Infamous Lady: The True Story of Countess Erzsébet Báthory (20 page)

4. The (wife of) Janós Szalay, then (brought) a Jewish and a Slovak woman to live at Sárvár. The (wife of) Janós Szalay also brought two or three girls, although she knew that the same would be killed, but the one named Chiglei is still alive. She went away with Janós Bársony and remained there, but the (wife of) Janós Barsony herself brought a noble girl from south of Poland. Stablemaster Dániel Vas brought many around; the Lady Homonnay looked for girls but found none, except for a little one from Vécsey.

5. Also she herself brought girls when the Lady ordered it, but Darvolia in particular murdered the same; she put them in cold water all night, bathed and beat them. The Lady herself heated a key, and then burned the hand of a girl. She also did the same with coins when the same were found with them and did not give them to the Lady. In addition, she herself murdered the Lady Zichi, along with an old woman, at Ecsed. At Sárvár, she killed the Lord’s sister (translation mistake: it was a sister of Helen Jó) - which he saw with his own eyes - in the summer stripped naked, covered with honey, and made to stand the whole day and night in great pain until she fell sick and dropped to the ground. The Lord punished her, lighting oiled papers between the toes, which would make her stand up even if she was half dead. István Szabó brought enough girls from the Verpén area for gifts, the rest for payment. One (girl) was given a petticoat, the other a little winter skirt. Also, the (wife of) Balthasar Horváth, who lives in a village near the monastery, has brought many girls. Szilvásy, as well as the Court Master, have seen that the Lady herself tortured the girls, stripped naked, and made to stand before them. Dorkó cut the swollen bodies of the girls with a pair of scissors, and once, when the Lady allowed it, the servants here gave the girls mouthclamps. She threw the girls to the ground naked and beat them so violently that one could scoop handfuls of blood from her bed, and ashes had to be strewn. In a village near Varannó she also killed one of them, and left the Declarant behind in order to bury her. She herself stuck a knife into the girls, and beat them and tortured them in many ways.

6. After Darvolia went blind, the women Dorkó and Kata beat the girls, as well as the Declarant, so long as she was healthy (i.e., able to do so).

7. She does not know where the corpses are now buried, but they were first carried to a wheat shaft. The women Dorkó and Kata took five corpses to Sárvár during the day with singing and also buried them at Keresztúr accompanied by (ministry) students.

8. She herself, the Lady, beat and tortured the girls so much so that she was covered in blood, even having to change her shirt, and the bloody wall had to be washed. When Dorkó beat the girls, the Lady herself stood nearby.

9. Overall, anywhere she went, she looked immediately for a place where they could torture the girls. In Vienna, the monks even threw pots at the window when they heard the frightened cries. Also at Bratislava, Mrs. Dorkó beat the girls.

10. Namely, Balthasar Poki (Poby), Stephan Vaghi (Vagy), the Court Master (Benedikt Deseö), and all officials and servants knew of the atrocities; also Kozma (Stephen “Iron Head” perhaps?) knew about it.

11. She does not know when the Lady began committing these cruelties, because by the time the Declarant had come to her, she had already begun the same: but Darvolia had instructed her in cruelty and was her confidante. The Declarant knew and saw that she burned the genitals of the naked girls with a burning candle.

. . . .

Dorottya Szentes, also called Dorka or Dorkó, the widow of Benedikt Szucsov (also spelled Benedek Szeoch or Szócs), was the third member of Erszebet’s retinue to be interrogated. She testified that she brought Ilona Jó to Erzsébet Báthory’s court and that she (Ilona Jó) was there only five years. She did not know when her Ladyship began to participate in the criminal acts—only that there were about 36 dead girls. She did not know exactly where they came from, only that they were hired as seamstresses and maids and that they came from the local area. Szentes was interrogated on her statement that she assisted her Lady with the torture because it was so ordered. If she failed to act, the Lady would do it herself.

      She stuck them with needles, burned them in the foot and legs with red hot spoons and iron bars, and pried pieces of their bodies off with tongs. Once, when the Lady suffered from a lengthy illness, in order to punish the girls, she ordered that they be brought to her sickbed. There, she pulled off chunks of their flesh with her teeth. At one time, five girls died over the course of ten days from the effects of torture. Szentes further accused Katalin Beneczky of having locked them away at Leceticz.

      Szentes’ remarks are occasionally abbreviated with scribal commentary such as, “Same as the others stated,” or “consistent with prior testimony.” This could be the result of avoiding the rewrite of a lengthy, repetitious testimony, or it can simply denote the fact that the accused testified in accordance with the others. It is also indicative of the curative (abbreviated) style of the time. By now, it had been established that the local people cooperated with Erzsébet Báthory and her retinue, that they sent many girls to her court, that girls were tortured and killed there over the course of many years, and that the members of the domestic staff were well aware of what went on, including: Court Master Benedikt Deseö; Stable Master Dániel Vas; and Steward (Provisor) Jakob Szilvassy. There were other staff members, as well, such as Baltazar Poby and István Vagy (both of whom had made statements in secret hearings conducted back in April 1610) who knew what was happening there. All identified Anna Darvolya (Darvulia), the servant of Erzsébet and Ferenc Nádasdy at their court at Sárvár, as the origin and prime inflictor of cruelty. Her testimony is given as follows:
The third, Dorottya Széntes, the widow of Benedikt Szócs, confessed on the following, above-asked questions in order
:

Regarding No. 1. It has been five years since she has been with the Lady. Mrs. Ilona lured her to the castle with beautiful words that she would be taken on by Lady Homonnay.

2. She knew of approximately 36 young women and sewing girls killed by the Lady.

3. From which families they came and to whom they belonged, she does not know but, rather, said the same as the above, that they came from many places.

4. The (wife of) Janós Szalay, the (wife of) Janós Bársony, and the Widow Keöcsé living in Dömölk. The (wife of) Janós Liptay brought some to Csejthe. She confessed the same way in all matters as the previous two Declarants.

5. Consistently she admits what the two previous Declarants had confessed, with the addition that the Lady also tortured the girls…. and that if the Declarant would not beat the same, then (the Lady) would do it herself with a club, like a chair leg. She stuck the lips of the girls together with needles and also tortured them in this way. When the Lady was sick and could not beat anyone, she ordered the Confessant over to her (the Confessant had dragged the victim onto the bed) and bit a piece out of the face and the shoulder. She pricked the girls through their fingers with pins, and said: if it hurts the whore, then she can pull it out; if she did so, the Lady would beat her again and cut off the finger.

6. Soon, they were all helping the Lady with torturing, first one and then the other, along with the Declarant herself, because she forced them to do it.

7. Within a week and a half, five girls died at Csejthe, which they stacked one on top of the other in the storage room. She then went to Sárvár, and Kata dragged the same, right past the house staff, into the wheat pit. Confessant was with the Lady at Sárvár at the time. The remaining corpses, which they could not hide, were often publicly buried through the Preacher. The servants, along with Kata, carried one to Leceticz and buried it there.

8. The Lady herself beat the girls -- in general, the Confessant testified the same as the previous two.

9. In regard to the places of torture, she said that the Lady tortured wherever she was.

10. She said the same as the others.

11. She does not know when the Lady began her cruelties, because she was only with her for five years.

. . . .

The last accomplice to testify was Katalin Beneczky, considered by most to be the least cruel of the four and the only one to avoid execution. Her interrogatories resulted in the following:

The fourth: Katalin Beneczky, the widow of Janós Boda, confessed on the previously-asked questions as follows:

1. It has been ten years since she has been with the Lady; the (wife of) Valentin Varga, mother of the current pastor at Sárvár, had appointed her to be a washerwoman at the palace.

2. Since she was a washerwoman, she doesn’t know how many were murdered; she believes, however, that during her time with the Lady, it could be fifty that the Lady killed.

3. She does not know from which families or from where they came, because she did not bring any; she knew only the Sittkey women.

4. In all matters, she said the same as the others. The (wife of) Janós Liptay brought a girl, and she adds: that (the wife) of Miklós Kardos also brought two, such that she dared not even go into the village; however, the woman, Dorkó, brought in the most, and she brought in all of the ones that are now dead.

5. Continues identically with the foregoing, with the addition: that after Darvolia became blind and the two previous female Confessants had fully learned how to torture, the same forced this Declarant to perform beatings; indeed, the woman, Ilona, had them carry on with beatings until they were tired. Also, the women forced her into the beatings, constantly yelling at her and screaming: Hit her! Hit her! Harder! The girl who has now been found dead was so terribly beaten that, when she was already half-dead, Lady Nádasdy went inside and also started beating her, so that by 11:00 p.m., she had given up the ghost.

6. Mrs. Ilona was the most wicked in her bragging; even though she could do nothing by her own hand, she received permission from the Lady to control Sárvár. The Lady Nádasdy even married two daughters of the same and gave them 14 beautiful gowns. She was above all others an advisor (to the Lady). Mrs. Dorkó beat the girls and also the Declarant when she was forced to do so; she herself was beaten when she refused to do it and once spent the entire month in bed because of the beating suffered. Once, when the Lady Zrínyi came to Csejthe, she sent her entire staff of housegirls, along with Dorkó, up into the castle, where Dorkó kept the girls in strict captivity like criminals, washing and making them bathe in cold water and then forcing them to stay outside, naked, for entire nights. May the thunder, she said, slay anyone who gives them something to eat. She guarded the same so strictly that neither the castle steward nor anyone else could feed them. But when the Lady wanted to travel to Piastány with Mrs. Zrínyi, she sent the Declarant up to see if one of them could go with her; she found all of them having fainted from lack of food, and said to the Lady, when she returned: "Not a single one is in a position to travel with Your Grace. " The Lady clapped her hands together; she was very angry with Dorkó and said that this should not have happened. The girls were brought out and died in a room of the castle. Because both the Lady and Dorkó beat them, and now that they had gone without food, they had to give up the spirit. A young lady from Dömölk, who was with the Declarant in a coach, died on the journey from Piastány to Csejthe. This girl had already collapsed at Piastány, but was propped up again and beaten by the Lady.

7. Two of the dead girls were buried in Leceticz. The rest was as the previous. Regarding five girls, of whom Dorkó knows are dead because she was with them, she stacked them one on top of the other under the bed and threw oakum (a kind of tar) on them. Nevertheless, they brought food every day as if they were still alive, no matter how long things were different. Then the Lady went to Sárvár and ordered that the Declarant should break up the floor and bury them there; she did not do it, however, because she was too weak. The poor corpses remained in this way such that a foulness was given off, and it caused such a stench in the manor that one also felt the same. Now the Declarant did not know what she should do, so she buried all of the bodies, by God’s will, in a wheat pit with the aid of Bulia, (and) the servantwomen Barbara and Käte, who were together with Dorkó daily and when they died. At night they buried the same. Dorkó herself even had a corpse buried under the eaves, which the dogs dug up, and which was seen by the servant of Lord Zrínyi. This one was then buried in the wheat pit, which was now filled with these five bodies. At Csejthe, where she had been only a short time, eight were killed.

8. Same as the previous.

9. The same, with the addition, that she had tortured her girl, Ilona Harczi, in Vienna.

10. The same as the others.

11. She learned torturing and the other forms of cruelty from Darvolia.

. . . .

These voluntary confessions were given before us on the day and year above.

Magister Daniel Eördeögh, m.p., Caparus Echy, Castellan at
Byt
ča
, m.p., Kaspar Kardos, Élias Lányi, sworn clergyman, m.p.

The content of the second writing is as follows:

We, Theodosius Szirmay of Szulio, Royal Presider; Kaspar Ordody of Trencsén, and Janós David of St. Peter; Georg Lehotzky, Janós Záturetzky, Nikolaus Hrábovszky, Janós Borsitzky, judicial chair; Gabriel St. Mariai, also known as Hlinitzky, Trencsén court presider; Michael Prusinszky, (30
^th
member of the committee), Raphael Kvasovszky, Benedikt Kozár, Stephan Mársovszky, Georg Záluszky, Janós and Michael Hlinitzky, Apollo Milicius, Janós Draskovszky, Nikolaus Mársovszky, Stephan Akay and Janós Medveczky, decree through all here present: that we, on the 7
^th
day of this month in the Year of the Lord 1611, at the request of His Grace, the Lord György Thurzó of Bethlenfalva, Palatine of the Kingdom of Hungary, Judge of Kumans, Count of Árva and everlasting presider of the legal committee, senior confidential advisor to His Royal Majesty and governor of the Kingdom of Hungary, in the distinguished market town referred to as
Byt
ča
, for the investigation and trial of certain subjects who were assembled there in the name and under the authority of his Lordship, the beneficent György Závodszky, against Janós Ficzkó and against Ilona, Dorottya and Katalin, women from Sárvár, do hereby issue the following oder: