Elizabeth Bathory

Bathory Family Name 

Erzsébet Báthory (anglicized Elizabeth) was an aristocrat known during her time as Lady Nadasdy, due to marriage. Bathory was her family's surname stretching back hundreds of years - with previous generations having been gifted titles and property from various kings. Over time, the Bathory family split into two branches, each supporting different claimants to the Hungarian throne. They were united politically by the marriage of Elizabeth's parents: Gyorgy and Anna.

"With the separate Bathory clans merged by this powerful union, the little Countess was born into one of Central Europe's most illustrious families. Her uncles on both sides of the family were Voivods (Princes) of Transylvania, as was her maternal grandfather. Her uncle, Istvan (1533-1586), was also the king of Poland. Erzsébet's cousins, Andras, Gabor, and Zsigmond, would someday become Transylvanian princes ..."

Early Life

Elizabeth was born on August 7, 1560, and spent her childhood on a family estate in the countryside by the Romanian border. She had an older brother Istvan, a brother Gabor, and two younger sisters: Zsofia and Klara. Her parents chose Protestantism over Catholicism and raised her as a Calvinist.

As a child she had seizures and fits of rage, most likely suffering from epilepsy. In a progressive move, her parents gave her an education equivalent to that of a boy.

"... she was trained in the classics, mathematics, and could read and write in Hungarian, Greek, Latin, German and even Slovak, the language of many of her servants. She also appears to have been interested in religion and occultism as well as the sciences, including astronomy, botany, biology and anatomy."

This was doubly impressive since few aristocrats at the time could read or write, they dictated to educated staff who would correspond on their behalf. She also enjoyed 'tomboy' activities such as fencing and horsemanship.

Marriage & Children

In 1571, Elizabeth (11), was engaged to Count Ferenc Nadasdy (16). She left her home to live in the main Nadasdy residence and was entrusted to her mother-in-law's care. Although the Nadasdy family was not as renowned as hers, they were still extremely powerful and wealthy. By this time her father was deceased, and her mother would die before her wedding four years later.

It was claimed that two years prior to her wedding, Elisabeth began an affair with Laszlo Bende and became impregnated; the baby was whisked away and everything necessary was done to hide the scandal. No evidence of this has been discovered, but fact or fiction the story has persisted.

At 14, Elizabeth was formally wed in a lavish ceremony with over 4000 guests. After her wedding she continued to use her birth name Bathory, even as her signature. In public and court she was known as "Lady Nadasdy" and later "Lady Widow Nadasdy". Ferenc reportedly took her name in addition to his own, becoming Bathory-Nadasdy.

Ferenc became Captain of the Hungarian Army and was absent for long periods of time. He would spend his entire life fighting the Ottoman Turks and was considered a war hero.

Ten years into the marriage the couple gave birth to their daughter Anna. By 1596, they had another two daughters: Orsolya and Katalin; Elizabeth was also pregnant with a boy Andras. Two years later she had another son, Pal. However, by 1610 both Andras and Orsolya had died.

Despite her crimes to come, Elizabeth appears to have been a good mother who properly raised and educated her children. Up until this point there is no suggestion they were mistreated or that unusual events were occurring in the household.

Strange Activities

When young women began to die in the Nadasdy household, excuses such as cholera were given. Armed guards were posted outside a series of inner rooms where entry was forbidden. The staff and townspeople whispered about the constant stream of bodies leaving Elizabeth's estates. Rumors circulated about blood stained walls, screaming and torture; but when suspicious guests visited all appeared normal.

After some time, a concerned local pastor publicly denounced Elizabeth from the pulpit. He was immediately reprimanded and threatened. He wrote to another pastor suggesting Elizabeth's absent husband should be warned about her activities and of Anna Darvolya (a servant and perpetrator in the torture chamber). But servants claimed that both of the couple were participants in crimes with Darvolya. Either way, Ferenc returned home and used his financial and political influence to appease the church and quiet the situation. A witness later testified that while Ferenc would participate in beatings and torture, he disapproved of the murders.

" Erzsébet's torturing seemed to start out slowly and progressively; first, with pinching, biting and kicking, and then increasing in intensity and amount. Later, she advanced to pricking or sticking pins and needles into lips and under fingernails. After that, she progressed to inflicting burns on her victims, or cutting them with knives ... 

She eventually learned how to torture in a serious way from her husband and Anna Darvolya." 

Her victims were nearly always unmarried, adolescent girls. Although some were disturbed by the activities, there was little they could do without evidence; the Nadasdy's were powerful: Ferenc was a war hero and they had lent the Crown a considerable amount of money the King could not repay. In addition, the girls were peasants and serving staff - considered disposable by their social superiors and hardly worth inflicting the ire of such an influential couple. Peasants were legally the property of the nobility who could dole out punishment and abuse as they saw fit.

In 1604 Ferenc died. Elizabeth's crimes continued to escalate and she brought more perpetrators into the circle: a boy named Janos Ujvary (known as Ficzko), and three elderly women: widow Ilona Jo Nagy, friend Dorottya Szentes, and washerwoman Katalin Beneczky.

Her mental break down continued as she struggled with various problems: threatening Turks, the Crown which would not pay its debts, dwindling finances and selling off assets to obtain cash. Her crimes grew greater and the bodies piled up. During one trip through the countryside in December a maid tried to escape, and according to witnesses:

"... the young servant was taken to the nearby village of Predmier where she was stripped naked in the bitter cold. She was then made to stand up to her neck in water and repeatedly doused until she froze to death."

Months later on another trip, attendants were "burned with molten iron and nearly tortured to death." Elizabeth began to grow more bold and careless; she began torturing in front of others. One man, Benedikt Deseo - watched her stab and torture a servant girl to death. On other occasions he saw her beat naked girls and pierce one's lips and tongue. When Deseo later elaborated for the court, he would speak of Elizabeth withholding water, burning limbs with fire heated irons, and even shoving hot irons into their vaginas.

She became obsessed with the occult and resorted to curses and 'black magic' rituals. Clergy began to refuse formal burials for the girls, so staff would hide the bodies and later bury them secretly. Her confidantes and fellow perpetrators were equally cruel and each had a favorite method of torture, with sessions lasting over six hours.

On the advice of a forest witch, Elizabeth decided to begin killing noble girls rather than commoners, believing the switch would make for more powerful magic. She opened an academy for girls of the nobility, which gave her a fresh supply of victims.

Parents began to inquire about their daughters only to hear they had died or 'fallen ill'. Locals in towns traversed by Elizabeth saw beaten, bleeding girls and watched as punishments were doled out. Other servants in the estates began to witness events, and at one point perpetrator Ficzko openly spoke of dead girls to a judge.

Allegations of the torture and murders were as follows:

"... washed with and made to roll on the floor in nettles; pins stuck into their lips and under the finger nails; needles jammed into their shoulders and arms; floggings on the breasts while in chains; their hands, arms and abdomens scorched with burning irons; chunks of skin wrenched from their backs with pliers; noses, lips, tongues and fingers pierced with needles; mouths forced shut with clamps; flesh cut out of the buttocks and from between the shoulders, then cooked and served to them; flesh and private parts singed with candles; knives plunged into arms and feet; hands crushed and maimed; fingers cut off with scissors and sheers; red-hot pokers shoved up vaginas; bodies beaten to death with cudgels; lashings until flesh fell from the bones; and girls made to stand naked in the cold, doused with water, or submerged up to the neck in icy rivers." 

After all the girls in the academy had been killed, Elizabeth blamed the murders on one of the pupils. The parents complained to the courts - and being aristocrats - they were able rouse the King to action.

Apprehension & Trial

In February, 1610, the King ordered an investigation: two men were sent to collect testimony from witnesses (including commoners) and the first report finished by September. Both the first and secondary reports contained mainly circumstantial evidence from second-hand accounts of the crimes.

Elizabeth became aware of the investigation and wrote her Last Will and Testament on September 3. She proclaimed her innocence loudly and boldly. In the meantime, Palatine Thurzo attempted to handle the situation quietly for the satisfaction of all involved. He considered placement in a convent, but then decided on perpetual imprisonment in one of her castles. He visited her around Christmas to speak about the allegations; she coolly denied everything and blamed an epidemic. Clergy visited and begged her to repent.

When Thurzo and the King came for a visit, she fed them specially baked cakes laced with poison. They did not die, but became ill and immediately suspicious, leaving shortly after dinner. On December 27, Thurzo and an armed escort traveled to Elizabeth's residence, arriving two days later.

"... they found the bodies of dead or dying girls strewn about, all having suffered from torture: beaten, flogged, burned and stabbed. Within a few hours, additional bodies and victims would be found within the castle itself. "

There were 30 witnesses or more, who could attest to the findings on the property and the injuries to the victims' bodies. Disfigured but alive, one girl told a witness she had been tortured and beaten by Katalin and Elizabeth. The Countess realized she could not deny the obvious and so began to blame her servants for the atrocities. The three elderly women and boy Ficzko were imprisoned. Elizabeth was formally 'imprisoned' in her castle while the others were interrogated. She fiercely denied any wrongdoing and attempted to intimidate with threats.

During the trial, her former accomplices testified against her. Anna Darvolya was by then deceased but mentioned frequently. Ficzko explained their various methods of procuring young victims, using the ruse of employment. They each estimated the number of murders from 36 - 50.

Almost all the witnesses who had traveled with Thurzo and discovered the scene at the castle testified.

Two of the elderly women and Ficzko were all sentenced to death: this involved fingers being torn out, execution and burning. They were executed in public before a crowd. The third woman (Katalin) was not executed and likely carried out a prison sentence.

At her castle under house arrest, Elizabeth wrote letters, complained about her treatment, declared her innocence and wrote more threats: mainly that her cousin Gabor would invade from Transylvania and free her.

The King demanded that Elizabeth be interrogated, which the aristocracy objected to. They did not want to subject any noble (therefore possibly themselves) to such measures.

"In a document dated July 28, 1611, Notary Andras of Keresztur dutifully recorded the testimonies of 224 people - court officials, servants, administrators, townspeople, clergy and nobles - from all throughout Erzsébet's vast holdings."

The King was shocked at the level of complicity the nobility and locals had engaged in. Testimony came out about the procurement of young girls, with some mothers even sacrificing their daughters in exchange for payment. Ferenc Nasady - war hero - was implicated in the tortures and cover-up. The King decided against a public trial and agreed to life imprisonment, which included a cancelling of all debts owed by the Crown.

"Any documentation regarding the Countess, including all legal records of the incriminating proceedings, would be sealed. By order of Parliament, the name of Erzsébet Báthory would never again be spoken in polite society."

The End

With Crown debts cancelled, the remainder of Elizabeth's assets were given to her children as instructed in her will. She was forced to reside in a small section of her castle, with stonemasons bricking up a wall to confine her, leaving only a small space to pass through food and supplies.

On August 21, 1614, after four years imprisonment, Elizabeth died.

It is unclear whether Elizabeth herself had been abused as a child, or by Ferenc as his wife. It's entirely possible that after prolonged brutality she grew desensitized to suffering and at last was able to achieve a sense of control and domination by abusing others. She may have suffered some form of brain trauma through injury by falling in an epileptic fit. Possibly she was simply born with a personality disorder that included sadism or psychopathy. Without more detail all that is left is speculation.

Some have posited that Elizabeth was framed in order for others to divide her assets and cancel owed debts. This seems unlikely in light of the hundreds of witnesses and consistent testimonies. Also a factor were the numerous rumors and general knowledge of her activities over the years, with no action taken until children of the nobility had been killed.