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Elizabeth
was born in 1560 into one of the most prominent families in
Eastern Europe. Originally named Cutkeled, the family
migrated from Sweden to Hungary in the 13 th century and changed
its name to Bathory after the town of Batur, which was given
to it by the crown. The Bathorys prospered mightily. They became
generals, bishops and chief justices. For generations they
ruled Transylvania, and of their lot, Steven ( 1533-1586 ),
was not only a great prince of Transylvania but also King of
Poland.
But not all Bathorys were winners. Clara, an aunt of Elizabeth's
murdered her husband and "suffered a sexual aberration".
Steven
- an uncle, not the prince - was a halfwit who drove his sleigh
in summer as well as winter. And Elizabeth's parents, George
and
Anna, reportedly enjoyed inventive and "variegated"
love lives.
Elizabeth was betrothed to Frank Nadasdy, of an important English
family that ruled 17 feudal hamlets. Frank's father, Thomas,
was royal governor of Hungary. Elizabeth (15) and Frank (25)
were married in the spring ( May 8 ) of 1575. King Maximillian
sent
a gilded wine cup. and the couple tookup residence in the Castle
of Caejthe, a mountaintop fortress,which lies in the north
western part of Hungary. Following 10 years of childless marriage,
Elizabeth and Frank had four children, three girls and a boy.
Frank spent his whole life as a soldier fighting the Turks.
Earning him the reputation as the " Black Hero of Hungary".
He died in
1604, at age 49.
After the death of her husband Elizabeth became more and more
vain. She changed her dresses several times a day and redid
her hair differently every few hours. Reportedly, she had a
high forehead, blue eyes, a sharp nose and "thick lustful
lips". Her age
was getting to the best of her though. At the age of 40 Elizabeth
tried to conceal the wrinkles through cosmetics. But this could
not cover the fact, that she was getting old and close to losing
her beauty. Then according to
legend, a young chambermaid accidently pulled Elizabeth's hair
while combing it. The infuriated countess slapped the girl's
head
so hard, that blood spurted from her nose, which splashed upon
her own hand. When the blood had touched her skin, Elizabeth
immediately thought it took on the freshness of her young chambermaid's
skin. She then got Johannes Ujvary and Dorka to
undress the girl and cut her arteries and bleed the young girls
blood into a basin, after which the Countess stepped into the
basin and took a bath in the blood.
Members of the castle staff were then ordered to procure more
young maidens. Poverty ruled the Hungary of that day. Guillible
girls were often forced to seek work at the castle. Once inside,
their fate was sealed. Ujvary later testified he personally
murdered 37 girls, all maidens,beating them and often cutting
off their hands with scissors. The countess helped, he swore.
She
tore off the girl's flesh with her own hands. When her dress
became bloodsoaked, she would hault the orgy
until she got into fresh clothing. According to a local priest,
the Rev. John Ponekinus, the countess forced the girls to eat
their
own flesh and that on at least one occasion the flesh of the
victim was converted to hash and served to unsuspecting guests
at
the castle. When the countess traveled, she took girls with
her. In Vienna, where the Nadasdys had a townhouse,
neighbors complained of the victim's screaming. But the countess
enjoyed immunity because of her family position.
Many of the cruelties the countess inflicted were under the
guise of discipline. Once she pressed a glowing iron against
the face
of a girl who had clumsily burned madam's collar. A son-in-law,
Count Nicholas Zrinyl, once arrived at the castle unannounced,
and Elizabeth had to hurriedly stash fie corpses under a bed.
The count was told not to enter that bedroom because diseased
servants were in there. She had meals sent to the room all during
the count's visit. However Zrinyl, suspected the worst when
one corpse was unearthed in the courtyard by one of his dogs.
Zrinyl pressed for the arrest of the countess, but he got nowhere.
He feared for a nasty scandal. Word finally filtered to King
Mathias, who saw an opportunity not only to punish the countess
but
also to confiscate the Bthory wealth, for the royal treasury
had been depleated. But Elizabeth had powerful relatives. She
was
above the courts. Only the royal governor, Count Thurzo, had
jurisdiction over her.And he was not only a friend, but a relative.
However, Thurzo was forced to act when the scandal became so
bad that a revolt in the region was feared. He arrived at the
castle with an armed retinue DEC. 13, 1610. When Thurzo arrived,
according to testimony, one girl's body was found in the
castle drained of blood. Another girl was dying of many wounds
and a third girl was bleeding to death in the basement. Many
others were locked behind strong doors awaiting their fate.
Below the castle, they found the dead bodies of some 50 girls.
Thurzo formed a court in 1611, of 14 from local officials and
his own retinue. After testimony, Ujvary was sentenced to
decapitation. Joo and Szentes had their fingers torn out, and
then they were burned to death over a slow fire. Catherine Beniczky,
who had shown sympathy for the victims, was given an indeterminate
prison sentance. Elizabeth herself drew no formal
sentence, although, a registar with the names of around 650
victims were found in her living quarters.
Elizabeth did not escape her punishment. The Hungarian Emperor
demanded her to be condemed to lifelong imprisonment in her
own castle. Stonemasons were brought in to the castle to wall
up the windows and doors of her bedchamber, with the countess
still inside, with only a small hole for feeding. Here she would
spend the rest of her life in solitary confinment. No minister
was
allowed to console her. Four and a half years after she was
walled in, on Aug. 21, 1614, one of her jailers found the food
untouched. After peeking in the small opening, he saw her lying
face down on the floor. Elizabeth Bathory the "Blood Countess"
was dead at the age of 54 " without the cross and without
light".
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