Count Ferencz Nadasdy brought his beautiful young bride, the fifteen
year old Countess Elisabeth Bathory. Her beauty was renown
throughout the château. Her stark white skin, her long shimmering
black hair and plump red lips, which complimented her deep doelike
eyes.
Had
the young Count stay at the Castle with his bride who knows how the
story may have gone. But due to the fact that Count Nadasdy went of
to battle to be destined to become a great warrior, his wife was
left to her own devices. Her consuming interest in witchcraft,
sorcery, and diabolism kept her occupied. And her family heritage
kept her safe.
Kings, cardinals, bishops and judges, sheriffs and governors bore
the Bathory name. The Prime Minister of Hungary, Gyorgy Thurzo was
her cousin and Sigismund Bathory, Prince of Transylvania her
kinsman. Sigmund, one of Hungary's greatest military leaders was
known for his madness as well as his genius.
One of Elisabeth's aunt was one of the most distinguished ladies of
the royal court. But was known to be a witch and a lesbian a
notorious corrupter of young girls. An uncle was also a sorcerer,
and a worshipper of the Devil. Even her brother was known for his
depravities, no one was safe from his cravings.
As if this wasn't enough of an influence, Elizabeth was raised with
the vicious teaching of her nurse Ilona Joo, a woman learned in
witchcraft, magic and satan worship.
Left alone by her husband in the Castle, Elisabeth surrounded
herself with witches and sorcerers. Darvula, Joahannes Ujvary,
Thorko and Dorottya Szentes were among those the young Countess
sought out for their powers.
However the young woman's lustful desires soon saw her elope with a
young man, rumoured to be a vampire, but soon returned to the
castle. Her infidelities forgiven by her Count who understood the
young woman's desires, while he was away in battle.
Elisabeth absorbed herself again in witchcraft and spent her nights
with two of her personal maids, Barsovny and Otvos as lovers.
However always in her ear were the whispering of the witch Ilona Joo,
hinting at more perverse pleasures.
After ten years of unsuccessfully siring an heir, the witches were
called to assist in the conception. Soon after her 26th birthday the
Countess gave birth to her first child, followed by three more. This
interruption consumed the maternal Countess, she sent many messages
to her Count away on crusades telling him of the news of their
children's lives.
Until
Count Nadasdy's death when she was 40, Elisabeth had resisted the
urgings of Ilona Joo. But once the Count had died, Elisabeth fell
into the darkness of black magic and sorcery.
In the village surrounding the Castle rumours began. At night the
peasants locked their houses and listened in fear at the agonizing
screams from the castle. Young women and girls were disappearing,
both travellers and those from the village.
Maids
and former lesbian lovers of the Countess found themselves as
procurers for Elisabeth. If women could not be tempted with the
promise of jobs in the Castle, they were drugged or beaten into
submission. For the next eleven years the peasants in the village
lived in fear when the coach from the castle came to them.
The women were taken not for the sexual pleasure of the Countess,
but for their blood.
One day shortly after the death of her husband, Elisabeth struck one
of her maids for carelessness. The Countess noted that where she had
drawn blood, the skin seemed whiter and more younger and softer than
before. Obtaining more blood, Elisabeth bathed her face in it. She
had been right, the blood made her skin more youthful.
Soon she decided that to keep her entire body youthful she must
bathe in blood. So her procurers would scour the countryside for
young women for the Countess' sadistic ritual.
The other witches as well as Ilona Joo had always told their
mistress that only human sacrifices would assist their spells. In
alchemy, skulls and bones were needed for potions. Though soon all
those in the castle were deriving erotic pleasure from the sadistic
orgies of torture and murder. The witches were therefore
enthusiastic about the Countess' blood baths as it made it possible
for their own rituals to succeed.
In the dungeons beneath the castle, girls and women were chained to
the filthy walls and fed like cattle being fattened for the
slaughter. The Countess assumed that the fatter they were the more
blood in their veins.
When emerging from her blood baths the Countess refused to be dried
by cloth, she had girls, chosen for their beauty and delicate touch
lick her clean. If a girl refused or became ill (noting that blood
is an emetic) a horrible torturous death awaited her. If, a girl
reacted with pleasure she may win the Countesses favour. This favour
may have been a deferment of death - but that was rare. A frequently
the Countess derived pleasure in inflicting the most cruel tortures
of all upon those who had been her favourites.
Rumours
of the goings on at the Castle were heard by the King of Hungary
years before any action was taken. Due to the Countess' family
connections it was difficult to do anything. Even her cousin, the
Prime Minister was not willing to confirm the rumours. But
reluctantly something had to be done. After talking with the village
priest and several villagers who complained that the Castle was
haunted by a vampire, a raid was planned for New Years Eve.
The
raiders, including the Prime Minister, were able to ascend on
Csejthe Castle unnoticed. They found the main door ajar. The walked
into Hell.
On
the floor near the open door was a pale lifeless body of a young
girl, her blood completely drained away. A few paces away lay
another girl, near death, her body pierced in several places, her
blood still draining from her weary body. Further into the Castle
the party found a murdered girl chained to a pillar, her body
savagely whipped and her blood drained away.
The party headed towards the dungeon, where they found several dozen
women and girls. Many who'd been repeatedly bled by the Countess and
her witches. Others were still being fattened up for their fate.
After freeing the captives, the party continued onto the second
floor where they found the Countess and the others in the midst of a
drunken and depraved orgy. The raiders easily overpowered the
Countess' party and took them into custody. The Countess was
confined under guard in her apartment in the Castle.
The Trial
At the trial, Ilona Joo and Thorko, along with others testified that
hundreds of girls and women had been kept in the dungeons and milked
of their blood. Incisions were made into their skin and blood was
taken as required. According to the witches, the Countess not only
bathed in the blood but drank it as well.
Some of the girls were also human sacrifices for alchemy and
witchcraft. Girls were bound by rope and these were twisted until
they cut into the skin. After this, the veins raising through the
skin was cut with scissors and the blood spurted under the pressure,
drenching the walls and the others in the dungeon. Girls were beaten
with whips and their flesh slit with knives. Sometimes the girls
were flayed and then frozen in baths of ice. Others were forced to
hold heated metallic objects in their hands. Paper was placed
between some victims toes and set alight. There is rumour that some
where bitten to death by the Countess.
The corpses, skeletons and other human remains found at the Castle
where given into evidence, as well as the testimonies of the
survivors.
All involved, including the Countess were convicted on 8 counts of
murder. However the real number is expected to be in the hundreds.
The sentences for those involved were discussed and were as follows:
Ilona Joo: Fingers torn off one by one, burned alive and ashes
strewn.
Dorottya Szentes: Fingers torn off one by one, burned alive.
Johannes Ujvary, Thorko, Darvula Barsovny and Otvos: Head cut off by
executioner.
It
is assumed that the strenuous efforts of the Prime Minister saved
Elisabeth from sharing the same fate as the others. Elisabeth was to
spend the rest of her life in her room. Her windows were bricked in
and only tiny slits were left in the door for food and ventilation.
Elisabeth Bathory spent four years in her prison inside the Castle.
She never uttered a sound. Her death was only detected when her food
remained untouched. She was fifty-four, August 21, 1614.
Bibliography:
Blood Countess, Andrei Codrescu Simon & Schuster, 1995.
Killer Women, Various
Authors, The Book Company, 1992
Who Is… Elizabeth Bathory? Angie McKaig http://www.pathwaytodarkness.com/facts/who_is_bathory.htm