The Depraved Countess Bathory
Elizabeth Bathory was a vicious piece of work. Witnesses reported that she stabbed her victims; pierced their lips with needles; burned them with red hot irons; bit their breasts and faces; and cut them with scissors. Some of her victims were beaten to death, while others were starved. In winter, she liked to send serving girls out in the snow, where she had water poured over them and watched them turn into human icicles. In summer, she would often coat her victims in honey, and watch them get tormented by ants, bees, and other insects. She drank her victims’ blood in the belief that it would preserve her youth, and bathed in their blood for the same reason. The exact number of Countess Bathory’s victims is unknown, but some estimates range as high 650.
Rumors of the goings on at Bathory’s castle eventually got out, and the Hungarian authorities conducted an investigation. In December, 1610, she and four others were arrested. Her accomplices were tried, and three were convicted of murder and sundry crimes, and executed. However, justice back then was even more elusive than it is today, and punishment for crimes depended on the culprit’s status. Elizabeth Bathory was a countess, and her family was one of the most powerful and influential in the realm. Despite mountains of evidence, she never faced trial. Instead, she was quietly sent to a castle in today’s Slovakia, where she was confined to a windowless room until her death, five years later.
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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading
Amazing Women in History – Sayyida al Hurra, Islamic Pirate Queen
Ancient Origins – The Revenge of Pirate Jeanne de Clisson, the Lioness of Brittany
Atlas Obscura – The Modern Movement to Exonerate a Notorious Medieval Serial Killer
AV Club – The Young Pope John XII Died as He Lived: Fornicating
Baldwin, David – Robin Hood: The English Outlaw Unmasked (2010)
Casual Criminalist – The Nun’s Tale: Sister Virginia Maria
Christianity Dot Com – Roman Synod Deposed Pope John XII
CNN Travel – Blood Countess in Slovakia: Tourists on the Trail of Elizabeth Bathory
Daily Beast – Five Little-Known but History-Changing Medieval Crime Stories
Encyclopedia Britannica – Elizabeth Bathory
Encyclopedia Britannica – Giles de Rais
Encyclopedia Britannica – Zhengde, Emperor of Ming China
Guardian, the, November 15th, 2003 – The Dead Poet’s Tale
Head Stuff – Jeanne de Clisson, the Bloody Lioness of Brittany
History Collection – Henry VIII Made Insanity a Punishable Offense So He Could Execute This In-Law
History Things – History’s Nutcases: The Zhengde Emperor
Jones, Dan – The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England (2014)
Jones, Terry – Who Murdered Chaucer? A Medieval Mystery (2003)
Mazzucchelli, Mario – The Nun of Monza (1963)
National Geographic History Magazine, February 5th, 2019 – Who Was the Real Robin Hood?
Ranker – The Untold Story of Peter Niers, the Cannibal Magician Who Killed 500 People
Rejected Princesses – Elisabeth Bathory: The Blood Countess
Spartacus Educational – King Richard II
Way of the Pirates – Sayyida al Hurra, Pirate Queen of Islamic West
Wiltenburg, Joy – Crime and Punishment in Early Modern Germany (2012)
Wolf, Leonard – Bluebeard: The Life and Times of Gilles de Rais (1980)
