Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Countess Dracula: The Life and Times of Elisabeth Bathory, the Blood Countess
    Countess Dracula: The Life and Times of Elisabeth Bathory, the Blood Countess
    Countess Dracula: The Life and Times of Elisabeth Bathory, the Blood Countess
    Ebook432 pages8 hours

    Countess Dracula: The Life and Times of Elisabeth Bathory, the Blood Countess

    By Tony Thorne

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    This is the story of Elisabeth Bathory, a 17th-century Transylvanian countess. She was tried as a vampire and became an inspiration for depraved murderers up to the present day.;Based on research conducted at archives in Eastern Europe, this account includes both the recorded truth and the legend that has grown up around her. Tony Thorne is the author of the "Bloomsbury Dictionary of Slang".
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBloomsbury Publishing
    Release dateJun 1, 2012
    ISBN9781408833650
    Countess Dracula: The Life and Times of Elisabeth Bathory, the Blood Countess
    Author

    Tony Thorne

    Formerly the Head of the English Language Centre at King's College, London, and currently Innovation Consultant at King's, Tony Thorne is an authority on language and culture, on which he has written and broadcast widely. TONY THORNE has an international reputation as linguist, lexicographer and analyst of subcultures and cultural change. Currently Director of the Language Centre and slang archive at King's College, London, he is an authority on language and culture, on which he has written, lectured and broadcast widely. His other publications include Fads, Fashions and Cults and Countess Dracula. He currently divides his time between London, Strasbourg and Slovenia, and has lived in Mexico, France, China and Eastern Europe.

    Related to Countess Dracula

    Related ebooks

    Biography & Memoir For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Why Did The Salem Witch Trials Happen?

      Mar 17, 2022

      The trials are so well documented that it’s fairly easy to say what happened at Salem in 1692. What’s much harder to explain is why. Over the centuries, a variety of theories have been put forward as to what led to this outbreak of paranoia. Some hav

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Mystery Of Jack The Ripper

      Jun 11, 2020

      The Mystery Of Jack The Ripper
      3 min read

    • Article

      Fit For A Queen

      Oct 29, 2020

      Fit For A Queen
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Boleyns

      Jul 18, 2019

      The Boleyns
      11 min read

    • Article

      Fit For A King

      Dec 13, 2020

      Fit For A King
      2 min read

    • Article

      A Horseman for the Headless: On Ismail Kadare’s ‘The Traitor’s Niche’

      Dec 28, 2018

      Kadare’s fiction intuits the spirt of the art movements of his day, orbiting the dark ambiance of indie cinema, goth punk, shock installation. The post A Horseman for the Headless: On Ismail Kadare’s ‘The Traitor’s Niche’ appeared first on The Millio

      9 min read

    • Article

      A Year in Reading: Matt Seidel

      Dec 9, 2017

      I tend to buy used books in bunches, which means the haul from some expeditions stays buried for weeks, months, years even. For this entry, I highlight three finds that, breaking custom, I bought and read almost immediately this year: Hugo Charteris’

      6 min read

    • Article

      The Grueling, Painful, Beautiful Fiction of László Krasznahorkai

      Aug 8, 2017

      To misread Krasznahorkai as merely, or primarily, a political writer is to risk squandering the profoundly personal nature of his stories. More tragically, it is to foist a kind of sloppy activist, and determinately secular métier onto one of contemp

      9 min read

    • Article

      The Devil Strides Our Countryside

      Jan 26, 2023

      TO SEND REVIEW COPIES, CONTACT THE BOOK REVIEWS EDITOR AT DVBARRETT@FORTEANTIMES.COM Jeremy Harte Reaktion Books 2022 Hb, 296pp, £15.99, ISBN 9781789146509 One of the most beloved of Doctor Who stories has long been 1971’s “The Daemons”. Over the cou

      15 min read

    • Article

      Hoarder Disorder

      Nov 15, 2023

      Do you suffer from Plyushkin's disorder? Statistics suggest that five per cent of us do, but my guess is it's more. Stepan Plyushkin is a character in Gogol's novel Dead Souls, who saves everything he finds. He is, in other words, a hoarder, who inve

      3 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Scott, Bucak, Zeh, Steinberg, and More

      Aug 20, 2019

      An intriguing near-future dystopian thriller, two innovative short story collections, and a remarkable portrait of Britain at its Brexit inflection point. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Scott, Bucak, Zeh, Steinberg, and More appeared firs

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Nabokov Canon

      Dec 1, 2022

      The Nabokov Canon
      2 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Sacks, Zambreno, Lawlor, McEwan, and More

      Apr 23, 2019

      Out this week: new Ian McEwan, a fascinating study of the American heartland, and the final collection from the late, great Oliver Sacks. The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Sacks, Zambreno, Lawlor, McEwan, and More appeared first on The Milli

      4 min read

    • Article

      A Venerable Name Revived

      Feb 2, 2022

      A Venerable Name Revived
      5 min read

    • Article

      Happily Ever After

      Jul 11, 2022

      Happily Ever After
      7 min read

    • Article

      To Make Art Is To Be Human

      Oct 13, 2021

      IN 1950, Ernst Gombrich published The Story of Art. The book was an instant bestseller and was the first to show that there was, indeed, such a thing as a story of art, that artists and movements existed not in isolated moments of time, but as part o

      7 min read

    • Article

      Fishing As Breathing

      Apr 20, 2022

      Fishing As Breathing
      5 min read

    • Article

      Dracula

      May 11, 2022

      Dracula
      2 min read

    • Article

      Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Colvin, Awkward-Rich, Sarginson, Grey, and More

      Dec 10, 2019

      —new titles from the likes of Jeffrey Colvin, Cameron Awkward-Rich, Saskia Sarginson, Iona Grey, and more—t The post Tuesday New Release Day: Starring Colvin, Awkward-Rich, Sarginson, Grey, and More appeared first on The Millions.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Science Fiction And Fantasy

      Dec 3, 2020

      John Ironmonger Weidenfeld & Nicolson 2020 Hb, 276pp, £16.99, ISBN 9780297608233 Heloise was born in 1759, when Halley’s comet was in the sky; her father, a French nobleman and astronomer, named her after the god of the Sun. Her family are caught up

      4 min read

    • Article

      From The Trojan War To Conflict In Ukraine

      Nov 30, 2023

      THE YEAR 2023 HAS BEENrich in works composed in tempore belli. The most impressive is Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine (William Collins, £26) by General David Petraeus and the historian Andrew Roberts. This is an ambitious and

      6 min read

    • Article

      Reality And Surreality Intertwined

      Dec 3, 2020

      Ritual Histories, Magickal Geography Andy Sharp Repeater Books 2020 Pb, £12.99, 427pp, ISBN 9781913462093 Andy Sharp is best known as the musician who creates aural collages from a heady blend of electronica and sampled spokenword esoterica. The Engl

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Secret History of Creative Nonfiction

      Oct 15, 2021

      A common misconception about literary history is that women weren’t writing professionally or significantly before Jane Austen. To talk about women’s historical oppression, Virginia Woolf famously conjured up an imaginary sister for William Shakespea

      8 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Countess Dracula

    4/5

    20 ratings2 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      When I began reading this book, and realised that Thorne doesn?t take B?thory?s guilt for granted, I wanted so much not to be convinced by his arguments. The case against her seems so overwhelming, how could it not be true?Nevertheless, could Thorne be right? Is it possible that the charges of which B?thory still stands accused were trumped up for reasons of political expediency? It seems incredible, but so do the crimes of which B?thory was accused.Thorne makes the point that, ?Unquestionably part of Elisabeth B?thory?s offence in the eyes of her peers was that she had too much property?and too much power?.There is little contemporary documentary evidence extant, apart from the evidence given by witnesses at the trial. These, though, were obtained under torture (rather ironically, given the nature of the crimes allegedly committed by B?thory), and are therefore of questionable accuracy.Surviving letters written by B?thory suggest that she was an intelligent woman. The tone of her letters is measured, formal, even chilly ? though this would not have been unusual for the time. It has to be said that in the letters at least she does not come across as a deranged, hysterical woman.It is important to see B?thory in the context of her times. She was born in 1560, in a part of the world subject to constant threats of war and political upheavals. Thorne points out that ?a culture of cruelty ? not violence, but deliberate cruelty ? was endemic in the era that has come to be known as the early modern?. In 1514, ?a legal code known as the Tripartum?enshrined and confirmed the privileges of the nobility and decreed perpetual serfdom for the peasant populace?. In other words, all the power rested in the hands of a few noble families. The peasant population existed, according to the mores of the time, purely to serve their masters (and mistresses). Their lives were not worth very much. Indeed, ?the mere murder of a commoner was not enough to start off legal proceedings?Homicide was viewed as a relatively minor abuse of power or privilege.? In many cases, relatives who complained when a member of their family was murdered were content to accept a payoff.Am I convinced by Thorne?s arguments? Not entirely, no, although I?m far less certain of B?thory?s guilt than I was before I read this book. As Thorne says in the penultimate chapter, many women were burned as witches for all manner of lurid and, in most cases, fictitious offences against man and God.It is entirely possible that B?thory?s greatest crime was to be an extraordinarily wealthy and powerful widow. Nevertheless, Thorne does not discount the possibility that she did participate in meting out punishments to her servants that would strike the 21st century reader as barbaric. Ultimately we can never know exactly what Elisabeth B?thory did or didn?t do, but the myth of the countess who bathed in blood is as enduring as the myth of the vampire itself.[June 2008]
    • 5/5
      I've put off reviewing this for awhile, simply because with books this awesome and dear to me I tend to get way too rambley. This book is... amazing. Every other book I've read about the Countess, I've had to keep reminding myself that there is no way to know for sure that anything said about her actually happened. Which makes it hard to really dig your teeth into the book, while trying to remain logical about it at the same time.Which is what I love so much about this book. Tony Thorne fully admits that none of the accusations against Countess Bathory can be proved; We will likely never know for sure what happened in her lifetime, what crimes she did or didn't commit. And this author not only admits that, but puts forth alternate suggestions, raises questions and points that bring to front all the different possibilities of what may have happened.Toward the end of the book there are chapters dedicated to other notorious females who may well have inspired, or been inspired by, the Countess's crimes. Some of the similarities between these women, in particular Anna-Rosina Listhius... It's actually *scary* how similar her story is to Elizabeth's. I could go on forever, but to sum it up, something I said to a friend:It's much more factual, pays attention to details and contradictions and alternative theories, cites it's sources... It is by far the best research-type book I've seen about Elizabeth Bathory.

    Book preview

    Countess Dracula - Tony Thorne

    dbook_preview_excerpt.html}ˎ$WݯvE lAUU$, fqF3=ܝȨ{'j6enͣi]3?/9^ät~=3n(>Bv7ų?uVa:MC3CWTuO?`A<~kN#>O$}~_~bPF|a>oj.k|x۲p"LuuqZfbnd|gC,^qθ~?w6)Ƴ<7z|œI?a*]yŗ_۾7nm?6xҿ,_vXqX^]c\wǰΗ-^ttqr{Ǐk mWtugxߡ~WyR޴ݩ>]^~:t/KF#lj v`n'yq'탮Ec_ԭ o} i76Ўjƍ>٫/℟嗨ba(*" Th1_uS]Jc#5-c0c1uE=ᑟC<}q#/ݩ }eJ7qM U6z! v6q\yZWz mgƈ6qގPoC෾Urkʰ`B2 %&l_a|X|XrnS(MM87VӜ!;\^kxs=#E;Kk^m+.&h´MRCh~5ם]~<|?.ac ifH/q;дs?TqˎTc7^bY"^%7MS!Ը \O HG9&)!63OBrk2tTS7=/K: _(m{Λ]vlmfRYWQ1] ncS< cqss<Ʒla|]wѤ&ޏ88!ƞF .rԓo7c x;Oi{&[%^ECCy=smS8o2f}oNܼP|ׄ=>m%>XR=;zn%x*@9NϐRX|P^g_mm?˲E܅(읔T i/-moW _0(ntImhM: !3U*7lylM6zIQqr%-sXhe¦`Sm8{&j 9o+{L?L6aA:, 3gBDqĵG܎tnsofhC2 N"=[y-n%ңձ3r$7h,d}h8,8km&tVmt3pv}[~?pe|G3W]9p lw8I3)!q.K:L8,8A>2q QIaZ"\CIc8R*hK'lj7 O=-fwP4 Pz sÎ4GzbG`q! @PI9@穯%OF-/ [ u<.O{~}AXqߝl&R4w}Y AIџ 0}"3.H DЗ{-^H,9>~7X~_cMW8c>g=Η<$ij\ Wfh[S/(]±C1TͺCuj]K0$pahM7dC;./GXF,lDHtU0K!i@$yqe- NۘI30FKhgYU{dlͣ]%#BAQyOڍn O 辁xX 0XYη4jhZ6QmW36t'kOD4Tk,ޅ`+OxUpٮҍMʾk%.dTB̎QЩ ֞vtec9 kj7VLO#L(;'TX[n&I=p=Ͷv ^ ]y4Yhphgg -]=4۱۩y3R󆆻`[ k!=~k+z{+-^qsČ T5'i_OP;ag*!Q|U7EoMѣrB|[H?K53=Om,WrS3]◍r1.둃.dmG Ft>8Vi0_B)P@h6 l.y}-7|>8͞>3uBӘ'kcJQ~2Ul{Qz[wn#DS2 b'[6Z8]5e}GT8q1yK]GXTbѫfW+.:rC ŠkZ̑ .}#C|ӘxJ?o8xkl 刔>4csw|(IȖGO:[Ba, G WHy΂S]H @K: dkm+,H!Vu@^3!E9̱=QN+,I.rXg>э[ɧܓZuclHWPy8ѐ| .xe͜d-vPY{C_,/FizcB<ěVx5cpx~Vݰ-tTF h{Z9w\IAlv@#xvlӾ %H@w)o]+CN>C9.aqlzzJF x;`c!Tm leHW뱫bhϙkg0IM$N̜!_ЧyN 8X36D]:fAm7m}` iG~QN(_Fd.Y6= =+0P7 /ƃZnɳC_Z;IzQ,a k )լҔ"槚Shn,sN0G ً <b&z)fpy`o)mIPiYPO'p:er!) /KrTF7K>%DRR6t+gx[ۍ|#ıniT!t/e%j6(T9\If[n` 7C{ڑ:dR2/R-S, *3$ Ȋ~ B'+І"WGdcNKAPsxw˯"&5Єc/1؅߆ @!Ja]GJs˃1 cIJgL7p_Hlob?9@8So?!UP, 8M#)UxMa pcp&oXuN6 d1SřnhMy._y`>WVR%`_<\."?s~M^Pt,$EnPj/~*uK9'Bt=(ApR~^  9T;cYLmh@ ذ`=0S ǖ "9A(5 m‘'"/.a{ڸӼMEW&nba n"*w ޑ?rT9)7ikstbQ(]ee.CkM cAWǨ-kr1dMA`ޕg/ATT[ݗp3b3 pj{d\W"#-+ɹB lSU MA6?vR3D,wc5>\Kt%M9qYERĢbWTjp3t<` VLUؗ ]ƿ ?5t&1'K+v+`d[<v@G{X띧!T.!60Ѷ^g˄EOՖ Zd;Ⱥe `<29k1r;W<ۘE: g0 dl-3XC2.\Ā/ƪMV߆Y;F| *e]@4 NSMvu.0.x2VXSvO*m3kSxH!H zVQ7A*UtSϨ% .vPM%%!M ɿDcRkX%jJ}wǻ-Gk^\섨|skR>Oym;ŒѫfLJFWw{ѳx;o9@bTfΓ3\lK7gfH6,tNOWpqO܌O=8 9esqTK4ƣSC -Yƭ M%^ [r$M8n% f5-Tb̼𵝖y!&zqWV'oe,>z~?\;ր'U/7,{]-6T Ԗ)#ʽG IurgN^ŊE'WZ! **z[ߟoVY= 6Ea9}hiL3ShA nR o/;n@&e#-Jn l@mp7ًP|;BrJ{LVIL 23-QD눸*7CVCZPռV4+ x>Ǒwj/s0Q{g <ii,Oѥ!*P<~PurjjWeCj>#i1xG.2x ѓnϾu4MS9_] \p$^LSR{,oHۡq ;H8̺k޲=N.J$Sht{Sͼ :u:p@x%3{h/@t)5/}IEtJ m=zWA"DCX6)NcZ%LRMJ&Vs"w|JJ PW]9e}zR?1\9Rڌ !5 #{ӵ9sL\Q={ޝȴ[MO`K/B4Hc]xnlhPeiꭁe1]c 'Ěl^qW1lW]nHv7lV m50D)`%3kSM醚O:n='bK˝.~V7jCim]'\jX|ɘ?6a/` 72@Cϝ}CsUSPݱ%k%/JnAp>v_Z/O]$С۬P+fh \|^m2(+5qEi; 6d=J&jAKw ˘!3c2QNH )/?v/3\3VSH3kRˏo.w-mzغ:9)~KVKCQy2T!{%99XŷJ7 bYg)5z(ҥ%~CE;2=,!6:<"sx[_5N}Kpca.cSZ8Z*I{mɬb5"QWTJ%T@Q̭n|p3\ǍhL\NeeR{ػl-ĺ(UqܸێafELY6:w ̗oˮXEk]M3MM{2g͆Gg.g9 +6܉$^k.|MxIstpD򈄥j Dz0) v"4cG+!RG+;up[3򴫿SizO7auOqK"E2傺n-VRyN,ɠ>уj2Q4Xt7QǢ< 8Wf٧b̄Bw_?~,> ɕ%XOk8 AknLZ[ߥ>fVF[uDZNH̺UMqEA$c֙L0,AKxÏQP}',_Og=6XŮ2SJyC9lugyܘwjnhv ~0])*y s/@0f49UD~`м:7YO%1yCJ'DfobXgKWpY0nc-}|\biJT|l)Xai 0踶)[bu3ÑpEÚU:F'k ˿kDtA;tA(/-4gi*Fa2kcM2M'$֊5L/폣Z7-Gl7f:xev[bLoŪZ~+$:Qr-\r B1P36_rzI> brqZIByܝjnѓ~3JW,ԱFP7* V&s~QYدmmE4n.&!b<}iGuŘ[j,<Nt4:Oݚ]5EX8^Yt|\Xg7:> ,ÑW'nxXΖ‚<dՊ&f=KI6$5]6l!x![| iX;O^|,Wҿ֐\o;WŸ{0fVv 恋V?VĔؑ^h0X9eASxkTI[2Oyc/ɯӘ}I P±?_`> S\LeZ}9r|n%.T쏨q &Xqn:8}՚{؜d|dH)tlև;YS4 rU;M~ŝ;A<#*R,ߜ' T2^$ϕ G5C.MX0en{Ȉݓ[5!a_5$jBz5=*Svvұ}>E/Yw2w;9;T[Ra^Pg/a)a 뒹79j,9Y-#m )>!= "ao?~[LG'O'8C A3B<3%"AIٟaqz&gT"Ks3]N(R9;vsFEJ p<5w[C}PM90WH:dž/ (yUtsf,~#c<-S1NkVs}T~v2)tlj~6ElQamsߪ/j\C}̧BAmr\엃kbOu[)(Z'jz=ƇDlAhؤqiXr#.`kWO 8OnS^gOh8$sÈk"Yhm΃'q4CGX{X|UΜ몡i5v4S3u7eR9Yg쏏* ^I7Cdt!$/T jC3.b&hh&v6ׇUD@m} r5:m4T0ɡHZ0C{&U5UH<둳S"_z$89gl{|+1Ry`H)+t]ުf)!shSqlibTÒ}/֊|t6 fmIHW(7]qf NO-{`,p+wtxIį:u8{bDZ4 zRjxq~ kzAJ`hM~ѵ3dVc>wXZ߄w|QnRr;պ(+!MSݡ8Rl}g>~;W˨˳%wS $IĴ' =t!InXj~wV>zgڑqwqy +/sM.$+),)%Prnsۚy%4%L<2rCRa+ K<_H8x՝ulMFj t4.Ҏ*2Pxl$ڐ)׷p~ۿtbw%bQ/UWM5ۿkϹgƄE)!q}ѣ+}L!͐9|h&2X ^nvuQfګ<&逴,0&LZOKy>7*G"ֆXO*i8gT4'Lh>b.ݺ9!2aQXӓxXàY*Ԓ>;s)njﰵ$6sEeJ{%t) tUmJ& M{6v C՛H7I[S+^?iǍ~"DanCC޴wT]N֤kQ%5O$ r&_ νBnjL]+5y@[׻Ŀ/|6<OO|L[a+8DSɦ9j53<Ȕ%b:yndءT49؞`~\=uT/hD4N7;,"a2RFW۷֧`& t<{aM$qR(ķeJ5D2I^42z4|#,62ŏ}Pw4cF|#|7Uj|Is>Ք\ qTҋ:-{u_I1#uVDڿXI,<"I=&PFݪ+Z;4b Xo:&$ -D=Z8&V q)Ǯ;6;a>+%6­rgaaY{i-R ֓/zZs? S&"iܶ&e6㦞f1G"|| /j62[4}U*!.v(|`a֎<~.cA*|-x d൱V1q^w)|W>f]XqLmlE"Va (wڼ j"?b8 uڃՖy5U4*#fKZ1iEu<`,>MfݠZy^{l " i"ڬ+>Y"hS#I+P[cc2F'g2kPkhu7tVg γ kD܁{^[;Zk`|+*h i7&p&EMsRWTVmMI}I䐖d¢N K itV˶6K!Q\n ۛLm؅;\(;7B,p}}6s+A}47aFUdzo<ڌr?rUM}k/m;ܒjSH}}Z,;MfƷ Ho$GXE>` rbV3,VweeuXuMsuI gZ*V6UK#|FMIL+6dnR/& gs MuvwMt=+6ǕW}&jz(61w^$ғFfX+\D,vzNl\ؔiOV0,81z:H=#&㭞;Qd"8nlPu?dGutb˰Lɜ@n
    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1