Elizabeth B%C3%A1thory

Countess Elizabeth Bthory de Ecsed was a countess and serial killer from the Bthory family of nobility in the Kingdom of Hungary. She has been labelled by Guinness World Records as the most prolific female murderer, though the precise number of her victims is debated. Bthory and four collaborators were accused of torturing and killing hundreds of young women between 1585 and 1610. The highest number of victims cited during Bthorys trial was 650. However, this number comes from the claim by a serving girl named Susannah that Jacob Szilvssy, Countess Bthorys court official, had seen the figure in one of Bthorys private books. The book was never revealed, and Szilvssy never mentioned it in his testimony. Despite the evidence against Elizabeth, her familys influence kept her from facing trial. She was imprisoned in December 1610 within Csejte Castle, Upper Hungary, now in Slovakia, where she remained imprisoned in a set of rooms until her death four years later.

Elizabeth Bthory was born on a family estate in Nyrbtor, Hungary, in 1560 or 1561, and spent her childhood at Ecsed Castle. Her father was George Bthory of the Ecsed branch of the family, brother of Andrew Bonaventura Bthory, who had been Voivode of Transylvania, while her mother was Anna Bthory , daughter of Stephen Bthory of Somly, another Voivode of Transylvania, who was of the Somly branch. Through her mother, Elizabeth was the cousin of the Hungarian noble Stefan Bthory, King of the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth and Prince of Transylvania. As a young woman she learned Latin, German and Greek. Born into a privileged family of nobility, Elizabeth was showered and endowed with wealth, education and a stellar social position.

Source: Wikipedia