Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2018 14:35:12 GMT -5
Countess Erszébet Báthory de Ecsed
by Shi
458
age
Female
gender
August 7th, 1560
birthday
blood status
Vampiresexual orientation
Intelligenceoccupation
Antiques Collector | Art Collector | Haematologist | Surgeon | Healer | Chemist | Apothecary | Geneticist | Assassin | Forger | Genealogist
Medical Geneticist and General Surgeon at Galway General Hospital
Medical Geneticist and General Surgeon at Galway General Hospital
general appearance
Erszébet is tall and slender, fine boned and with sharp features. Her eyes and hair are a dark, chestnut brown. She's a beautiful woman, ageless in appearance, and carries herself with poise and elegance at all times. It is this beauty and control which excused all those outlandish claims of eternal youth. Well, in the end...
former school
privately tutoredformer house
.achievements
Erszébet was known as one of the most educated and intelligent women of her time, though that only seemed to make matters worse, in the end.
university
Many times, in many places. It all gets rather repetitive and it matters little.
university major(s)
Many things, that matters even less.
years attended
It'll take an age.
skills
Multilingual: English, Hungarian, Greek, Latin, German, Slovak, Czech, Turkish, Romanian, Serbian, Bosnian. You get the point.
Management and economics.
Politically minded, negotiation.
Teaching and guiding, children mostly. (Though by now most humans are children to her.)
Physical exertion - horse riding, hunting prey, killing, etc.
She knows how to fly a helicopter (and WW 1 planes, it's a long story).
Very strategically and logically minded. Her chess games take weeks at a time.
She can perform most general medical practices, though she prefers to specialise. Both in hospitals and in battlegrounds.
Apparently having great taste counts as a skill as well.
Management and economics.
Politically minded, negotiation.
Teaching and guiding, children mostly. (Though by now most humans are children to her.)
Physical exertion - horse riding, hunting prey, killing, etc.
She knows how to fly a helicopter (and WW 1 planes, it's a long story).
Very strategically and logically minded. Her chess games take weeks at a time.
She can perform most general medical practices, though she prefers to specialise. Both in hospitals and in battlegrounds.
Apparently having great taste counts as a skill as well.
weaknesses
She never learned to cook.
She did care about her husband, and she misses her children.
A very quick temper, she gets carried away sometimes.
One track mind, once she actually decides on something.
Forever offended at Imre, György, and Mattias.
Tasia and Zaleska.
Vlad's ridiculous ego.
She really misses human nourishment. Wine in particular.
She did care about her husband, and she misses her children.
A very quick temper, she gets carried away sometimes.
One track mind, once she actually decides on something.
Forever offended at Imre, György, and Mattias.
Tasia and Zaleska.
Vlad's ridiculous ego.
She really misses human nourishment. Wine in particular.
positive traits
Articulate, intelligent, confident, resourceful, responsible, charismatic, compassionate, cultured, decisive, elegant, firm, independent, intuitive, observant, precise, rational, sophisticated.
negative traits
Aloof, vengeful, cold, unimpressed, petty, perfectionist, brutal, morbid, nihilistic, possessive, sly, sarcastic, easily bored, impatient, controlling, forceful.
hobbies/interests
Medicine, genetics, vengeance, peace and quiet, art and music, she enjoys going to the opera, she has combined her vampirism with her love of wine tasting and ended up with hematology. She actually likes children, which is ironic because she hates loudness or messes. She enjoys learning new languages, traveling, and investigating ancient family lines.
accomplishments
Erszébet has done many things worth noting in her centuries of being alive. The most important of which she finds to be the fact that she didn't murder every single member of the Hungarian royal family.
character history
"There are few things the many articles and books about me have gotten right, I suppose we ought to thank György for his very thorough purging of information."
Erszébet was born in one of her family's estates, Nyírbátor, in Hungary. She had two older sisters, but she had already been married and sent away from the castle by the time they were born so she never truly knew them or felt anything for them. Klara married Mihály Várdai, and Zsofiá married András Figedy and had at least two children, István and Borbála. However, Erszébet saw them only a few times in her entire human life. Some say that she had two brothers, but Gábor was only a cousin, despite her closeness to him. Her true brother was István and him she loved with all her heart. He was a good man and a good brother and he always valued her, despite being older and being male. That was part of what started the whole ordeal; experiencing that equality in treatment which was so very rare but which she never ceased to demand. From everyone. The older she grew, the more she studied, she more she understood, and the angrier she got at whatever man decided to control her. Or decided to try. She should have known better than to be so overt about it, she made many choices that she shouldn't have, but at the time she didn't know any better.
From a very young age she had always known that her life would be ruled by men, it was something that she had a hard time accepting. Her father tried to make her see sense, to make her docile and sweet, but she never became that. People tended to say she threw tantrums and had a horrible temper, when in reality she just knew what she wanted and didn't behave as she 'should'. Erszébet wouldn't accept anyone's disrespect, wouldn't let anyone look down on her, and she also wouldn't lie down and let some strange man take control of her life. For that was what would happen as soon as she got married. Her life and body would belong to him. What kind of life was that? No, she wanted to be her own master. Fits of rage, they called it, when all she did was vocalise that there was something she would not accept. Society tried to walk all over her but she would not allow it, but her measures might have been too extreme. That was why, when she found out she had been engaged to one Ferenc Nádasdy, she might have gone a little overboard. However, in the end, the results turned out to be... good. Far in the future.
Erszébet had her first child at the age of fourteen, in 1574. She didn't name the babe, though it was a girl. Her parents wanted to send the child away as soon as possible. You see, in her anger at being sold off, in her desire to own her body, she had seduced one of the stable hands. Well, that was what she thought. In reality, she had been a child and he had taken advantage of her desire to act out. She bore the man a daughter, though he didn't live to tell the tale. As soon as she showed signs of carrying, her parents found out everything and had him executed. Her brother, so angry, did it himself. The Nádasdy family found out, of course, though they were told that the man forced himself on her. They could not break the contract, their family was of lower standing than the Báthory family so even if she was used, it was still in their best interest to continue with the arrangement. It was a painful birth, she was far too young and her body was far too fragile. That was when she met @zaleska , she delivered Erszébet's daughter and took her away. She remembered little of that meeting, afterwards. The birth had been a lot and it left her exhausted, without the necessary presence of mind to commit her to memory fully. After that entire ordeal, she was sent away.
For a year she lived in Sárvár, the main residence and family seat of the Nádasdy family, while Ferenc studied in Vienna. She lived with Ferenc's mother, Countess Orsolya Kanizsai Nádasdy, a silent woman with a lot of judgement that would not have held her tongue had it not been for Erszébet's higher status. But she learned a lot in that short period of time. She'd learned the consequences of her actions and through observing Orsolya, she learned how to be quiet. Controlled, firm, demanding, but dignified. It was something her mother had always tried to teach her, but Anna had been kind and she had been patient, Orsolya wasn't that. It was the hostility, the sink or swim situation that taught her how to behave. Otherwise, Ferenc would've had a very different wife. One with which he wouldn't have fallen in love, one with which he would have lived his life arguing and unhappily.
At the age of fifteen, Erszébet was married to nineteen-year-old Ferenc. Together, they moved to Čachtice Castle in what is now Slovenia, one of the Nádasdy family's many estates, which Ferenc gave to Erszébet as a wedding gift, along with the seventeen adjacent villages and all surrounding territories. They spent a few years getting to know each time, time in which she was allowed to have her own room and space. Ferenc was a rare man, strong and intelligent, but never one to look down on her. She rather thought she'd lucked out, because in those years she found herself falling in love with her husband. He respected her because she commanded respect, and he loved her just as she was, with all her opinions and cold moments. A rare thing, but one which she never stopped valuing. Men were cruel, in those times, but he was not. He even encouraged her studies and her medical interests, asking questions and deferring to her expertise in many matters. They ran those lands together, for three years, until he had to leave. They had a new king, Rudolf, who had started a war against the Ottoman empire. Their land was so close to the border, it was obvious that Ferenc would be ordered to serve in the army, and he was named chief commander of Hungarian troops. Thankfully, he came back to her alive, but in the mean time Erszébet ran the estates by herself and saw to the medical care of many people. Expertly, actually, though the methods of medicine at the time left much to be desired.
In the time until he returned, she practiced a lot on her medical skills. Admittedly, not everything worked out all the time. This was the start of all those rumours people made up about her, but since she was so young, she never thought about it. Her husband's power and reputation, along with her brother and uncle, did a lot to shield her from any sort of whispers. Perhaps what bothered some people most was the fact that she intervened a lot in the local justice, particularly when young women and girls were concerned. They started to wonder about her motives and tastes, though Erszébet had never considered that at the time. All she knew was that she loved her husband and that she wanted everything to be well when he returned so they could get on with their lives. And he did, eventually, safe and sound.
Despite the fact that they had started sharing a chamber even before Ferenc was made to leave, conceiving children proved hard. He never understood why, he didn't know the damage her body had gone through when giving birth, but she told him eventually. At first he had been... angry, betrayed, even knowing that it had been before their marriage. She had still been engaged, then, betrothed to him, and she gave her maidenhead to another man. But with a lot of talking and a lot of patience, he understood. She never loved him more than in that moment, despite how difficult it was for the both of them. They were committed to living together, to living peacefully and happily. So they continued with their life and she continued with her studies. Until she finally became heavy with child. It was a blessing, something that they were both very aware of. So she stopped going out as much and the people started to lose sight of her. Soon after, a healthy baby girl was born. Erszébet named her Anna, for her mother, and promised Ferenc that the next one would be named Orsolya, for his mother. Before that could happen, however, she lost a baby. György, she would have named him, after the father that had cherished her so much. Perhaps if she had planned to call him István, he would've been born well. But this child was stillborn and she- well, she wasn't alright after that. Erszébet would spend hours with Anna, her baby girl, only a few years old and already so bright. Ferenc worried, of course, but she knew she would heal. She had to heal, and eventually the days passed without her feeling like part of her insides were missing. That was when she could return to her husband's bed without feeling loss.
A short while later, Orsolya was born. That was another blessing. Another little girl. They named her after Ferenc's mother, as Anna had been named after Erszébet's. The two little girls got along wonderfully and she could truly see the four of them becoming a happy, growing family. after all that had happened in the previous years, she thought it was something they deserved. But it was not to be. Merely three years later, the Long War broke out and Ferenc once more had to depart in order to lead troupes against the Ottoman Empire. Even worse was the fact that she was a few months pregnant when he left. It was frightening, for her, approaching the date of the next baby's birth without her husband by her side. The memory of what had happened to their little boy was still far too near, despite having healed of it. However, it was up to her to remain strong. With two little girls relying on her, having to look after her husband's territories while he was away, and maintaining the power of her family- there was no time for fear. It was, however, a moment in which she could make a difference in the day to day lives of the people she ruled over. There were so many instances of injustice towards women and young girls, she could finally do something about it. That was where some rumours started... of her having a liking for young women. Of her taking them to her castle for nefarious reasons, either having her way with them or torturing them. It had nothing to do with her actions, she never meant any harm, but she had a tendency of removing women and girls from abusive households and bringing them to her castle as servants. Of course, those who disliked her rocking the boat did their best to discredit her in the public eye. Such was the fate of most women at the time. The rumours were... only whispers, as long as her husband was alive.
The next baby was a little girl, once more, and this one she named Katalin. She wrote to Ferenc to inform him. He was overjoyed, though they both knew that the family would be concerned. Three little girls, no boys. Anna was nine already, Orsolya was four, and with another newborn, Erszébet continued to rule as best she could. Thankfully, Ferenc returned sooner than expected. He had done well in the war, captured many castles and won them many riches, so when he was wounded in the shoulder the king allowed him to return home permanently. It was not a deep wound, but enough to make further combat difficult. Soon enough, their celebration of his return resulted in the birth of a little boy. Finally. András, her first little boy. He was beautiful and sweet, if perhaps too much like his mother. Lithe of body, strong of mind, but ultimately weak when it came to his health. It was a difficult birth, also, she had been feeling each one getting harder and harder as time went on. But he was not their last child. Not two years later, another boy came to them. This time, she knew she could not give birth again and survive. She had always been a keen study of health and medicine, limited as it may be. She could tell that she had reached her limit, but darling little Pál was at least healthy and well.
It was an oversight on her part not to keep an eye on the rumours that had sprouted about her. She was so happy with her family and her studies that she didn't think it would come back to haunt her. That was a naïveté she would never display again. Her research into illness and the human body started to add fuel to the fire. Most of the people she took into the castle were those who were wounded or who were sick, in an effort to heal them. Or at the very least, learn from them. Mostly, they died, and that made people think that she killed them. They never truly liked her and her independence and refusal to bow down to anyone made her a problem. She was- or she tried to be, a strong woman that her daughters would be able to look up to. She had no time to deal with the whispers of insects, buzzing about like gnats and trying to poison her life. More importantly, some years later both András and Ferenc became ill. Different things, truly, but she didn't know how to heal them. Nothing she tried worked and she was at her wit's end. Eventually, their little boy died first. He was only seven years old, barely learning to ride a horse and do his sums. She felt, then, her heart start to crumble. Merely a year later, Ferenc passed as well.
Erszébet was in mourning thrice over and what made matters worse- she had no more protection from those rumours about her, and they were starting to spiral. But it wasn't just the rumours that ruined her life, it was betrayal. Perhaps she would've been safe, had István, her darling brother, not perished soon after Ferenc. He was the Royal Judge, he would've defended her. But he was no more. As the years passed, their riches started to dwindle and Erszébet had to do something about that. The king, Matthias, had borrowed huge sums of money from Ferenc when he had been alive, but the man had never returned a single penny. She made many trip to court to request that he honour his agreement with her husband, but Matthias would not hear a word of it. At the same time, Erszébet had been... morally supporting her cousin's claim to Matthias' throne, in hopes to get her money back. Cousin Gabriel was a protestant, like Erszébet herself, unlike Catholic Matthias. But that support only made the king all the more eager to get rid of her.
The betrayal came from György Thurzó, the Palatine of Hungary, who had been close friend with Ferenc and who had sworn to him to look after his wife and children. The man was appointed to investigate on all these matters of Erszébet's supposed crimes. None of them happened, truly, but Matthias wanted her gone and so gone she would be. They questioned her servants, they tortured them until they confessed to the murder of dozens and dozens of young women. Until they confessed that Erszébet had forced them to do it, until they claimed that she was a mass murderer and a sadist. Her days were numbered.
Shortly before all that, however, something... strange had happened. While she was mourning her husband, she received a strange visitor. A woman who claimed to have been the one that delivered her first child. Not Anna, the one she had not named. But she remembered that the woman had been young when they met and she was young still. In fact, she looked younger than Erszébet herself, even though she had been only thirteen back when she first gave birth. That was all explained soon enough. Vampirism wasn't something she had ever considered to be true, despite being a religious woman. Quite like witchcraft, she found it to be the fanciful tales of cowardly, cruel men who liked to control the crowds to do their bidding. But Zaleska proved it and she did not understand why a stranger would choose to come to her and reveal such a thing. That was, until she mentioned the rumours. Zaleska believed that Erszébet would die because of them and she- did not want to think of that. She had four children and many lands to look after, she could not turn into a vampire from one day to the next. That took... planning. Time that she did not have. Erszébet was in the chapel for an entire day, pondering, considering, but ultimately she accepted.
Erszébet pretended to be ill while she recovered. She had to feed and she didn't want to risk harming her children. Zaleska would teach her how to do it without killing anyone and she asked her most loyal servants if they would be willing to let her feed on them. They were, they were people she had saved from terrible futures. They were loyal. Ficzkó, a young stable boy. Ilona Jó Nagy, her children's wet nurse. Dorottya Szentes and Katalin Beneczky, two elderly women that she had taken in. Erszébet was careful, ever so careful, and they were fine. It was these four that told such terrible lies while under torture, it was known that they were closest to her and so they were taken first. She didn't blame them for telling their torturers whatever they needed to hear. With or without them, Matthias and György would get what they wanted.
In 1610, György claimed that they had enough proof and Erszébet was arrested. It was always said that they found a dead girl in her kitchen and tortured girls in her basement when they went to arrest her, but the only witnesses were -conveniently- György and his own men. That was what went down into the history books.
They avoided a trial because of her family name, but Erszébet always thought that the lack of it ended up being worse for her. They did not give her a chance to speak for herself, to defend herself, to throw their treachery in their faces. She would have stood there, even as a vampire. As she was still in mourning, she would be covered top to toe and wear a black veil and gloves. It was the same method she used to go to the palace and demand her money back. Alas, it was not to be. She had been under house arrest until her sentence. Matthias wanted her dead but an execution would cause a scandal. Instead, he sent György to speak to Pal, Nikola and István. Her son was only twelve years old at the time, far too young to be dealing with all of this. Her daughters were inconsolable. Her sons in law did their best, but they didn't manage to gain her freedom for her. They had arranged for her to be sent to a nunnery, the irony of that was not lost on her, but Matthias pulled strings. Noblemen started cropping up, claiming she had murdered their daughters, and as such her sentence had to be heightened. Of course.
Ultimately, it was decided that she would be confined to Čachtice Castle in solitary confinement. What had once been her beloved Ferenc's wedding gift to her became her prison. She was walled into her rooms. Matthias never had to return her money to her or her family, or what was left of it after all the bribes he had to pay to get her locked up. It didn't take long, really, for her to escape. She fed through the small hole in the wall that they had kept to give her money. She'd speak to the guard, using the skills of persuasion Zaleska had taught her, and drank from his wrist. Until she had a visitor, late one night. Zaleska would help her escape and the very next day she pretended to be dead. Her body didn't bleed, she had no heartbeat, and she was pale and cold. Naturally, they put her in a coffin and moved her. First to the local chapel, but the villagers didn't want her there so her coffin was moved to her place of birth. At least, it was supposed to. She left during the night.
Dying was freeing, it allowed her to plan. Her daughters were safe and Pal had gone to live with Anna, but all of her son's inheritance had been seized. A lot of land, a lot of wealth, all of it was Matthias'. She could not go after him yet, that would be far too public, but she went after that traitor of György. Zaleska helped her. In 1616, he died of a supposed illness, but Erszébet had become very knowledgable of plants. Especially of which ones would cause the most painful, most natural seeming deaths. György died in agony, she made sure of it. As did his son, who was supposed to inherit what should've been Pal's. Three years later, she had her revenger on the king. He lost everything before that, forced to step down because he was far too weak to avoid a takeover. She made sure his passing was painful, for what he did to her. Seeing her in the dark almost killed him already, though. Pathetic man, he'd always been a worm.
After that... life continued. Or un-life, perhaps. She lived with Zaleska, she met the child she had given away. That was difficult, she didn't quite know how to handle her existence. She had just lost the children she had raised, the ones she had looked after and nursed. Erszébet would never see them again. How could she just move on and take in another child? No, she needed time for herself. It took a long while before she was ready to even spend time alone with her. She knew it was unkind but she could not help it. Everything was still far too raw. But centuries passed and Erszébet changed a lot with the times. She studied, she learned, constantly. Medicine was always changing, improving, and she wanted to keep up. She wanted to learn everything there was to learn, that which had been denied her in her own time.
Also, she learned that she did not fall in love with bodies. She had fallen in love with Ferenc because of what they shared, because of their hopes for the future, because of their conversations and the challenges that they posed towards each other. She'd fallen in love with the support, with the warmth. In that same way, she fell in love with Zaleska. Something that in her own time she would've found... unnatural of herself now made her happier than she had been in a long time. Time changed her, time made her... calmer, though no less sharp. More involved, yet also less personal. Life was endless and time was eternal, just like her.
Erszébet was born in one of her family's estates, Nyírbátor, in Hungary. She had two older sisters, but she had already been married and sent away from the castle by the time they were born so she never truly knew them or felt anything for them. Klara married Mihály Várdai, and Zsofiá married András Figedy and had at least two children, István and Borbála. However, Erszébet saw them only a few times in her entire human life. Some say that she had two brothers, but Gábor was only a cousin, despite her closeness to him. Her true brother was István and him she loved with all her heart. He was a good man and a good brother and he always valued her, despite being older and being male. That was part of what started the whole ordeal; experiencing that equality in treatment which was so very rare but which she never ceased to demand. From everyone. The older she grew, the more she studied, she more she understood, and the angrier she got at whatever man decided to control her. Or decided to try. She should have known better than to be so overt about it, she made many choices that she shouldn't have, but at the time she didn't know any better.
From a very young age she had always known that her life would be ruled by men, it was something that she had a hard time accepting. Her father tried to make her see sense, to make her docile and sweet, but she never became that. People tended to say she threw tantrums and had a horrible temper, when in reality she just knew what she wanted and didn't behave as she 'should'. Erszébet wouldn't accept anyone's disrespect, wouldn't let anyone look down on her, and she also wouldn't lie down and let some strange man take control of her life. For that was what would happen as soon as she got married. Her life and body would belong to him. What kind of life was that? No, she wanted to be her own master. Fits of rage, they called it, when all she did was vocalise that there was something she would not accept. Society tried to walk all over her but she would not allow it, but her measures might have been too extreme. That was why, when she found out she had been engaged to one Ferenc Nádasdy, she might have gone a little overboard. However, in the end, the results turned out to be... good. Far in the future.
Erszébet had her first child at the age of fourteen, in 1574. She didn't name the babe, though it was a girl. Her parents wanted to send the child away as soon as possible. You see, in her anger at being sold off, in her desire to own her body, she had seduced one of the stable hands. Well, that was what she thought. In reality, she had been a child and he had taken advantage of her desire to act out. She bore the man a daughter, though he didn't live to tell the tale. As soon as she showed signs of carrying, her parents found out everything and had him executed. Her brother, so angry, did it himself. The Nádasdy family found out, of course, though they were told that the man forced himself on her. They could not break the contract, their family was of lower standing than the Báthory family so even if she was used, it was still in their best interest to continue with the arrangement. It was a painful birth, she was far too young and her body was far too fragile. That was when she met @zaleska , she delivered Erszébet's daughter and took her away. She remembered little of that meeting, afterwards. The birth had been a lot and it left her exhausted, without the necessary presence of mind to commit her to memory fully. After that entire ordeal, she was sent away.
For a year she lived in Sárvár, the main residence and family seat of the Nádasdy family, while Ferenc studied in Vienna. She lived with Ferenc's mother, Countess Orsolya Kanizsai Nádasdy, a silent woman with a lot of judgement that would not have held her tongue had it not been for Erszébet's higher status. But she learned a lot in that short period of time. She'd learned the consequences of her actions and through observing Orsolya, she learned how to be quiet. Controlled, firm, demanding, but dignified. It was something her mother had always tried to teach her, but Anna had been kind and she had been patient, Orsolya wasn't that. It was the hostility, the sink or swim situation that taught her how to behave. Otherwise, Ferenc would've had a very different wife. One with which he wouldn't have fallen in love, one with which he would have lived his life arguing and unhappily.
At the age of fifteen, Erszébet was married to nineteen-year-old Ferenc. Together, they moved to Čachtice Castle in what is now Slovenia, one of the Nádasdy family's many estates, which Ferenc gave to Erszébet as a wedding gift, along with the seventeen adjacent villages and all surrounding territories. They spent a few years getting to know each time, time in which she was allowed to have her own room and space. Ferenc was a rare man, strong and intelligent, but never one to look down on her. She rather thought she'd lucked out, because in those years she found herself falling in love with her husband. He respected her because she commanded respect, and he loved her just as she was, with all her opinions and cold moments. A rare thing, but one which she never stopped valuing. Men were cruel, in those times, but he was not. He even encouraged her studies and her medical interests, asking questions and deferring to her expertise in many matters. They ran those lands together, for three years, until he had to leave. They had a new king, Rudolf, who had started a war against the Ottoman empire. Their land was so close to the border, it was obvious that Ferenc would be ordered to serve in the army, and he was named chief commander of Hungarian troops. Thankfully, he came back to her alive, but in the mean time Erszébet ran the estates by herself and saw to the medical care of many people. Expertly, actually, though the methods of medicine at the time left much to be desired.
In the time until he returned, she practiced a lot on her medical skills. Admittedly, not everything worked out all the time. This was the start of all those rumours people made up about her, but since she was so young, she never thought about it. Her husband's power and reputation, along with her brother and uncle, did a lot to shield her from any sort of whispers. Perhaps what bothered some people most was the fact that she intervened a lot in the local justice, particularly when young women and girls were concerned. They started to wonder about her motives and tastes, though Erszébet had never considered that at the time. All she knew was that she loved her husband and that she wanted everything to be well when he returned so they could get on with their lives. And he did, eventually, safe and sound.
Despite the fact that they had started sharing a chamber even before Ferenc was made to leave, conceiving children proved hard. He never understood why, he didn't know the damage her body had gone through when giving birth, but she told him eventually. At first he had been... angry, betrayed, even knowing that it had been before their marriage. She had still been engaged, then, betrothed to him, and she gave her maidenhead to another man. But with a lot of talking and a lot of patience, he understood. She never loved him more than in that moment, despite how difficult it was for the both of them. They were committed to living together, to living peacefully and happily. So they continued with their life and she continued with her studies. Until she finally became heavy with child. It was a blessing, something that they were both very aware of. So she stopped going out as much and the people started to lose sight of her. Soon after, a healthy baby girl was born. Erszébet named her Anna, for her mother, and promised Ferenc that the next one would be named Orsolya, for his mother. Before that could happen, however, she lost a baby. György, she would have named him, after the father that had cherished her so much. Perhaps if she had planned to call him István, he would've been born well. But this child was stillborn and she- well, she wasn't alright after that. Erszébet would spend hours with Anna, her baby girl, only a few years old and already so bright. Ferenc worried, of course, but she knew she would heal. She had to heal, and eventually the days passed without her feeling like part of her insides were missing. That was when she could return to her husband's bed without feeling loss.
A short while later, Orsolya was born. That was another blessing. Another little girl. They named her after Ferenc's mother, as Anna had been named after Erszébet's. The two little girls got along wonderfully and she could truly see the four of them becoming a happy, growing family. after all that had happened in the previous years, she thought it was something they deserved. But it was not to be. Merely three years later, the Long War broke out and Ferenc once more had to depart in order to lead troupes against the Ottoman Empire. Even worse was the fact that she was a few months pregnant when he left. It was frightening, for her, approaching the date of the next baby's birth without her husband by her side. The memory of what had happened to their little boy was still far too near, despite having healed of it. However, it was up to her to remain strong. With two little girls relying on her, having to look after her husband's territories while he was away, and maintaining the power of her family- there was no time for fear. It was, however, a moment in which she could make a difference in the day to day lives of the people she ruled over. There were so many instances of injustice towards women and young girls, she could finally do something about it. That was where some rumours started... of her having a liking for young women. Of her taking them to her castle for nefarious reasons, either having her way with them or torturing them. It had nothing to do with her actions, she never meant any harm, but she had a tendency of removing women and girls from abusive households and bringing them to her castle as servants. Of course, those who disliked her rocking the boat did their best to discredit her in the public eye. Such was the fate of most women at the time. The rumours were... only whispers, as long as her husband was alive.
The next baby was a little girl, once more, and this one she named Katalin. She wrote to Ferenc to inform him. He was overjoyed, though they both knew that the family would be concerned. Three little girls, no boys. Anna was nine already, Orsolya was four, and with another newborn, Erszébet continued to rule as best she could. Thankfully, Ferenc returned sooner than expected. He had done well in the war, captured many castles and won them many riches, so when he was wounded in the shoulder the king allowed him to return home permanently. It was not a deep wound, but enough to make further combat difficult. Soon enough, their celebration of his return resulted in the birth of a little boy. Finally. András, her first little boy. He was beautiful and sweet, if perhaps too much like his mother. Lithe of body, strong of mind, but ultimately weak when it came to his health. It was a difficult birth, also, she had been feeling each one getting harder and harder as time went on. But he was not their last child. Not two years later, another boy came to them. This time, she knew she could not give birth again and survive. She had always been a keen study of health and medicine, limited as it may be. She could tell that she had reached her limit, but darling little Pál was at least healthy and well.
It was an oversight on her part not to keep an eye on the rumours that had sprouted about her. She was so happy with her family and her studies that she didn't think it would come back to haunt her. That was a naïveté she would never display again. Her research into illness and the human body started to add fuel to the fire. Most of the people she took into the castle were those who were wounded or who were sick, in an effort to heal them. Or at the very least, learn from them. Mostly, they died, and that made people think that she killed them. They never truly liked her and her independence and refusal to bow down to anyone made her a problem. She was- or she tried to be, a strong woman that her daughters would be able to look up to. She had no time to deal with the whispers of insects, buzzing about like gnats and trying to poison her life. More importantly, some years later both András and Ferenc became ill. Different things, truly, but she didn't know how to heal them. Nothing she tried worked and she was at her wit's end. Eventually, their little boy died first. He was only seven years old, barely learning to ride a horse and do his sums. She felt, then, her heart start to crumble. Merely a year later, Ferenc passed as well.
Erszébet was in mourning thrice over and what made matters worse- she had no more protection from those rumours about her, and they were starting to spiral. But it wasn't just the rumours that ruined her life, it was betrayal. Perhaps she would've been safe, had István, her darling brother, not perished soon after Ferenc. He was the Royal Judge, he would've defended her. But he was no more. As the years passed, their riches started to dwindle and Erszébet had to do something about that. The king, Matthias, had borrowed huge sums of money from Ferenc when he had been alive, but the man had never returned a single penny. She made many trip to court to request that he honour his agreement with her husband, but Matthias would not hear a word of it. At the same time, Erszébet had been... morally supporting her cousin's claim to Matthias' throne, in hopes to get her money back. Cousin Gabriel was a protestant, like Erszébet herself, unlike Catholic Matthias. But that support only made the king all the more eager to get rid of her.
The betrayal came from György Thurzó, the Palatine of Hungary, who had been close friend with Ferenc and who had sworn to him to look after his wife and children. The man was appointed to investigate on all these matters of Erszébet's supposed crimes. None of them happened, truly, but Matthias wanted her gone and so gone she would be. They questioned her servants, they tortured them until they confessed to the murder of dozens and dozens of young women. Until they confessed that Erszébet had forced them to do it, until they claimed that she was a mass murderer and a sadist. Her days were numbered.
Shortly before all that, however, something... strange had happened. While she was mourning her husband, she received a strange visitor. A woman who claimed to have been the one that delivered her first child. Not Anna, the one she had not named. But she remembered that the woman had been young when they met and she was young still. In fact, she looked younger than Erszébet herself, even though she had been only thirteen back when she first gave birth. That was all explained soon enough. Vampirism wasn't something she had ever considered to be true, despite being a religious woman. Quite like witchcraft, she found it to be the fanciful tales of cowardly, cruel men who liked to control the crowds to do their bidding. But Zaleska proved it and she did not understand why a stranger would choose to come to her and reveal such a thing. That was, until she mentioned the rumours. Zaleska believed that Erszébet would die because of them and she- did not want to think of that. She had four children and many lands to look after, she could not turn into a vampire from one day to the next. That took... planning. Time that she did not have. Erszébet was in the chapel for an entire day, pondering, considering, but ultimately she accepted.
Erszébet pretended to be ill while she recovered. She had to feed and she didn't want to risk harming her children. Zaleska would teach her how to do it without killing anyone and she asked her most loyal servants if they would be willing to let her feed on them. They were, they were people she had saved from terrible futures. They were loyal. Ficzkó, a young stable boy. Ilona Jó Nagy, her children's wet nurse. Dorottya Szentes and Katalin Beneczky, two elderly women that she had taken in. Erszébet was careful, ever so careful, and they were fine. It was these four that told such terrible lies while under torture, it was known that they were closest to her and so they were taken first. She didn't blame them for telling their torturers whatever they needed to hear. With or without them, Matthias and György would get what they wanted.
In 1610, György claimed that they had enough proof and Erszébet was arrested. It was always said that they found a dead girl in her kitchen and tortured girls in her basement when they went to arrest her, but the only witnesses were -conveniently- György and his own men. That was what went down into the history books.
They avoided a trial because of her family name, but Erszébet always thought that the lack of it ended up being worse for her. They did not give her a chance to speak for herself, to defend herself, to throw their treachery in their faces. She would have stood there, even as a vampire. As she was still in mourning, she would be covered top to toe and wear a black veil and gloves. It was the same method she used to go to the palace and demand her money back. Alas, it was not to be. She had been under house arrest until her sentence. Matthias wanted her dead but an execution would cause a scandal. Instead, he sent György to speak to Pal, Nikola and István. Her son was only twelve years old at the time, far too young to be dealing with all of this. Her daughters were inconsolable. Her sons in law did their best, but they didn't manage to gain her freedom for her. They had arranged for her to be sent to a nunnery, the irony of that was not lost on her, but Matthias pulled strings. Noblemen started cropping up, claiming she had murdered their daughters, and as such her sentence had to be heightened. Of course.
Ultimately, it was decided that she would be confined to Čachtice Castle in solitary confinement. What had once been her beloved Ferenc's wedding gift to her became her prison. She was walled into her rooms. Matthias never had to return her money to her or her family, or what was left of it after all the bribes he had to pay to get her locked up. It didn't take long, really, for her to escape. She fed through the small hole in the wall that they had kept to give her money. She'd speak to the guard, using the skills of persuasion Zaleska had taught her, and drank from his wrist. Until she had a visitor, late one night. Zaleska would help her escape and the very next day she pretended to be dead. Her body didn't bleed, she had no heartbeat, and she was pale and cold. Naturally, they put her in a coffin and moved her. First to the local chapel, but the villagers didn't want her there so her coffin was moved to her place of birth. At least, it was supposed to. She left during the night.
Dying was freeing, it allowed her to plan. Her daughters were safe and Pal had gone to live with Anna, but all of her son's inheritance had been seized. A lot of land, a lot of wealth, all of it was Matthias'. She could not go after him yet, that would be far too public, but she went after that traitor of György. Zaleska helped her. In 1616, he died of a supposed illness, but Erszébet had become very knowledgable of plants. Especially of which ones would cause the most painful, most natural seeming deaths. György died in agony, she made sure of it. As did his son, who was supposed to inherit what should've been Pal's. Three years later, she had her revenger on the king. He lost everything before that, forced to step down because he was far too weak to avoid a takeover. She made sure his passing was painful, for what he did to her. Seeing her in the dark almost killed him already, though. Pathetic man, he'd always been a worm.
After that... life continued. Or un-life, perhaps. She lived with Zaleska, she met the child she had given away. That was difficult, she didn't quite know how to handle her existence. She had just lost the children she had raised, the ones she had looked after and nursed. Erszébet would never see them again. How could she just move on and take in another child? No, she needed time for herself. It took a long while before she was ready to even spend time alone with her. She knew it was unkind but she could not help it. Everything was still far too raw. But centuries passed and Erszébet changed a lot with the times. She studied, she learned, constantly. Medicine was always changing, improving, and she wanted to keep up. She wanted to learn everything there was to learn, that which had been denied her in her own time.
Also, she learned that she did not fall in love with bodies. She had fallen in love with Ferenc because of what they shared, because of their hopes for the future, because of their conversations and the challenges that they posed towards each other. She'd fallen in love with the support, with the warmth. In that same way, she fell in love with Zaleska. Something that in her own time she would've found... unnatural of herself now made her happier than she had been in a long time. Time changed her, time made her... calmer, though no less sharp. More involved, yet also less personal. Life was endless and time was eternal, just like her.
parents
György VI Báthory de Ecsed and Anna Báthory de Somlyó
siblings
István XII Báthory de Ecsed, (1555 – 25 July 1605), Royal Judge of the Kingdom of Hungary.
Zsofiá and Klara, her sisters, so little is known about them. Erszébet thinks it's just as well.
Zsofiá and Klara, her sisters, so little is known about them. Erszébet thinks it's just as well.
children
@anastasia (1574)
Anna Nádasdy (1585 - 1616)
György Násdasdy (stilborn)
Orsolya Násdasdy (1590 - unknown)
Katalin Nádasdy (1594 - unknown)
András Nádasdy (1596 - 1603)
Pál Nádasdy (1598 – 1650)
Anna Nádasdy (1585 - 1616)
György Násdasdy (stilborn)
Orsolya Násdasdy (1590 - unknown)
Katalin Nádasdy (1594 - unknown)
András Nádasdy (1596 - 1603)
Pál Nádasdy (1598 – 1650)
partner
Baron Ferenc II Nádasdy (Died the 4th of January 1604) - @zaleska
other family
Probably every single noble at the time:
Maternal grandfather: István VIII Báthory de Somlyó, Voivode of Transylvania.
Paternal uncle: András Báthory de Ecsed, Voivode of Transylvania, Catholic cardinal.
Maternal uncle: István IX Báthory de Somlyó, Voivode of Transylvania.
Maternal uncle: Christopher Báthory de Somlyó, Voivode of Transylvania.
Maternal cousin: Sigismund Báthory de Somlyó, Voivode of Transylvania.
Son-in-law: Nikola VI Zrinski, Croatian count, Anna's husband.
Son-in-law: István II Benyó, Hungarian lord, Orsolya's husband.
Daughter-in-law: Judith Násdasdy, Pál's wife.
... you get the idea.
Maternal grandfather: István VIII Báthory de Somlyó, Voivode of Transylvania.
Paternal uncle: András Báthory de Ecsed, Voivode of Transylvania, Catholic cardinal.
Maternal uncle: István IX Báthory de Somlyó, Voivode of Transylvania.
Maternal uncle: Christopher Báthory de Somlyó, Voivode of Transylvania.
Maternal cousin: Sigismund Báthory de Somlyó, Voivode of Transylvania.
Son-in-law: Nikola VI Zrinski, Croatian count, Anna's husband.
Son-in-law: István II Benyó, Hungarian lord, Orsolya's husband.
Daughter-in-law: Judith Násdasdy, Pál's wife.
... you get the idea.
family history
"Oh, the nobility always had such riveting family histories. Now it's all in the tabloids, how... quaint."
The Báthory family was a Hungarian noble family of the Gutkeled clan. The family rose to significant influence in Central Europe during the late Middle Ages, holding high military, administrative and ecclesiastical positions in the Kingdom of Hungary. In the early modern period, the family brought forth several Princes of Transylvania and one King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. The family traced its descent to the Swabian brothers Gut and Kelad, who immigrated into Hungary from the castle Stof (probably Staufen im Breisgau or Hohenstaufen in Württemberg) during the reign of King Péter, who himself was partly of Venetian descent.
In 1279, King Ladislaus IV rewarded András of Rakoméz's brother Hados and András' sons György, Benedikt and Briccius for their military services by granting them Bátor in the county of Szabolcs. Bátor had been the estate of Vajda son of Lángos, who had married a relative of Andrew but died without issue. In 1310, Bátor came into the sole possession of Briccius when he reached an agreement with his nephew Michael and his cousin Vid to divide the joint possessions. After this, Briccius and his descendants named themselves "of Bátor" or Báthory.
The family divided into two major branches, which descended from the sons and grandsons of Briccius:
The elder branch of the family, the Báthory of Somlyó were descended from János, Count of Szatmár, the first-born son of Briccius, through his eldest son Ladislaus. Ladislaus, Count of Szabolcs, married Anna Meggyesi and received Somlyó as dowry. Ladislaus' younger brother György II is the ancestor of the Simolin family, later called Báthory of Simolin. A further division occurred under the great-grandsons of Ladislaus: János and István dropped the name Báthory and founded the Szaniszlófi family, while Nikolaus continued the Somlyó branch.
The younger branch of the family, the Báthory of Ecsed, were descended from Luke, the youngest son of Briccius. Luke possessed wide estates in Szatmár and was granted by King Charles Robert the lordship of Ecsed, where he built the castle called Hűség. This branch, since they retained the possession of Bátor, are sometimes called of Bátor or, as the younger branch, Nyírbátor (New Bathory).
"And now, for the closer history of my parents..."
The Ecsed branch first rises to prominence with the sons of Luke's grandson János V. His eldest son Bertalan I fell in 1432 fighting against the Hussites. The second son, István III rose to become Palatine of Hungary and in 1444 fell in the Battle of Varna as flag-bearer of Władysław, King of Poland and Hungary. He had also received the castle Bujak from King Albert of Habsburg.
Of Stephen's six sons, Ladislaus V was supreme count of the counties Szatmár and Zaránd, the second András III was confirmed in his possession of Bujak. The third son, István V excelled as a military commander and was made Voivod of Transylvania, the first of a long line of Báthory rulers of that country. The youngest son, Nicolaus III, bishop first of Syrmia and after 1474 of Vác, excelled as a renaissance scholar and served as counselor to King Matthias Corvinus.
István VII first proved himself as Count of Temesvár and in 1519 was elected Palatin of Hungary, as which he had to contend with the opposition of the nobility. In 1526, he fought in the disastrous Battle of Mohács against the Ottomans, in which King Lujza II fell. After the harsh and fierce battle, Hungary was torn apart by the conflict between the rival royal claims. The two branches of the family positioned themselves on the opposing sides of the conflict. The Ecsed branch commonly sided with the Habsburgs: István VII, who had escaped the battle, fled with Lujza's widow to Pozsony (now Bratislava), where he organized the election of Ferdinand of Austria as King of Hungary. In the 1550s, when Ferdinand briefly gained control of Transylvania in 1551, he installed István's nephew Bonaventura as his lieutenant to govern the country.
The Somlyó branch, on the other hand, supported János Zápolya, whom the greater part of the Hungarian nobility had elected King. Zápolya appointed István VIII Voivode of Transylvania, which he governed until his death in 1534. Later, the interest of the Zápolyas were represented at the Habsburg court by the Voivod's son István IX, who would go on to become Prince of Transylvania and King of Poland.
Impressed by István, György VI Báthory "My father.", of the Ecsed branch, was persuaded to change his allegiance from the Habsburgs to Zápolya, for which the Habsburg king deprived him of his castle Bujak. György strengthened his alliance to István by marrying his sister Anna "My mother.", uniting the branches. Anna Báthory was the widow of the last descendant of the Dragfi family and György now seized the castles of the Dragfi. Since the Dragfi estates were legally due to the crown, the Habsburgs forced György to yield the castles and withdrew to Csitsva in Zemplén County.
György and Anna Báthory produced the most infamous member of the family... "Myself."
The Báthory family was a Hungarian noble family of the Gutkeled clan. The family rose to significant influence in Central Europe during the late Middle Ages, holding high military, administrative and ecclesiastical positions in the Kingdom of Hungary. In the early modern period, the family brought forth several Princes of Transylvania and one King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. The family traced its descent to the Swabian brothers Gut and Kelad, who immigrated into Hungary from the castle Stof (probably Staufen im Breisgau or Hohenstaufen in Württemberg) during the reign of King Péter, who himself was partly of Venetian descent.
In 1279, King Ladislaus IV rewarded András of Rakoméz's brother Hados and András' sons György, Benedikt and Briccius for their military services by granting them Bátor in the county of Szabolcs. Bátor had been the estate of Vajda son of Lángos, who had married a relative of Andrew but died without issue. In 1310, Bátor came into the sole possession of Briccius when he reached an agreement with his nephew Michael and his cousin Vid to divide the joint possessions. After this, Briccius and his descendants named themselves "of Bátor" or Báthory.
The family divided into two major branches, which descended from the sons and grandsons of Briccius:
The elder branch of the family, the Báthory of Somlyó were descended from János, Count of Szatmár, the first-born son of Briccius, through his eldest son Ladislaus. Ladislaus, Count of Szabolcs, married Anna Meggyesi and received Somlyó as dowry. Ladislaus' younger brother György II is the ancestor of the Simolin family, later called Báthory of Simolin. A further division occurred under the great-grandsons of Ladislaus: János and István dropped the name Báthory and founded the Szaniszlófi family, while Nikolaus continued the Somlyó branch.
The younger branch of the family, the Báthory of Ecsed, were descended from Luke, the youngest son of Briccius. Luke possessed wide estates in Szatmár and was granted by King Charles Robert the lordship of Ecsed, where he built the castle called Hűség. This branch, since they retained the possession of Bátor, are sometimes called of Bátor or, as the younger branch, Nyírbátor (New Bathory).
"And now, for the closer history of my parents..."
The Ecsed branch first rises to prominence with the sons of Luke's grandson János V. His eldest son Bertalan I fell in 1432 fighting against the Hussites. The second son, István III rose to become Palatine of Hungary and in 1444 fell in the Battle of Varna as flag-bearer of Władysław, King of Poland and Hungary. He had also received the castle Bujak from King Albert of Habsburg.
Of Stephen's six sons, Ladislaus V was supreme count of the counties Szatmár and Zaránd, the second András III was confirmed in his possession of Bujak. The third son, István V excelled as a military commander and was made Voivod of Transylvania, the first of a long line of Báthory rulers of that country. The youngest son, Nicolaus III, bishop first of Syrmia and after 1474 of Vác, excelled as a renaissance scholar and served as counselor to King Matthias Corvinus.
István VII first proved himself as Count of Temesvár and in 1519 was elected Palatin of Hungary, as which he had to contend with the opposition of the nobility. In 1526, he fought in the disastrous Battle of Mohács against the Ottomans, in which King Lujza II fell. After the harsh and fierce battle, Hungary was torn apart by the conflict between the rival royal claims. The two branches of the family positioned themselves on the opposing sides of the conflict. The Ecsed branch commonly sided with the Habsburgs: István VII, who had escaped the battle, fled with Lujza's widow to Pozsony (now Bratislava), where he organized the election of Ferdinand of Austria as King of Hungary. In the 1550s, when Ferdinand briefly gained control of Transylvania in 1551, he installed István's nephew Bonaventura as his lieutenant to govern the country.
The Somlyó branch, on the other hand, supported János Zápolya, whom the greater part of the Hungarian nobility had elected King. Zápolya appointed István VIII Voivode of Transylvania, which he governed until his death in 1534. Later, the interest of the Zápolyas were represented at the Habsburg court by the Voivod's son István IX, who would go on to become Prince of Transylvania and King of Poland.
Impressed by István, György VI Báthory "My father.", of the Ecsed branch, was persuaded to change his allegiance from the Habsburgs to Zápolya, for which the Habsburg king deprived him of his castle Bujak. György strengthened his alliance to István by marrying his sister Anna "My mother.", uniting the branches. Anna Báthory was the widow of the last descendant of the Dragfi family and György now seized the castles of the Dragfi. Since the Dragfi estates were legally due to the crown, the Habsburgs forced György to yield the castles and withdrew to Csitsva in Zemplén County.
György and Anna Báthory produced the most infamous member of the family... "Myself."
other
Sometimes she reads the wikipedia page about herself just to make herself angry, it's hilarious.
face claim
Keira Knightleystatus of application
completehave you read the rules?
surehow did you hear about us?
eh
roleplay sample
