Monsters in History — Elizabeth Bathory
August 7th, 1560 would have been long forgotten had it not been for the birth of the ever-capable Elizabeth Bathory. Born in Hungary, Elizabeth had the fortune of being born into one of the most important, affluent families of the time. The future countess was a sickly kid that suffered several seizures as a child, though she was uncommonly bright. This mixed with a ridiculously elite education resulted in Elizabeth being one of the most capable people of her age.
To throw a cherry on top, the young countess was reported to be notably beautiful. This youthful allure was something Elizabeth took a great deal of pride in, which we will get into more detail later. This beauty and elevated social status made it hard to find a worthy suitor. She ended up marrying Ferenc Nádasdy, who was also the descendant of a very notable family. Love was not really a concern for the eligible bachelors of 16th-century Hungary.
So why was she one of the worst people ever?
Well, Elizabeth had a secret that few people besides her closest confidants had any real knowledge of. The problem with Elizabeth’s secret was that over time it get bigger, uglier, and more public. By the time Elizabeth had been discovered, an entire village had been ravaged by a bloodlust previously unseen in written history. Today we are going to go into brief detail about the life of the Blood Countess, one of the worst killers the world has ever seen.
The Origin of The Blood Countess
While her upbringing may have been one of unbelievable fortune, it was also uniquely dark. Elizabeth sat through several awful events in her young life, including the torture of criminals, physical abuse towards servants, and more. While her parents obviously did not seem to notice or care much about Elizabeth’s presence during these awful events, these moments seemed to have a profound effect on the young girl.
These moments of horror did not seem to disgust Elizabeth, in fact, she seemed to enjoy the spectacle of it. There is a record of a very young Elizabeth laughing as a man was stitched into the flesh of a horse. While there is no definitive proof of neglect or abuse in her early upbringing, several historians now believe it is at least partially responsible for her later sadism.
Despite marrying Ferenc at fifteen, they had been betrothed to one another for five years prior. During this long period, Elizabeth ended up with a bun in the oven at thirteen. This child was courtesy of a uniquely charming peasant boy that was soon castrated and fed to dogs by her betrothed. Elizabeth was a sexual person at a very early age, though no one seemed to know just how depraved her desires would become.
Ferenc and Elizabeth were a formidable duo that quickly became one of the most influential couples in Hungarian society. Elizabeth could speak four languages, had one of the wealthiest families in Hungary, and was uncomfortably intelligent. Ferenc on the other hand was quickly making a name for himself as a gifted military mind and became known as the “Black Knight of Hungary”.
The two lovebirds lived in a very weird time in Hungary in which the drawn-out war with the Ottoman empire had put a considerable strain on the coinpurse of most Hungarians. The Bathory family (Ference took his wife’s more reputable last name) did not seem to notice this financial burden at all. They were so ridiculously wealthy that they actually lent money to the Habsburgs (they had an empire, kinda unimportant) to keep Hungary afloat during the drawn-out conflict.
Even though a good portion of their marriage was spent separated from one another — the young, capable, powerful couple found camaraderie in cruelty. The two would often spend hours together torturing, mutilating, and demeaning servant girls. While the two may have begun honing their craft as a duo, Elizabeth perfected it as the years continued.
The Active Years of Elizabeth
After 29 years of marriage (a majority of which Ferenc spent at war) Elizabeth’s husband had finally found reprieve from a 4-year illness that had left him permanently disabled. Count Ferenc Bathory died on January 4th, 1604 after forty-eight cold, cruel, capable winters. While historians aren’t sure if Ferenc restrained Elizabeth’s darker urges or if his death made her grow colder — what is clear is that her lust for torture only grew in the following years.
After the death of her husband, Elizabeth’s secret had grown wings and spread throughout most parts of the country. The problem was, she was a rich noble and the peasant girls that were going missing were hardly looked into. So even though the number of accusations piled up, outside of one Lutheran minister making complaints, Elizabeth’s bloodlust went unchecked.
It’s important to remember that beyond the sadism and overwhelming hatred of younger, prettier women; Elizabeth Bathory was very bright. So it very likely became clear to her that as long as her prey stayed below a certain social class, her crimes wouldn’t be too deeply looked into. This also became apparent to the local villages that surrounded the castle, who kept having to listen to the story about their daughters dying of cholera or finding a limb or two ripped apart by rabid wolves.
In Elizabeth’s active years, her secret had become an obsession. She would slather girls in honey and throw them outside, stab them with sewing needles repeatedly, forcing them to eat parts of their own bodies, and would even bite off large chunks of flesh from her victims. We won’t get into the wax that would be spread between toes and ignited, nor the clawed gloves used to mince the faces of her servant girls, but those also existed.
Countess Elizabeth Bathory by this point had grown so bold she had formed a small group of like-minded sociopaths to help her engage in her depravity. One of these was even reported to be a witch who had also helped tutor Elizabeth in forms of torture and murder. The problem was despite years, even decades of getting away with unimaginable horrors — Elizabeth eventually broke the golden rule.
She killed the daughter of someone important.
Elizabeth’s Final Years
Elizabeth fell victim to the one thing a criminal can never afford to be, careless. She began to start picking off noble girls with her newest scheme to lure in victims to her. She had made a gynaeceum for higher-class folks to send their daughters off to get a proper education, befitting a noblewoman. By this point, if the accounts are true, Elizabeth seemed to do everything but announce her intentions to people.
As the girls once again began to disappear one by one for increasingly unbelievable reasons, finally legitimate action had to be taken. György Thurzó was given the task of investigating these endless accusations against Elizabeth, despite being one of her former husband’s closest friends.
One account says when he got there, there were girls laying across the castle floor that were dead or dying as soon as he walked in. While it is widely suggested that Elizabeth was caught in the act of torture, there are conflicting reports about the validity of the first account. Whatever the case was, Elizabeth and her band of horrible henchmen were imprisoned on January 25, 1611.
All four servants that aided Elizabeth eventually got executed for their crimes (save for one who showed signs of abuse from the others) after rigorous torture. Elizabeth, however, once again found that nobles were afforded a bit more mercy. She was confined to a secluded room in her castle where she remained under house arrest for Elizabeth’s final three years until she passed away on August 21, 1614. To this day, no one is exactly sure where she was buried.
It was said that the Blood Countess took over six-hundred victims before her reign of terror ended, though this number is very ambitious and possibly exaggerated. Regardless, she is now considered the most prolific female serial killer to ever exist and one of the scariest examples of power that written history has ever recorded.
Sorry if this one was a bit dry in humor, feels weird making light of mass murder. Next time let’s discuss something a bit less depressing.
Jack
