Serial Killer Saturday

Halloween is almost upon us and I thought I would highlight a few women famous for their misdeeds and general creepiness.

First we take a look at the "Female Dracula": The Blood Countess; Elizabeth Bathory.

Elizabeth was born August 7th, 1560 to Baron George Bathory and his wife Anna. Both the Baron and his wife were Bathorys by birth. The Bathorys were one of the most powerful families in Hungary, boasting of an ancestor that fought along side Vlad Dracul, and a cousin who became Prince of Transylvania and later king of Poland.

Elizabeth was highly educated, even more so than many of the male nobility of Hungary. She was reported to have had fits of rage and seizures starting at an early age, possibly due to epilepsy caused by her parents inbreeding. When she was 14 she became pregnant by a peasant even though she was already engaged to another Hungarian nobleman. She was hidden away until the baby was born and it was given to a peasant family to raise and the next year she was officially married to Count Ferenc Nadasdy. Nadasdy took Elizabeth's last name instead of her taking his because the Bathory name was more influential. Elizabeth gave him four children. Ferenc died in 1604. Elizabeth reportedly had several lovers during her marriage and some after Ferenc's death may have been women. 

The Countess of Bathory is credited with killing over 600 female servants, many between the ages of 10-14, and later began killing off poor relatives of the Hungarian nobility. If this is true it makes her the most prolific serial killer of all time. There is a possibility that her husband knew and participated in these torturous acts with her. Some of the women who later helped her with her deeds were said to be witches and encouraged Elizabeth to take up Satanic practices. 

Elizabeth had many ways to torture her helpless victims. Some would simply be stabbed multiple times and left to bleed to death. Some would be stripped naked, thrown out into the snow and would be splashed with cold water until they froze to death. Sometimes they would be beaten with whips, cudgels and fire irons. One member of her faithful torture team described Elizabeth biting off chunks of flesh from the victim's face, shoulders and breasts when she was too ill to beat them. She would also stick needles under their fingernails and then cut off their fingers if they tried to remove the needles. And of course we have all heard the rumors that she bathed in the blood of her victims because she believed it kept her from aging. There is no proof of this ever happening. Despite every cruel deed that her torture team described during their trials, no account of blood bathing was ever mentioned. This claim most likely came about two hundred years later by German author Michael Wegener. 

Complains began to be made against Elizabeth until they could no longer be ignored. The king finally gave orders to have her arrested. A member of her own family, Gyorgy Thurzo, arrived at her Cachtice Castle on December 29, 1610. He and his men reported finding bodies of dead or dying girls strewn about the castle and several more bodies would be found as the castle was searched. 

                                The ruins of Cachtic Castle where Elizabeth's heinous acts took place

Elizabeth and her faithful group were arrested. There were two different trials held for her torture team, but the Countess never testified at a public trial. She was taken to and held in Castle Csejthe. Thurzo convinced the king to sentence her to life imprisonment instead of death. The Blood Countess was walled up in a small room in her castle with narrow slits in the walls to provide air and to receive food. Elizabeth was confined in her walled prison for three years before she died. By order of Parliment, the name Elizabeth Bathory was not allowed to be spoken again.

There is new research and new theories emerging that her crimes were highly exaggerated and/or completely fabricated. After all, the confessions of her torture team were received under the duress of torture themselves. Some scholars believe that the Bathory family was becoming too powerful and the king wanted Bathory lands for himself. Thurzo's deal with the king allowed the Bathory house to keep it's land holdings while at the same time punishing Elizabeth. We will probably never know the whole truth.



                                                Now let's take a look at Margot de Valois.

Margaret, or Margot as she was called, was the daughter of Catherine de Medici and Henry II of France and the last of the House of Valois. She was born May 14, 1553 and was married to Henri of Navarre (the future Henry IV of France) when she was 19 years old (and already known for her "loose" conduct). When Henri became king of France the Pope had his marriage with Margot annulled although she was allowed to keep the title of Queen. She died in 1615 at the age of 62.

Margot had numerous lovers and as she got older, they got younger. Her husband didn't mind her many affairs because it left him able to focus on his own mistresses. Margot's brother Henry III of France did mind because he felt she was bringing shame to her family. Henry III even went so far as to have some of her lovers beheaded or hanged. Some of Margot's jealous lovers killed each other. One admirer shot and killed his rival while another was ran through with a sword by another jealous suitor. Ok, so having numerous lovers isn't so remarkable and it certainly isn't creepy. So, why are we talking about Margot for our Halloween Serial Killer post?  

While none of her lovers died by her own hand, they still died because of her. The most notable and definetly creepy thing about Margot de Valois is that she supposedly had the hearts of her lovers embalmed after they died. She kept their hearts in little boxes pinned to the inside of her skirts and wore them everywhere. Pretty freaky huh?

Margot de Valois wrote many poems about love and her lovers and she also left behind her memoirs.








Additional info for Countess Bathory:

Infamous Lady: The True Story of Erzsebeth Bathory - Kimberly L. Craft
http://infamouslady.com/index.html


Additional info for Margot de Valois: 
Memoirs of Marguerite de Valois - Marguerite, Queen Consort of France
Sex with the Queen - Eleanor Herman

Tea Time

                            

Let the Daughters of Liberty, nobly arise 

And tho’ we’ve no Voice, but a negative here, 

The use of the Taxables, let us forebear. 

Stand firmly resolved and bid Britain to see, 

Rather than Freedom, we’ll part with our Tea. 

America's War for Independence has always focused on the Founding Fathers and Fighters but very little attention has been focused on the Founding Mothers. Despite the lack of attention, there were many women who were active in the American Revolution. Some fought as soldiers, some acted as spies, some helped collect money and supplies for the war efforts and some even found ways to act politically.

When Britain enacted the Tea Act of 1773, many local governments decided to boycott any tea or cloth imported from England. Women, it seemed, were also willing participants in this boycott. On October, 25, 1774, 51 women in Edenton, North Carolina met at a Mrs. Elizabeth King's home to discuss the boycott. This gathering of women would shortly become known as the Edenton Tea Party and would be one of the first political events organized exclusively by women in America.

The Edenton Tea Party was led by a woman named Penelope Pagett Barker. Penelope's husband was in England acting as agent for the colony of North Carolina. Many of the other Edenton women were the wives, daughters and sisters of the most prominent men in the area. Following the example of the Boston Tea Party that took place earlier in the year, the women of Edenton were determined to stand up against Britain's unjust laws.

Penelope had written a resolution declaring the intentions of the women to stop drinking tea imported from Britain. After some discussion, all 51 women signed their names. By signing the resolution the women also ensured that their families would not drink any imported tea as well, since the women were usually the ones purchasing food for their families. They knew their actions would have consequences for their families both in the colonies and in England. Mrs. King, whose home they were meeting in, was the wife of a local Edenton merchant. Tea parties were THE social event of the times but patriots were so strongly opposed to Britain's tyranny that it was a necessary sacrifice. It was agreed that instead of buying the tea imported by England from India and China, the ladies of Edenton would make their own home-brewed tea. After signing their names to the resolution, they then drank tea made from crushed raspberry leaves.

The resolution declared: 

"We, the Ladys of Edenton, do hereby solomnly engage not to conform to the Pernicious custom of drinking tea, and that We, the aforesaid Ladys, will not promote ye wear of any manufacture from England until such time that all acts which tend to enslave our Native country shall be repealed."

The idea of women engaging in political resistance was so uncommon that it drew attention, not only among the other colonies, but in England as well. The Edenton Tea Party drew satirical derision from England. Copies of the resolution were printed in many British newspapers which provide us with the only known copies. 


In March of 1775 this satirical depiction of the Edenton Ladies appeared in a London paper. Penelope and her compatriots were felt to be anything but feminine by many, and their husbands were ridiculed as having no control over their wives.

Other women took notice and began acting on the lead of the Ladies of Edenton and began to hold their own tea parties. One party in Wilmington, North Carolina, burned their remaining supplies of imported tea. 

Until scenes like these started occurring across America, women were for the most part, content to stand in the background as their husband's helpmate. Frustration and disgust with the tyrannical acts of the British Parliament and a love of family and their new country left many women with no choice but to make their way to the foreground. Boycotts and showing off your home-spun clothes was just the beginning of a long hard fight for political recognition.

Queen for a day

Well, nine days actually.
The Lady Jane Grey, or the Nine Days Queen, was proclaimed Queen of England July 10, 1553 and was deposed July 19, 1553. She was executed February of the following year. She was the innocent pawn not only of her own father but of the Duke of Northumberland, John Dudley, who had been plotting for quite a while on how he could make his own son king.

Jane Grey was born in 1537 in Leicestershire, England. She was the granddaughter of Princess Mary Tudor, Henry VIII's sister. All primary source accounts of Jane relating from early childhood through her teen years represent her as beautiful, intelligent and gentle.She was also a devout Protestant. She was content to read and study. She corresponded with many of the learned men of Europe; sometimes in Greek, Latin and even Hebrew. She was a very docile and obedient daughter and thus was easily deceived and mislead by the men she trusted the most.

Grandniece to King Henry VIII and cousin to King Edward VI, who was around the same age as Jane and very fond of her, Jane was often at court, and there are some historians who believe Edward wanted to marry her. This was not to be however, and Jane was married to the Duke of Northumberland's son, Guilford Dudley. John Dudley, who was the king's advisor, convinced Edward to alter Henry VIII's will of succession and name Jane Grey the next heir over his Catholic sister Mary. It was very important to Edward that Mary did not come to the thrown. He wanted to make sure England remained a Protestant country.

Edward, who had always been a sickly boy, died on July 6, 1553. Four days later, much to her confusion, Lady Jane Grey was proclaimed Queen of England. Jane insisted that she was not worthy of the crown and did not want the heavy burden it came with. Even though she protested, there really wasn't much she could have done to prevent the conclusion to Dudley's years long plot to gain access to the crown. The people of England were just as confused as Jane had been. They had literally just learned of King Edward's death because Dudley had kept his death from the people. When the announcement of her accession to the throne was announced in the streets of London it was met with silence. As David Vandewater Golden Bartlett (sheesh what a name) says in his The Life of Lady Jane Grey

"Lady Jane was beloved, and Protestantism was beloved by the English, but they loved dearer yet the right of succession, and could not see that law of right broken. Besides this, the people hated intensely the Duke of Northumberland, and were fully aware that Lady Jane was his victim."

Meanwhile, Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII and next in line for the throne after Edward, was gathering help to depose Jane and take the throne. Dudley had been sent away by Jane's council to put down Mary's rebellion and they themselves fled to the envoy of Charles V (Mary's protector/defender) and declared Mary the queen. Jane was locked in the Tower and Mary made her way to London to be crowned.

Mary tried to convert her cousin Jane to the Catholic faith but the girl stood fast to Protestantism. Mary was eventually convinced that she had no choice but to execute Lady Jane. Supporters for Jane could one day mount a rebellion and try to claim her as the rightful Queen and so she had to go. Jane was tried and plead guilty to high treason and was finally beheaded in a private execution at the age of 16. She was buried at St Peter ad Vincula and was later celebrated as a martyr for the Protestant faith by Queen Elizabeth I.

I ask you dear readers this question. What would you do if you were queen/king for a week? I must admit that my first thoughts were to quickly purchase a new wardrobe and hope the government didn't make me pay for it after my time as queen was up. Lady Jane did not do much either. And really what can you do in 9 days. Government bureaucracy being what it is, it takes longer than that to get any kind of bill passed. Even a proclamation to make yourself ruler for life (as suggested by my husband) would take longer than nine days to pass through your council. Jane did not want to be Queen of England and she gladly gave up the crown when told she had been deposed. I believe that Lady Jane hoped to bring about more Protestant reforms because she felt that Protestantism was the true religion and what was right for England. She saw the good she could do as Queen if given a chance. Lady Jane's only show of authority was to appoint her household. Any other proclamations were written by the Duke of Northumberland and without the knowledge of Lady Jane.

"I am prepared to receive patiently my death, in any manner it may please the queen to appoint. True it is, my flesh shudders, as is natural to frail mortality, but my spirit will spring rejoicingly into eternal light, where I hope the mercy of God will receive it!" - Lady Jane Grey

For more information on Lady Jane Grey including primary documents/letters or Tudor history you can check out http://tudorhistory.org/. There are also several great biographies written about The Nine Days Queen and her tragic end.