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Countess Erzsébet Bathory, otherwise known as Elizabeth Bathory, has gone down in history as the infamous Blood Countess. The reason for this is during her lifetime, she allegedly murdered over 600 young girls. Due to the nature of these times and their record-keeping, we can never be sure exactly how many lives were taken, but it has gone down in history as "over 600".

What would make a woman of royalty go into such depravity? It is necessary to understand what went on in Elizabeth's early life.

Early life

As already mentioned, Elizabeth was born Erzsébet Bathory, but in modern times is reffered to by the more conventional equivilant: Elizabeth. Daughter of Baron George and Baroness Anna Bathory, she was born into a rich and powerful family on August 7th, 1560. They lived in what is now the Slovak Republic, which back then was part of Hungary. She received a good education, where she learnt, amongst other things, Hungarian, German and Latin.

At the age of 11, she was engaged to Frenec Nadasdy, otherwise known as the Black Hero of Hungary. In those days in was normal for a young child in a wealthy family to be married off early on to a partner from an equally wealthy and important family. However, the Nadasdys were actually of a lower social status to the Bathorys. Elizabeth kept her name while Frenec hyphenated his. It is likely that they were married ragardless of status, due to Frenec's fame as the "Black Hero".

The first signs that things were not all as they seemed with young Elizabeth, was when (it is believed), her husband to be went away to fight against the Turks. Elizabeth had as brief affair with a peasant, and gave birth to a bastard daughter. The unwanted daughter was given, along with a bribe, to another peasant.

Whilst being prepared for her fiance's arrival home, Elizabeth was sorting herself out with the help of a maid. Something went wrong with her hairdress, but when the maid came to fix it, Elizabeth hit her so hard with a brush that she drew blood. Some of the blood went on Elizabeth. When she brushed it away, she noticed that the skin underneath seemed younger. That, and her understanding of how blood worked, began her downwards spiral.

Ferenc and Elizabeth were married on May 8th, 1575. During their time together, her husband taught her various forms of torture...

Torture

The various methods Elizabeth used to torture her victims are said to include:

1. Honey torture: The victim (all of which were female) was stripped, smeared in honey, and left outside. The victim would come to the attention of whatever insects might be around, though it would not be these that killed her: it was the cold that was the killer.
2. The Iron Maiden: A sarcophagus lined with sharp metal spikes. The victim was put in the box, and the lid closed. The spikes would impale the victim, who would bleed to death. Some varients used spikes that impaled the eyes.

Other torures:

1. A cage which is too small to be comfortably fitted in. The walls are adorned with spikes, and when rocked the victim is skewered and killed. A variation uses a red hot poker instead of spikes.
2. A milder torture known as Star Kicking. Peices of flammable substances (whatever was available) were inserted between the toes of victim, and lighted. This one is likely to be untrue.

The end of Countess Elizabeth Bathory

These practises continued throughout Elizabeth's teenage and adult life. Finally, aged 51, Elizabeth was brought to justice. The first of two trials was held at Bytca on January 2nd 1611. The second was held five days later. Elizabeth was not allowed to attend either.

Four accomplices were convicted, mutilated and burned. Elizabeth, though not convicted, was walled into her room in her castle, with only one small hole for air and food. She died on August 21st 1614, aged 51.

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