The difficult obstacle to overcome are the countless witness testimonies that have been recorded. Fact or fiction, Elizabeth Báthory would become the central character of many horror stories.

Elizabeth Báthory Fact Sheet: Who was Elizabeth Báthory? The following short biography and fact sheet provides interesting facts about the life, times and history of Elizabeth Báthory.

Elizabeth Báthory Fact File: Lifespan: 1560 - 1614 *** Full Name: Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed *** Nickname: The Blood Countess and Countess Dracula *** Occupation: Serial Killer *** Date of Birth: Elizabeth Báthory was born on August 7th 1560 *** Place of Birth: Elizabeth Báthory was born in Nyirbator, Kingdom of Hungary *** Family background: Her father was George Báthory and her uncle was Andrew Bonaventura Báthory otherwise known as the Prince of Transylvania and her mother was Anna Báthory the daughter of another Prince of Transylvania, Stephen Báthory of Somlyo *** Early life and childhood: She grew up at Ecsed Castle, the family home *** Education: Elizabeth Báthory began her education at in her home and was taught to speak Greek, Latin and German ***

Elizabeth Báthory Fact 1: Elizabeth Báthory was born on August 7th 1560 during the 16th century period in history when Portugal and Spain began to explore the world, politics was dominated by religion and the Ottoman Empire continued to grow.

Elizabeth Báthory Fact 2: At the age of ten years she was betrothed the son of Baron Tamas Nádasdy de Nadasd et Fogarasfold, Ferenc Nádasdy, the marriage was an arranged marriage for political reasons as was common.

Elizabeth Báthory Fact 3: They were married in 1575 and she moved to Nádasdy Castle in Sarvar. Her husband was studying in Vienna and she spent much time alone.

Elizabeth Báthory Fact 4: Her wedding gift from her new husband was Csejte Castle located in the Little Carpathians. In her husband’s absence the running of the Castle, estates and looking after the local Slovak and Hungarian people was handled by Elizabeth including taking care of any medical needs.

Elizabeth Báthory Fact 5: Elizabeth Báthory was also left to look after the estates during the Long War between 1593 and 1606 and was responsible for looking after the defenses.

Elizabeth Báthory Fact 6: The couple had five children, three daughters and two sons.

Elizabeth Báthory Fact 7: They were married for twenty nine years in total and Ferenc died on January 4th of 1604. The exact cause of death is unknown but it would appear he had begun to experience excruciating pain in his lower limbs that started in 1601.

Elizabeth Báthory Fact 8: It would be between 1602 and 1604 that rumors circulated of Elizabeth’s atrocities.

Elizabeth Báthory Fact 9: A Lutheran minister, Istvan Maryari publically and directly in Vienna made complaints against Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Báthory Fact 10: By 1610 King Mathias II was finally convinced to assign the Palatine of Hungary, Gyorgy Thurzo, to investigate.

Elizabeth Báthory Fact 11: He travelled to Elizabeth Báthory’s Castle where it was said Elizabeth was killing young girls from the local villages.

Elizabeth Báthory Fact 12: The next accusations came that she was coercing the daughters of the lesser gentry to come to her Castle for fine paid work.

Elizabeth Báthory Fact 13: It was said that she was torturing them, beating them, mutilating and burning them, biting flesh off their faces, arms and other areas of their bodies as well as starving and freezing them to death.

Elizabeth Báthory Fact 14: They was arrested along with four of her closest servants.

Elizabeth Báthory Fact 15: The four servants stood trial, and were found guilty, three were immediately condemned to death by being burned at the stake. The fourth, considered to have been bullied and dominated by the others was sentenced to life in prison.

Elizabeth Báthory Fact 16: As for Elizabeth, because of her nobility she did not stand trial but the family proposed lifelong incarceration in her rooms, bricked up except for ventilation slits and to pass food and water also in solitary confinement.

Elizabeth Báthory Fact 17: She lived in these conditions for four years before being found one morning on August 22nd 1614 dead in her chambers.

Elizabeth Báthory Fact 18: Her body was laid to rest in the local church of Cachtice but the locals voiced such strong objections her remains were removed to the family crypt at Ecsed, her family home.

Influence and Legacy: Her story developed over the years and helped create the popular stories of vampires especially as her home was in Transylvania.

Important Events of the era and during the life of Elizabeth Báthory include: Queen Elizabeth I has Mary Queen of Scotland executed, Ivan the Terrible dies and James I become King of England.