Countess Elizabeth Bathory. Biography of the bloody lady

Several portraits of Elizabeth Bathory can be seen in history books and on various internet sites. Upon closer examination, it can be seen that the portraits depict different women, in addition, a person who understands painting will immediately see many other details that indicate a later or earlier origin of the portraits.

Perhaps there are some original portraits of Countess Bathory, or maybe exact copies are kept somewhere, from which you can restore her real image. We will work on this, and it is quite possible that someday we will find out exactly what Erzhebet Bathory looked like. But now I want to understand and understand why they destroyed all the portraits of the countess, why they burned all the documents related to her name and the trial.

According to the widespread version, the things of the countess and her portraits were destroyed by order of the authorities, so as not to disturb the people. Strange, but why then did they not destroy her jewelry? Why did all the Countess's jewels find their new owners very quickly?

If Elizabeth Bathory saw this fake portrait, the artist would beg for forgiveness ...

All precisely because for the sake of jewelry, for the sake of land and other property, the Countess was slandered. And the portraits and documents that could somehow justify Elizabeth Bathory and call into question the accusation were destroyed. There were only documents with signatures and testimonies of witnesses from the common people, although in reality their testimony could not bear weight for several reasons.

The peasants of that time were not much different from the cattle they grazed. They were illiterate, downtrodden and very much. They believed in vampires and other fairy tales, and most importantly, almost any peasant in his heart hated his master, because the peasants, according to the traditions of that time, were mercilessly exploited.

Therefore, when it was decided to convict the Countess, there was no need for a long search and persuasion of witnesses. It just took to gather slaves from the nearest villages, and they happily put their signatures on anything, because the peasants, firstly, are illiterate, and secondly, they hated their mistress. To this should also be added the belief of the peasants in vampires, witchcraft, black rituals mixed with the blood of virgins ...

At the same time, the peasants could not come into contact with the portraits and documents of the countess, which allegedly could offend their feelings and become a source of mass riots. All portraits and documents of the countess were destroyed in order to erase her real image from history and instead of the real countess create a fictional image of a bloody monster.

Over the centuries, the real Erzsebet Bathory was completely forgotten, almost nothing remained of her real personality and life. No one cares about what she lived, how she spent her time, why she studied foreign languages, read books and was engaged in healing. Everyone is much more interested in the creepy fictional image that some people, even 400 years later, helps to make money on Elizabeth Bathory.

The example of Erzsebet Bathory is very important, because she is not the only one whom people who write history have slandered and discredited. Corrupt historians, those in power and various public figures continue their work today, they denigrate people and entire states, and the population believes every word from the TV, as if God himself speaks to them.

Most contemporaries believe that serial killers and maniacs are the "invention" of the 20th century. But this is far from the case. The bloodiest serial killer, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is a medieval Countess Elizabeth Bathory.

This maniac, nicknamed the Bloody Countess, took the lives of about 650 girls, in whose blood she loved to take a bath. In this way, the countess hoped to preserve eternal youth ...

Sadist since childhood

Elizabeth (Elizabeth, Erzhebet) Bathory, born on August 7, 1560, came from a very noble branch of the Hungarian nobility. Her uncle Stefan Batory was king of Poland, grandfather Istvan IV was the palatine of Hungary. Palatine - the highest state office after the king in the Kingdom of Hungary (until 1853). Sometimes he was called the Viceroy of Hungary. The Palatine combined the functions of the prime minister and chief judge of the kingdom.

Elizabeth was betrothed at the age of 11 to the eminent nobleman Ferenc Nadashdi. She married him at the age of 15. Almost immediately after the wedding, she moved to the Chakhtitsky (Cheytetsky) castle in the Slovak Small Carpathians.

According to one of the legends, the Bloody Countess loved blood and sadism from the very childhood. According to another version, Elizabeth was taught to cruelty by her husband. Which the Turks called "Black Bey", for the extreme cruelty to the prisoners. But the fact that Bathory had family ties with the Basarab-Draculesti clan, to which the notorious Count Dracula belonged, is an absolute fact.

Be that as it may, but the Blood Countess did not begin to kill immediately. According to the official version, she committed the first murder in 1585. But the peak of the crimes came at a later time. In 1604, her husband, to whom she gave birth to five children, laid down his head in another battle with the Turks.

At that time, Elizabeth was already 44 years old, but according to the testimonies of contemporaries that have come down to us, she still looked beautiful. However, the Countess herself, looking in the mirror every day, saw more and more signs of approaching old age.

Cachtice castle - the castle of the Bloody Countess. The castle was destroyed in 1708 when it was taken by the Kuruts (anti-Habsburg rebels) of Ferenc Rákóczi

Virgin blood

According to the most persistent version, Bathory turned to a certain sorceress named Darvula. It was she who advised the countess to bathe in the blood of virgins in order to preserve her beauty and youth. But it was required to kill with the observance of certain rituals. One of the main conditions was that killing and washing in blood was required at Christmas.

The sorceress stated that it was during this period from Christmas to Epiphany (12 days between Christmas and Epiphany) that otherworldly forces are ready to fulfill some desires for mortals. Including return to youth. And the victims had to be subtly tortured so that their suffering would attract the attention of those who could saturate the blood of girls with youthful power.

The most interesting thing is that Bathory, having washed herself with fresh blood, really felt rejuvenated, and wrinkles were smoothed out on her face. It is quite possible that it was only self-hypnosis, but the countess finally believed in the power of the rite told by the witch.

Beginning in the winter of 1604, young peasant women began to disappear in the area. And some, who at the time of the loss were no longer virgins, sometimes returned home. Telling his parents that they were kidnapped by the servants of the Countess Bathory, and in the castle they were subjected to sophisticated torture and violence, in which the mistress of the castle also took part.

Installation in the museum. Bathory Bloody Bath

But in those days it was more expensive to complain about such noblemen. All the more so for the peasants. What is there to talk about, if even the local bishop, who knew perfectly well that the countess was carried away by witchcraft, did not dare to report this to the Inquisition. After all, complaints in the end could reach the closest relatives of the countess, who owned almost all the lands in the country and were the supreme judges.

And since in those days, church hierarchs often combined secular and spiritual positions (which is generally strictly forbidden in almost all Christian denominations), the clergyman had no guarantees that he would not fall into the hands of some brother of the Bloody Countess. So he was silent, forcing his "subordinates" to remain silent.

Countess's mistake

At first, the disappearance of young girls happened only in winter time... But gradually Bathory herd was not enough only in the winter months and she began to order girls to be delivered to her at any time of the year. Later, local residents said that they saw how dogs drag parts of human bodies from the vicinity of the castle.

Disfigured and bloodless bodies were also found on the banks of the river near the castle. It was the bloodlessness of the bodies that was the reason to declare Elizabeth Bathory a vampire. But the Countess did not drink blood. She bathed in it.
Initially, it looked like this: the countess's servants and maidservants looked out for young girls in the vicinity, abducted them and brought them to the castle. There, the Countess, after mocking the victims, ordered them to cut their neck and main arteries.

The blood poured into gas, from which Bathory washed her face and some parts of her body. But is there a lot of blood to be obtained from one person? Liters four, less often five. So, two or three girls at a time were delivered to the countess for one session of "young therapy".

But their total blood it was still not enough. And Elizabeth Bathory has already got a taste. She no longer thought much about rejuvenation, she liked the very process of depriving girls of their lives. The Countess has come up with a new method of obtaining blood. According to one of the legends, this method was suggested to her by the dwarf hunchback Janos Uyvari, nicknamed Fitzko.

During his life, he was so often ridiculed for his ugliness that he hated the whole human race. And I read a lot about various torture drugs, presenting their offenders in them. The hunchback told the countess about the special torture vessel. " Whoever prompted Bathory this method of torture and blood extraction, but she brought it to life.

"Iron Maiden"

Somewhere in the distant lands, Elizabeth ordered an "iron maiden". This was the name of a special torture device.

An iron structure in the form of a human body, hollow inside and consisting of two opening halves. A person is placed inside, and then he is closed with the second half, from the inside of which sharp thorns are attached, tormenting the body of the victim.

Bathory improved the design. In her "iron maiden" the thorns did not inflict superficial wounds, but pierced the body almost through and through. The mechanism itself was located above the bathtub, into which the blood flowed. When thirty liters of blood were collected in the bath (that is, from at least six murdered girls), Bathory undressed and plunged into this bath.

But for some reason, these baths did not save you from aging. The countess again summoned the sorceress Darvula to her and demanded an explanation. The witch stated that Bathory herself was to blame for the fact that bathing in blood did not bring the desired result. After all, she was told that killing and bathing should only be at Christmas. And the countess violated this condition.

However, seeing that Bathory was about to break loose and kill the sorceress herself, Dervula hurried to get out. She said that everything can be fixed, but the blood of commoners is not suitable for this, noble virgins are needed.

Taken "red-handed"

There were quite a few impoverished noblemen living in the area, and the Bloody Grafenne on the eve of Christmas in 1609 invited the noble girls to come to her castle for service. For the impoverished family, this was a chance, and young noblewomen began to come to the Chakhtitsa castle. Who soon met the "iron woman". And this was the main mistake of Elizabeth Bathory.

When not only commoners, but also noblewomen began to disappear in the Chakhtitsa castle, the official authorities could no longer turn a blind eye to rumors. Investigative measures were carried out and it was found that the peak of the disappearances of girls in the vicinity of the Chakhtitsa castle falls on the Christmas holidays.

On December 29, 1610, the royal palatine Gyorgy Thurzo drove up to the castle, accompanied by a couple of dozen men at arms. Without engaging in special conversations with the servants, he drove into the courtyard and immediately rushed to the basement. Where he found Elizabeth Bathory for bullying another victim.

But despite the fact that the Bloody Countess was “caught” with cash, ”Elizabeth Bathory was never brought to trial. She was simply locked in a castle "where she died in 1614. Three of her maids, whose participation in kidnapping of girls and bloody orgies was proven, were burned at the stake. The hunchback Fitzko was beheaded.

But until now, local residents say that on the eve of Christmas and during this holiday, very strange and terrible things happen in the vicinity of the Chakhtitsa castle, which has become a tourist attraction.

Also called Chakhtitskaya Pani or Bloody Countess, the Hungarian countess, niece of Stefan Batory, notorious for the massacres of young girls. Is, according to the "Guinness Book of Records", the most "massive" serial killer.

Her parents were Gyorgy Bathory and Anna Bathory (sister of the future king of Poland Stefan Bathory and granddaughter of Istvan IV), descended from two branches of the same family - Bathory. Elizabeth spent her childhood at Eched Castle. At the age of 11, she was betrothed to the nobleman Ferenc Nadazhdi and moved to his castle near Sarvar. In 1575, Elizabeth married Ferenc Nadazdi (caretaker of the imperial stables and a Hungarian general) in Vranov. In 1578, her husband was appointed commander of the Hungarian forces in the war against the Turks. For his manic cruelty towards prisoners, the Turks nicknamed him "Black Bey". As wedding gift Nadazhdi presented to Elizabeth the Chakhtitsky castle in the Slovak Small Carpathians, which at that time was the property of the emperor.

In 1602 Nadazhi bought the castle from Rudolf II. Nadazhdi spent all the time in military campaigns, so Elizabeth took upon herself the responsibilities of managing the economy. The couple had 5 children: Anna, Ekaterina, Miklos, Ursula and Pavel. Soon after the acquisition of the castle, in 1604, Ferenc died, and Elizabeth remained a widow.

The exact time when Elizabeth began to kill girls is unknown, it happened between 1585 and 1610. It is likely that her husband and relatives knew about this and tried to limit her in this. Most of the victims were local peasant women. In 1610, rumors of murders began to reach the court, and Emperor Matthew instructed the palatine György Thurzo to investigate the case. December 29, 1610 Thurzo with an armed detachment broke into the castle and caught Elizabeth Bathory with his henchmen, torturing the next victims. Despite the evidence, and even the fact that she was locked in her own castle for a while, ostensibly for her own safety, until she was brought to trial, Elizabeth was never brought to trial - big name the Bathory family (brother of Chakhtitskaya lady, Gabor Bathory, was the ruler of Transylvania) did their job. Nevertheless, Elizabeth spent the rest of her life in captivity in the Chakhtitsa castle. The trial of the henchmen took place on January 2, 1611 in the Bitchansky castle. Dorota Szentes, Ilona Jo and Katarina Benicka were burned, Jan Uyvar was chopped off. According to the diaries of Elizabeth Bathory and the testimony of her Jesuit father Laszlo Turosi (supported by Hungarian researcher Dr. Zoltan Meder), fearing to lose her youth and attractiveness, she bathed every week in a bath filled with the blood of young virgins. She killed 650 people.

There is a version according to which the countess was persecuted as the head of the Protestants in Western Hungary, and most of the evidence was falsified. This version was reflected in the film "Bathory" by Juraj Yakubisko (2008).

Legends

According to legend, Elizabeth Bathory once punched her maid in the face. The blood from the maid's nose dripped onto the skin, and Elizabeth felt that the skin looked better after that. According to legend, Bathory had an iron maiden, where the victim was bleeding, which then filled the stone bath, where Bathory bathed ...

Hungary is one of the most mystical countries in the world. Here, as in neighboring Romania, beliefs in vampires are very strong. Moreover, in Hungary, many legends are associated with representatives of one of the most evil types of vampires - nosferatu. According to legend, the illegitimate children of illegitimate parents become nosferatu.

But it seems that even more than vampires, Hungarians worship witches.

One of the main attractions of Budapest is Gellert Hill, named after the holy martyr. According to the legend of Christian Gellert, the pagan Hungarians sat in a barrel pierced with nails and threw it from this mountain. But Gellert Mountain is better known as the "Mountain of Witches". It is believed that on Walpurgis Night (May 1) witches flock to her sabbath.

And next to the monument to St. Gellert is the Erzbet Bridge, which the Hungarians named after a witch in the flesh - Countess Erzbet Bathory. It is believed that the reasons that turned her into a bloody fury lie in her childhood. The Bathory clan in Hungary stood out for its nobility, wealth, courage on the battlefield and arrogance. In the 16th century, the genus split into two branches. Representatives of one branch, bearing the surname Eched, settled in mountainous Slovakia, representatives of the other, named Shomlio, in Transylvania. Due to an exorbitant sense of their own exclusiveness, Bathory of both branches considered it beneath their dignity to rub shoulders with other nobles and, as a result, married relatives. Such incest caused the presence of diseases such as epilepsy and insanity in representatives of their family. Gyord Bathory of the Eched clan and Anna Bathory of the Shomillo clan, who married, gave birth to a daughter, Erzhbet (Elizabeth), who from childhood was distinguished by soreness and an unbalanced psyche, which was expressed in unrestrained outbursts of rage on her part.

Although Bathory were rich and powerful, they lived in a cruel time and were themselves cruel. For example, when Erzbet was still young, her aunt killed her two husbands, and then she herself became a victim. She was raped by a whole detachment of Turks, after which she died.

As a child, Erzbet was betrothed to Ferenc Nadadshi, the son of a wealthy count. And when she grew up, then they married him. But family life they proceeded mainly at a distance. Ferenc was constantly on various military campaigns, and then completely died of a fever. Left to herself, Erzbet got a lover out of boredom, but over time she became disillusioned with men and preferred to satisfy her sexual whims with women. Even her own aunt was one of her sexual partners. But the countess's main occupation was taking care of her beauty. Ever since childhood, everyone told her that she was unusually beautiful, extolled her whiteness of skin, big black eyes, long hair... The first wrinkle was a real tragedy for Erzbet.

According to one of the versions, Bathory came to the recipe for rejuvenation with blood by accident. The Hungarian historian Turotsi described it this way:

“Once one of the maids, while combing the head of her mistress, was guilty of something and for her mistake received such a strong slap in the face that blood splattered in the mistress's face. When the Countess wiped the blood from her face, it seemed to her that the skin in this place had become much more beautiful, whiter and thinner. She immediately decided to wash her face, and indeed the whole body, in human blood, in order to increase her beauty and attractiveness. "

However, another version seems more reliable, that in search of the secret of eternal youth, she decided to seek help from the witch Darvula, who, on her order, was taken to her castle. Since childhood, Bathory grew up in an atmosphere of talk about witchcraft, black magic and the power of evil spirits. She read books on black magic and believed in the power of the rites described there. Even in letters to her husband, when he was still alive, she recommended Ferenc Nadadshi to deal with enemies not with the help of weapons, but with magical powers:

“Catch a black hen and beat it to death with a white cane. Take blood and smear a little on your enemy. If you have no way of smearing it on his body, get one of his garments and smear it on. "

But since Bathory herself did not help her magical techniques to become forever young, over time she decided that she needed an experienced person in witchcraft who would help her figure out how to use magic theory in practice. And Dervula became such a person for her. True, the witch did not invent something particularly exquisite. Her recipe was simple but cruel. She told the countess that in order to preserve her youth, she needed to bathe in the blood of virgins. Beauty for Erzbet was above all, and she resorted to this recipe. By her order, poor virgins were taken to the castle from the surrounding villages, who were killed, and the bath for the countess was filled with their blood.

Erzbet's main assistants were her two maids Ilona Yo and Dorka, as well as the hunchback Fitzko, who hated the whole world for making fun of him. Gradually, the countess became more and more bloodthirsty, she not only began to kill girls herself, but also did it with special sophisticated cruelty, torturing and torturing them for a long time before dying. For example, the girls were taken one by one into a narrow cage equipped with metal rods for piercing the victim. The cage was suspended from the ceiling, and Bathory, sitting below, enjoyed the view of the blood pouring from above. Sometimes, falling into a frenzy, she began to torture the victim with her own hands, hacking her body with scissors, lashing with a whip and cauterizing the wounds with red-hot iron rods.

However, the bloody baths did not become a panacea for old age, Erzbet discovered new signs of withering beauty in her. She became more and more angry at Darvula and she, out of fear, came up with an excuse for herself, saying that the recipe was correct, only it was not the blood of commoner virgins that was required, but noblewomen. Dorka and Ilona found twenty daughters from impoverished noble families and managed to persuade their parents to send the girls to the castle to the Countess Bathory, where they could live in abundance and possibly find a good party. Within a few days, none of these twenty girls survived. But their blood did not become magic either. Finding no signs of rejuvenation, Bathory became terribly angry. The sorceress Darvulya, only imagining what torments the angry countess could betray her, died of fear.

The priest to whom long time I had to service the victims of the bloody countess, finally overcame my fear of her and wrote a letter about her atrocities to her relative Gyorgyu Thurzo. Thurzo and Erzbet had disagreements over the ancestral inheritance, and the Countess even attempted to poison it. Therefore, Thurzo initiated an investigation into the crimes of a relative. But even during the investigation, Erzbet did not stop her murders.

When Thurzo and the soldiers forced the countess to let him into the castle, they found numerous torture devices, bloody vats in the basement, and also found the countess's diary, which described how she killed 610 girls.

The trial of Erzbet and her henchmen began on January 2, 1611. According to the verdict of the court, Ilona and Dorka were burned at the stake, the pupil of the Countess, the hunchback Fitzko, was cut off the head, and then they threw her into the same fire. Given the nobility of Erzbet Bathory, the court saved her life, but subjected her to painful punishment. The "Chzhet Beast" was immured alive in a stone crypt in her castle, Chait. Countess Bathory lived in a stone prison for about 3 more years, without sunlight and communication with people. Every day, food was thrust into her through a small hole, which was her only connection with the world. It seems that in confinement her beauty has faded considerably, and the skin has lost its silkiness from the dirt.

In the room until his death four years later.

The history of serial murders and brutality of Bathory was proved by the testimony of more than 300 witnesses and victims, as well as material evidence and the presence of the horribly mutilated bodies of already dead, dying and imprisoned girls found during the detention of the Countess. The stories that attribute vampirism to her (the most famous of them speaks of bathing the countess in the blood of virgins in order to preserve her youth) appeared many years after Bathory's death and are unreliable. The story of the Bloody Countess has become a national folklore, popular to this day.

Biography

Early life

Marriage

At the age of 10, Erzsebet was betrothed to Ferenc Nadashd (English)Russian, the son of Baron Tomas Nadashd of Vogarashfold and Orshoya Kanizhai; such an alliance was probably based on political motives. The couple got married on May 8, 1575 at Vranova Castle. About 4.5 thousand guests were invited to the wedding. Erzhebet moved to the Nadashdei castle in Sarvar, where she spent a lot of time alone while Ferenc studied in Vienna.

As a wedding gift Ferenc gave Erzhebet the Chahtitsa castle. The castle, located at the foot of the Small Carpathians near Trenchen, was bought for Ferenc by his mother in 1579, together with the country house Cheyte and seventeen surrounding villages.

Accusation

Investigation

Between 1602 and 1604, after rumors of Countess Bathory's atrocities spread throughout the kingdom, Lutheran minister Istvan Magyari began to complain about her, both publicly and at court in Vienna. It took the Hungarian authorities some time to start responding to Magyari's complaints. Finally, in early 1610, King Matthias II appointed Gyorgy Thurzo, the Palatine of Hungary, to investigate the matter. In March of the same year, György hired two notaries to collect evidence. In 1610 and 1611, notaries received testimony from over 300 witnesses. The court records included the testimony of four defendants as well as thirteen witnesses. Priests, nobles and commoners were also questioned. Among the witnesses were castellans and another servant of the Sárvar castle.

Several witnesses named relatives who died in the countess's house. Others reported seeing signs of torture on bodies that were buried in cemeteries and elsewhere. Also, two witnesses (participants in the trial Benedict Desheo and Yakov Silvasi) saw with their own eyes how the countess tortured and killed young maids. According to the testimony of the defendants, Erzsebet Bathory tortured and killed her victims not only in the Cheyte castle, but also in other possessions: Sharvar, Nemetkeresture, Pozhoni, Vienna and so on. In addition to the defendants, several people were named as Erzsebet Bathory's henchmen, who brought girls to the countess's house by deception or force. A certain Anna Darvulia, who died long before the trial, was named a person who had influence on Bathory.

Arrest

Thurzo discussed further proceedings with Erzsebet's son Pale and her two sons-in-law. The trial and execution would have caused a public scandal and disgraced the noble and powerful family that ruled in Transylvania at the time; in addition, a significant part of Erzsebet's property would have gone to the crown. Thurzo, along with Pale and Erzsebet's sons-in-law, had originally planned to send the Countess to the monastery, but as news of Bathory's murders of the daughters of the petty aristocracy spread, it was decided that Countess Bathory should be under strict house arrest and further punishment should be avoided.

King Matthias called on Thurzo to bring Erzsebet to trial and offered to sentence her to death penalty, but Thurzo managed to convince the king that such an act could negatively affect the nobility. Thurzo's motivation for such intervention is debated by scholars. It was found that Matthias would thus not have to pay off his large debt to Erzhebet.

Court

The trial of Bathory's accomplices began on January 2, 1611 in Bice, presided over by the judge of the Royal Supreme Court, Theodosiusz Širmiensis of Sulo, and 20 assistant judges. Dozens of witnesses and victims, sometimes up to 35 people a day, testified. In addition to the evidence, the court also considered the recovered skeletons and corpse parts as evidence.

The exact number of victims of Erzsebet Bathory is unknown, and even her contemporary estimates varied greatly. During the trial, Shemtes and Fico reported 36 and 37 victims, respectively, while serving with the countess. Other defendants reported 50 or more casualties. Many servants of the Sarvar castle estimated the number of corpses removed from the castle at between 100 and 200 people. One of the witnesses, a woman named Shushanna, mentioned a book in which Bathory allegedly kept a list of more than 650 victims in total, and this number became legendary. Since the number 650 could not be proven, 80 casualties were officially recognized. The location of Bathory's diaries, which could have contained information useful to the court, is unknown, but 32 letters written by Bathory are kept in the Hungarian State Archives in Budapest.

Three of the defendants - Shemtes, Jo and Fitzko - were sentenced to death; the sentence was executed immediately. Shemtes and Yo had their fingers torn off with hot tongs, after which both maids were burned at the stake. Fitzko, who was considered less guilty, was beheaded and his body burned. Benicka was sentenced to life imprisonment as it was proven that she was depressed and bullied by other women.

Last years and death

The place of detention of Bathory was named Cheyte Castle, where she was placed in solitary confinement (presumably her own room) and windows and doors were blocked, leaving only small holes for ventilation and food supply. Erzhebet stayed here until her death.

Alternative version

Some authors, such as Laszlo Nagy and Dr. Irma Sadecki-Kardos, argue that Erzsebet Bathory was the victim of a conspiracy. Nagy argued that the case was largely motivated by politics. The theory is quite consistent with the Hungarian history of the time when there was a religious and political conflict: the war with the Ottoman Empire, the spread of Protestantism and the expansion of the Habsburg rule over Hungary.

Proponents of this point of view draw attention to the lack of reliable historical sources on this topic. Characterized by procedural violations, inconsistencies and the transience of the trial over her servant: the alleged accomplices of Countess Bathory were severely tortured, and after receiving confessions they were executed very quickly.

However, there are numerous counterarguments against this theory. The impetus for the beginning of the investigation of Bathory's crimes was a complaint from the Lutheran minister Istvan Magyari. This is inconsistent with the theory that Catholics / Habsburgs opposed the Protestant Bathory, although religious tensions were still a possible source of conflict as Bathory was a Calvinist rather than a Lutheran. When trying to find Bathory innocent, it is necessary to take into account the testimony of about 300 witnesses who gave them, according to the supporters of the theory, being in a state of moral panic. The physical evidence gathered by the investigators, including the numerous bodies of dead and dying girls found when Thurzo entered the castle, must also be taken into account or refuted. Sadecki-Kardosz believes that the physical evidence was exaggerated and Thurzo distorted the number of dead and the extent of injuries of the injured girls believed to be Bathory's victims, thanks to which he greatly benefited from his political ambitions.

Image in culture

Literature

Erzhebet Bathory is the heroine of numerous historical and literary works:

• Tragica Historia Laszlo Turotsi (1729)
• Eternal youth Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (1874)
• Devil's wagon Sandora Mackay (1925)
• Báthory Erzsébet Kalman Vandora (1940)
• Elizabeth Bathory, Bloody Countess Valentina Penrose (1962)
• Bloody Countess Alejandra Pisarnik (1968)
• 62. Model for assembly Julio Cortazara (1968)
• Real vampires in history Donald Glath (1971)
• The truth about Dracula Gabrielle Roney (1972)
• Dracula was a woman. In Search of the Bloody Countess of Transylvania Raymonda McNally (1984)
• The Chronicles of Elenia David Eddings (1989)
• Daughter of the night Elani Bergstrom (1992)
• Age of Dracula Kim Newman (1992)
• Bloody Countess Jojo Nizhnyansky (1994)
• Bloody Countess Andrea Codrescu (1995)
• Lord of the vampires Zhanna Kalogridis (1997)
• She is Dracula Javier García Sanchez (2002)
• Bloody confession Alice Libby (2006)
• The Trouble With the Pears Gia Bathory (2006)
• Death Note Another Note: The Los Angeles BB Murder Cases Nisio Isina (2006)
• O legado de bathory Alejandre Heredia (2007)
• Unkarilainen taulu Mikko Carppi (2008)
• War of the Sorcerers. Icy desert(2008) and War of the Sorcerers: Curse of Odia Maite Carranza
• Dracula is immortal Deycra Stoker and Ian Holt (2009)
• Én, Báthory Erzsébet(I, Elizabeth Báthory) Maria Szabo (2010)
• Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Seth Graham-Smith (2010)
• Cold blood Saira Bond (2011)
• Damned Chuck Palahniuk (2011)
• Bloody illusions Diana Udovichenko (2013)
• Countess Dracula. The incredible story of Elizabeth Bathory Gabriel Gaultier (2013)
• Bloody gospel James Rollins and Rebecca Cantrell (2013)
• Countess Dracula Michael Parry
• Moon Seal Georgy Zotov
• Countess Rebecca Jones
• Mistress of the castle Čechtice Kalman Miksat
• A Stab at Forever Michael Angelo-Page
• Bathory: Memoirs of a Countess A. Mordo
• This rough magic and Much fall of blood Eric Flint, Dave Freer and Mercedes Lakey
• Rumfuddle Jack Vance
• Sanguinarius Ray Russell
• Daughter of the moon Joseph Curtin
• Bloody Countess Tara Moss
• Series The Vampire Huntress Legend Series Leslie Esdale Banks
• Series Chronicles of Vladimir Tod Heather Breview
• Series The Parasol Protectorate Gail Carridger

Poetry

• Báthori Erzsébet Janos Garai.
• Báthory Erzsébet: történeti beszély két énekben Sandor Wazotta (1847)
• The Blood Countess, Erzsébet Báthory of Hungary (1560-1614: A Gothic Horror Poem of Violence and Rage) Robert Peters
• The cockerel's waltz by Warwickshire poet Shian Lavinia Anais Valerian

Comics and Manga

Plays

Radio

• CBC released a two-part drama in 1980 Bloody Countess in the "Nightfall" series.

Cinema

There are several films about the Countess Bathory herself, as well as based on her biography:

• Vampires ()
• Necropolis(; played by Viva Oder)
• Daughters of Darkness(; played by Dolphin Seirig)
• Countess Dracula(; played by Ingrid Pitt)
• Ceremonia sangrienta(; played by Lucia Bose)
• Black Harvest of Countess Dracula(; played by Maria Silva)
• Immoral stories(; third short story - "Erzhebet Bathory", the role was played by Paloma Picasso)
• Thirst(; the main character of the film is a descendant of Erzsebet - Kate Davis; the role is played by Chantal Conturi)
• Bloody Lady(; animation)
• Mom Dracula(; as Elizabeth Dracula - Louise Fletcher)
• Return of the werewolf(; played by Julia Saley)
• Heart of the Tyrant, or Boccaccio in Hungary ()
• The mysterious death of Nina Shero ()
• Ghost hunt(; anime; episodes 18-21)
• Blood bath(; played by Suzanne Devereux)
• Bathory(; played by Diana Witter)
• Alguien mató algo ()
• The story of Elizabeth Bathory ()
• Love killer ()
• Werewolf grave(; played by Michelle Bauer)
• Eternal(; the action of the film takes place in our days, in the role of the "bloody countess" is Elizabeth Kane; the role is played by Carolyn Nero)
• The brothers grimm(; Bathory is the prototype of the Mirror Queen; played by Monica Bellucci)
• Night of the fangs(; the role was played by Marina Muzychenko)
• Stay alive(; the role was played by Maria Kalinina)
• Demon Claw(; played by Kira Reed)
• Dracula's curse(; played by Christina Rosenberg)
• Metamorphosis(; played by Adele Kovacs)
• Scarab blood(; played by Monique Parent)
• Hellboy: Blood and Metal(; animation)
• Hostel 2(; the countess served as the prototype for one of the killers - Miss Bathory; the role was played by Monica Malakova)
• Bloody Countess - Bathory(; played by Anna Friel)
• Countess(; played by Julie Delpy)
• 30 Days of Night: Dark Times ()
• Bloody Countess ()
• Epitaph: Bread and Salt(; as Liz Bathory - Kayleigh Williams)
• Chastity bites(; played by Louise Griffiths)
• Fear Night 2: Fresh Blood(; played by Jamie Murray)
• 400 Years of the Bloody Countess: Secret after Secret ( ; )
• Bloody Lady Bathory(; the role was played by Svetlana Khodchenkova)
• Salem(; TV series, episode 2 inspired by Bathory's story will appear)
• Scary Tales(; TV series, in the first episode of the second season, Evelyn Poole (Helen McCrory) takes a bath of the blood of a young girl)

Music

Groups named after Bathory

• Swedish group Bathory was named after her. In particular, on the album "Under the Sign of the Black Mark" (1987) there was a song dedicated directly to the Countess - "Woman of Dark Desires".
• Also named after her is a Dutch group Countess.
• The site metal-archives.com contains information about a number of groups named after the countess, such as: Black Countess (Russia), Countess Bathory (there is a Czech and American band with this name), Funeral Countess (Brazil), Undead Countess (Mexico ), The Blood Countess (USA).
• The Canadian group Csejthe is named after the Chakhtitsa Castle.

Bathory songs and albums

• Swedish group Bathory released on the album "Under the Sign of the Black Mark" (1987) a song dedicated to the Countess herself - "Woman of Dark Desires".
• American thrash metal band Slayer wrote the song "Beauty Through Order" (2009 album "World Painted Blood") dedicated to the bloody decanter.
• The English band Venom wrote the song "Countess Bathory" for the album "Black Metal", dedicated to the bloody decanter.
• Swedish band Ghost wrote a song "Elizabeth" for album "Opus Eponymous" 2010 year.
• The English band Cradle of Filth recorded the album "Cruelty and the Beast", entirely dedicated to Elizabeth Bathory. In particular, the album features an 11-minute conceptual composition "Bathory Aria".
• Italian band Stormlord wrote the song "Countess Bathory" (demo "Black Knight" 1993).
• Florida band Kamelot recorded the Elizabeth trilogy on Karma.
• Hungarian black metal band Tormentor wrote the song "Elisabeth Bathory" (album "Anno Domini").
• The Czech band XIII.století dedicated the song "Elizabeth" to the Countess.
• German band Untoten recorded an entire album Die blutgräfin in honor of the deeds of Countess Bathory.
• German dark metal band Nachtblut recorded the song "Die Blutgräfin" for the album Antik 2009 year.
• Seattle-based American band Aiden recorded the song "Elizabeth" dedicated to the lust for eternal life and the cruelty of Countess Bathory.
• Composition "Báthory Erzsébet" by the group Sunn O))).
• The Russian group Mistream wrote the song "In the Fortress" about Countess Bathory.
• Russian horror-rap performer MC Val wrote the song "Killer Women" about Countess Bathory. The song was included in the "Madness of the Monsters" album.

Computer games

• In Castlevania Bloodlines and Castlevania the new Generation, Bathory is a minor negative character. She acts as an assistant to Count Dracula. Its feature is absorption vital energy enemy. This is the first computer game where Elizabeth Bathory appears.
• In the online game Ragnarok Online there is a humanoid monster Bathory, one of its attacks - "sucking" the character's hit points.
• In the game Diablo 2 in the first act there is a task of passing the dungeons of the castle of the countess, bathed in the blood of virgins. In the game, she was convicted and buried alive long before the events of the game, and the hero fights with her resurrected body.
• In the Warhammer FB universe, there is an artifact called the Bathory Cup that belonged to the vampire Countess Isabella von Korstein, who was given to her by her grandmother Bathory.
• In BloodRayne, one of the game's bosses claims to be a direct descendant of the Countess.
• V online game Allods online in the update 4.0.1 "Lords of Fate" there is an astral island "The estate of the bloody countess."
• In Fate / Extra CCC, one of the servants is Elizabeth Bathory (Lancer).
• The bloody countess
• In Mortal Kombat (2011), the Countess is referred to as the favorite childhood hero of the Scarlet character.
• In the online game Tera Online, one of the tasks has the character Bathory.
• In the HDoom mod, Bathory is the name of the girl who replaces the Hell Baron from the original game.

see also

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Notes (edit)

1. (English). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved March 19, 2015.
2. :
   The most prolific female murderer and the most prolific murderer of the western world, was Elizabeth Bathori, who practiced vampirism on girls and young women. Throughout the 15th century, she is alleged to have killed more than 600 virgins
3. Ramsland, Katherine.(English). Crime library... Turner Entertainment Networks Inc .. Retrieved July 13, 2014.
4. Thorne, Tony. Countess Dracula. - London: Bloomsbury, 1997 .-- S. 53.
5. Letter from Thurzó to his wife, 30 December 1610, printed in Farin, Heroine des grauens, p. 293.
6. ... Elizabethbathory.net. Retrieved November 18, 2013.
7. Dennis Bathory-Kitsz.... Bathory.org (4 June 2009). Retrieved September 15, 2012.
8. Craft, Kimberly L.... - CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2009 .-- ISBN 9781449513443.
9. Craft, Kimberly L.... - CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2009 .-- P. 33 .-- ISBN 9781449513443.
10. Craft, Kimberly L.... - CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2009 .-- P. 34 .-- ISBN 9781449513443.
11. Craft, Kimberly L.... - CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2009 .-- P. 39 .-- ISBN 9781449513443.
12. Craft, Kimberly L.... - CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2009 .-- P. 38 .-- ISBN 9781449513443.
13. Craft, Kimberly L.... - CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2009 .-- S. 69-70. - ISBN 9781449513443.
14. Craft, Kimberly L.... - CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2009 .-- P. 51 .-- ISBN 9781449513443.
16. Farin, Michael. Heroine des Grauens. Elisabeth Báthory. - Munich: P. Kirchheim, 2003. - S. 234-237. - ISBN 3-87410-038-3.
17. Letters from Thurzó to both men on 5 March 1610, printed in Farin, Heroine des grauens, pp. 265-266, 276-278.
18. from The straight dope
19. Craft, Kimberly L.... - CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2009 .-- S. 96-99. - ISBN 9781449513443.
20. Thorne, Tony. Countess Dracula. - London: Bloomsbury, 1997. - S. 18-19.
21. Letter from 12 December 1610 by Elizabeth’s son-in-law Zrínyi to Thurzó refers to agreement made earlier. See Farin, Heroine des grauens, p. 291.
22. McNally, Raymond T. Dracula Was a Woman: In Search of the Blood Countess of Transylvania. - New York: McGraw Hill, 1983. - ISBN 0-07-045671-2.
23. Richard Cavendish(English) // History Today. - 2014. - Vol. 64, no. eight .
24. Craft, Kimberly L.... - CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2009 .-- P. 298 .-- ISBN 9781449513443.
25. Farin, Michael. Heroine des Grauens. Elisabeth Báthory. - Munich: P. Kirchheim, 2003. - S. 246. - ISBN 3-87410-038-3.
26. ... Retrieved February 25, 2015.
27. Nagy, László. A rossz hirü Báthoryak. - Budapest: Kossuth Könyvkiadó, 1984.
28. ... Élet és Tudomány (Life and Science). Retrieved September 2, 2005.
29. Pollák, György. Az irástudók felelötlensége // Kritika. Müvelödéspollitikai és kritikai lap. - Budapest, 1986. - S. 21–22.
30. Thorne, Tony. Countess Dracula: The Life and Times of Elisabeth Bathory, the Blood Countess. - Bloomsbury, 1997 .-- ISBN 0-7475-2900-0.

Literature

• // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.

Links

• on "Rodovod". Ancestor and descendant tree
• Guinness World Records (2006); page 133

Excerpt from Bathory, Elizabeth

With regard to charity, the best valor of the crowned heads, Napoleon also did everything that depended on him. At charitable establishments, he ordered to inscribe Maison de ma mere [House of my mother], combining by this act a tender filial feeling with the greatness of the monarch's virtue. He visited the Orphanage and, giving the orphans he had saved to kiss their white hands, graciously talked with Tutolmin. Then, according to the eloquent presentation of Thiers, he ordered to distribute the salaries of his troops with the Russians, made by him, counterfeit money. Relevant l "emploi de ces moyens par un acte digue de lui et de l" armee Francaise, il fit distribuer des secours aux incendies. Mais les vivres etant trop precieux pour etre donnes a des etrangers la plupart ennemis, Napoleon aima mieux leur fournir de l "argent afin qu" ils se fournissent au dehors, et il leur fit distribuer des roubles papiers. [Exalting the use of these measures in an action worthy of him and the French army, he ordered the distribution of benefits to the burned out. But since food supplies were too expensive to give to the people of a foreign land and for the most part hostile, Napoleon thought it best to give them money so that they could get their food on the side; and he ordered them to be endowed with paper rubles.]
Regarding the discipline of the army, orders were incessantly issued to impose strict penalties for non-performance of duty and to stop the robbery.

NS
But the strange thing is, all these orders, worries and plans, which were not at all worse than others issued in similar cases, did not touch the essence of the matter, but, like the hands of the dial in a watch, separated from the mechanism, turned arbitrarily and aimlessly, without grabbing the wheels.
Militarily, the ingenious campaign plan that Thiers speaks of; que son genie n "avait jamais rien imagine de plus profond, de plus habile et de plus admirable [his genius never invented anything deeper, more skillful and more surprising] and about which Thiers, entering into a polemic with Mr. Fen, proves that the drawing up of this brilliant plan should be attributed not to the 4th, but to the 15th of October, this plan was never and could not be carried out, because it had nothing close to reality. [the mosque] (as Napoleon called the Church of St. Basil the Blessed) turned out to be completely useless. Landing mines under the Kremlin only helped to fulfill the emperor's desire when leaving Moscow, that the Kremlin was blown up, that is, that the floor on which the child was killed was beaten. army, which so worried Napoleon, presented an unheard-of phenomenon.The French commanders lost the sixty thousandth Russian army, and only, according to Thiers, art and, it seems, also the genius of Murat managed to find, like a pin, this sixty thousandth Russian army.
Diplomatically, all Napoleon's arguments about his generosity and justice, both to Tutolmin and to Yakovlev, who was predominantly concerned with the acquisition of an overcoat and a carriage, were useless: Alexander did not receive these ambassadors and did not respond to their embassy.
In legal terms, after the execution of the alleged arsonists, the other half of Moscow burned down.
Administratively, the establishment of the municipality did not stop the robbery and only benefited some people who participated in this municipality and, under the pretext of maintaining order, robbed Moscow or kept theirs from robbery.
Religiously, the business so easily arranged in Egypt by visiting the mosque did not bring any results here. Two or three priests found in Moscow tried to fulfill Napoleon's will, but one of them was beaten on the cheeks by a French soldier during the service, and another was reported by the following French official: "Le pretre, que j" avais decouvert et invite a recommencer a dire la messe, a nettoye et ferme l "eglise. Cette nuit on est venu de nouveau enfoncer les portes, casser les cadenas, dechirer les livres et commettre d "autres desordres." breaking doors and locks, tearing books and causing other disturbances.]
Commercially, there was no response to the proclamation to the hardworking artisans and all the peasants. There were no industrious artisans, and the peasants caught those commissars who went too far with this proclamation and killed them.
With regard to the entertainment of the people and the troops with theaters, the matter was similarly unsuccessful. The theaters established in the Kremlin and in the Poznyakov house were immediately closed because actresses and actors were robbed.
Charity and that did not bring the desired results. Counterfeit banknotes and non-forged ones filled Moscow and had no value. For the French, who collected the booty, only gold was needed. Not only did the counterfeit banknotes that Napoleon so kindly distributed to the unfortunate were worthless, but silver was given below its value for gold.
But the most striking phenomenon of the invalidity of the highest orders at that time was Napoleon's efforts to stop the robberies and restore discipline.
This is what the ranks of the army reported.
“The robberies continue in the city, despite the order to stop them. Order has not yet been restored, and there is not a single merchant who dispatches trade legally. Only marketers allow themselves to sell, and even then the stolen things. "
"La partie de mon arrondissement continue a etre en proie au pillage des soldats du 3 corps, qui, non contents d" arracher aux malheureux refugies dans des souterrains le peu qui leur reste, ont meme la ferocite de les blesser a coups de saber, comme j "en ai vu plusieurs exemples".
“Rien de nouveau outre que les soldats se permettent de voler et de piller. Le 9 octobre ".
"Le vol et le pillage continuent. Il y a une bande de voleurs dans notre district qu "il faudra faire arreter par de fortes gardes. Le 11 octobre."
["Part of my district continues to be plundered by the soldiers of the 3rd corps, who are not content with taking away the meager assets of the unfortunate inhabitants who have hidden in the basements, but also inflict wounds with sabers with cruelty, as I myself have seen many times."
“Nothing new, only that the soldiers allow themselves to plunder and steal. October 9 ".
“Theft and robbery continues. There is a gang of thieves in our area that will need to be stopped by strong measures. October 11".]
“The emperor is extremely unhappy that, despite strict orders to stop the robbery, only the detachments of the guard marauders are seen returning to the Kremlin. In the old guard, riots and plunder are stronger than ever, resumed yesterday, on the last night and today. The emperor sees with condolences that the elite soldiers assigned to guard his person, who must set an example of subordination, extend disobedience to such an extent that they break the cellars and stores prepared for the army. Others humiliated themselves to the point that they did not listen to the sentry and guard officers, scolded and beat them. "
“Le grand marechal du palais se plaint vivement,” wrote the governor, “que malgre les defenses reiterees, les soldats continuent a faire leurs besoins dans toutes les cours et meme jusque sous les fenetres de l“ Empereur ”.
["The master of ceremonies of the palace strongly complains that, despite all the prohibitions, the soldiers continue to walk for an hour in all the courtyards and even under the windows of the emperor."]
This army, like a disbanded herd, trampling underfoot the food that could have saved it from starvation, disintegrated and perished every day of an unnecessary stay in Moscow.
But it didn't move.
It fled only when it was suddenly seized by panic fear, produced by the interception of carts along the Smolensk road and the Battle of Tarutino. This very news of the Battle of Tarutino, unexpectedly received by Napoleon for review, aroused in him a desire to punish the Russians, as Thiers says, and he gave the order to march, which was demanded by the entire army.
Fleeing from Moscow, the people of this army took with them everything that had been plundered. Napoleon also took his own tresor [treasure] with him. Seeing the convoy that cluttered the army. Napoleon was horrified (as Thiers says). But he, with his experience of war, did not order to burn all the extra carts, as he did with the carts of the marshal, approaching Moscow, but he looked at these carriages and carriages in which the soldiers were traveling, and said that it was very good that these crews will be used for provisions, for the sick and wounded.
The position of the entire army was like that of a wounded animal, feeling its destruction and not knowing what it was doing. Studying the skillful maneuvers of Napoleon and his troops and his goals from the time they entered Moscow until the destruction of this army is like studying the significance of the dying leaps and convulsions of a mortally wounded animal. Very often, a wounded animal, hearing a rustle, rushes to a shot at the hunter, runs forward, backward and itself accelerates its end. Napoleon did the same under the pressure of his entire army. The rustle of the Tarutino battle frightened off the beast, and he rushed forward for a shot, ran to the hunter, came back, again forward, again back and, finally, like any animal, ran back along the most unfavorable, dangerous path, but along the familiar, old trail.
Napoleon, who seems to us to be the leader of this entire movement (how the figure carved on the bow of the ship seemed to be wild, by the force guiding the ship), Napoleon during all this time of his activity was like a child who, holding on to the ribbons tied inside the carriage, imagines that he rules.

On October 6, early in the morning, Pierre left the booth and, returning back, stopped at the door, playing with a long purple dog on short crooked legs that was whirling around him. This little dog lived with them in a booth, spending the night with Karataev, but sometimes she went somewhere in the city and returned again. It probably never belonged to anyone, and now it was nobody's and had no name. The French called her Azor, the soldier storyteller called her Femgalka, Karataev and others called her Gray, sometimes Visly. Not belonging to anyone and the absence of a name and even a breed, even a certain color, did not seem to hinder the purple dog in the least. The fluffy tail of the panache stood firmly and roundly upward, the crooked legs served her so well that often, as if neglecting the use of all four legs, she lifted one hind leg gracefully and very dexterously and quickly ran on three legs. Everything for her was a matter of pleasure. Now, squealing with joy, she lay on her back, then basked in the sun with a pensive and significant look, then frolicked, playing with a chip or straw.
Pierre's attire now consisted of a dirty tattered shirt, the only remnant of his former dress, soldier's trousers tied for warmth with strings at the ankles on the advice of Karataev, a caftan and a peasant's hat. Pierre changed a lot physically during this time. He no longer seemed fat, although he still had the same kind of size and strength inherited in their breed. A beard and mustache have grown over the lower part of the face; the regrown, matted hair on his head, filled with lice, was now curling like a hat. The expression in the eyes was firm, calm and alert, such as never before had Pierre's gaze. His former licentiousness, which was also expressed in his gaze, has now been replaced by an energetic, ready for action and resistance - selection. His feet were bare.
Pierre looked now down the field, through which carts and horse-drawn carriages had traveled this morning, now into the distance across the river, now at the little dog, pretending that it really wanted to bite him, now at his bare feet, which he gladly rearranged into various positions, wiggling dirty, thick, thumbs. And every time he looked at his bare feet, a smile of animation and self-satisfaction ran across his face. The sight of these bare feet reminded him of everything that he had experienced and understood during that time, and this memory was pleasant to him.
For several days the weather had been calm, clear, with light frosts in the morning - the so-called Indian summer.
It was warm in the air, in the sun, and this warmth, with the strong freshness of the morning frost still felt in the air, was especially pleasant.
On everything, both distant and near objects, lay that magically crystal shine, which occurs only at this time of autumn. In the distance, the Sparrow Hills could be seen, with a village, a church and a large white house. And the bare trees, and sand, and stones, and roofs of houses, and the green spire of the church, and the corners of a distant white house - all this is unnaturally distinct, carved in the thinnest lines in the transparent air. Nearby could be seen the familiar ruins of a half-burnt manor house occupied by the French, with still dark green lilac bushes growing along the fence. And even this ruined and filthy house, repulsive with its ugliness in cloudy weather, now, in a bright, motionless splendor, seemed like something reassuringly beautiful.
A French corporal, unbuttoned at home, in a cap, with a short pipe in his mouth, walked around the corner of the booth and, with a friendly wink, went up to Pierre.
- Quel soleil, hein, monsieur Kiril? (that was the name of Pierre all the French). On dirait le printemps. [What is the sun, eh, Mr. Cyril? Like spring.] - And the corporal leaned against the door and offered Pierre a pipe, despite the fact that he always offered it and Pierre always refused.
- Si l "on marchait par un temps comme celui la ... [In such weather, to go on a campaign ...] - he began.
Pierre asked him what was heard about the march, and the corporal said that almost all the troops were marching and that now there should be an order about the prisoners. In the booth in which Pierre was, one of the soldiers, Sokolov, was dying, and Pierre told the corporal that it was necessary to dispose of this soldier. The corporal said that Pierre could be calm, that there was a mobile and permanent hospital for this, and that there would be an order for the sick, and that in general everything that could happen was foreseen by the authorities.
- Et puis, monsieur Kiril, vous n "avez qu" a dire un mot au capitaine, vous savez. Oh, c "est un… qui n" oublie jamais rien. Dites au capitaine quand il fera sa tournee, il fera tout pour vous ... [And then, Mr. Kiril, you should say a word to the captain, you know ... This is such ... does not forget anything. Tell the captain when he will make the round; he will do everything for you ...]
The captain, about whom the corporal spoke, often and at lengths talked with Pierre and showed him all kinds of indulgence.
- Vois tu, St. Thomas, qu "il me disait l" autre jour: Kiril c "est un homme qui a de l" instruction, qui parle francais; c "est un seigneur russe, qui a eu des malheurs, mais c" est un homme. Et il s "y entend le ... S" il demande quelque chose, qu "il me dise, il n" y a pas de refus. Quand on a fait ses etudes, voyez vous, on aime l "instruction et les gens comme il faut. C" est pour vous, que je dis cela, monsieur Kiril. Dans l "affaire de l" autre jour si ce n "etait grace a vous, ca aurait fini mal. [Here, I swear to Saint Thomas, he once told me: Cyril is an educated man, speaks French; this is a Russian master, with who happened to be unhappy, but he is a man. He knows a lot ... If he needs what he needs, there is no refusal. When you studied something, you love education and well-bred people. This is me talking about you, Mr. Kiril. The other day, if it were not for you, it’s bad would end.]
And after chatting a little longer, the corporal left. (The case that happened the other day, which the corporal mentioned, was a fight between the prisoners and the French, in which Pierre managed to pacify his comrades.) Several of the prisoners listened to Pierre's conversation with the corporal and immediately began to ask what he had said. While Pierre was telling his comrades what the corporal had said about the march, a thin, yellow and ragged French soldier approached the door of the booth. With a quick and timid movement, raising his fingers to his forehead as a sign of bow, he turned to Pierre and asked him if this was the booth of Platoche's soldier, whom he gave to sew a shirt.
About a week ago, the French received shoe goods and linen and handed them out to the captive soldiers to sew boots and shirts.
- Done, done, falcon! - said Karataev, leaving with a neatly folded shirt.
Karataev, on the occasion of warmth and for the convenience of work, wore only trousers and a torn shirt, black as earth. His hair, as the artisans do, was tied with a washcloth, and his round face seemed even rounder and more pretty.
- A persuasion is a brother to business. As he said by Friday, so he did, - said Plato, smiling and unwrapping the shirt he had sewn.
The Frenchman looked around uneasily and, as if overcoming his doubt, quickly took off his uniform and put on his shirt. The Frenchman did not have a shirt under his uniform, and a long, greasy, flowered silk vest was put on over his naked, yellow, thin body. The Frenchman, apparently, was afraid that the prisoners who looked at him would not laugh, and hastily put his head into his shirt. None of the prisoners said a word.
- See, just right, - said Plato, pulling off his shirt. The Frenchman, thrusting his head and hands, without raising his eyes, looked at his shirt and examined the seam.
- Well, falcon, this is not a tramp, and there is no real instrument; but it is said: you cannot kill a louse without a tackle, - said Plato, smiling roundly and, apparently, himself rejoicing at his work.
- C "est bien, c" est bien, merci, mais vous devez avoir de la toile de reste? [Okay, okay, thanks, but where is the canvas, what's left?] - said the Frenchman.
“It will be even nicer the way you put it on your body,” said Karataev, continuing to rejoice at his work. - That will be good and it will be pleasant.
- Merci, merci, mon vieux, le reste? .. - repeated the Frenchman, smiling, and, taking out the banknote, gave it to Karataev, - mais le reste ... [Thank you, thank you, dear, but where is the remainder? .. Give the rest. ]
Pierre saw that Plato did not want to understand what the Frenchman was saying, and without interfering, he looked at them. Karataev thanked for the money and continued to admire his work. The Frenchman insisted on the leftovers and asked Pierre to translate what he was saying.
- What does he need the leftovers for? - said Karataev. - We would have gotten some important tweaks. Well, God bless him. - And Karataev with a suddenly changed, sad face He took out a bundle of scraps from his bosom and, without looking at it, handed it to the Frenchman. - Ehma! - said Karataev and went back. The Frenchman glanced at the canvas, pondered, looked questioningly at Pierre, and as if Pierre's gaze had told him something.
- Platoche, dites donc, Platoche, - suddenly blushing, the Frenchman shouted in a squeaky voice. - Gardez pour vous, [Platos, and Platos. Take it for yourself.] - he said, feeding the scraps, turned and left.
- Here you go, - said Karataev, shaking his head. - They say they are infidels, but there is also a soul. Sometimes the old people used to say: the sweaty hand is too tough, dry, stubborn. He himself was naked, but he gave it away. - Karataev, smiling thoughtfully and looking at the scraps, was silent for a while. - And the tweaks, my friend, the important ones will blow out, - he said and returned to the booth.

Four weeks have passed since Pierre was in captivity. Despite the fact that the French offered to transfer him from a soldier's booth to an officer’s one, he remained in the booth he entered from the first day.
In a devastated and burned-out Moscow, Pierre experienced almost extreme limits of deprivation that a person can endure; but due to his strong constitution and health, which he was not aware of until now, and especially due to the fact that these privations approached so imperceptibly that it was impossible to tell when they began, he endured not only easily, but also joyfully his position ... And it was at this very time that he received that calmness and self-satisfaction for which he had vainly sought before. For a long time in his life he sought from different sides this peace of mind, harmony with himself, that which so struck him in the soldiers in the Battle of Borodino - he looked for this in philanthropy, in Freemasonry, in the scattering of secular life, in wine, in a heroic deed self-sacrifice, in romantic love for Natasha; he searched for it by means of thought, and all these searches and attempts all deceived him. And he, without thinking about it, received this reassurance and this consent with himself only through the horror of death, through privation and through what he understood in Karataev. Those terrible moments that he experienced during the execution seemed to have erased forever from his imagination and memories disturbing thoughts and feelings that had previously seemed important to him. He did not even think about Russia, or about the war, or about politics, or about Napoleon. It was obvious to him that all this did not concern him, that he was not called and therefore could not judge all this. "Russia, yes, summertime, there is no union," he repeated the words of Karataev, and these words strangely reassured him. It seemed to him now incomprehensible and even ridiculous his intention to kill Napoleon and his calculations about the cabalistic number and the beast of the Apocalypse. His anger against his wife and anxiety that his name would not be put to shame now seemed to him not only insignificant, but amusing. What did he care about the fact that this woman was leading there somewhere that life that she liked? To whom, especially to him, what did it matter if they knew or did not know that the name of their captive was Count Bezukhov?
Now he often recalled his conversation with Prince Andrey and completely agreed with him, only understanding Prince Andrey's thought in a slightly different way. Prince Andrew thought and said that happiness can only be negative, but he said this with a touch of bitterness and irony. As if, saying this, he expressed a different thought - that all the aspirations for positive happiness put into us are invested only in order to torment us, not satisfying. But Pierre, without any ulterior motive, admitted the justice of this. The absence of suffering, the satisfaction of needs and, consequently, the freedom to choose occupations, that is, the way of life, now seemed to Pierre as the undoubted and highest happiness of man. Here, now only, for the first time, Pierre fully appreciated the delight of food when he was hungry, drink when he was thirsty, sleep when he wanted to sleep, warmth when it was cold, talking with a person, when he wanted to speak and listen to a human voice. Satisfaction of needs - good food, purity, freedom - now, when he was deprived of all this, seemed to Pierre perfect happiness, and the choice of occupation, that is, life, now, when this choice was so limited, seemed to him so easy that he forgot the fact that the excess of the comforts of life destroys all the happiness of satisfying needs, and the greater freedom of choice of occupation, the freedom that education, wealth, position in the world gave him in his life, that this freedom makes the choice of occupation insolurably difficult and destroys need itself and the possibility of classes.
All of Pierre's dreams were now aimed at the time when he would be free. And yet, subsequently and throughout his life, Pierre thought and spoke with enthusiasm about this month of captivity, about those irreversible, strong and joyful feelings and, most importantly, about that complete peace of mind, about perfect inner freedom, which he experienced only at this time.
When on the first day, getting up early in the morning, left the booth at dawn and saw first the dark domes, the crosses of the Novo Devichy Monastery, saw frosty dew on the dusty grass, saw the hills of the Sparrow Hills and the wooded shore meandering over the river and hiding in the lilac distance, when I felt a touch of fresh air and heard the sounds of jackdaws flying from Moscow across the field, and when then suddenly light sprinkled from the east and the edge of the sun solemnly floated out from behind the clouds, and domes, and crosses, and dew, and the distance, and the river, everything played in a joyful light , - Pierre felt a new, not experienced by him feeling of joy and strength of life.
And this feeling not only did not leave him during the whole time of captivity, but, on the contrary, grew in him as the difficulties of his position increased.
This feeling of readiness for anything, of moral selection was even more supported in Pierre by the high opinion that, soon after his entry into the booth, was established about him among his comrades. Pierre, with his knowledge of languages, with the respect that the French showed him, with his simplicity, giving everything that was asked of him (he received an officer's three rubles a week), with his strength, which he showed to the soldiers, pressing nails into the wall of the booth , with the meekness that he showed in dealing with his comrades, with his incomprehensible ability for them to sit motionless and, doing nothing, to think, seemed to the soldiers a somewhat mysterious and superior being. Those very properties of him that, in the light in which he lived before, were for him, if not harmful, then shy - his strength, disregard for the comforts of life, absent-mindedness, simplicity - here, between these people, gave him the position of almost a hero ... And Pierre felt that this look obliged him.

On the night of 6th to 7th October, the movement of the speaking French began: kitchens, booths broke down, carts were packed, and troops and carts moved.
At seven o'clock in the morning a French convoy, in marching uniform, wearing shakos, with rifles, knapsacks and huge sacks, stood in front of the booths, and a lively French voice, strewn with curses, rolled along the entire line.
In the booth, everyone was ready, dressed, belted, shod and just waiting for the order to go out. Sick soldier Sokolov, pale, thin, with blue circles around his eyes, alone, neither shod nor dressed, sat in his place and with eyes rolling out of thinness looked inquiringly at his comrades who did not pay attention to him and moaned softly and evenly. Apparently, not so much suffering - he was sick with bloody diarrhea - as fear and grief to be alone made him moan.
Pierre, shod in shoes sewn for him by Karataev from cibik, who had brought a Frenchman to sew his soles, belted with a rope, went up to the patient and squatted down in front of him.
- Well, Sokolov, they don't quite leave! They have a hospital here. Maybe you will be even better than ours, ”said Pierre.
- Oh my God! O my death! Oh my God! The soldier groaned louder.
- Yes, I'll ask them again, - said Pierre and, getting up, went to the door of the booth. While Pierre was approaching the door, the corporal who had treated Pierre with a pipe the day before was approaching with two soldiers. Both the corporal and the soldiers were in marching uniforms, in knapsacks and shakos with buttoned scales that altered their familiar faces.
The corporal walked to the door in order to close it at the command of his superiors. Before the release, it was necessary to count the prisoners.
- Caporal, que fera t on du malade? .. [Corporal, what to do with the patient? ..] - Pierre began; but the minute he said this, he doubted whether this was his acquaintance corporal or another, unknown person: the corporal was so unlike himself at that moment. Moreover, at the minute that Pierre was saying this, the crackling of drums was suddenly heard from both sides. The corporal frowned at Pierre's words and, uttering a senseless curse, slammed the door. It became semi-dark in the booth; drums crackled sharply on both sides, drowning out the patient's groans.
"Here it is! .. Again it!" - Pierre said to himself, and an involuntary cold ran down his spine. In the corporal's changed face, in the sound of his voice, in the exciting and drowning sound of drums, Pierre recognized that mysterious, indifferent force that forced people to kill their own kind against their will, the force that he saw during the execution. It was useless to be afraid, to try to avoid this power, to make requests or admonitions to the people who served as its instruments. Pierre knew this now. I had to wait and endure. Pierre no longer went up to the patient and did not look back at him. He, silently, frowning, stood at the door of the booth.
When the doors of the booth opened and the prisoners, like a herd of sheep, crushing each other, squeezed in the exit, Pierre forced his way forward and went up to the very captain who, according to the corporal, was ready to do everything for Pierre. The captain was also in marching uniform, and from his cold face looked also "it", which Pierre recognized in the corporal's words and in the sound of drums.
- Filez, filez, [Come in, come in.] - the captain was saying, frowning severely and looking at the prisoners crowding past him. Pierre knew that his attempt would be in vain, but went up to him.
- Eh bien, qu "est ce qu" il y a? [Well, what else?] - coldly looking around, as if not recognizing, said the officer. Pierre said about the patient.
- Il pourra marcher, que diable! - said the captain. - Filez, filez, [He'll go, damn it! Come in, come in] - he continued to condemn, not looking at Pierre.
- Mais non, il est a l "agonie ... [No, he is dying ...] - Pierre began.
- Voulez vous bien ?! [You go to ...] - the captain shouted angrily frowning.
Drum yes yes I will, I will, I will, the drums crackled. And Pierre realized that a mysterious force had already completely taken possession of these people and that now it was useless to say anything else.
The captured officers were separated from the soldiers and ordered to go ahead. There were about thirty officers, including Pierre, and about three hundred soldiers.
The captured officers released from other booths were all strangers, were much better dressed than Pierre, and looked at him, in his shoes, with distrust and aloofness. Not far from Pierre was a fat major in a Kazan dressing gown, belted with a towel, and apparently enjoying the general respect of his fellow prisoners, with a plump, yellow, angry face. He held one hand with a pouch in his bosom, with the other leaning on the shank. The major, panting and panting, grumbled and was angry at everyone because it seemed to him that he was being pushed and that everyone was in a hurry when there was nowhere to hurry, everyone was surprised at something when nothing was surprising. Another, a small, thin officer, spoke to everyone, making assumptions about where they were being taken now and how far they would have time to go today. An official, in felt boots and a commissariat uniform, ran from different directions and looked out for the burnt-out Moscow, loudly reporting his observations about what had burned down and what this or that part of Moscow was visible. The third officer, of Polish origin by accent, argued with the commissariat official, proving to him that he was mistaken in defining the quarters of Moscow.