At the age of 15, Elizabeth married Count Ferencz Nadasdy, thus making her the countess of Castle Cachtice. The couple would go on to have four children between the years of 1585 and 1595. It was until after her husband's death in 1604, that rumors began to swirl about the dear countess.
The Blood Countess:
After her husband died in 1604, rumors began to swirl about the countess and her torture chamber. It is rumored that in order to make his wife happy, the Count Ferencz built her a torture chamber. It is known now that Elizabeth had an uncle who instructed her in Satanism and an aunt who taught her the art of sadomasochism. Elizabeth would spend the next several years of her life torturing, murdering, and bathing in the blood of beautiful, virgin servant girls. Why would anyone want to do this? Was she jealous? Was she insane? Was she a vampire? The answer to that question, we could safely say is all of the above.
It is unclear just how many victims the Blood Countess had taken but historians estimate around over 600 girls. Bathory probably would have continued to go unnoticed if she hadn't started killing girls from other noble families. In 1610 the king finally decided to step in and put the Blood Countess on trial for her crimes. She was tried for 80 counts of murder and was found guilty for all of them. Her cohorts, who we assume would have been other noble people, her family, or servants, were all executed but Elizabeth was sentenced to confinement in a single room in the castle.She remained there until her death in 1614.
Her crimes have credited her as being the first vampire in history. However, it is never stated or believed that Bathory drank the blood of her victims. Sources simply state that she believed that bathing in their blood would keep her young forever. While that can be seen as the trait of a vampire, who love eternal youth, I would put Bathory more as the first female serial killer.
Works Cited
History "Bathory's Tortuous Escapades are Exposed." History, 13 November 2009 https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/bathorys-torturous-escapades-are-exposed
Kurti Laszlo "The Symbolic Construction of the Monstrous - The Elizabeth Bathory Story." University of Miskolc. 15 February 2009. http://content.ebscohost.com/ContentServer.asp?T=P&P=AN&K=51358577&S=R&D=hus&EbscoContent=dGJyMNLr40Sep7Q4zdnyOLCmr1CeqLFSr6u4TbaWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMPGqrk2xp7VLuePfgeyx43zx
Pallardy Richard "Elizabeth Bathory Hungarian Countess." Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elizabeth-Bathory
Wikipedia "Elizabeth Bathory." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory
I had heard parts of Elizabeth Bathory's story before, but I never knew all of the fascinating details surrounding her life. This blog definitely makes me want to research even more to learn additional details about her life. I certainly agree with you in that she was likely not so much a "vampire" as she was a serial killer, and I wonder what particular events in her life caused her to go down such a path. Certainly her uncle and aunt were likely major influences in this way, but I now wonder if she had some sort of traumatic event happen to her at a young age to cause her to be open to such counseling. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI never heard of her before actually. Reading all about her history and what she did, is very interesting to me and I would love to learn more about her.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of Elizabeth Bathory before this class. I wonder if she did drink her victim's blood? That would solidify her as the first vampire. There aren't too many female serial killers either, which makes this story even more powerful. I found it really interesting when you explained that her aunt and uncle were influences in her satanic behavior. I wonder if there are any stories about them? Great job on your blog!
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