On our London walks that explore theatreland we pause outside the Lyceum Theatre, where a plaque on the wall mentions the fact that Bram Stoker wrote Dracula whilst working at the Lyceum.
This novel really did turn the vampire into a cultural image and set in motion everything from Christopher Lee’s portrayal of Dracula in the Hammer Horror films to Anne Rice’s Interview With a Vampire.
On our Strand and Covent Garden London walks we look at how Bram Stoker came to write Dracula, and look at the real life stories that may have inspired him. In the course of this we tell the story of the Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory - who is sometimes referred to as “Countess Dracula.”
As mentioned in previous blogs we like to give you as much information as we can about a subject before you join us for a London walk, and so with that in mind, today’s blog will be about a woman who, if not number one for the mantle of history’s most murderous woman certainly comes in the top three.
Elizabeth Bathory - The Bloody Countess.
Erzsébet Báthory was born on 7th August 1560 into a powerful family that boasted a lineage stretching back hundreds of years. Her maternal uncle King Stephen of Poland, whilst her paternal uncle, Andrew Bonaventura Báthory, had been Voivod, or Governor, of Transylvania.
Erzsébet was an intelligent child, but she appears to have inherited the insanity that is said to have run in the family, as a result of inbreeding, and she suffered from fits, and uncontrollable rages.
In 1571, at the age of 11, she was betrothed to the wealthy, fifteen-year-old, Count Ferenc Nádasdy whom she married in May 1575.
But so illustrious was her family that her husband adopted her name and she remained the Countess Bathory. As a wedding gift to his new bride Nádasdy presented her with Čachtice (or Csejeth) Castle, along with the surrounding lands and villages. This remote hilltop fortress, located in what is modern day Slovakia, would later become the scene of her atrocities.
Tradition maintains that Ferenc was a ruthless man who reveled in mistreating his servants. Allegedly one of his favoured tortures was to spread honey over a naked servant girl and leave her tied down in the open air for the bugs to nibble and bees to sting, a torture which he encouraged his wife to try. He also introduced Erzsébet to his penchant for freezing a girl to death during the winter by pouring water over her naked body until it hardened and she was unable to move.
This was a time of great turmoil in Hungary with the Muslim Turks of the Ottoman Empire making advances into the country and the Christian forces trying to limit their expansion.
In 1578 Ferenc was made a commander in the Hungarian army, and with her husband absent, Elizabeth fell under the influence of several of her servants, most notably an old woman named Anna Darvulia, who was also said to be a witch. A maidservant called Dorottya Szentes, also referred to as Dorka; and János Újváry, referred to as the Countesses majordomo, also became her confidantes.
Together they were alleged to have indulged in witchcraft and black magic, and there can be little doubt that their “rituals” included rites that were sexual in nature.
In 1600 Ferenc died as a result of wounds he had received in battle, and Erzsébet, now an aging 44 year old widow, began to resent the toll that age was taking on her appearance. It was this resentment that led to her emabrk upon a murderous reign of terror.
According to one legend, a young servant girl was one day brushing Erzsébet’s hair when she accidentally pulled it. The enraged Countess leapt to her feet and struck the girl so severely that she caused blood to spurt onto her own skin. When she later looked at the patch of skin on which the blood had fallen she was sure it looked smoother and younger. She consulted Anna Darvulia as to why this should be and was told of a local belief that the blood of a virgin, when accompanied by certain rituals, had youth giving properties.
Thus Elizabeth, together with her accomplices, began recruiting young peasant girls from surrounding villages, ostensibly to work as servants at Csejeth Castle, but in reality to be brutalised and murdered. The evil Countess would then bathe in their blood believing it would return her to her youthful appearance.
Although rumour was rife about what was happening behind the Castle’s walls, the authorities were reluctant to act against the powerful Countess and over a murderous reign that lasted from 1601 to 1611 she was able to murder over 600 girls with impunity.
But, in 1611, word of her atrocities reached the Hungarian King, Matthias Corvenus who sent the regional Governor, Count Gryorgi Thurzo, and a party of men to investigate.
Entering Csejeth Castle they found evidence of the abominable cruelties that had gone on their and the Countesses days of terror were numbered.
Following a series of trials, her accomplices were found guilty of murder and witchcraft and were sentenced to death.
Erzsébet’s noble standing meant she was spared the ignominy of execution. Instead she was walled up inside her rooms at Csejeth Castle with only a small aperture through which food could be passed to connect her to the outside.
After three years of solitary confinement, two of her guards noticed that her dishes had not been touched for several days. Looking through the aperture they saw her lying face down on the floor. Erzsébet Báthory, the bloody Countess, was dead.
Tags: Christopher Lee, Dracula, Elizabeth Bathory, Interview with a Vampire, London walks, Lyceum Theatre
