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Bathory content. Countess Bathory: historical facts

Medieval chronicles contain many legends about wealthy rulers who are credited with a craving for all kinds of devilry. Cruel lords and their life partners often showed their vicious inclinations - they tortured, killed, and sought to seize as much power as possible. This circumstance could not but cast a shadow on the aristocracy past centuries. We invite you to read the biography of one of the influential people of the past era.

In the 16th century, there lived the Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory, a noble aristocrat who owned about a third of the country. But it was not Elizabeth’s brilliant social position and untold wealth that was remembered by posterity. She went down in history as the bloody Countess Bathory, notorious for the massacres of young girls. However, historians to this day have not come to a consensus - was Elizabeth Bathory a cold-blooded serial killer or simply a victim of political intrigue?

Biography of the Bloody Countess Bathory

The future countess was born in August 1560, on the 7th. Elizabeth spent her childhood in the family castle of Eched. In accordance with the traditions of the time, she was betrothed to a nobleman named Ferenc Nadasdy at the age of 11. Four years later, she married her betrothed, who at that time held the position of caretaker of the imperial stables. The husband of the bloody Countess Bathory was appointed commander of the Hungarian troops in 1578.

This is interesting: Elisabeth's husband Ferenc Nadasdy received the nickname "Black Bey" for his incredibly cruel treatment of Turkish prisoners. One of distant relatives Countess Bathory was the legendary Vlad the Impaler, ruler of Wallachia, better known as ).

Ferenc Nadasdy presented his wife with a rich wedding gift - Cachtice Castle, bought by the Black Bey from King Rudolf II. The bloody Countess Bathory took over the management of the household, since her husband spent almost all his time on military campaigns. The couple had five children: Milos, Anna, Ekaterina, Pavel and Ursula. Ferenc Nadosdy died in 1604, leaving Elisabeth a widow.

Accusation

Elizabeth owes her nickname “Bloody Countess Bathory” to one very vague circumstance. In 1610, dark rumors began to reach the Habsburg court about mass murders of young girls allegedly taking place in Cachtica Castle, which belonged to the countess. It should be noted that the aristocrats of that time had the right to control the lives of their servants, but the scale of the atrocities attributed to Bathory prompted Emperor Matthew to make a decision.

Győr Thurzó (Count and Palatine of Hungary) was sent to investigate the case of the “bloody Countess Báthory”. At the head of an armed detachment, on December 29, 1610, Thurzo broke into the Chakhtitsa castle where, as they say, he caught the countess herself and her trusted henchmen at the scene of the crime. According to the prosecution, Elizabeth killed girls (mostly local peasant women) between 1585 and 1610.

This is interesting: Why did Elizabeth Bathory need to kill, torture and kill young girls? The answer is simple - the countess is credited with practicing or simply vampirism: to preserve her youth and beauty, she took blood baths.

While awaiting trial, the countess was locked in the basement of her own castle. However, the Bathory family was very famous and influential, so there was no trial. Cared for by servants, Mrs. Chakhtitsa lived in an underground dungeon for more than 3.5 years and died on the night of August 21, 1614. The henchmen of Countess Bathory were tried at the Britchan Castle (in the residence of Palatine Thurzo) on January 2, 1611. Elizabeth's maids - Ilona Yo, Dorota Szentes and Katarina Benicka were burned alive, after their fingers were cut off.

Was the “bloody” Countess Bathory a murderer?

It would seem that this is where it is necessary to throw stones at the villainess, but... the case of Elizabeth Bathory is not so simple. Much of the evidence was dubious, the accusation was flimsy, and the accusers themselves were not impartial. But first things first.

Let's start with the fact that there is simply no evidence of the countess being detained at the crime scene “red-handed”. And the confessions of servants and eyewitnesses were extracted under torture. After which the witnesses were executed with suspicious haste. Numerous procedural violations and inconsistencies cannot but lead to speculation.

Fact two: the “bloody” Countess Bathory really took rejuvenating baths. However, it is more likely that instead of blood they were used to give the skin elasticity. If we assume that the Countess took blood baths, then a mathematical inaccuracy appears in her case. According to various sources, the number of killed girls ranged from 30 to 650 people. The human body contains approximately 5-6 (!) liters of blood, and all 650 girls would have been enough for Elizabeth to last no more than 30 weeks - after all, according to the Jesuit Laszlo Turosi, the countess took blood baths weekly.

Fact three: the accuser Palatine Thurzo laid claim to part of the luxurious land holdings that belonged to the Bathory family. He cannot be considered an impartial judge, like the hierarchs of the Catholic Church who took part in the trial: it was also beneficial for them to eliminate the influential Protestant countess.

The rumors thanks to which the “bloody” Countess Bathory acquired her reputation are not reliable historical sources. Most of the superstitions and speculations appeared after the death of Elizabeth. Should Elizabeth Bathory be charged on the basis of vague rumors and mostly fabricated evidence? Decide for yourself...

What can a woman do to preserve the youth and beauty given to her by nature? This rhetorical question will surely make any representative smile male. Yes, for a lot. And if you imagine an aging beauty of past centuries, having high patrons and endowed with power, gold, high birth, but, alas, deprived of modern knowledge and opportunities of women of the 21st century. But she wants at all costs to preserve this precious and fleeting gift of nature itself: youth and freshness. Cleopatra's milk baths or Arabian ointments of the Queen of Sheba? Countess Erzsebet Bathory found a more radical method.

Erzsebet Bathory is the bloodiest maniac in the history of mankind, which neither the famous Jack the Ripper nor his modern “copies” could eclipse.

According to the royal investigation, she and her henchmen killed 650 people. The price of blood in the name of eternal youth.

So, let's go to Slovakia, to the ruins of the Cachtice castle. In the old days, when Slovakia belonged to Hungary, Cachtice Castle bore the Magyar name Cheit and belonged to the Báthorys, an ancient family famous not only for its brave warriors, but also for its insane, almost legendary cruelty.

In the 16th century, after the Battle of Mohacs, which gave Hungary into the hands of the Turks, the Bathorys split into two branches - Eched and Somlyo. The first took refuge in mountainous Slovakia, the second took possession of the famous Transylvania.

IN ancient country The Dacians were still ruled by pagan religion. It was a special world, separate from the rest of Europe. The mysterious goddess of the dense forests, Mnelliki, ruled here. The descendants of the Dacians recognized only one god Ishten and his three sons: the tree Ishten, the grass Ishten and the bird Ishten. The superstitious inhabitants of the Carpathians also had their own devil - Erdeg, who was served by witches, dogs and black cats. And everything that happened was explained by the actions of the spirits of nature and fairies of natural elements: Delibab - the midday fairy and mother of visions, beloved of the wind; the wonderful Tünder sisters and the waterfall fairy combing her watery hair. Among the sacred trees, oaks and chestnuts, ancient rituals of worship of the sun and moon, the dawn and the “black mare” of the night were still performed. Magic has flourished here at all times. Dragons, wolves and vampires, despite the expulsion of evil spirits by the bishops, inhabited the forests and appeared at the first call of the sorcerers.

In 1576, Stefan Bathory of the Somljo branch became king of Poland. He and his army saved Vienna from the Turks, earning the gratitude of the Austrian Habsburgs, who by that time had declared themselves kings of Hungary. Long before this, Stefan's sister Anna married György Báthory from the Ečed branch. Representatives of the family had previously entered into related marriages, which gradually led them to degeneration. Gout was a hereditary disease in this family. This fact will surprise few people if we remember that people of that time ate mainly meat and game, seasoned with hefty portions of spices, and Bathory lived in a country where strong wines were common drinks. Another hereditary disease was epilepsy, known at the time as “brain fever.” Despite the fact that, trying to defeat the disease, the Polish king and Erzsebet's uncle, Stefan Bathory, turned to both sorcerers and alchemists, he was destined to die in agony. All this ancestral heritage will pass to Erzsebet (Elizabeth) Bathory, born on August 7, 1560, daughter of Gyorgy and Anna.

Perhaps this explained the attacks of wild rage that had gripped her since childhood? But, most likely, this has something to do with Bathory’s family genes and the cruelty of that time in general. Death was commonplace, and human life didn't cost anything. On the plains of Hungary and in the Carpathian Mountains, Turks, Hungarians and Austrians tirelessly slaughtered each other. Captured enemy commanders were boiled alive in cauldrons or impaled. Legal norms, so to speak, of that time were very conditional.

The fate of noble girls was determined once and for all even before their birth: early marriage, children, farming. The same awaited Erzsebet, who, as a child, was betrothed to the count's son Ferenc Nadasdi, her elder by 5 years. He belonged to the ancient noble family with a centuries-old history. This dynasty arose in England during the reign of Edward I. His ancestors were invited by the Hungarian king to defend the country from enemies. In the meantime, before the wedding, eleven-year-old Erzsebet had to live in a castle under the supervision of her future mother-in-law.

From the very moment Erzsebet entered the gates of her future mother-in-law's castle, her life changed. In her parents' castle she was left to her own devices. Noisy feasts and celebrations constantly took place there, where you could have fun and do whatever you wanted. Now entertainment has become rare. She spent her days in prayer under the supervision of a strict teacher. From the very beginning, Erzsébet hated her future mother-in-law, who forced her to work, never left her alone, constantly gave advice, decided what she should wear, watched her every move and tried to penetrate her innermost thoughts. She taught Erzsebet a thousand sciences: what orders to give, how to keep the dishes clean, how to make the linen smell like saffron, how to iron and bleach shirts. In those days, raising a future daughter-in-law by a mother-in-law was in the order of things. Erzsebet tried to break free. She wrote secretly to her mother. Anna's answers begged her to be patient until marriage, convincing her that after that everything would change. Erzsebet hated the castle in which she was forced to hide her beauty and youth. Plans for revenge were born in her already embittered mind.

Ferenc Nadasdi delayed getting married, rarely visiting his mother’s castle, he had enough to do without a wedding, but he was the only son in the family. He resisted, but was told that his mother needed help and company, and that, among other things, marriage was the key to happiness. After staying for a while, Ferenc left his mother again. Seething with anger, Erzsebet again reluctantly took up teaching and housekeeping.

And finally, on May 8, 1575, the wedding of Ferenc Nadaszdi and Erzsebet Bathory was celebrated. Erzsebet was not even 15 years old at that time. Chait Castle became the home of the noble young couple.

Ferenc Nadasdy rarely visited Ceyt Castle, which was busy with the eternal war with the Turks. After his mother's death, he took his wife with him to Vienna several times. The Emperor clearly favored the beautiful Erzsebet.

Having heard that his wife had a habit of biting her servants and sticking needles into them or expressing displeasure in other equally savage ways, Ferenc only shrugged his shoulders in bewilderment. In his presence, Erzsebet behaved more carefully, and with him she was gentle and friendly. And wasn’t this beauty the subject of his special pride when he went to court? What more could you want? Ferenc was quite pleased.

It is known exactly when Erzsebet’s children were born. The eldest of them, Anne, was born around 1585, Ursula in 1590, Katherine in 1593, and the youngest, Pal, shortly after 1596. According to the custom of those years, the children were first taken care of by nurses and maids, and then they were sent to be raised by other noble families. Left alone, Erzsebet was desperately bored.

She dreamed of escaping from the mountain wilderness of Chait to where everyone would see her beauty. She was the wife of one of the most prominent people in Hungary, on whom the emperor himself relied in absolutely everything, and the mother of four children. And despite the fact that she was soon to be forty years old, she remained the same beauty: tall, slender, fair-skinned blonde.

But alas, life passed in a remote place in Slovakia, without the splendor of Vienna and Pressburg, in the desperate boredom of the province. Ferenc Nadasdy's health was no longer as excellent as in previous years. He no longer paid visits to Vienna, and Erzsebet no longer had the opportunity to shine at court balls.

At that time, the Countess had not yet killed anyone. Although she was not sinless: insane outbursts of anger alternated with a constant change of lovers.

Every morning her face was whitened with incredible care. She carefully monitored the whiteness of her skin and hair, which were bleached daily with saffron infusion. In those days, the Hungarians were universally known as great experts in the relevant drugs. In a special room next to Erzsebet's sleeping quarters, stoves were installed to heat water, and the maids endlessly stirred ointments in pots. Almost the only topic of conversation in the room was the miraculousness of this or that drug. While waiting for the next miracle ointment to be prepared, Erzsebet gazed intently at her reflection in the mirror. She wanted to be more beautiful than everyone else. Yes, she is already over forty, but she is still slim and her skin is elastic. Although... the eyes no longer shine so brightly in the morning and there is a telltale wrinkle in the corner of the mouth. A little more, and old age will creep up, and no one will admire her beauty. This thought was unbearable, it killed with hopelessness.

Ferenc Nadasdy died in Ceyte on January 4, 1604 at the age of 49. In the past, a completely different life remained: festivities at court, albeit not frequent; the arrival of her husband, a glorious warrior and a noble gentleman. This brought some variety to life and at least temporarily pacified Erzsebet’s unbridled temper. Now everything is only in her power. It's time to be relentless. Now she became what she was usually represented later in legends and traditions: a lonely, despotic widow. From now on, one single law will reign in her domain: her wild and capricious desires. The darkness of the night reigned forever in the countess’s soul.

Erzsebet Bathory tirelessly searched for a means to restore the fading beauty: she either rummaged through old grimoires, or turned to healers. One day, the witch Darvulya, who lived near Cheit, was brought to her. Looking at her, the old woman confidently said: “Blood is needed, madam. Bathe in the blood of girls who have never known a man, and youth will always be with you.”At first, Erzsebet was taken aback, then she remembered the excitement that gripped her every time at the sight of blood, then she became embarrassed again, imagining the smell of sticky blood on her skin.

It is unknown when exactly she crossed the border separating man from beast, but soon the girls, sent to the castle to serve the countess, began to disappear to God knows where, and fresh graves began to appear at the edge of the forest. Sometimes fishermen caught mutilated bodies in rivers and lakes. Sometimes those who managed to escape from the castle secretly said that they heard terrible screams and screams of the countess herself: “Beat her! More! More!" That's where it all ended - complaining about noble people was pointless, and often dangerous. And Countess Erzsebet had a powerful patron at court - the Hungarian feudal lord Gyorg Thurzo. This, plus generous donations, forced even the local priest, who more than once had to perform funeral services for dead young peasant women, to remain silent.

For ten years horror reigned in Cheyt; the mechanism of murder was worked out to the smallest detail. A cruel mockery of history: a century and a half before Erzsebet, France experienced the horror of the sadist Baron Gilles de Rais; a century and a half after Erzsebet, the horror of the sadistic Russian landowner Daria Saltykova, Saltychikha, has yet to be experienced by Russia. In all cases, the victims were girls, and the baron also had children. Perhaps they seemed especially defenseless, which inflamed the sadists. Or maybe the main thing here was the envy of aging people for youth and beauty? After all, youth cannot be bought for any money.

The hereditary defects of the Bathory family and the superstitions of Erzsebet herself played a role. She did not do evil alone: her assistants helped her. The main one was the ugly hunchback Janos Ujvari, nicknamed Fitzko. Living in the castle as a jester, he heard plenty of ridicule and mortally hated everyone who was healthy and beautiful. Snooping around, he looked for houses where his daughters were growing up. Then the maids Ilona Yo and Dorka got involved: they came to the girls’ parents and persuaded them to give their daughters into the service of the countess for good money. They helped Erzsebet beat the unfortunate people, and then buried their bodies. Later, local peasants, sensing something was wrong, stopped responding to the promises of the mistress of the castle. She had to hire new barkers who looked for her victims in distant villages.

When the girls were brought to Chait, the Countess herself came out to them. After examining them, she chose the most beautiful ones, and sent the rest to work. Those selected were taken to the basement. The most terrible invention of the Inquisition - the iron maiden - a hollow figure made up of two parts and studded with long spikes, prompted the countess's crazy brain to come up with a new invention, for her own needs.

The blacksmith, well paid and intimidated by terrible threats, forged an incredible, almost impossible-to-lift metal device, which was a cylindrical cage of metal blades fastened with iron hoops. One could imagine that it was intended for some gigantic bird. But inside it was strewn with sharp thorns. By order of the Countess, always at night this terrible device, suspended under the vaults of the basement, was lowered to the floor with the help of levers. Dorko appeared, dragging a naked maid down the basement steps by her loose hair. She stuffed the girl into a terrible cage and locked her there. The device was then lifted up. At this point the Countess appeared. Dressed in white linen, she entered and sat on a chair under the cage. Dorko, grabbing a sharp iron pin or a red-hot poker, tried to poke the prisoner, who, leaning back, bumped into the spikes of the cage. With each blow, the flow of blood intensified and fell on Erzsebet. How monstrous must be the imagination of a woman who came up with such a thing!

Time passed, but the bloody ablutions did not bring results: the countess continued to grow old. In anger, she called Darvula and threatened to do to her the same thing that, on her advice, she did to the girls. “You are mistaken, madam! - the old woman wailed. “We need the blood not of servants, but of noble maidens, and things will immediately go smoothly.” No sooner said than done. Erzhebet's servants persuaded twenty daughters of poor nobles to settle in Cheyte to entertain the countess and read to her at night. Within two weeks, none of the girls were alive.

Erzsebet's crazy fantasies could no longer be contained. She poured boiling oil on the peasant women, broke their bones, cut off their lips and ears and forced them to eat them. In the summer, her favorite pastime was to undress girls and place them tied up on an anthill. In winter, pour water on them in the cold until they turn into ice statues. Perhaps the most terrible thing she did from time to time was to open their mouths with her own hands so sharply that its corners were torn.

Murders were committed not only in Čeyt, but also in two other castles in Erzsebet, as well as on the waters in Pištany, where the countess also tried to restore the disappearing beauty. It got to the point where she couldn't go even a few days without killing. Even in Vienna, where the countess’s victims were not as numerous as in Czeit, they were buried at night in the cemetery under the pretext that an epidemic had broken out in the house.
For ten long years she got away with everything. Rumors about the crimes of the “Cheit creature” spread in waves around the area. Perhaps those who talk about the murderer’s high patrons are right? The Countess's name was too well known, too well protected by her proximity to the House of Habsburg.

The most banal reason put an end to Erzsebet Bathory’s crimes. Needing money for her rejuvenation experiments, the Countess mortgaged one of the castles for two thousand ducats. Her son's guardian, Imre Medieri, caused a scandal, accusing her of stealing family property. She was summoned to Presburg, where all the nobles gathered for the Diet, including Emperor Matthias and her relative and patron Gyorgy Thurzo. At first, he was going to hush up the story in a family way, but the Countess herself ruined everything. She sent him a pie. Suspecting something was wrong, Thurzo fed the pie to the dog, and it died immediately. The tycoon flew into a rage and gave the matter a legal move.

Returning to Chait, the Countess tried to behave more carefully, but years of unpunished crimes had taken their toll. She could not resist temptation when they brought to her the beautiful young maid Doritsa, who had been caught stealing sugar. Erzsebet beat her with a whip until she was exhausted, and other maids struck her with iron sticks. Without remembering herself, the Countess grabbed a hot iron and pushed it into Doritsa’s mouth all the way to her throat. The girl was dead, blood was all over the floor, and Chait’s owner’s anger was only flaring up. The henchmen brought two more maids, and after beating them half to death, Erzsebet calmed down.

And the next morning Thurzo came to the castle with soldiers. In one of the rooms they found the dead Doritsa and two other girls still showing signs of life. Other terrible finds awaited in the basements - pots with dried blood, cages for captives, broken parts of the “iron maiden”. They also found irrefutable evidence - the diary of the countess herself, where she recorded all her atrocities. True, she did not remember the names of most of the victims or simply did not know them and wrote them down like this: “No. 169, short” or “No. 302, with black hair.” There were a total of 610 names on the list, but not all those killed were included. It is believed that the “Cheyt creature” has at least 650 lives on its conscience. Erzsebet was stopped literally on the threshold - she was about to run away. It is worth noting that instruments of torture were neatly packed into one of the travel chests, without which she could no longer do. Thurzo, with his power, sentenced her to eternal imprisonment in her own castle. Her henchmen were taken to trial, where witnesses were finally able to tell everything they knew about the crimes of their former mistress. Ilona and Dorka had their fingers crushed and then burned alive at the stake. The hunchback Fitzko's head was cut off and his body was also thrown into the fire. In April 1611, masons arrived in Chait and blocked the windows and doors of the countess's room with stones, leaving only a small gap for a bowl of food. In captivity, Erzsebet Bathory lived in eternal darkness, eating only bread and water, without complaining or asking for anything. She died on August 21, 1614 and was buried near the castle walls, next to the remains of her nameless victims.

This is how one of the most beautiful, but inhumanly cruel women in history, Countess Erzsebet Bathory, ended her life.

Transylvania is a Latin word. It means "land beyond the forests." It's a very beautiful country. But many, at the behest of writers and horror film screenwriters, consider it a land of bloody nightmares, inhabited by all kinds of ghouls, witches, demons and werewolves. The famous and terrible Count Dracula, who lived there, became especially famous. But, unfortunately, even without him, there was always enough evil spirits in this land. And among its ancient inhabitants there were also such creatures, in comparison with which the vampire Dracula pales.

One of these creatures is Countess Elizabeth (in some versions Erzsebet, Elisabeth) Bathory, who took pleasure in the inhuman torture to which she subjected the people under her control. Also called the Cachtica Pani or the Bloody Countess, the Hungarian countess, notorious for the mass murder of young girls, is, according to the Guinness Book of Records, the most “massive” serial killer.

Bad heredity of an ancient family

In the old days, when Slovakia belonged to Hungary, Čachtice Castle bore the Magyar name Čeyt and belonged to the ancient Báthory family. No one was braver than Bathory in battles with enemies, no one could compare with them in cruelty and willfulness. The Bathory suffered from epilepsy (it was this that led to the early death of King Stephen), insanity, and rampant drunkenness. In the damp walls of the castles they were plagued by gout and rheumatism. Elizaveta Bathory also suffered from them. Perhaps this explained the fits of wild rage that had gripped her since childhood. But, most likely, this has to do with Bathory’s family genes and the cruelty of that time in general. On the plains of Hungary and in the Carpathian Mountains, Turks, Hungarians and Austrians tirelessly slaughtered each other. Captured enemy commanders were boiled alive in cauldrons or impaled. Erzsébet's uncle, András Bathory, was hacked to death with an ax on a mountain pass. Her aunt Clara was raped by a Turkish detachment, after which the poor girl's throat was cut. However, she herself had previously taken the lives of two husbands.

Mother of many children

Elizabeth Bathory was born in 1560. The fate of noble girls in this harsh world was determined once and for all: early marriage, children, housekeeping. The same awaited Elizabeth, who, as a child, was betrothed to the count's son Ferenc Nadasdi. Her father died early, her mother went to live in another castle, and the precocious girl was left to her own devices. Nothing good came of this. At the age of 14, Elizabeth gave birth to a son from a footman. The culprit disappeared without a trace, as did the child, and they rushed to marry her off. The couple settled in Cheyte, one of the 17 castles of the Bathory family. The dowry was so rich that Ferenc did not raise the question of the newlywed’s innocence. However, he was not too interested in this: soon after the wedding, he went on a campaign against the Turks and since then has appeared at home infrequently. And yet, Elizabeth gave birth to daughters Anna, Orsolya (Ursula), Katarina and a son, Pal. According to the custom of those years, the children were first taken care of by nurses and maids, and then they were sent to be raised by other noble families.

White-skinned beauty

Left alone, Elizabeth was desperately bored. She dreamed of escaping the mountain wilderness and going to a ball in Vienna or Pressburg, where everyone would see her beauty. She was tall, slender, surprisingly fair-skinned. Her thick curls were also light, which she bleached with saffron infusion. In addition, she washed her face with cold water every morning and loved horseback riding. More than once the lady was seen at night galloping madly around the area on her pitch-black horse Vinara. They also said that she herself punishes the maids - she pinches them or pulls them by the hair, and at the sight of blood she becomes simply obsessed. During one of his visits, Ferenc discovered a naked girl in the garden, tied to a tree and covered with flies and ants. To his surprised question, Elizabeth nonchalantly replied: “She was carrying pears. I covered her with honey to teach her a good lesson.”

At that time, the Countess had not yet killed anyone. Although she was not sinless: in the absence of her husband, she took on a lover, the neighboring landowner Ladislav Bende. One day, the two of them were racing on horses along the road and threw mud at some ugly old woman. “Hurry, hurry, beauty! - she shouted after. “Soon you will become just like me!” At home, Elizabeth peered into the Venetian mirror for a long time. Did the witch really tell the truth? Yes, she is already over forty, but her shape is just as impeccable and her skin is elastic. Although... there's that telltale wrinkle in the corner of the mouth. A little more, and old age will creep up, and no one will admire her beauty. She went to bed in a bad mood...

At the beginning of 1604, her husband died, having caught a fever on one of the campaigns. The neighbors felt sorry for the widow, and no one knew what awaited her subjects in the quiet town at the foot of the castle. According to the stories of Elizabeth's accomplices, her thirst for murder became completely insatiable after the death of Ferenc Nadasda. They began to call her “the tigress from Kakhtitsa.”

Incredible cruelty

Elizabeth’s arsenal included “light” punishments for minor or simply invented offenses by the mistress. If a servant was suspected of stealing money, a hot coin was placed in her hand. As soon as the maid badly ironed the master's dress, a hot iron flew into the unfortunate girl's face. The girls' flesh was torn with tongs, their fingers were cut with scissors.

But the countess’s favorite instruments of torture were needles. She pushed them under the girls’ nails, saying: “Does it really hurt you, you slutty harlot? So take it and pull it out.” But as soon as the tormented girl tried to remove the needles, Elizabeth began to beat her, and then cut off her fingers. Falling into a frenzy, the Countess gnawed at her victims with her teeth, tearing pieces of flesh from their chests and shoulders.

Bathing in blood

Elizabeth Bathory tirelessly searched for a way to restore her fading beauty: she either rummaged through old grimoires (collections of magical rituals and spells), or turned to healers. One day, the witch Darvulya, who lived near Cheit, was brought to her. Looking at her, the old woman confidently said: “Blood is needed, madam. Bathe in the blood of girls who have never known a man, and youth will always be with you.” At first, Elizabeth was taken aback. But then she remembered the joyful excitement that seized her every time at the sight of blood. It is unknown when exactly she crossed the border separating man from beast.

According to another version, Elizabeth Bathory hit her maid once in the face. The blood from the maid's nose dripped onto her skin, and Elizabeth thought that her skin began to look better after that.

At the prompting of Anna Darvulia, the countess began collecting young virgins from peasant households, whose disappearance and death were not fraught with friction with the law and dangerous consequences. At first, it was quite easy to find living “material” for sadistic amusements: the peasants vegetated in hopeless poverty, and some willingly sold their daughters. At the same time, they sincerely believed that their children would be much better off in the master’s courtyard than under their stepfather’s roof.

But soon the girls, sent to the castle to serve the countess, began to disappear to God knows where, and fresh graves began to appear at the edge of the forest.

They buried both three and twelve at a time, explaining the death as a sudden pestilence. To replace those who had passed on to another world, peasant women were brought from afar, but after a week they disappeared somewhere. Housekeeper Dora Szentes, a masculine woman who enjoyed the special favor of the countess, explained to the curious residents of Čachtitsa: they say that the peasant women turned out to be complete incompetents and were sent home. Or: these newbies angered the lady with their insolence, she threatened them with punishment, so they ran away...

IN early XVII century (and all this happened in 1610, when Elizabeth Bathory turned fifty), in the circles of the nobility it was considered indecent to interfere in the private lives of equals, and therefore rumors flared up and died out, leaving no trace on the reputation of the illustrious lady. True, a timid assumption arose that Countess Nadashdi was secretly trading in live goods - supplying rosy-cheeked and stately Christian women to the Turkish Pasha, their great admirer. And since many famous representatives of high society were secretly engaged in such a trade, was it worth racking your brains to figure out where the girls went?

For ten years, when horror reigned in Chait, the mechanism of murders turned out to be worked out to the smallest detail. It was the same as that of the French baron Gilles de Rais a century and a half before Elizabeth, and the same as that of the Russian landowner a century and a half later. In all cases, the victims were girls, and the baron also had children. Perhaps they seemed especially defenseless, which inflamed the sadists. Or maybe the main thing here was the envy of aging people for youth and beauty.

Accomplices and iron maiden

The hereditary defects of the Bathory family and the superstitions of Elizabeth herself played a role. She did not do evil alone: her assistants helped her. The main one was the ugly hunchback Janos Ujvari, nicknamed Fitzko. Living in the castle as a jester, he heard plenty of ridicule and mortally hated everyone who was healthy and beautiful. Snooping around, he looked for houses where his daughters were growing up.

Then the maids Ilona Yo and Dorka got involved: they came to the girls’ parents and persuaded them to give their daughters into the service of the countess for good money. They helped Elizabeth beat the unfortunate people, and then buried their bodies. Later, local peasants, sensing something was wrong, stopped responding to the promises of the mistress of the castle. She had to hire new barkers who looked for her victims in distant villages.

When the girls were brought to Chait, the Countess herself came out to them. After examining them, she chose the most beautiful ones, and sent the rest to work. Those selected were taken to the basement, where Ilona and Dorka immediately began beating them, stabbing them with needles and tearing their skin with tongs. Listening to the screams of the victims, Elizabeth became inflamed and began to torture herself. Although she didn’t drink blood, so it’s wrong to consider her a vampire, but is there a big difference? At the end, when the girls could no longer stand, their arteries were cut and the blood was poured into basins, filling the bath into which the countess immersed herself.

Later, she ordered a miracle of torture technology in Presburg - the “iron maiden”. It was a hollow figure, composed of two parts and studded with long spikes. In the secret room of the castle, the next victim was locked inside the “maiden” and lifted up so that the blood flowed in streams directly into the bath.

Enjoying the death throes of the doomed servant, Countess Bathory showered her with shrill, public abuse, working herself into a frenzy and executioner's ecstasy, after which she often fell into blissful fainting.

The blood is not of peasant women, but of noblewomen...

No sooner said than done. Elizabeth's agents persuaded twenty daughters of poor nobles to settle in Cheyte to entertain the countess and read to her at night. Within two weeks, none of the girls were alive. This hardly helped their killer rejuvenate, but Darvula didn’t care anymore - she died from fear, but in fact from epilepsy. But Elizabeth’s crazy fantasies could no longer be contained. She poured boiling oil on the peasant women, broke their bones, cut off their lips and ears and forced them to eat them. In the summer, her favorite pastime was to undress girls and place them tied up on an anthill. In winter, pour water on them in the cold until they turn into ice statues.

Murders were committed not only in Čejte, but also in two other castles of Elizabeth, as well as on the waters in Pishtany, where the countess also tried to restore the disappearing beauty. It got to the point where she couldn't go even a few days without killing. Even in Vienna, where Elizabeth, by a grim coincidence, had a house on Bloody Street (Blutenstrasse), she lured and killed street beggars.

Rumors about the "Cheit creature"

One can only be surprised that she got away with everything for so many years, especially since rumors about the crimes of the “Cheitian creature” spread in waves around the area. Perhaps those who talk about the killer’s high patrons are right. Thus, witnesses recalled a noble lady who came to the castle in an elegant men's suit and invariably participated in torture and murder, after which she retired with the countess to the bedroom. We also saw a gloomy gentleman with a hood hiding his face. The servants whispered that this was the resurrected Vlad Dracul, who once did his dirty deeds in neighboring Wallachia. The dominance of black cats in the castle and the Kabbalistic signs inscribed on the walls did not hide from the eyes. Rumors began about the countess's connection with the devil, which was considered worse than the murder of peasant women.

Exposure

The most banal reason put an end to the crimes of Elizabeth Bathory. Needing money for her rejuvenation experiments, the Countess mortgaged one of the castles for two thousand ducats. Her son's guardian, Imre Medieri, raised a scandal, accusing her of squandering the family's property. She was summoned to Presburg, where all the nobles gathered for the Diet, including her relative and patron Gyorgy Thurzo. The latter had already received a letter from the priest, who had to perform the funeral service for nine girls killed by Elizabeth. At first he was going to hush up the story in a family way, but then the Countess sent him a pie. Sensing something was wrong, Thurzo fed the pie to the dog, and it died immediately. The angry tycoon gave the matter a legal move. To begin with, he interrogated Elizabeth’s relatives who were in the city, who told a lot of interesting things. For example, her son-in-law Miklos Zrinyi was once visiting his mother-in-law, and his dog dug up a severed hand in the garden. The daughters of the accused were pale and repeated one thing: “Sorry mom, she’s not herself.”

Returning to Cheit, the Countess composed a witchcraft spell that Darvula taught her: “Little Cloud, protect Elizabeth, she is in danger... Send ninety black cats, let them tear into pieces the heart of Emperor Matthias and my cousin Thurzo, and the heart of the red Medieri...” And nevertheless, she could not resist the temptation when the young maid Doritsa, caught stealing sugar, was brought to her. Elizabeth beat her with a whip until she was exhausted, and other maids struck her with iron sticks. Without remembering herself, the Countess grabbed a hot iron and pushed it into Doritsa’s mouth all the way to her throat. The girl was dead, blood was all over the floor, and Chait’s owner’s anger was only flaring up. The henchmen brought two more maids, and after beating them half to death, Elizabeth calmed down.

3 years in captivity

Elizabeth was caught literally on the threshold - she was about to run away. It is worth noting that instruments of torture were neatly packed into one of the travel chests, without which she could no longer do. Thurzo, with his power, sentenced her to eternal imprisonment in her own castle.

Her henchmen were brought to trial, where witnesses were finally able to tell everything they knew about the crimes of their former mistress. Ilona and Dorka had their fingers crushed and then burned alive at the stake. The hunchback Fitzko's head was cut off and his body was also thrown into the fire.

In April 1611, masons arrived in Chait and blocked the windows and doors of the countess's room with stones, leaving only a small gap for a bowl of food. In captivity, Elizabeth Bathory lived in eternal darkness, eating only bread and water, without complaining or asking for anything. She died on August 21, 1614 and was buried near the castle walls, next to the remains of her nameless victims.

They say that moans are still heard from the cursed castle at night, terrifying the area... However. beauty and cruelty continue to go hand in hand for centuries. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s the Middle Ages or the twentieth century... Transylvania, Russia or - the female mind (or female madness) can present terrible surprises at any time.

Bathory is even listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the woman who has committed the largest number of murders. However, there are still various legends about what prompted the noble person to commit such atrocities. Elizabeth came from the Hungarian family Bathory, her father Gyorgy and mother Anna, who was a sister to the Polish king Stefan Batory, were representatives of different branches of one noble family. In general, in their family, weddings with relatives were not uncommon, so among Elizabeth’s relatives there were alcoholics, crazy people and people with epilepsy. Actually, Elizabeth herself was not distinguished by a quiet disposition.

At the age of 10, she was engaged to Ferenc Nadas, and in 1575 they had a magnificent wedding, to which more than 4.5 thousand guests were invited. 15-year-old Elizabeth moved from the family castle of Echeda to Sárvár to join her husband. As a wedding gift, Ferenc gave his wife the Cachtica Castle, located at the foot of the Small Carpathians. It is here that, after some time, the countess will carry out her reprisals against the girls. Elizabeth was bored in her husband’s house; her husband was constantly absent: he either went to Vienna to study or to military training. But the young countess did not waste time and dispelled boredom in the company of lovers. They say that two years after the wedding, Elizabeth took a favorite from among the servants and even gave birth to a child from him. Ferenc was enraged by this and hid his pregnant wife out of sight, and after the birth he took her daughter away from her to save the family from shame. The child was presumably killed. The offended husband severely punished the servant - he ordered him to be castrated and then thrown to be torn to pieces by a pack of dogs.

Husband of Countess Ferenc Nadasgy. (Pinterest)

They say that it was from her husband that Elizabeth adopted a love of cruelty and torture. Ferenc had a violent temper, often beat servants and even tortured them. Elizabeth was also unrestrained and took her anger out on the maids and courtiers. She loved the sight of blood and did not hesitate to use various instruments of torture. In a fit of anger, Elizabeth could stab the maid with scissors, or torture her with needles, or strip her naked and drive her outside into the bitter cold, and then force her to pour cold water on the girl. They say that Elizabeth committed her first murder at the age of 20, and after the death of her husband in 1604, her thirst for blood only intensified.

According to legend, one day the countess hit her maid who was combing her hair. Blood from the girl’s nose got onto Elizabeth’s hand, and it seemed to the countess that later in this place her skin became softer and whiter. The Countess tried to preserve her beauty with all her might (and she was truly one of the most beautiful women in Europe) and she liked the “miraculous” effect of the blood, so Elizabeth decided to take baths with her, killing several maids at a time. According to another version, one witch suggested this recipe for rejuvenation to her. However, when the baths did not have the desired effect, the witch said that it was necessary to use the blood of nobles, not commoners. There was no evidence that Bathory actually bathed in blood, and this legend became widespread much later, when stories about vampires became fashionable.

Chakhtitsa Castle. (Pinterest)

However, young girls did disappear, some of them were 11-12 years old. At first, Elizabeth dealt only with her maids, but when they ended, her servants began to look for new young victims in the area. Girls were invited to work at Chakhtitsa Castle for a certain fee, and some were simply stolen on the street. In addition, representatives of noble Hungarian families often sent their daughters to Elizabeth so that they could receive the necessary education and learn court etiquette. But they could not even imagine that the girls would find their death in the basements of the castle, where they would be brutally tortured.

After the death of her husband, Count György Thurzó was put in charge of the widow and her six children. It is he who will begin the investigation into the atrocities of the bloody countess. From 1602 to 1604, the Lutheran priest Istvan Magyari, after rumors of Elizabeth's bloodthirstiness spread throughout the kingdom, began to complain publicly and at court about the countess, but his words went unheeded. Finally, in 1610, King Matthias II ordered Thurzó, who was the palatine of Hungary, to verify the terrible rumors. György hired two notaries to help him find witnesses. By 1611 they had received testimony from over 300 people, and the trial included testimony from four accused and 13 witnesses. Testimony confirmed that the countess killed teenage peasant girls, and then the daughters of small landed nobles also became her victims. There were also kidnappings. Atrocities described by witnesses included brutal beatings, burning and mutilation of hands, biting off flesh, hands and other body parts, freezing and starvation, and torture with needles. Some of those interviewed named relatives who died in the countess's castle, others said that the bodies buried in local cemeteries showed signs of torture. Two witnesses even claimed to have seen the murders of the maids with their own eyes. Bathory carried out her bloody massacres not only in Cachtitsa, but also in Szarvar, Pozsony, Vienna and other places.

Coat of arms of the Bathory family. (Pinterest)

Convinced of the veracity of the rumors, Thurzo raided Bathory Castle on December 30, 1610 and arrested her, as well as four servants whom he considered her henchmen: Dorothea Szentes, Ilona Jo, Katarina Benicka and Janos Ujvari (Ibish or Fitzko). Thurzo's people found one girl already dead and the other dying. Thurzo said he caught Bathory red-handed, but this is unlikely. Most likely, the version that the countess was found covered in blood was embellished by fiction writers. Elizabeth was arrested even before the victims were discovered.

King Matthias demanded that Thurzo put Bathory on trial, but he convinced the ruler that such a high-profile case against a representative of one of the richest families could have a negative impact on the nobility. Besides, it would be a shame for the entire Bathory family. The king agreed to place Elizabeth under house arrest. In addition, thanks to the case against Bathory, Matthias avoided having to repay her a large debt. By the way, among supporters of Bathory’s innocence there is a widespread version that the entire trial was the result of a conspiracy against her. Indeed, the Bathory family that ruled Transylvania was incredibly rich, if the king himself borrowed money from them, and owned large land plots. Perhaps there really were attempts to weaken their influence, but even for a conspiracy of 600 victims this is too much. Therefore, this theory does not have many followers.

The trial of Bathory's accomplices interviewed dozens of witnesses and victims. It was never possible to establish the exact number of victims. Some defendants spoke about 37 victims, others about more than 50. Servants of the Sárvár castle claimed that 100-200 corpses were taken outside its walls. One of the witnesses claimed that Bathory killed 650 people, and this number formed the basis of the legend. Officially, only 80 victims were recognized by the court. Defendants Szentes, Yo and Fitzko were sentenced to death. Yo and Sentesh tore off their fingers with hot tongs, and then both were burned alive at the stake. Fitzko, who was considered less guilty, was beheaded and his body burned. Only Benicka received a life sentence.

"Bloody Countess" Elizaveta Bathory. (Pinterest)

Elizabeth Bathory herself was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Chakhtinsky Castle. All the windows and doors in her room were bricked up, leaving only small openings for air and for passing food. She became a hostage in her own home and lived like that for three years until her death. The Bloody Countess died peacefully in her sleep. She was buried in Cachtitsy, but due to protests from local residents, the body was transferred to her family crypt in Echede.

Half a century after his death, mystical fame passed to Elizabeth Bathory, the “bloody countess” who allegedly killed 650 girls for the sake of eternal youth. History has not yet decided who Elizabeth Bathory really is - a cruel murderer, a follower of black magic and the occult, or a victim of a religious conspiracy.

Childhood and youth

Erzhebet (Russian version - Elizaveta) Bathory, aka Alzhbeta Batorova-Nadasdi, was born on August 7, 1560 in the Hungarian city of Nyirbator. The parents came from the same family: father Gyorgy was the brother of the Transylvanian voivode Andras Bathory, and mother Anna was the daughter of another voivode, Istvan IV. On her mother's side, Erzsebet was the niece of the King of Poland and Lithuania. The girl is not the only child in the family: brother Stefan is 5 years older than her, sisters Sofia and Klara are younger.

Incest left its mark on the mental health of the family. They say that everyone in the Bathory family suffered from epilepsy, schizophrenia and alcohol addiction; the damp walls of the estates provoked gout and rheumatism. Elizabeth also suffered from the latter as an adult. In her youth, the girl often fell into causeless rage, which is explained not only by distorted genetics, but also by the cruelty of the Middle Ages as a whole.

From the cradle, the young aristocrat studied Latin, German and Greek, and professed Calvinism (a branch of Protestantism). Faith may have served as the reason for the tragic events in the biography of Elizabeth Bathory.

Personal life

Born into a privileged noble family, a rich and educated girl had to grow up early - already at the age of 10, her parents married her to Ferenc Nadasdy, the son of Palatine Tamás Nadasdy. Probably, the early marriage was dictated by political goals. Erzsebet spent 5 years as a bride; the wedding took place on May 8, 1575. The celebration, held at Vranov Castle, was attended by 4.5 thousand guests.

Social status The girl was taller than her husband, so she refused to take his surname; instead, Ferenc became Bathory. As a wedding gift, Nadašdi presented his young wife with Cachtice Castle, located on the territory of modern Slovakia. While her husband was gaining knowledge in Vienna, Elizabeth alone occupied the family estate, consisting of a country house and 17 surrounding villages.

In 1578, Ferenc was appointed commander-in-chief of the Hungarian troops in the battles against the Ottoman Empire. Neither the campaigns nor the Thirteen Years' War prevented the continuation of the Bathory family. The first-born, daughter Anna Nadashdi, was born in 1585. Subsequently, the girl became the wife of the Croatian commander Miklos Zrinya. It is known for certain about the birth of four more children: girls Orshoya (1590), and Catalina (1594), boys Andras (1598) and Pal (1593).

There are assumptions about the presence of two more children: Milos - it is unknown whether he was the third son of Erzsebet and Nadasdi or the girl’s cousin, and Gyorgy - the boy either died in infancy or did not exist at all.

Historical facts indicate that before her marriage, 13-year-old Elizabeth gave birth to a daughter, Anastasia, with Laszlo Bende, a servant from Szarvar Castle, the Nadasdy family estate. An enraged Ferenc personally castrated the man and ordered him to be locked in a cage with a pack of hungry dogs. According to one version, the child suffered the same fate; according to another, he was given to his adoptive mother and deported to Wallachia.

The heirs of the Bathory family were raised by governesses, and Elizabeth, in her free time from her personal life, looked after the house and the estates that belonged to her. She, as the owner of the Chakhtitsa castle, was responsible for the residents, their physical and mental well-being. Therefore, when the Ottomans attacked the estate during the Thirteen Years' War, Erzsebet conducted diplomatic negotiations, reassuring the wives of dead husbands and mothers whose daughters fell into sexual slavery of the barbarians.

On January 4, 1604, 48-year-old Ferenc Nadasdy died. The exact cause is unknown, but the disease, which causes terrible pain in the legs and provoked death, began to develop back in 1601. After 2 years, the man lost the ability to walk. Before his death, he left a will, according to which György Thurzó, Count and Palatine of Hungary, was to look after his widow and heirs. He played a decisive role in future fate Elizabeth.

Charge and investigation

In 1610, the Habsburg court, one of the most powerful royal dynasties in Europe, heard rumors about monstrous atrocities that were taking place in Čachtica Castle: supposedly the mistress lured pure, immaculate girls into the house, tortured them, and then killed them in cold blood and bathed in their blood to preserve youth.

According to one legend, after the death of her husband, Elizabeth Bathory dated men younger than her. Once during a date, the aristocrat saw an elderly woman and asked the gentleman what he would do if he had to kiss the old woman. The guy scattered in unflattering expressions. Hearing the conversation between the lovers, the woman approached them and accused Bathory of vanity, rightly noting that one day old age would come to her house.

Elizabeth was frightened by the revealed truth. That same evening, the maid, while preparing her mistress for bed, accidentally pulled out her hair with a comb. Getting angry, Bathory hit the girl in the face, so much so that she broke her lip. A few drops of blood fell on her hand. It seemed to the aristocrat that the place on the skin where the spots had recently been red became soft and elastic.

The witch also confirmed Elizabeth’s speculations. She said that the best remedy for skin aging is the blood of young virgin girls. With manic thoroughness, with the help of three assistants, the rich landowner lured peasant daughters to her, supposedly to work, and then tortured them in the most sophisticated ways and used blood as water. The “sucked out” corpses that were found near the Cachtica Castle were explained by local residents as the existence of vampires.

Despite weekly baths, Elizabeth continued to age. She attacked the witch with accusations, and she explained that the girls were from lower class do not grant eternal youth, you need to “hunt” the daughters of wealthy fathers. The disappearance of virgins from peasant families was not considered special significance, and when aristocrats began to disappear, residents sounded the alarm.

Rumors about the cruelty of Erzsebet Bathory began to reach the Holy Roman Emperor, King of Germany, the Czech Republic and Hungary, Matthias II, back in 1602, but only 8 years later he allowed an investigation to begin. The case was assigned to György Thurzó.

On December 29, 1610, Count Thurzo broke into Elizabeth's house and allegedly found her, as well as three accomplices - maids Ilona Jo, Katarina Benicka and Dorota Szentes, who were luring girls to Cachtica Castle, at the crime scene. Nine bodies were found on the estate: some girls had already died, others were locked in the “iron maidens” and were bleeding.

During the 5 days of the investigation, 300 witnesses gave testimony about Bathory’s cruelty, the majority were peasants working in the castle. Three “assistants” of the aristocrat, under torture, confessed to their involvement in terrible crimes. On January 2, 1611, they were burned alive, having previously cut off their fingers as punishment for their crime. According to various sources, Elizabeth was accused of killing from 30 to 650 people. She entered the Guinness Book of Records as the most mass murderer. She was not executed - they chose a more severe punishment.

After the trial, all mention of Bathory was destroyed - diaries, documents, personal belongings. Not a single portrait of the “bloody countess” has survived to this day. Historians suggest that such a hasty desire to wipe a person off the face of the earth indicates a conspiracy in which not only György Thurzó, who was interested in the lands and property of the aristocrat, participated, but also representatives of the Catholic Church.

During the war with Ottoman Empire Protestantism, which Elizabeth professed, was strong, so the followers of Catholicism required “exemplary flogging.” Presenting the Calvinist Bathory as a real devil had a positive effect on their plans to turn the people away from Protestantism.

Many of Báthory’s compatriots, including the historian Laszlo Nagy, are inclined towards the theory of persecution. In 1984, he published the book “The Notoriety of Bathory,” where Elizabeth appears as a victim of the intrigues of Palatine Thurzo. The same version was reflected in Juraj Jakubisko's film Bathory (2008).

Last years and death

The place of Erzhebet's imprisonment was Cachtice Castle. She was walled up in the room, blocking the windows and doors with bricks, leaving only an opening for the transfer of food: water and bread.

The woman lasted 3 years on dry rations. On August 21, 1614, Bathory complained to the guards about the cold. In the morning she was found dead.

4 months later, on November 25, the body was buried at the castle church, and then transferred to Elizabeth’s native estate - Eched. It is unknown where the remains of the “bloody countess” are now buried.

Elizabeth Bathory in books and films

Most Interesting Facts from Erzsebet's biography are reflected in films, computer games, books, and graphic works. Musical groups are named after the Countess; entire albums and individual compositions are dedicated to her.

In literature:

1901 – “The Mistress of Cechtice Castle” by Kalman Miksat
1968 – “62. Model for assembly"
1985 – “Erzsebet Bathory” by András Nagy (play)
1992 – “The Age of Dracula” by Kim Newman
2011 – “The Damned”

In cinema:

1971 – “Countess Dracula”
1974 – “Immoral Tales”
2002 – “Killer of Love”
2004 – “The Tomb of the Werewolf”
2006 – “Lost”
2008 – “Bloody Countess – Bathory”
2014 – “400 Years of the Bloody Countess: Secret Behind Secret” (documentary)
2015 – “Bloody Lady Bathory”