Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Bloody Countess Elizabeth Bathory

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
The Palgrave Handbook of the Vampire

  • 141 Accesses

Abstract

The Countess Erzsébet (Elizabeth) Bathory presents the complexities of the mythologization of the historical figure with elements of vampire and witch folklore to create the fictionalized persona of the Bloody Countess. It is with this blurring of historical evidence and fictional creations that Elizabeth’s deviantly monstrous personification can be interpreted as representative of social fears and anxieties of a woman with/in power. To examine Elizabeth Bathory and/as the Bloody Countess one must engage with both historical fact and contemporary theories of adaptation that highlight the complicated relationship between fact and fiction. What emerges is the transcendence of Elizabeth Bathory as historical figure into contemporary refigurations focused on highlighting (and sensationalizing) her perversions, deviances, madness, and vampirism. These elements are not exclusive to one another but rather interconnected – one informing the other – just as the fictionalized Bloody Countess is dependent on and cannot exist without the historical person of Elizabeth Bathory.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Auerbach, Nina. 1995. Our Vampires, Ourselves. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bathory Al Babel, Gia. 2006. The Trouble with Pears: An Intimate Portrait of Erzsebet Bathory. Bloomington: Authorhouse.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cavallaro, Dani. 2002. The Gothic Vision: Three Centuries of Horror, Terror, and Fear. New York: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cleghorn, Elinor. 2021. Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-made World. New York: Dutton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Codrescu, Andrei. 1995. The Blood Countess. New York: Simon & Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

  • Courtland, Charlie. 2009. Dandelions in the Garden. Charleston: CreateSpace.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2010. The Hidden Will of the Dragon. Charleston: CreateSpace.

    Google Scholar 

  • Craft, Kimberley. 2009. Infamous Lady: The True Story of Countess Erzsébet Báthory. Charleston: CreateSpace.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2011. The Private Letters of Erzsébet Báthory. Charleston: CreateSpace.

    Google Scholar 

  • García Sánchez, Javier. 2006. Ella, Dracula. Barcelona: Editorial Planeta.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howard, Amanda, and Martin Smith. 2004. River of Blood: Serial Killers and their Victims. Boca Raton: Universal Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johns, Rebecca. 2010. The Countess: A Novel. New York: Crown Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • LeFanu, J. Sheridan. 2000. Carmilla. Rockville: Wildside Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • McNally, Robert. 1983. Dracula was a Woman. In Search of the Blood Countess of Transylvania. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mordeaux, A. 2008. Bathory: Memoir of a Countess. Charleston: BookSurge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Patai, Raphael. 1990. The Hebrew Goddess. 3rd enlarged ed. Detroit: Wayne State University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Penrose, Valentine. 2000. The Bloody Countess: Atrocities of Erzsébet Bathory. Trans. A. Trocchi. London: Creation Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pizarnik, Alexandra. 1992. The Bloody Countess. Trans. Alberto Manguel. In The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales, ed. Chris Baldick, 466–477. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Santos, Cristina. 2014. Slippery When Wet: Madness and Eroticism in the Bloody Countess Elizabeth Bathory. In And then Monsters Come Out: Madness, Language and Power, ed. Fiona Ann Papps, 87–94. Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2017. Unbecoming Female Monsters: Witches, Vampires, and Virgins. Lanham: Lexington Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stoker, Bram. [1897] 1992. Dracula. New York: Signet Classic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thorne, Tony. 1997. Countess Dracula: The Life and Times of the Blood Countess, Elisabeth Bathory. London: Bloomsburg Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Totaro, Donato. 2005. The ‘Eternal’ interview with Federico Sánchez. Offscreen 9 (10): 1–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trow, M.J. 2010. A Brief History of Vampires. Philadelphia: Running Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ussher, Jane. 1991. Women’s Madness: Misogyny or Mental Illness. Toronto: Harvester.

    Google Scholar 

Filmography

  • American Horror Story: Coven. 2013. Twentieth Century Fox Television.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bathory: Countess of Blood. 2008. Dir. JurajJakubisko. Jakubisko Film Slovakia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blood Scarab. 2008. Dir. Roberto Correa. Frontline Entertainment.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chastity Bites. 2013. Dir. John V. Knowles. Weirdsmobile Productions.

    Google Scholar 

  • Daughters of Darkness. 1971. Dir. Harry Kümel. Showking Films.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eternal. 2004. Dir. Wilhelm Liebenberg and Federico Sánchez. Here! Films/Regent.

    Google Scholar 

  • Metamorphosis. 2007. Dir. Jenö Hodi. CinePartners Entertainment.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salem. 2014–2017. Twentieth Century Fox Television.

    Google Scholar 

  • The Countess. 2009. Dir. Julie Delpy. Mongrel Media.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada

    Cristina Santos

Authors
  1. Cristina Santos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cristina Santos .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Independent Scholar, Poznań, Poland

    Simon Bacon

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Santos, C. (2024). The Bloody Countess Elizabeth Bathory. In: Bacon, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of the Vampire. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36253-8_58

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation