This too may have been politically motivated, as the death penalty meant that the king could seize her land. A powerful terror ruled over lands in Hungary in the 16th century. [4], The charges leveled against Bthory have been described by several historians as a witch-hunt. the surrounding dragon being the emblem of the Order of the Dragon. On December 30, 1609, Bthory and her servants were arrested. [4][32] Nagy argued that the proceedings against Bthory were largely politically motivated, possibly due to her extensive wealth and ownership of large areas of land in Hungary, which increased after the death of her husband. The Blood Countess, as she would be known in the centuries to come, was born into a prominent family who held power over an ironic region: Transylvania, which was then part of Hungary. [8] Szdeczky-Kardoss argues that the physical evidence was exaggerated and Thurz misrepresented dead and wounded patients as victims of Bthory, as disgracing her would greatly benefit his political state ambitions. Listen above to the History Uncovered podcast, episode 49: Bloody Mary, also available on, true story behind the real-life Bloody Mary. Have you taken a DNA test? How was Elizabeth Bathory caught? When the trial ended, Bathorys alleged accomplices one of whom had worked as a wet nurse for the countess children were convicted of witchcraft and burned at the stake. Elizabeth Warren is a Democrat from Massachusetts who was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012 and ran for her party's presidential nomination in 2020. She descended from multiple noble lineages and included the King of Poland and the prince of Transylvania among her relatives. As a member of a powerful family, Bathory was not put on trial. Elizabeth received a strong education, and she became fluent in several languages.3 Although she seemed to be a regular noble woman, there was a dark truth behind her family and her. Some of Bathory's victims were covered with honey and left outside for insects to devour. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elizabeth-Bathory. Some witnesses named relatives who died while at the gynaeceum. B > Bathory | B > Bthory de Ecsed > Erzsbet (Bathory) Bthory de Ecsed, Categories: Slovakia, Notables | Csejte, Magyarorszg | Murderers | This Day In History August 07 | Hungarian Nobility | House of Bthory | Insane Aristocrats | This Day In History August 21 | Criminals | Serial Killers | Hungary, Notables | Notables, WIKITREE HOME | ABOUT | G2G FORUM | HELP | SEARCH. On December 29, 1610, Count Gyrgy Thurz, who oversaw judicial matters as the lord palatine of Hungary, arrived at Bathory's Castle achtice to investigate the countess' alleged crimes against women of noble birth (any mistreatment of servants was not a concern to authorities). [15], Bthory was raised a Calvinist Protestant. Make 2023 the year to let that wonderful you-ness shine. [citation needed], After the wedding, the couple lived in Nadasdy's castle at Srvr. English: The original portrait of the Countess Elizabeth Bathory from 1585 is lost (spirited away in the 1990s). It is sad to know the number is so high for the number of deaths caused by her, but she was noticeably, permanently ill in the head from a young age. The Somly branch, on the other hand, supported John Zpolya, whom the greater part of the Hungarian nobility had elected King. An Examination of the Life and Trial of Erzsbet Bthory", "The falling sickness. https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/elizabeth-bathory. Elizabeth Bathory may have had a secret love child At the age of 11, Elizabeth's family betrothed her to 15-year-old Ferenc Nadasdy, the son of the then Palatine of Hungary. She was born into a powerful and very well connected Transylvanian family. She celebrated 70 years on the throne in June 2022 with her Platinum Jubilee. She allegedly burned her victims with hot irons, beat them to death with clubs, stuck needles under their fingernails, poured ice water over their bodies and left them to freeze to death outside in the cold, covered them in honey so that bugs could feast on their exposed skin, sewed their lips together, and bit off chunks of flesh from their breasts and faces. Check out our elizabeth bathory selection for the very best in unique or custom, handmade pieces from our patches shops. What was Elizabeth Bthorys childhood like? The investigation into Bthory's crimes was sparked by complaints from a Lutheran minister, Istvn Magyari. Wertner, Moritz, "Urgeschlechter in Siebenbrgen. The accusations of murder were based on rumors. While Nadasdy taught her how to torture, yet another person in her life would teach her how to kill. Another indication that I am an irrelevant old fart! George strengthened his alliance to Stephen by marrying his sister Anna, uniting the branches. The ruse worked. Soon after her arrest, Bathory attended the trial against her. If all the stories about her are true, then she is likely the most prolific and vicious female serial killer of all time. with video tutorial . Countess Elizabeth Bathory. Elizabeth Bthory was a Hungarian countess who purportedly tortured and murdered more than 600 young women in the 16th17th century. Thurzo heard screaming, which led him to find one of Bathorys torture chambers. and Andrew's sons George (d. 1307), Benedict (d. 1321) and Briccius (d. 1322) for their military services by granting them Btor in the county of Szabolcs. Bthory, though never tried, was confined to Castle Csejte (now Cachtice), reportedly kept in a bricked-in room. However, this is a fairly contemporary copy of that original, probably painted in the late 16th century. In 1610 she was accused of gruesome acts of serial murder and confined to her home of Castle achtice, where she remained until her death. From that time, he never fully recovered, and in 1603 became permanently disabled. Extremely well written article. There is a rumor that Elizabeth became pregnant by a peasant right before she married Nadasdy, and he castrated the peasant and gave his body to wild dogs to eat. Her family controlled Transylvania, and her uncle Stephen Bthory was king of Poland. As a child, Bthory had multiple seizures that may have been caused by epilepsy. Thurz ordered two notaries, Andrs Keresztry and Mzes Czirky,[19] to collect evidence in March 1610. Elizabeth Bathory was the Countess of Ecsed, born on August 7, 1560, in Hungary. [3] She was imprisoned within Castle of Csejte. After the death of the count on the battlefield in January 1604, horrifying suspicions of torture, murder and vampirism were voiced against Elizabeth. Later, the interest of the Zpolyas were represented at the Habsburg court by the Voivode's son Stephen IX, who would go on to become Prince of Transylvania and King of Poland. Listen above to the History Uncovered podcast, episode 49: Bloody Mary, also available on iTunes and Spotify. There were several instances where Bthory intervened on behalf of destitute women, including a woman whose husband was captured by the Ottomans and a woman whose daughter was raped and impregnated. Despite being a noblewoman, she was a famous serial killer. Bathory herself was spared from execution due to her status as a noble. Istvan Magyari, a Lutheran minister, filed a complaint about Bathory. Elizabeth Bthory (1560 - 1614 AD) was a countess from the renowned Bthory family of nobility in the Kingdom of Hungary and cousin of the Hungarian noble Stefan Bthory, King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Duke of Transylvania. In 1575 she married Count Ferencz Ndasdy and moved to Castle Csejte (now in Cachtice, Slovakia), a wedding gift from Ndasdys family. Her first targets were said to have been poor girls and young women who were lured to the castle with the promise of servant work. Great job! Seeing that from a young age she would laugh at the torment of the servants I think it wouldve been only a matter of time. While historical documents seem to support the accusations against her, modern research indicates that Bthory, a powerful woman, might have been the target of politically motivated slander that allowed relatives to appropriate her lands. Elizabeth was born August of 1560 to a powerful branch of the royal family in Hungary. Therefore, the idea of evil inside the family bond emerges in the Countess's massacres. Worst case? This legend appeared in print for the first time in 1729, in the Jesuit scholar Lszl Turczi's Tragica Historia, the first written account of the Bthory case. Another woman, who'd supposedly used magic to aid Bathory, was also soon killed. Craft, Kimberly, "Infamous Lady: The True Story of Countess Erzsbet Bthory." She allegedly tortured and murdered these women between 1585 and 1609. A 15-year-old Bathory married Nadasdy on May 8, 1575. Better known in the West as Elizabeth Bathory and Vlad Dracula, they were in their own places and ages already infamous, though for different reasons. She suffered from epilepsy as a child, possibly from familial inbreeding. (shelved 3 times as elizabeth-bathory) avg rating 3.75 256 ratings published 1997. Elizabeth Smart spent nine months in captivity after being abducted from her home at age 14 in 2002. However, it's possible Bathory was not guilty of all the crimes that have been laid at her feet. Countess Elizabeth Bthory, (Erzsbet Bthori in Hungarian), was born in 1560 in Nyrbtor in Royal Hungary. Majorova convinced Bathory to kill noble women because fewer and fewer servants wanted to work for Bathory. As was the case with many noble families at the time, the family had long been marrying relatives to keep their status; thus, some theorize that Elizabeth's inbred ancestry could have left her vulnerable to mental instability. If all the stories about her are true, then she is likely the most prolific and vicious female serial killer of all time. The Bthory family (Polish: Batory) was a Hungarian noble family of the Gutkeled clan. To cure her epilepsy, her family took blood from servants and put it on her lips. They were the king's witnesses, but they were executed. Elizabeth Bthory (Hungarian Noblewoman and Serial Killer) Elizabeth Bthory or Erzsebet Bathory was a feared Hungarian countess who became infamous as a torturer and a vicious serial murderer. Imprisonment allowed family members to take control of the powerful widow's possessions (her sons-in-law knew beforehand that her arrest was coming). A late 16th-century copy of the now-lost portrait of Elizabeth Bathory, painted in 1585 when she was 25 years old. However, she was bricked up and isolated in a room at Csejte Castle, where she remained under house arrest for four years until her death in 1614, according to History Today. In fact, some modern Hungarian scholars say that it may have been motivated more by others power and greed than her supposed evil. Stammtafel nach Alexander von Simolin - printed in Farin, Voivode (and later Prince) of Transylvania, List of titled noble families in the Kingdom of Hungary, "Bram Stoker, Elizabeth Bathory and Dracula", "A genealogy of the founders of the Bthory family", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bthory_family&oldid=1105322508, Articles lacking reliable references from August 2012, Short description is different from Wikidata, All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases, Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from February 2019, Pages using infobox family with unknown parameters, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. [10], Another branch of the family are the Bthory of Simolin family, which was named after their estate Simony (or Simolin). [3] Some insist she inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897),[11] although Stoker's notes on the novel provided no direct evidence to support this hypothesis. The evidence against Bathory has flaws: Of 289 witness accounts, more than 250 offered either hearsay or no information whatsoever. Another servant, Erzsi Majorova, initially escaped capture, but was burned alive after being apprehended. She had everything going for her in her life, she was rich, beautiful, and her family was well . Anna was born roughly in the year 1585, and Katalin approximately 1594. [12] Nicknames and literary epithets attributed to her include The Blood Countess and Countess Dracula. Also known as Bthori Erzsbet, Elizabeth Bathory was born to an incredibly powerful family on August 7, 1560, in Hungary. Two died as infants, but two daughters and a son survived. The countess is also known as one of the bloodiest women in . As she was not convicted of a crime, Bathory's holdings passed to family members instead of being seized. When Nadasdy passed away in 1604, he gave his whole estate away to Bathory including his castle, Cachtice, in modern day Slovakia. A few years later, Elizabeth Bathory died in solitary confinement on August 22, 1614. The grateful people honoured him with the names Bthory, meaning "good hero", and animus magnanimus. He was allegedly as into dark stuff as his wife, cruelly torturing Ottoman captives and sticking pieces of paper between his servants' toes and setting them on fire. Although the exact nature of the illness which led to his death is unknown, it seems to have started in 1601, and initially caused debilitating pain in his legs. Countess Elizabeth Bthory de Ecsed (Bthory Erzsbet in Hungarian, Albeta Btoriov in Slovak; 7 August 1560 - 21 August 1614) was a countess from the renowned Bthory family of Hungarian nobility. After Ndasdys death in 1604, rumours of Bthorys cruelty began to surface. Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain was the longest-reigning monarch in British history. Her parents were both Bthory, her father was Baron George VI Bthory of the Ecsed branch of the Bthory family and her mother was Baroness Anna Bthory. Thurzo found a dead body of a girl and two other girls wounded. Bathory sometimes tortured girls by driving needles into their fingers, cutting their noses or lips or whipping them with stinging nettles. The Bthory family belonged to the Gutkeled, a clan of Hungarian nobles, which traced its descent to the Swabian brothers Gut and Kelad, who immigrated into Hungary from the castle Stof (probably Staufen im Breisgau or Hohenstaufen in Wrttemberg) during the reign of King Peter (reigned 10381046), who himself was partly of Venetian descent. 1 She was born on August 7th, 1590, in Transylvania. 2 She came from a wealthy, Protestant family that were significant landowners in Hungary. In fact, this prominent family controlled Transylvania. Elizabeth Bthory was born in 1560 to Protestant nobility in Hungary. After hearing the accusations, Thurz ultimately charged Bathory with the deaths of 80 girls. The exact circumstances of Elizabeth's final imprisonment are unknown. By that point, Bathory had reportedly killed multiple victims of noble birth, which concerned the authorities far more than the deaths of servants. [3] The use of needles was also mentioned by the collaborators in court. Descendants of Elizabeth Bathory the Blood Queen being hunted by descendants of her supposed victims. I wonder if she wouldve grown up to be different if all these people in her life wouldnt have helped her torment her servants. "use strict";(function(){var insertion=document.getElementById("citation-access-date");var date=new Date().toLocaleDateString(undefined,{month:"long",day:"numeric",year:"numeric"});insertion.parentElement.replaceChild(document.createTextNode(date),insertion)})(); Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives. It is unclear whether he died before or after his sisters Elizabeth and Sophia. She was initially buried in the crypt on her estate, but her body was likely moved afterward. By mid -1596, we know that Erzsbet Bthory had three living children: daughters Anna, Orsolya (Orsika), and Katalin (Kata), and that Erzsbet was pregnant with son Andrs. Countess Elizabeth Bathory, or Erzsbet Bthory, was a wealthy and powerful Hungarian noblewoman whose relations included an uncle who was king of Poland and a nephew who was prince of. [2][13][16] Born into a privileged family of nobility, Bthory was endowed with wealth, education and a prominent social rank.[17]. She had received it as a wedding gift from her husband, the famed Hungarian war hero Ferenc Ndasdy. After taking a lover at age 13 and giving birth to a secret love child, Elizabeth was married shortly before turning 15 to a nobleman named Ferenc Nadasdy. After Nadasdy died in January 1604, Bathory took control of her extensive estates. Countess Elizabeth Bthory de Ecsed (Hungarian: Bthori Erzsbet, pronounced [batori rebt]; Slovak: Albeta Btoriov; 7 August 1560 - 21 August 1614) was a Hungarian noblewoman and alleged serial killer from the family of Bthory, who owned land in the Kingdom of Hungary (now Slovakia).. Bthory and four of her servants were accused of torturing and killing hundreds of . Ndasdy was the son of Baron Tams Ndasdy de Ndasd et Fogarasfld and Orsolya Kanizsai. 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