Social Structure
Nobility
The upper class consisted of powerful nobles who owned large estates. They played significant roles in governance and military leadership.
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The Báthory family belonged to a clan of Hungarian nobles called the Gutkeled which dates back to 1279 when King László rewarded two German brothers, Gut and Keled, for their military service by granting them the estate located at Bátor. They began to refer to themselves as the Báthory family in 1310 and exerted a great deal of influence over Central Europe. Its members, including several princes, a cardinal, and even the king of Poland, held positions of high authority.
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Peasantry
Most people in Hungary were peasants, working the land and subject to the nobility. Their lives were marked by hard labor and limited rights. The early 16th century was particularly difficult with wars, famines, religious revolts, disease, and terrible inflation affected both low-and high-born people.
In 1514, Hungarian peasants, led by György Dózsa revolted against their oppressive landlords. Eventually Dórzsa’s rebel army were captured and those who participated were brutally tortured and executed. Dórzsa was roasted alive. His supporters were impaled around him, and force fed their commander’s flesh, and to ensure an uprising like this never happened again, the Chief Justice imposed a terrifying decree. The Opus Tripartitum Juris Consuetudinarii Hungariae declared that peasantry would forever be chained to the land as life-long slaves. This put many restrictions on peasant life, including asserting that they could be judged–even condemned to death–by their lords. This decree remained legally in place until 1848.
Arms of Cardinal Andrew Báthory, 1599. The three claws are the Báthory family symbol and represent the claws of a dragon. See more Bathory family seals and arms.
Medieval Torture
If you have a sensitive stomach or are otherwise bothered by descriptions of torture, please feel free to skip this section, particularly the first and last paragraphs. The torture present in the play speaks for itself.
At the time, torture was not uncommon. Severe punishments for serious crimes like treason called for barbaric practices including driving a wooden stake up through a person where they would hang, alive, for days until they finally died, burning alive, being subjected to horrible devices like the rack, the scavenger's daughter, the thumbscrew, and the pear of anguish. The problem was, if you were accused of a crime, there isn't a whole lot you could do to defend yourself. Instead of innocent until proven guilty, you were guilty until proven innocent. In your trial, you would be tortured into a confession. It was a lose lose situation.
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It was also common for men to employ violence to discipline members of their households. It was common, even customary for husbands to control their wives with physical abuse. It's likely Erzsébet experienced physical abuse at the hands of Ferenc, at least early in their marriage. The same physical violence applied to the discipline of servants. Because of the Opus Tripartitum Juris Consuetudinarii Hungariae, lords were within their rights to punish or execute the peasants under them as they saw fit.
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In my research, I couldn't help but wonder if Erzsébet was a man, would anyone bat an eye at her treatment of her peasants, however barbaric? And her methods, if the stories are true, were certainly barbaric.
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Erzsébet was accused of the horrific torture of young girls between the ages of 10 and 14 including forcing girls to wash and roll in nettles, sticking pins in their lips and under their fingernails, jamming needles into their shoulders and arms, flogging their breasts, burning them with hot irons, tearing chunks of flesh from their backs with clamps, cutting flesh from their buttocks and between their shoulders then cooking and serving it to them, burning private parts with candles, plunging knives into arms and feet, crushing hands, cutting of fingers with scissors and sheers, shoving red-hot pokers up orifices, beating them to death, whipping until their flesh fell from their bones, and forcing girls to stand naked outside in the winter while they were doused with water until they froze to death.
Medieval Medicine
In the 17th century, women served as both homemakers and household healers, with those in power acting as physicians for their entire households, including servants. Before hospitals emerged in the 1700s, thousands of household recipe books documented medicines and elixirs, many surviving today. Illness was attributed to blocked bodily flows or imbalanced humors (blood, yellow bile, black bile, phlegm), so treatments focused on rebalancing humors or restoring flow.​
Bloodletting
Bloodletting was used to treat many conditions, like smallpox, fainting spells, gout, and even poor temperament.
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Cannibalism
In medieval times, people believed human flesh, blood, and bones could cure ailments. Human blood supposedly treated epilepsy, migraines, eye problems, and ulcers, while oil from boiled human bones addressed gout and epilepsy. The wealthy used Egyptian mummies as medicinal flesh, but others opted for cheaper alternatives—collecting fresh blood at executions. Many believed consuming human parts transferred the deceased's soul, boosting vitality as a gruesome fountain of youth.
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Cutting Flesh
Necrotic tissue needed to be cut from healthy flesh to prevent infection from spreading. It was not uncommon for maggots to infest a person’s skin. Boils and abscesses had to be lanced. Wounds needed to be cauterized with red-hot irons.
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Ice baths
Those with a fever, bubonic plague, or a weak, sweating body would be shocked with an ice-cold bath.
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Stinging Nettles
An old wives’ cure for rheumatism and arthritis.
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Needles
Some seamstresses suffered from boils under their nail beds, a condition known as fingernail poison. The treatment was lancing fingertips under the nails with needles.
The Plague
Erzsébet claimed most of those who died in her household died of the plague or cholera. While she used this excuse frequently, it is also true that the plague was going through Hungary at this time. It’s not impossible that plague outbreaks really did plow through her household.
Epilepsy/The Falling Sickness
It's believed that Erzsébet had epilepsy, or "the falling sickness" as they called it at the time. One treatment for the falling sickness was to put the blood of a non-sufferer on the lips of the sufferer.
Does blood really have anti-aging properties?
I know, it's the question you're all asking.
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Medical research studies have proven that young blood does have a rejuvenating effect on the metabolic and cardiovascular systems, on muscles, on the aging brain, and on brain functions. The first young blood trial on humans was conducted in 2014 but this idea is not a new one. One of the first physicians to propose blood transfusions to rejuvenate older people was Andreas Libavius, a German doctor and alchemist in 1615. He proposed connecting the arteries of an old man to those of a young man. “The hot and spirituous blood of the young man will pour into the old one as if it were from a fountain of youth, and all of his weakness will be dispelled,” he claimed. It is unclear how it turned out; there is no record of the transfusion happening. Blood transfusion experiments on record began in London in 1660 and proved deadly. When medical advances allowed for the return of blood transfusion the focus had shifted from anti-aging to healing the sick.
But what about applying blood directly to the skin?
A few years ago, the vampire facial was all the rage, and experts, including the Cleveland Clinic, claim it's effective. Recently, scientists have discovered possible anti-aging compounds in blood bacteria that could be used in future topical treatments to counteract skin aging.
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The Blood Countess was on to something...
Monteverde's 1610 Vespers
Claudio Monteverdi was an Italian composer best known for pioneering opera but his musical influences spanned far beyond opera. One of this most famous compositions is his 1610 Vespers titled "Vespro della Beata Vergine." Vespers are the liturgy of evening prayer in the Catholic Church. Composers often set this evening prayer to music.
The first movement, brassy and upbeat, begins with the words "O God, make speed to save me. O Lord, make haste to help me." Musically, this may sound like the siege of a city, and lyrically, a plea for help--perhaps appropriate for the siege of Esztergom.
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The third movement, Nigra Sum, means "I am black but beautiful."
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The fifth movement, Pulchra Es, a floating duet between two women, is translated to "Thou art beautiful, my love, a sweet and comely daughter of Jerusalem. Thou art beautiful, my love, sweet and comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army arrayed for battle. Turn thine eyes from me, for they make me flee away." Could anything be more perfect for Erzsébet?
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One of the most musically notable movements is the seventh, Duo Seraphim, which is a duet between two angels and uses an unusual vocal technique.
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You can read a full English translation of Monteverde's 1610 Vespers here.