Elizabeth Bathory
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Countess Elizabeth Báthory was from a famous family of Hungarian nobility. Some say she was the most prolific female serial killer ever, others reckon she was framed. She and four others were accused of torturing and killing hundreds of girls.
One person claimed they butchered over 650 victims, but in the end they were convicted of killing only 80. Elizabeth herself was neither tried nor convicted. In 1610, however, she was imprisoned in the Csejte Castle, now in Slovakia, where she stayed bricked in by a series of rooms. She died there four years later. There have been various fanciful stories about what she got up to.
The more extreme had her bathing in the blood of virgins in order to stay looking young, which in turn led to comparisons with Vlad the Impaler, on whom Count Dracula was based.
Bathory was born in Hungary on 7 August 1560. Her father was George Bathory and her mother Anna Bathory, both from extremely good stock. Through her mother, Elizabeth was the niece of the Hungarian noble Stefan Báthory, King of Poland. Elizabeth became engaged to Ferenc Nadasdy, in a political deal. They married in May 1575, watched by 4,500 guests. She moved to a castle in Sarvar and lived alone for much of her time while her husband studied. In 1578, her husband was named chief commander of Hungarian troops, leading them to war against the Ottomans. While he was off fighting, Elizabeth looked after business matters.
That included looking after Hungarian and Slovak peasants. She did a pretty good job of things, despite the threat to the castle and nearby lands. On several occasions she stepped in
to help women in need, once helping a woman who had been captured by the Turks and a daughter was raped and left pregnant.
In 1585, Elizabeth had a daughter, Anna. She had two other children but both died at an early age. Elizabeth had three more children, Katherine, Paul and Nicholas. Elizabeth’s husband died in 1604 aged 47, possibly from a battle wound. All sounds pretty innocuous so far. However, things started to change in 1602, when a minister made complaints about alleged trocities. It took until 1610 for the claims to be properly investigated.
In the end, King Matthias assigned Gyorgy Thurzo to investigate. The case was highly controversial, as executing someone like Elizabeth would result in a public scandal. It would bring shame upon the nobility and mean her property would be taken by the crown. Thurzo therefore first planned to send Elizabeth away to a nunnery. However, gossip spread fast and the talk was of how she had murdered daughters of lower nobility, so she was kept under house arrest instead.
More than 300 witnesses were spoken to in 1610 and 1611 and a trial was eventually held. Trial records still exist and show there were four defendants and 13 witnesses. Priests, noblemen and commoners were questioned. The trial heard that Elizabeth’s first victims were the teenage daughters of peasants, who were tempted to go to the castle for wellpaid work as maids.
Elizabeth is said to have later started to kill daughters of the lesser gentry, who were sent to her by their parents to learn courtly etiquette. Most of the torture said to have been used wasn’t directly witnessed – not many survived, after all. The trial was however told of hearsay evidence that said victims were beaten over long periods, sometimes resulting in death, that their hands and genitalia were burnt or disfigured. Elizabeth was also said to have eaten the flesh of the girls’ faces, froze some to death and performed surgery on others, usually with atal results. Some victims were starved and a few were sexually abused. Some witnesses saw traces of torture on bodies, some of which were buried in graveyards, and others
in unmarked locations. Elizabeth tortured and killed her victims at her castle but also in other properties, but she was helped by several others who supplied her with the girls.
Nobody knows exactly how many she killed. It could have been as many as 650, between 1585 and 1610. During the trial, figures of between 36 and 50 were mentioned. Those who worked at the Sarvar Castle reckoned they’d removed up to 200 bodies. The 650 figure comes from a witness who claimed there was a book that listed all the victims. Some tried to claim the whole trial was a political stunt, as there were plenty of Hungarian feuds at the time and as a Protestant, Elizabeth would have been hated by the Habsburgs.
Regardless, in December 1610 Elizabeth was arrested, along with four servants who were allegedly her accomplices. At the castle they found one dead girl and several others who were dying. The countess remained under house arrest but her servants went on trial, although Elizabeth did not appear. The defendants were Dorota Semtesz, Ilona Jo, Katarina Benicka, and Janos Ujvary. Three were found guilty and sentenced to death. Before being burned at the stake, Semtesz and Jo had their fingers ripped off their hands with hot pokers, while Ujvary, who was thought to be slightly less culpable was let off relatively lightly: he was simply beheaded then thrown in the fire.
The last defendant Benicka was sentenced to life imprisonment as she had been bullied by the other women. During the trial, Elizabeth was put in a walled-up series of rooms and stayed there until her death in 1614. King Matthias had wanted her brought to court, but ultimately she was never found guilty of a single murder. On 21 August 1614, Elizabeth Bathory was found dead in her castle. She was buried in the church of Csejte, but as villagers were furious at this, her body was moved to her birth home at Ecsed, where it is now interred at the Bathory family crypt. The legend of her bathing in her victims’ blood led to various stories in the 18th and 18th centuries, though significantly this detail was never mentioned at the trial. Tourism demands also ensure that the myth continues in many quarters, and Elizabeth Bathory continues be an inspiration in various books, games and movies.
The more extreme had her bathing in the blood of virgins in order to stay looking young, which in turn led to comparisons with Vlad the Impaler, on whom Count Dracula was based.
Bathory was born in Hungary on 7 August 1560. Her father was George Bathory and her mother Anna Bathory, both from extremely good stock. Through her mother, Elizabeth was the niece of the Hungarian noble Stefan Báthory, King of Poland. Elizabeth became engaged to Ferenc Nadasdy, in a political deal. They married in May 1575, watched by 4,500 guests. She moved to a castle in Sarvar and lived alone for much of her time while her husband studied. In 1578, her husband was named chief commander of Hungarian troops, leading them to war against the Ottomans. While he was off fighting, Elizabeth looked after business matters.
That included looking after Hungarian and Slovak peasants. She did a pretty good job of things, despite the threat to the castle and nearby lands. On several occasions she stepped in
to help women in need, once helping a woman who had been captured by the Turks and a daughter was raped and left pregnant.
In 1585, Elizabeth had a daughter, Anna. She had two other children but both died at an early age. Elizabeth had three more children, Katherine, Paul and Nicholas. Elizabeth’s husband died in 1604 aged 47, possibly from a battle wound. All sounds pretty innocuous so far. However, things started to change in 1602, when a minister made complaints about alleged trocities. It took until 1610 for the claims to be properly investigated.
In the end, King Matthias assigned Gyorgy Thurzo to investigate. The case was highly controversial, as executing someone like Elizabeth would result in a public scandal. It would bring shame upon the nobility and mean her property would be taken by the crown. Thurzo therefore first planned to send Elizabeth away to a nunnery. However, gossip spread fast and the talk was of how she had murdered daughters of lower nobility, so she was kept under house arrest instead.
More than 300 witnesses were spoken to in 1610 and 1611 and a trial was eventually held. Trial records still exist and show there were four defendants and 13 witnesses. Priests, noblemen and commoners were questioned. The trial heard that Elizabeth’s first victims were the teenage daughters of peasants, who were tempted to go to the castle for wellpaid work as maids.
Elizabeth is said to have later started to kill daughters of the lesser gentry, who were sent to her by their parents to learn courtly etiquette. Most of the torture said to have been used wasn’t directly witnessed – not many survived, after all. The trial was however told of hearsay evidence that said victims were beaten over long periods, sometimes resulting in death, that their hands and genitalia were burnt or disfigured. Elizabeth was also said to have eaten the flesh of the girls’ faces, froze some to death and performed surgery on others, usually with atal results. Some victims were starved and a few were sexually abused. Some witnesses saw traces of torture on bodies, some of which were buried in graveyards, and others
in unmarked locations. Elizabeth tortured and killed her victims at her castle but also in other properties, but she was helped by several others who supplied her with the girls.
Nobody knows exactly how many she killed. It could have been as many as 650, between 1585 and 1610. During the trial, figures of between 36 and 50 were mentioned. Those who worked at the Sarvar Castle reckoned they’d removed up to 200 bodies. The 650 figure comes from a witness who claimed there was a book that listed all the victims. Some tried to claim the whole trial was a political stunt, as there were plenty of Hungarian feuds at the time and as a Protestant, Elizabeth would have been hated by the Habsburgs.
Regardless, in December 1610 Elizabeth was arrested, along with four servants who were allegedly her accomplices. At the castle they found one dead girl and several others who were dying. The countess remained under house arrest but her servants went on trial, although Elizabeth did not appear. The defendants were Dorota Semtesz, Ilona Jo, Katarina Benicka, and Janos Ujvary. Three were found guilty and sentenced to death. Before being burned at the stake, Semtesz and Jo had their fingers ripped off their hands with hot pokers, while Ujvary, who was thought to be slightly less culpable was let off relatively lightly: he was simply beheaded then thrown in the fire.
The last defendant Benicka was sentenced to life imprisonment as she had been bullied by the other women. During the trial, Elizabeth was put in a walled-up series of rooms and stayed there until her death in 1614. King Matthias had wanted her brought to court, but ultimately she was never found guilty of a single murder. On 21 August 1614, Elizabeth Bathory was found dead in her castle. She was buried in the church of Csejte, but as villagers were furious at this, her body was moved to her birth home at Ecsed, where it is now interred at the Bathory family crypt. The legend of her bathing in her victims’ blood led to various stories in the 18th and 18th centuries, though significantly this detail was never mentioned at the trial. Tourism demands also ensure that the myth continues in many quarters, and Elizabeth Bathory continues be an inspiration in various books, games and movies.
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