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Griselda Báthory. Griselda (née Christine) Báthory (1569-1590) was a Hungarian and Polish noble, the daughter of Christopher Báthory, and third wife of Jan Zamoyski . At the time of her wedding with Zamoyski, her relative, Stephen Báthory, was king of Poland.
- Overview
- Trail of blood
- A lurid legend reconsidered
Throughout Central Europe, 16th-century noblewoman Elizabeth Báthory is infamous for torture and murder. But was she really as evil as history tells it?
Irretrievably mired in myth and speculation, Elizabeth Báthory, also known as the “Blood Countess,” is said to be the most prolific female serial killer to date, allegedly torturing and murdering hundreds of young women in the 16th and 17th centuries.
It is a grim tale stained by blood, haunted by torture, sensationalized by sex, and increasingly disputed by scholars. Depending on the account, Hungarian countess Elizabeth Báthory (1560-1614) was either a murderous maniac or a pawn incriminated by family and foes keen to seize her holdings.
Báthory is often proclaimed the most prolific female serial killer of all time, accused of slaying more than 600 young women inside her lavish castles. According to legend, she believed bathing in their virginal blood would grant her eternal youth. Instead, it assured she lived long in infamy. Báthory’s alleged sadism has inspired films, plays, operas, television shows, even video games.
Visitors to the Hungarian town of Nyírbátor, about 170 miles east of Hungary’s capital Budapest, can stare the countess in the eye at the Báthory Castle and Wax Museum, which displays wax effigies of Báthory and her relatives. The museum occupies the renovated castle where, in 1560, she was born into a wealthy dynasty that controlled Transylvania, now a region of Romania.
But Báthory’s privileged upbringing was tainted by violence and health problems, according to Aleksandra Bartosiewicz, of Poland’s University of Łódź, who in 2018 published a research paper on the countess. “Already at the age of four or five, she suffered from epileptic seizures, violent mood swings, as well as painful migraines,” Bartosiewicz says.
Báthory was also exposed to brutality. Servants were routinely beaten in this era and, at age six, she watched a public execution. At 13 Báthory was engaged to 18-year-old Count Ferenc Nádasdy, from another influential Hungarian family, and they married two years later. They eventually had four children.
As newlyweds they moved to Sárvár, in western Hungary, where Nádasdy schooled his wife in torture. Nádasdy Castle became the site of a number of atrocities, Bartosiewicz says. For Báthory’s pleasure, Nádasdy had a girl restrained, lathered in honey, and ravaged by insects. He gifted the countess gloves spiked by claws, with which to thrash her servants for their mistakes. Further corruption came from Báthory’s aunt Clara, who introduced her to orgies and a shadowy circle of people considered sorcerers, witches, and alchemists.
(This “horror hotel” was inspired by an American serial killer.)
Báthory’s violence peaked within another grand fortress. The crumbled remains of Čachtice Castle are now an eerie tourist attraction, looming above the town of Čachtice in western Slovakia, 50 miles northeast of the capital, Bratislava. Visitors can roam this lofty site, from which startling rumors tumbled down the hillside in the early 1600s.
In the 1980s that narrative began to be challenged, Thorne says. A 1982 book by Slovakian archivist Josef Kocis detailed new aspects of Báthory’s life, which several researchers since have used as evidence of a probable conspiracy against her. Some have gone as far as to portray Báthory as a “defenceless widow.” That is how renowned Slovakian filmmaker Juraj Jakubisko, on his official website, says he depicted her in his 2008 movie, Báthory: Countess of Blood, which “diametrically opposes the established legend.”
Others, like Bartosiewicz and Thorne, are more restrained in their views. They say Báthory’s crimes were likely exaggerated to discredit her—a conspiracy by relatives and the Habsburgs, a dynasty which at that time ruled a swath of Europe, including Austria and western Hungary.
(Witch hunt tourism is lucrative. It also obscures a tragic history.)
Habsburg ruler King Matthias II owed a large debt to Báthory and so benefited from her demise, Bartosiewicz argues. The king also viewed her as a political threat, who might support her cousin Gabriel Báthory’s efforts to challenge Matthias II’s control of Western Hungary.
The countess’ imprisonment helped not just rivals, but also those close to her, Thorne says. Once Báthory was jailed, one of her daughters took valuables from her property, while her sons-in-law were keen to gain their inheritance without having to wait for her to die.
Bledsaw, however, is unconvinced Báthory was the target of a conspiracy. She says when the countess’ husband died, it was her son who inherited his domain and their debts.
The article aims to examine the initial phase of the marriage of Jan Zamoyski with Griseldis Báthory, the issue of change of the bride’s name, and the problems caused by the newlyweds’ difference of faith. Despite the plans of king Stephen and hetman
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Sep 8, 2020 · Wikipedia Commons. By Marina Manoukian / Sept. 8, 2020 5:36 pm EST. Over the centuries, the tale of Countess Elizabeth Báthory has acquired the status of legend. She was accused of murdering upwards of 600 young women, which earned her the title of the most prolific female serial killer of all time. Stories of her murderous tendencies spread ...
- Marina Manoukian
Gryzelda Bathory (Q225328) From Wikidata. ... Krisztina Griselda Báthory de Somlyó (Báthory) (1569 - certain 14 Mar 1590) 0 references . Sitelinks. Wikipedia (5 ...
Jan 11, 2022 · Griseldis Báthory, the Disobedient Bride or the Unsuccessful Taming of a Heretic Shrew. January 2022. Odrodzenie i Reformacja w Polsce 65:191-215. DOI: 10.12775/OiRwP.2021.08. License. CC BY-ND...
Apr 30, 2024 · Elizabeth Báthory (born August 7, 1560, Nyírbátor, Hungary—died August 21, 1614, Castle Čachtice, Čachtice, Hungary [now in Slovakia]) was a Hungarian countess who purportedly tortured and murdered hundreds of young women in the 16th and 17th centuries. Báthory was born into prominent Protestant nobility in Hungary.
