22. A Terrible Marriage, and a Turning to Torture
A year after her betrothal, Elizabeth Bathory got pregnant by a commoner. Her aristocratic fiance had her lover castrated, then torn to pieces and fed to the dogs. Elizabeth gave birth to an illegitimate daughter, who was quietly hidden. She wed her betrothed in 1575, but kept cuckolding him throughout their married life. It was a task made easier by her husband’s frequent and prolonged absences on military campaigns.
Elizabeth developed a taste for sadism, and sometime around 1585, began torturing and killing young girls. She started off with servants at her castle, then serf girls from surrounding peasant villages. Eventually, her victims included the daughters of local gentry, sent to her castle by their families to receive an aristocratic education and learn courtly manners.