Countess Elizabeth Bathory: biography of a bloody lady, her story, photo

Passion to all sorts of "horror stories" in any person in the blood. We invent horrific, chilling stories, not even realizing that reality is sometimes much more terrible than the most unbridled film about bloody maniacs. An example of this is the life of Elizabeth Bathory. Her adventures are still capable of causing shivers even for those who have seen people.

The beginning of horror

Transylvania, where this woman was born, from the earliest times had not too pleasant glory. It is worth remembering at least Count Tepes, more famous in the world under the nickname Dracula. Elizabeth Bathory herself was a sort of "continuer of the tradition" of the count. And if the gloomy glory of the latter is clearly overstated, and he tormented mostly Turks, with whom he successfully fought, the countess mocked people only for the sake of pleasure. And she did it so successfully that the history of Bathory Elizabeth still remains a confirmation of the fact that bloody maniacs have always been in human society.

She was born in 1560, and her family was very distinguished and respected: among her relatives there were many outstanding warriors, priests and teachers. So, her brother Stefan was first recognized as a brave and clever warrior, and then became the king of Poland. Well, the family is not without a freak ...

But historians and lovers of genealogy believe that the whole history of Bathory Elizabeth was predetermined from the very beginning.

Not all is well in the "right" family

Surely every person who is even more interested in history knows about the horrendously high number of children who in noble families appeared as a result of closely related marriages, and even direct incest. Not surprisingly, the "young tribe" often had a complete "bouquet" of physical and mental diseases. Uncle Elizabeth was known as an inveterate warlock, who put terrible experiences on people, and his wife preferred contact with women, quite often mutilating them because of her obvious sadistic tendencies.

Even the Countess's own brother quickly drunk off, but already had all the signs of moral degradation, entering into promiscuous sexual relations with women, and even men did not disdain. In general, the family constantly gave birth to children with dangerous mental disorders.

Youth

This share was fully owned by Elizabeth Bathory herself. Strangely enough, but against the background of her apparent deviations in the psyche, she was a very smart and intelligent child. Against the background of even much more "pure" aristocratic families, it was distinguished by its education and sharp mind. Already at the age of 15, the young girl could easily speak not three foreign languages at once, while even the ruler of the country could hardly read by syllables.

Alas, this child from early childhood was brought up in an atmosphere of permissiveness in relation to the lower estates. Hardly had she learned to speak, she beat her servants with a whip of pleasure. Becoming a little older, Elizabeth Bathory often killed them half to death. The young sadist enjoyed the unspeakable pleasure of watching the blood drain from the wounds of her victims. Hardly had she learned to write, she immediately began to conduct a terrible diary, where in all the details she painted her "joys". This is what made Elizabeth (Elizabeth) Bathory famous, her biography abounding with terrible and disgusting moments.

Marriage

Initially, the parents somehow controlled the juvenile monster, not allowing the countess to go beyond certain limits. In any case, she did not maim or kill people. But already in 1575 (when she was only 15 years old) the girl was married to F. Nadashdi, who was also the continuer of the Dracula case, but in the military field: he was very afraid of the Ottomans, since he was an extremely skilful commander. They nicknamed him a black knight of Hungary.

However, there is an alternative evidence. As his contemporaries wrote, Ferenc was so cruel with captive Turks that many impressionable people immediately parted with the contents of his stomach, only looking at his "art". And it was in those days when people were difficult to frighten with the simple sight of an executed person! So Elizabeth Bathory, the Bloody Countess (as she was nicknamed afterwards), got a quite appropriate husband.

The young wife gave birth to four children, that's just her bloodthirsty inclinations the fact of motherhood did not diminish in the least. However, at first she was very restrained and did not go in the direction of plucking and strong slaps. For exceptional incidents, the maid could receive a baton, but nothing more. However, over time, her antics became more and more frightening. So, the beginning maniac adored piercing parts of the bodies of his victims with long needles. Most likely, the "teacher" was the aunt mentioned at the beginning of the article, with which Elizabeth, apparently, had a close connection.

Why did her hobbies go unpunished?

In general, Elizabeth Bathory was just an excessive excess. Her biography is terrible, but only at that time almost all representatives of the nobility did not consider the people of their servants and treated them accordingly. The Hungarian Panov had Slovak peasants, who in fact were in a position much worse than the ancient Roman slaves. So, the latter, at least, with absolutely impunity, it was impossible to kill. Hungarian aristocrats tortured, hung and brutally killed anyone who dared to "blame". Often a fault was invented on the go.

To stand out against this background, Elizabeth Bathory (the Blood Countess) was supposed to be quite a fanatical fantasy. And she tried!

Torture chambers

Unfortunate servants noticed that the cruelty of their mad hostess is not so pronounced, if there are guests in her castle. They secretly spoiled the carriages, the horses "ran for no reason" in all the surrounding forests, and they had to catch them for a long time ... But it also saved them for a short while. The countess had a residence in the castle of Betskov, in the basement of which there were torture chambers. Already there she completely gave vent to her sick imagination.

But even in "domestic" conditions, she could just literally tear the girl's face with fingernails. Maid servants were happy, if the punishment consisted only in the order to completely undress and in this form continue to work. So "famous" among friends Elizabeth Bathory. Biography subsequently showed that all of the above was only minor pranks.

In a huge family estate, under which there were huge wine cellars, there was a real theater of torment and suffering. Here the unfortunate girls were given in full, they died very painfully and for a long time. The Countess also had a personal assistant, D. Shantes, whom the people around knew under the nickname of Dorc. Completely "honest company" extremely ugly dwarf Fichko.

"Freedom"

In 1604, the husband of the heroine of our narrative died. At that moment, Countess Elizabeth Bathory, feeling completely free even from the formal framework, begins to frenzy. The number of victims increases with each month. To brighten up the anguish of loneliness, she selects her mistress among the servants, which became A. Darvoulia. Consider it an innocent victim is not worth it, since it was she who later mentally urged her mistress to force the girls to constantly serve on the estate completely naked.

Another favorite of the favorite was pouring unfortunate water and slowly turning them into ice statues. And so throughout the whole winter.

Crimes without punishment

For minor, and more often just fictional misconduct, the Countess had "light" penalties. If someone was caught on petty theft, a red-hot coin was put into his hand. In the event that the hostess's clothes were badly ironed, a red-hot iron flew to the side of the guilty party. Countess Elizabeth Bathory loved to rip off the skin with tongs for the fireplace, to cut the servants with scissors.

But especially she "respected" her long sewing needles. She loved to drive their girls under their nails, while offering the unfortunate to pull them out. As soon as the unfortunate victim tried to take out the needle, she was beaten, and her fingers were cut off. At this time, Bathory entered into a state of ecstasy, along the way, tearing out of his chest unfortunate pieces of meat.

"Fresh meat" was not enough, but because the insatiable tormentor began to collect young and poor girls in remote villages. In the first months, there were no problems with this: the poor peasants gave their daughters with joy, because they simply could not feed them. They really believed that in a rich castle their children would not even die of hunger. Yes, they did not die of malnutrition ...

Beginning of the End

In 1606, the mistress of Darwoulia dies of an attack of epilepsy. But Countess Elizabeth Bathory (the biography of the Blood Lady celebrating dozens of mistresses) quickly gets a romance with Ezhsy Mayorova. Unlike all the previous favorites, there were no drops of noble blood in her veins, there was a girl from the peasants. She did not cherish any respect for the nobility. It was the mistress who persuaded the countess to start hunting again for the daughters of the petty nobility. After agreeing, Bathory finally signed a death sentence. Until then, people around did not care about her "eccentricities", but from now on things became different.

However, then she did not care. The only problem was a lot of corpses, from which it was required to get rid. Still, she was troubled by rumors that could disperse around the area. The church then did not have such influence, but for such tricks even at that time could well be sent to the fire.

And what about the church?

Numerous victims could not find any rational explanation, and all honors began to cost too much. The bodies simply began to be buried in the cemetery, and the priests suspected something was amiss. Behind all clearly stood Elizabeth Bathory, the Bloody Countess. 1560-1614 years showed that the church in general was extremely short-sighted in such cases.

The priests guessed about the devilish bacchanalia before, but they were extremely quiet, as the countess generously donated to the needs of the church. But the Reverend Mayorosh, who confessed to her husband Bathory, was all fed up. Not having borne the tortures of conscience, he called her "a terrible beast and murderer."

Money and power helped the countess to hush up the scandal without consequences. But the clergymen were already fed up with all this: the minister, Paretroys, vehemently refused to sing the next batch of corpses, openly telling Bathory his opinion of her.

The Monk Panikenush, to whom the countess requested a funeral service, sent her to the same address. I had to use my own hands to cut corpses and to dig them in pieces in all the nearest fields. However, most often the remains were simply thrown into the river, where they "pleased" the local fishermen. The patience of people began to dry up. At first, rumors of a werewolf appeared, but the local population did not take them seriously: everyone knew that evil was sitting in the local castle, and that his name was "Countess Elizabeth Bathory." Biography of the Bloody Lady was coming to its logical conclusion.

In addition, the two girls were still able to escape from the clutches of the distraught monster, and so the church and the worldly courts had all the necessary proofs of her adventures.

Continuation of the "banquet"

But Elizabeth Bathory herself (photo of her reproductions is in the article) has long since lost all caution. In 1609, she convened a whole group of daughters of small noblemen, in order to teach them a "course of secular manners." For many of them, this event was the last in life. Deep in the dungeon of their death resembled only a puddle of blood. This time the Countess could not get off so easily.

She had to quickly compose a fable about how one of the girls went insane and in a mad frenzy killed a few of her friends. The story was clearly unrealistic, but the money in this case also helped to stop the mouths of all the dissatisfied.

Bloody orgies continued the same turn. The servant then testified that one day at the door to the Countess's room there was such a pool of blood that it was necessary to shower her with coal for a long time, otherwise it would be impossible to pass without wetting his feet. At the same time, Elizabeth Bathory (her photo for obvious reasons has not reached our days) sadly writes in her diary: "Poor, she was extremely weak ...", implying another victim. The girl was lucky, and she died of a painful shock.

Destructive "hobbies"

Everything ever ends. And the money of Bathory was exhausted, which could no longer procure everything necessary for its orgies and plugging the mouths of witnesses with gold. In 1607, she was forced to sell or mortgage all her real estate. And then there was a knife in the back. First, they did not like squandering family wealth. Secondly, there was a real danger that all this frenzy would reach the ears of the Pope, and then the fire would have to go all together. They authorized the initiation of investigations.

The investigators personally spoke with Elizabeth Bathory. The bloody countess had to say where from the basement of her castle nine corpses had taken at once. She replied that the girls (with obvious signs of torture) had died from the disease. Allegedly they had to be buried in the lime, fearing the spread of infection. Sure, it was a stupid and blatant lie. Closely secretly agreed with the investigation and intended to send a relative to the monastery. Everyone was ahead of Parliament, which put forward an official charge in the murders.

Court

The hearing began in Bratislava. December 28, 1610 in the castle of Bathory, a new search was carried out, during which it was possible to detect the disfigured remains of a young girl. And in the same room there were two more corpses. In a word, Elizabeth Bathory, the Blood Countess, clearly lost all sense of measure and respect. Directly the court passed on January 2, 1611. At once 17 people witnessed the case. Dorca immediately confessed that she helped kill 36 girls, and Fichko killed 37 unfortunate people at once.

Five days later, a new process began. Evidence was heard on it. Accused in the courtroom was not. Count Tuzho, a relative of the murderer, did not want to "dirty honor" with the famed military exploits of the family, but simply read out the diary. It described in detail all 650 victims.

The Secret Assistant

Already at the trial it became clear that Bathory (the Blood Countess), had one more assistant. She took an active part in the torture, but always wore men's clothes and called herself Stefan. Whenever the "Stephen" came to be executed, the victims began to torment with renewed vigor. It is very likely that Elizabeth's aunt was a stranger, but she could not prove her involvement.

On January 7, 1611, the court delivered a final verdict, which put an end to all this monstrous history. Dorke and a few other accomplices (mistresses) snatched their fingers and toes and slowly fried on the grill. Fichko got off easier than anyone - he was sentenced to a fire, but before that they mercifully decapitated. Aunt got off with a "slight fright", since her involvement was not proven.

Enraged by the amount of dirt that poured out on his family, Count Toujot asked to punish the main culprit especially exquisitely. After that, she was immured in her own castle of Bathory. The bloody countess lasted more than three years, regularly receiving food and water through a hole in the door of the chamber. One young guard decided to somehow look at this monster with his own eyes (this was in 1614). So everyone knew that the legendary killer had died.

Thus ended the life of the Countess Elizabeth Bathory. Her biography horrifies, not only by the facts of tortures and murders, but also by the lack of independence shown by all the actors in this story. It is possible that the Countess would be able to keep at least a little care, then she would die a respected woman, from old age.

This is what Elizabeth Bathory (1560-1614) knows about all over the world.