Báthory Elizabeth, "the Blood Countess"

Let me start this post off with the lyrics to a song that I listen to often by Karliene, called "Blood Countess" (listen to it here)

 

"Allow me to introduce myself Though I fear you've heard my name That you've heard the story (heard the story) Of Countess Báthory (of Countess Báthory)  History is told by the victors Heroic warriors and mad kings Will you hear my story? (Will you hear my story?) From the lips of Báthory? (the lips of Báthory?)  They call me: 'Bloodsucking demon' 'Queen of hell' 'Sadistic killer' 'A monster tale'

 (To keep me beautiful) Drinking the blood of virgins (To keep me youthful)  The Blood Countess Who is she really? Who is she really?

The Blood CountessWho is she really? Erzsébet Báthory  Báthory, Báthory, Báthory  I was very wealthy and powerful A widow with political rivals Keen to destroy me (keen to destroy me) And take my property (take my property)  My plea was never offered All my confessors were all tortured Oh how they destroyed me (how they destroyed me) For my property (for my property)  They bricked me up, bricked me up Shut me up, shut me up Bricked me up, bricked me up Shut me up, shut me up  And told a story Of that bitch called Báthory  'Bloodsucking demon' 'Queen of hell' 'Sadistic killer' 'A monster tale' Bathing in the blood of virgins (To keep me beautiful) Drinking the blood of virgins (To keep me youthful)  The Blood Countess Who is she really? Who is she really?  The Blood Countess Who is she really?

Erzsébet Báthory"

 

So who was Elizabeth (Erzsébet) Báthory? One of the leading nobility of transylvania and daughter of Baron George VI Báthory (brother of the voivode of Transylvania - Andrew Bonaventura Báthory) and Baroness Anna Bálthory (daugher of another voivode) and neice of the King of POland Stephen Báthory - protestant Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Esced - known also as "the Bloody Lady of Cáchtice" - was said to have been beautiful as a young lady, however as she aged she attempted to keep those looks with the use of "witchcraft". She had been told by Dorka - her assistant - (and is referred to in the aforementioned song) that if "she bathed in the blood of virgins at the "magical hour" of 4 o clock in the morning" that she would retain this youthful beauty.

Erzsébet Báthory

[source CC Oldbarnacle via Wikimedia Commons]

 

So who was Elizabeth (Erzsébet) Báthory? One of the leading nobility of Transylvania and daughter of Baron George VI Báthory (brother of the voivode of Transylvania - Andrew Bonaventura Báthory) and Baroness Anna Bálthory (daughter of another voivode) and niece of the King of POland Stephen Báthory - protestant Countess Elizabeth Báthory de Esced - known also as "the Bloody Lady of Cáchtice" - was said to have been beautiful as a young lady, however, as she aged she attempted to keep those looks with the use of "witchcraft". She had been told by Dorka - her assistant - (and is referred to in the aforementioned song) that if "she bathed in the blood of virgins at the "magical hour" of 4 o clock in the morning" she would retain this youthful beauty.

Of course, this remedy did not work and on she went to the next attempt...torturing the girls and letting their blood splash over her face.

Naturally, the people of her village feared her but were too frightened to take action against her (and not being able to due to her lineage), instead bringing her assistants to trial and finding them guilty of torturing and murdering 80 young girls (initially servant girls between the ages of 10 and 14) and 2 of the countesses female servants were sentenced to burning at the stake after having their fingernails ripped out. OUCH! They did, however, keep the Countess under house arrest in Cáchtice Castle for 4 years before she was found dead and her possessions confiscated by Emperor Matthias (the Catholic Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor) who had pressed for a death sentence as he owed her family money.

Over the years following, there are identifications of her with Vlad the Impaler and has been called "Countess Dracula", despite the 2 being separated by more than a century but both having a penchant for being bloodthirsty.

Elizabeth Bathory, The blood Countess

source: Deviant Art: katya-gudkina

As a child, the Blood Countess suffered from multiple seizures (thought to have been caused by epilepsy) - perhaps these seizures caused some damage to her brain to make her think this was a perfectly reasonable thing to do...or maybe she was just a psychopath...or maybe even it was the delusion of nobility that makes them (often) think they can get away with anything...Who knows?

What else do we know about her?

For 29 years, she had a husband called Ferenc Nádasdy (son of a baron) and had 4 children together. Countess Elizabeth also had another child before marrying her husband, however, it is said that Nádasdy had the father of the child castrated and torn to pieces by dogs, and the child was hidden from view.

During their marriage, they lived in the Nádasdy castles in Hungary (this is now in Slovakia) and while her husband was away on business, she ran the estates and had various lovers.

in 1604, the Countess became a widow after a debilitating pain in Nádasdy's legs disabled and eventually killed him.

It was only after his death that rumors of her cruelty began to surface and Gyorgy Thurzó (Count Palatine of Hungary) was assigned by King Matthias to investigate these claims in 1610. He proceeded to take the testimony of more than 300 witnesses and survivors which were further verified by physical evidence of mutilated, dying or dead victims at the time of her "arrest" (they couldn't arrest her due to her status) although by the end of the investigation, Báthory was accused of having killed over 600 young women.

It was said that she enjoyed drinking the blood of virgins - birthing vampiric rumours that were recorded years after her death and are thus unreliable - and was named the most prolific female murderer (according to a Guinness World Book of Records) despite the exact number of her victims remaining unknown to this day (somewhere between 600 and 650).

It wasn't until 1817 - with the publishing of witness accounts for the first time - that the stories of blood-drinking and bathing were shown to be legend rather than fact and as such, several historians have argued that Báthory was simply a victim of conspiracy and not a bloodthirsty killer, the stories having been born into existence as a result of political motivation (as claimed by Lászlo Nagy).

Many vampiric stories may have even stemmed from this person in history as her bloodthirsty escapades coincide with many of the vampire scares that haunted early 18th-century Europe. Bram Stoker - the author of Dracula - was partially inspired by Báthory when writing his book in 1897.

Sources:

[1] Breverton's Phantasmagoria: A Compendium of Monsters, Myths and Legends by Terry Breverton

[2] https://www.historyhit.com/the-blood-countess-facts-about-elizabeth-bathory/