Perhaps the root of all her later crimes was planted in her childhood, which was less than ideal by both modern and medieval standards. Historians often agree that she suffered from "fits- even outbursts- of rage." Contemporary accounts often describe epilepsy-like symptoms, including severe seizures. In addition, the parenting techniques she was subjected to were often...unconventional? For example, rather than just telling their daughter that stealing is wrong, her parents forced Elizabeth to witness a young thief's fate- being sewn into the stomach of a dying horse and left to perish. That's how you teach life lessons to your kids, folks.
Elizabeth married a soldier named Ferencz Nadasdy at the age of 15. He was gone often, either studying in Vienna or gone at war. Most agree that Elizabeth committed the majority of her crimes in his absence, but he was far from ignorant of her deeds. Some legends claim that he went so far as to teach her new torture techniques he'd learned abroad. Both Elizabeth and her husband enjoyed having power and thrived in an environment with no accountability for aristocrats (Hungary is usually on point with that kind of thing). They ended up with four kids, all of whom fled the nest and married at early ages. Who can blame them?
Most accounts say that Elizabeth was an incredibly vain narcissist. According to her contemporaries, she changed clothes at least five or six times a day and spent hours admiring herself in the mirror. She used a number of unusual oils and techniques to both preserve and lighten her skin. Her ladies-in-waiting were fired (or disappeared altogether) if they did not give her continuous praise.
Initially, Elizabeth lured young peasant girls to her castle, promising employment. However, what awaited them was nightmarish.
The most common atrocities committed against these young women included severe beatings, burning limbs, mutilation, biting the flesh off the faces, arms, etc. of the young girls, freezing to death, and starving to death.
However, certain tactics were more unusual. One reported torture technique described spreading honey over a naked girl and leaving her tied outside for bugs to eat and bees to sting. Elizabeth also perfected the art of freezing a girl to death during the winter by pouring water over her naked body until it eventually solidified, creating a tomb of ice around the victim. However, according to most reports, the torture Elizabeth loved most was beating the girls to the brink of death.
Details from her trial revealed that her crimes grew worse as she aged, especially after the death of her husband. Firsthand accounts add that she would sew a servant girl's mouth shut, force her to eat strips of her own flesh, and burn her genitals until she died of pain. It was also common for Elizabeth to line her carriage seats with needles to poke her guests. When she was ill, one account states that she "bit a person who came near her sick bed as though she were a wild beast."
Until 1609, Elizabeth's main assistant was Anna Darvulia; after her untimely death, a widow named Erzsi Majorova replaced her. The point is that Elizabeth was not alone in committing these crimes; she had a myriad of accomplices and witnesses who both saw and approved of her actions.
Ever-dedicated to her beauty, Elizabeth believed that bathing in the blood of virgins would preserve and whiten her skin. Her accomplices would drain the blood of her victims (at times, when they were still alive) into a giant tub. Some sources claim that she bathed in blood at least once a day.
A modern re-creation of Elizabeth's torture techniques/daily bath.
I'd like to point out that I did not make this meme. I'm not that morbid. Yet.
However, once the once-plentiful stock of peasant girls had run out, Elizabeth expanded her sights to the lesser gentry. She opened a fake school of etiquette for daughters of lesser nobles, promising to teach them the ways of court. Instead, once these young ladies entered the castle, they never returned home. Naturally, the lords and ladies of the area noticed. This was Elizabeth's mistake. She had grown too bold and too arrogant after years of getting away with her crimes.
The official inquiry regarding her actions began in 1610. The prosecution was supported by the crown- not due to the atrocity of her actions- but because the king hoped to escape paying back a rather extensive loan to her family. If Elizabeth was arrested, the king would be exempt from paying back the loan and would gain all of Elizabeth's land holdings.
On December 19, 1610, Elizabeth was arrested and placed on trial. She was convicted, her lands confiscated, and her castle searched extensively. A registrar retrieved from the castle contained a record of the names and ages of all of Elizabeth's victims in her own handwriting. The death count came to a monstrous total- 650 victims.
Elizabeth's known accomplices were executed, but she received a punishment worse than death- immurement. She was walled into her room in Čachtice (Csejte) Castle with only small slits left open to pass food and provide ventilation. She was trapped there until her death in 1614.
You get the picture.
She was initially buried in the cemetery of the local church, but the local uproar over the burial of the hated "Tigress of Csejte" caused her body to be moved to her childhood home at the castle of Ecsed, where it remains at the Bathory family crypt.
The ruins of Čachtice (Csejte) Castle still overlook the village from which Elizabeth plucked her victims.
Elizabeth is often referred to as the Blood Countess or Countess Dracula. Even to this day, locals of the area refuse to speak of her, often citing the possibility of black magic as reasoning for their fear.
Most legends of Transylvanian vampirism stem from the crimes of Elizabeth Bathory and her relative, Vlad the Impaler (big shocker there). Movies, books, and songs have been created over the centuries that reference her cruelty. An opera (yes, a freaking OPERA), aptly named "Erzebet: The Opera," was composed by Dennis Bathory-Kitsz in 2011 in remembrance of his distant female relative. The legacy of the Blood Countess lives on, continuing to haunt our hearts and minds today.
Moral of the story: if a creepy lady with blood on her hands asks you to be a lady-in-waiting, the answer is always a prompt, "Thanks but no thanks."
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