Disclaimer and trigger warning:
There will be discussion of torture and such within this piece. If this bothers
you, please do not read.
Some
background:
Being born into status many think that those
of high rank do not have to worry about a single thing in the world. This was
simply not true in the least for there was much to worry about every day. The
name Elizabeth or Erzabet as some knew her as was born to a noble family on
August 7,1560. The Bathory family was well known throughout the land and the
family of which her mother was born was the same. Elizabeth was born into the
perfect environment that what she does later in her life would even be able to
happen. She had her own private tutors, but it was the extra materials that
truly shaped her life.
Elizabeth Bathory saw servants as if they
were nothing but pawns to the upper class. This caused her to be grateful for
her status of birth. Even as a young child, she saw her own parents torture
their personal servants and do as they wish to those below them. They feasted
upon the misery of those who were indebted to them. If her parents could do it
than she would be able to without a second thought in the world.
The only people she did not look down upon
besides those of her own rank were those selected few servants that she held
dear. Those were very few and were put through some harsh tests to prove their
loyalty not to the family, but to Elizabeth. Loyalty at her position was
everything, for the fact that one servant could easily turn the tides out of
her favor with one misguided word.
Blood
Drawn:
They wanted to make her the villain in their
story all because she was a woman with land and that did not fit into their
mold. She by today’s standards sure would be a murderess who was cruel to
everyone she deemed unusual, but she was also witty and a head of her time. In
her mind, just because she took an interest in the blood of virgins (young
maidens) and science or the medical side of things to put on top. Though women
of her status did learn a variety of things; most did not learn anything to do
with anatomy.
In Elizabeth’s mind she needed to learn
about such so she could figure out what she had her own form of illness. The illness
that she had caused her to have seizures, violent mood swings, and constant migraines.
That many issues could cause a person to go insane if they allowed the illness
to overtake them. The countess, even from a young child, would never allow
herself to be overtaken or lazy due to any form of sickness.
The migraines that she had day by day did
cause her great pain to the point that doing anything was hard, so it is no
wonder she decided to use torture to see how much the body could truly take. Elizabeth
was far beyond what her status was, and she knew it, but if those around her
wanted to portray her as a villain until anyone did anything about her, she
would put on a show for her. The servant young maidens and even some of the
servant men within the castle walls would be perfect victims. Thus, the truth
of the Blood Countess was born but not in the words of men. She wanted her own
story to be told by her own lips.
” Torture was easy and seeing just how far
the body could be taken under great pain is fascinating.” Something she often
would write as she could hear the screams of the victims upon the rack or the
garrote. The garrote was a device where the victim was held into place by a
collar made of iron or wire. The victim could be seated or forced stand up as slowly
someone would turn the iron spike that was at the back of the victim’s brain to
brain steam. It was supposed to be less painful but sometimes it would be the
worst torture yet for the person was left there sometimes to slowly die out as
the brainstem was spiked through but not fully crushed.
“People want villains” The countess knew
this to be so and thus she would be the villain of Hungary. The men would have
what they wanted and sadly the young maidens and young male servants would have
their blood drained from them. All because she was a woman who was vastly different
than others of her status.
