Countess Elizabeth Báthory (August 7, 1560 - August 21, 1614), was a Hungarian countess from the renowned Báthory family. The family is remembered for defending against the Ottoman Turks. She is known as the most infamous serial killer in Hungarian and Slovak history and is remembered as the Bloody Lady of Cachtice, after the castle near Trenín, in Royal Hungary, in present-day Slovakia, where she spent most of her life.

After her husband's death, she and four alleged collaborators were accused of torturing and killing hundreds of girls and young women, with one witness saying over 600 victims. In 1610, she was imprisoned in Cachtice Castle, where she remained in her room bricked in until her death four years later. Since she was a Countess she was never formally tried in court. The Báthory case has inspired many legends, including a disputed story of the countess bathing in the blood of virginal girls whom she killed in order to retain her youth. These stories have led to the modern nicknames of the Blood Countess and Countess Dracula.

Early years
Elizabeth Báthory was born on a family estate in Nyírbátor, Hungary, on August 7, 1560 and spent her childhood at Ecsed Castle. Her father was George Báthory, a brother of Andrew Bonaventura Báthory, who had been Voivod of Transylvania of the Ecsed branch of the family, while her mother was Anna Báthory (1539-1570), daughter of Stephen Báthory, another Voivod of Transylvania, of the Somlyó branch. Through her mother, she was the niece of Stefan Batory, King of Poland.

Married life
At the age of eleven, Báthory was engaged to Ferenc Nádasdy and moved to Nádasdy Castle in Sárvár. In 1575, at age 15, she married Nádasdy in Varannó.

Nádasdy's wedding gift to Báthory was his home Csejte Castle, situated in the Carpathians near Trencsén, together with the Csejte /%u010Cachtice/ country house and seventeen adjacent villages. The castle itself was surrounded by a village and agricultural lands, bordered by outcrops of the Carpathian Mountains. In 1602, Nádasdy finally bought the castle from Emperor Rudolf, so that it became a private property of the family.

In 1578, Nádasdy became the chief commander of Hungarian troops, leading them to war against the Turks. He was considered both brave and cruel. The Turks gave him the nickname "Black Knight". With her husband away at war, Elizabeth Báthory managed business affairs and the estates. That role usually included providing for the Slovak peasants, even medical care.

During the height of the Long War (1593-1606), she was charged with the defense of her husband's estates, which lay on the route to Vienna[1] The threat was significant, for the village of Csejte had previously been plundered by the Turks while Sárvár, located near the border that divided Royal Hungary and Ottoman occupied Hungary, was in even greater danger.

She was an educated woman who could read and write in four languages. Based on the letters Elizabeth has left behind, we know of several instances where she intervened on behalf of destitute women, including a woman whose husband was captured by the Turks and a woman whose daughter was raped and impregnated. She was interested in Science and Astronomy.

Her husband died in 1604 at the age of 47. His death is commonly reported as resulting from an injury sustained in battle, while other sources alleged that he was murdered by a prostitute, or by General Giorgio Basta whose reign of terror in Transylvania at that time led to a sharp decline in the Báthory family's power. Later, King Matthias refused to pay her the debt he owed Nádasdy.

Early investigation
Between 1602 and 1604, Lutheran parish priest István Magyari complained about atrocities both publicly and with the court in Vienna, after rumours had spread.

The Hungarian authorities took some time to respond to Magyari's complaints. Finally, in 1610, King Matthias assigned György Thurzó, the Palatine of Hungary, to investigate. Thurzó ordered two notaries to collect evidence in March 1610. Even before obtaining the results, Thurzó debated further proceedings with Elizabeth's son Paul and two of her sons-in-law. A trial and execution would have caused a public scandal, disgraced a noble and influential family (which at the time ruled Transylvania) and Elizabeth's considerable property would have been seized by the crown. Thurzó agreed that Elizabeth Báthory should be kept under strict house arrest, but that further punishment should be avoided. King Mattias did not have to repay a large debt for which he lacked sufficient funds.

Arrest and trial
Thurzó went to Csejte Cachtice on December 29, 1610 and arrested Elizabeth Báthory and four of her servants, who were accused of being Elizabeth's accomplices. Thurzó's men reportedly found one girl dead and one dying. Another woman was found wounded, others locked up.

While the countess was put under house arrest (and remained so from that point on), her accomplices were brought to court. A trial was hastily prepared and held on January 7, 1611 at Byta (Biccse in Hungarian). The trial was presided over by Royal Supreme Court judge Theodosious Syrmiensis de Szulo and twenty associate judges. Elizabeth herself did not appear at the trial. The methods to discover evidence included torture and intimidation and did not follow modern judicial rules.

The defendants at that trial were:

Dorottya Szentes, also referred to as Dorko

Ilona Jó

Katalin Benicka

János Újváry, Ibis or Fickó.

Dorko, Ilona and Fickó were found guilty and executed on the spot. Dorko and Ilona had their fingers ripped out before they were thrown into a fire, while Fickó, whose was deemed less guilty, was beheaded before being consigned to the flames. A public scaffold was erected near the castle to show the public that justice had been done. Katalin Benicka was sentenced to life imprisonment, as she only acted under the domination and bullying by the other women, as implied by recorded testimony.

In 1610 and 1611 the notaries collected testimonies from more than 300 witness accounts. Trial records include testimonies of the four defendants, as well as 13 more witnesses. Priests, noblemen and commoners were questioned. Witnesses included the castellan and other personnel of Sárvár castle.

According to these testimonies, her initial victims were local peasant girls, many of whom were lured to Csejte by offers of well-paid work as maidservants in the castle. Later she is said to have begun to kill daughters of lower gentry, who were sent to her gynaeceum by their parents to learn courtly etiquette. Abductions seem to have occurred as well. She was accused of witchcraft and pagan rituals.

The descriptions of torture that emerged during the trials were often based on hearsay. The atrocities described most consistently included:

Severe beatings over extended periods of time, often leading to death.

Burning or mutilation of hands, sometimes also of faces and genitalia.

Biting the flesh off the faces, arms and other bodily parts.

Freezing to death.

Starving of victims.

The use of needles was also mentioned by the collaborators in court.

Some witnesses named relatives who died while at the gynaeceum. Others reported having seen traces of torture on dead bodies, some of which were buried in graveyards, and others in unmarked locations.

According to the defendants' confessions, Elizabeth Báthory tortured and killed her victims not only at Csejte but also on her properties in Sárvár, Sopronkeresztúr/Deutschkreutz/, Pozsony and Vienna (Bécs in Hungarian), and even between these locations.

In addition to the defendants, several people were named for supplying Elizabeth Báthory with young women. The girls had been procured either by deception or by force.

A little-known figure named Anna Darvulia, possibly a local, was also rumoured to have influenced much of Báthory's early sadistic career but apparently died earlier.

The number of young women tortured and killed by Elizabeth Báthory is unknown, though it is often cited as being in the hundreds, between the years 1585 and 1610. The estimates differ greatly. During the trial and before their execution Szentes and Fickó reported 36 and 37 respectively, during their periods of service. The other defendants estimated a number of 50 or higher. Sárvár castle personnel estimated the number of bodies removed from the castle at between 100 and 200.

One witness who spoke at the trial mentioned a book in which a total of 650 victims was supposed to have been listed by Elizabeth Báthory herself. This book was never mentioned anywhere else, nor was it ever discovered; however, this number became part of the legend surrounding Báthory.

László Nagy has argued that Elizabeth Báthory was a victim of a conspiracy, a view opposed by others. Nagy argued that the proceedings were politically motivated.

Elizabeth was never brought to trial but remained under house arrest in a single room until her death. Her room was bricked up with no way out, but with a slit in the cement so food could be passed to her.

King Matthias urged Thurzó to bring her to court. Two notaries were sent to collect further evidence.

However, letters exchanged between the Emperor and his Palatine from 1611 to 1613 suggest that Thurzó was not keen to advance the case against the Countess.

On August 21, 1614 Elizabeth Báthory died in her castle. She was buried in the church of Csejte.