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7
See e.g. Paget,
Hungary;
and
Biographie Universelle,
Paris, 1843.

8
Jožo Niž
ň
ansky,
Č
achtická Pani,
Prague, 1932.

9
G. Pálóczy-Horváth,
In Darkest Hungary,
Victor Gollancz, London, 1944.

10
Istvan Werböczy,
Opus Tripartitum Juris Consuetudinarii Hungariae,
1514.

11
Here and elsewhere the author is much indebted to Dr Gábor Várkonyi of Budapest University for his insights into the history of Hungary and
Transylvania. Parts of this summary are adapted with kind permission from his lecture ‘Poland and Hungary at the End of the Sixteenth Century', delivered at the London University School of Slavonic and East European Studies, 28 November 1995.

12
P. Burke (ed.),
Economy and Society in Early Modern Europe,
RKP, London, 1972.

13
Lady Hellenbach,
Treue Ermahnung an Ihre Einzige Tochter,
Leipzig, 1760.

14
Voivode
or
vajda
was the title given to a ruler appointed to govern a district or province; a post which was often a stepping stone on to the higher aristocracy.

15
Katalin Péter, ‘The Later Ottoman Period and Royal Hungary', in Péter F. Sugár, Péter Hanák and Tibor Frank (eds),
A History of Hungary,
I.B. Tauris & Co., London and New York, 1979.

16
Dominic G. Kosary,
A History of Hungary,
Arno Press and
New York Times,
New York, 1971.

17
Jozef Ko
č
iš,
Byt
č
iansky Zámok,
Martin, 1974.

18
Thomas da Costa Kaufman,
Court, Cloister and City: The Art and Culture of Central Europe, 1450–1800,
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1995.

19
The letter is in the Thurzó family archive in the Slovak State Regional Archive at Byt
č
a.

20
Ibid.

21
Paget,
Hungary.

Chapter Two

1
The January trial evidence was first published in the journal
Hesperus
in Prague in 1817.

2
Biographie Universelle,
Paris, 1843.

3
Valentine Penrose,
La Comtesse Sanglante,
Mercure de France, Paris, 1957.

4
S. T. Bindoff,
Tudor England,
Penguin, London, 1950.

5
Richard van Dülmen,
Theatre of Horror,
Polity Press, Cambridge, 1990.

6
Original instruments of torture are on display for example in the castle of Nuremberg in Germany and Warwick castle in England; methods of torture are illustrated in Foxe's
Book of Martyrs
(1554, 1563).

7
Kálmán Vándor,
Báthory Erzsébet,
Budapest, 1941.

8
The original transcript and judgements are in the Thurzó archive at Byt
č
a.

9
Ibid.

10
Although this intriguing reference to a sexually ambiguous companion is reminiscent of similar testimony given in a number of witch-trials across Europe, it was not corroborated or referred to by other witnesses.

11
See p. 185.

12
In the Thurzó archive at Byt
č
a.

13
Ibid.

14
Jozef Ko
č
iš,
Byt
č
iansky Zámok,
Martin, 1974.

Chapter Three

1
László Túróczi,
Ungaria Suis cum Regibus Compendio Data,
Tyrnava, 1744.

2
John Paget, Esq.,
Hungary and Transylvania,
John Murray, London, 1839.

3
An original copy of the evidence is in the Hungarian National Archives in Budapest.

4
One of the castle guards at Beckov, Paul Rakolupsky, was required on taking up his post in 1608 to swear his oath of fealty to Elisabeth and jointly to Francis Mágóchy, his wife Ursula Dersffy, János (not Péter) Ráttkay, Daniel Pongrácz and his wife Anna Majláth. The document is in the Nádasdy archive in Budapest.

5
The connection between the families was traced by Irma Szádeczky-Kardoss in her work,
Báthory Erzsébet – Igazsága,
Budapest, 1993.

6
The original is in the Hungarian National Archives in Budapest.

7
See p. 99.

8
‘Hungarians in Purgatory', a chapter in V. Kovács Sándor (ed), from
The History of Our Literature of Chivalry,
Szépirodalmi Könyvkiadó, Budapest, 1985.

9
The original is in the Thurzó archive in the Hungarian National Archives in Budapest.

10
Ibid.

11
Ibid.

12
Ibid.

13
Count Esterházy includes in his book of spells and cures an interesting formula which he calls a ‘snake-curse'. This sequence of words, which is very similar in format to Elisabeth's charm, is in fact a Slavonic prayer with the addition of one or two nonsense terms. So it seems that the Hungarian ruling class often used the language of their Slav serfs and priests in superstitious ceremonies (also suggesting that they did not well understand what they were saying and arguing against their fluency in Slovak or Croatian).

14
Ibid.

15
Barton's letter is in the British Museum Manuscript Room, collection Cotton Nero B XII.

16
There are odd words of Czech and Hungarian in both the Latin and Slovak sequences. (Ponikenus' origins are not known, although he was obviously an ethnic Slav, either native to the region or one of many who had migrated north from Slovenia and Croatia to escape from the advancing Turks or to evangelise.)

17
Tivadar Lehoczky, ‘Babonaság és Kuruzslás a XVII. Században',
Századok,
Budapest, 1872.

18
Quoted in Kálmán Thaly, ‘Gyógyítások Ráolvasás és Babonaság Által',
Századok,
Budapest, 1883.

19
Weber and Szádeczky, ‘Adalékok'.

20
From the Chronicles of Szepesség, town records from the seventeenth century, 1st published Budapest, 1910 (2nd ed., Budapest, 1988).

21
Christopher Frayling (ed.),
Vampyres: Lord Byron to Count Dracula,
Faber & Faber, London, 1991.

22
Mme E. de Laszowska Gérard, ‘Transylvanian Superstitions', in
XIV Century,
July 1885.

Chapter Four

1
Béla Radvánszky, ‘Lakodalmak a XVI és XVII Században',
Századok,
Budapest, 1883.

2
Letter of 1598, published in
Századok,
Budapest, 1894.

3
Quoted in László Nagy,
Az Erös Fekete Bég (The Mighty Black Bey, the Life of Ferenc Nádasdy),
Budapest, 1987.

4
The correspondence is in the Nádasdy family archive in the Hungarian National Archives in Budapest.

5
Ibid.

6
In the Nádasdy family archive.

7
R. A. von Elsberg,
Die Blutgräfin. Elisabeth Báthory,
Breslau, 1894.

8
The celebratory pamphlet was written by Franciscus Hippolytus Hildesheim and printed by Stephan Creuzer.

9
Radvánszky, ‘Lakodalmak'.

10
Ibid.

11
Paula Delsol,
Nouveau Grimoire de l'Amour,
Mercure de France, Paris, 1971.

12
Ágnes R. Várkonyi,
Connections between the Cessation of Witch Trials and the Transformation of Social Structure Related to Hygiene,
Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1991.

13
Magyarország Tôrténete
(1526–1686 section), ed. Ágnes R. Várkonyi, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1987.

14
The letter from Countess Báthory is referred to in the works of Katalin Péter and Irma Szádeczky-Kardoss.

15
See p. 63.

Chapter Five

1
Quoted (abridged) in László Nagy,
A Rossz Hírü Báthoryak,
Budapest, 1984.

2
Ibid.

3
Zsuzsana Bozai, ‘Hungarian Aristocratic Women in the Seventeenth Century' (unpublished thesis), Budapest, 1995.

4
Quoted in László Nagy,
Az Erös Fekete Bég: Nádasdy Ferenc,
Budapest, 1987.

5
Bozai, ‘Hungarian Aristocratic Women'.

6
Béla Radvánszky, ‘Foglalkozás, Idôtôltés, Játék a XVI és XVII. Században',
Századok,
Budapest, 1887.

7
See p. 48.

8
Béla Radvánszky, ‘The Feasts of Count Szaniszló Thurzó in 1603',
Századok,
Budapest, 1893.

9
The document is in the Thurzó archive at Byt
č
a.

10
In the Nádasdy archive in the Hungarian National Archives in Budapest.

11
Extracts from the eulogy are quoted in Nagy,
Az Erös Fekete Bég.

12
From the Nádasdy archive in Budapest.

13
Ibid.

14
Ibid.

15
Ibid.

16
William Lithgow,
Travels and Voyages through Europe, Asia and Africa for Nineteen Years,
12th edn, Leith, 1814.

17
Bozai, ‘Hungarian Aristocratic Women'.

18
Ágnes R. Várkonyi,
Connections between the Cessation of Witch Trials and the Transformation of Social Structure Related to Hygiene,
Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1991.

19
Pictures from the Past of the Healing Arts,
Semmelweiss Museum, Budapest, 1993.

20
Ferenc Schram,
Magyarorszägi Boszorkányperek 1529–1768,
Budapest, 1970 and 1982.

21
In the Nádasdy archive in Budapest.

22
Ibid.

23
Sándor Takáts,
Régi Magyar Asszonyok,
Budapest, 1982.

24
R. A. von Elsberg,
Die Blutgräfin. Elisabeth Báthory,
Breslau, 1894.

25
The chronicles record that two months after Paul's death on 15 October his widow held court in
Č
achtice; if the portraits were hung there around that time, they were perhaps rescued by the Zays when
Č
achtice was taken over by the Esztergom Chapter and then by the Pest Veterans' Hospital after the execution of Francis Nádasdy II in 1671.

26
Károlyi Lajos,
Ecsedy Báthory E.,
and Jónas Zaborský,
Báthoryátka,
both 1870. The former reproduces a portrait which seems to be the same as that printed by von Elsberg.

Chapter Six

1
The correspondence referred to here is in the Thurzó family archive at Byt
č
a, and was explored by the Hungarian historian Zsuzsana Bozai in her as yet unpublished thesis, ‘Hungarian Aristocratic Women of the Seventeenth Century' (Budapest, 1995).

2
Jozef Ko
č
iš,
Alžbeta Báthoryová a Palatín Thurzó,
Martin, 1981.

3
Ibid.

4
Oxford History of Hungarian Literature,
ed. Lórant Czigány, OUP, Oxford, 1984.

5
Denis Sinor,
History of Hungary,
George Allen & Unwin, London, 1959.

6
The letter is in the Nádasdy archive in the Hungarian National Archives in Budapest.

7
The letter is in the Thurzo archive at Byt
č
a.

8
The Chronicles of Csejthe,
assembled from fragments found at Humenné by András Komáromy and published in
Történelmí Tár,
Budapest, 1899.

9
Máté Szepsi Laczkó (d. 1633) in
Emlékezetül Hagyott Írások
(‘Writings from Memory'), Dacia Könyvkiadó, Romania, 1983.

10
In the Nádasdy archive in the Hungarian National Archives in Budapest.

11
Ibid.

12
In the Thurzó archive at Byt
č
a.

13
See p. 179.

14
Irma Szádeczky-Kardoss,
Báthory Erzsébet – Igazsága,
Budapest, 1993.

15
The letter is in the Nádasdy archive in the Hungarian National Archives in Budapest.

16
Unfortunately, Elisabeth's connection with this contraption, which is a long way from the intricate effigy decorated with breasts and pubic hair described by the legends, is not supported by any recorded testimonies. In any case, many experts now think that iron maidens, like chastity belts, were invariably nineteenth-century fakes.

Chapter Seven

1
This account of the career of Stephen Báthory is adapted with permission from the text of a lecture delivered by Dr Gábor Várkonyi at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London, 28 November 1995.

2
State Papers in the Public Record Office, London.

3
Denis Sinor,
History of Hungary,
George Allen & Unwin, London, 1959.

4
See p. 118.

5
The living Cardinal Andrew is portrayed in the plate section.

6
The Latin
History of Hungary and Transylvania
by István Szamosközy (1565–1612), plagiarised in Pál Enyedi's eighteenth-century
Cantus of the Perils of Transylvania.

7
Bartolomej Revický,
Báthory Erzsébet,
Piešt'ány, 1903.

8
Valentine Penrose,
La Comtesse Sanglante,
Mercure de France, Paris, 1957.

9
Péter Bornemissza (or Bornemisza),
Ördögi Kisértetekröl,
1578.

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