The Bloody Countess: Atrocities of Erzsebet Bathory [Paperback]

Valentine Penrose (Author), Alexander Trocchi (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 2006

This work is a new edition of a classic. Descended from one of the most ancient aristocratic families of Europe, Erzsebet Bathory bore the psychotic aberrations of centuries of intermarriage. From adolescence she indulged in sadistic lesbian fantasies, where only the spilling of a woman's blood could satisfy her urges. By middle age, she had regressed to a mirror-fixated state of pathological necro-sadism involving witchcraft, torture, blood-drinking, cannibalism and, inevitably, wholesale slaughter. These years, at the end of the 16th century, witnessed a reign of cruelty unsurpassed in the annals of mass murder, with the Countess' depredations on the virgin girls of the Carpathians leading to some 650 deaths. Her many castles were equipped with chambers where she would hideously torture and mutilate her victims, becoming a murder factory where hundreds of girls were killed and processed for the ultimate, youth-giving ritual: the bath of blood. "The Bloody Countless" is Valentine Penrose's true, disturbing case history of a female psychopath, a chillingly lyrical account beautifully translated by Alexander Trocchi (author of "Cain's Book"), which has an unequalled power to evoke the decadent melancholy of doomed, delinquent aristocracy in a dark age of superstition. "Bathory", a major motion picture based on this book, is currently in production, directed by Julie Delpy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"De Sade did not know of Erzsebet Bathory's existence, but doubtless her atrocities would have roused his most vicious excitement." - Georges Bataille, The Tears Of Eros"

About the Author

Valentine Penrose affiliated with the surrealists, she was also the wife of British Surrealist Sir Roland Penrose. This is her only full-length book.

Alexander Trocchi was a Scottish novelist affiliated with the Beats. His novels include Cain’s Book, and Young Adam, recently filmed with Ewan McGregor as the lead.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 154 pages
• Publisher: Solar Books; Rev Tra edition (November 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971457824
• ISBN-13: 978-0971457829
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #776,152 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The details are buried..., May 10, 2007

By 

K Miller (Silver City, New Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bloody Countess: Atrocities of Erzsebet Bathory (Paperback)

Penrose did a great deal of research--unfortunately the research involved the geography and history of the region, and not so much on Bathory. The interesting details of Bathory are buried at the end of each long winded section that is more concerned with her family geneology or relatives misbehavior than Bathory's.

The sources for the book are excellent, but I hate to read an entire chapter to have one paragraph dedicated to Bathory's atrocities (which were scant in the text...at the end of each chapter we are tittilated with a small detail then pounded again with astological non-sense or geographical trivia).

The section on her trial was relatively short...even with letters writen by those that discovered her henious acts. But its all so short---Penrose spends more time and details discussing another mass murderer of the same time who favored young boys (who killed roughly 60 like Bathory herself claims to have done) to show the depths of depravity--and you are left to wonder why the book wasn't on this killer that is spoken of in each chapter instead of Bathory who has very few details included on her crimes.

Select a different title if you are interested in Bathory.

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The absolute freedom of the human creature is horrible, March 29, 2008

By 

Alfredo Torres "booklover" (Newington, CT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bloody Countess: Atrocities of Erzsebet Bathory (Paperback)

I read this book years ago when it had a different cover. The cover featured what looked like a string of pearls covered in blood. After I read the book I was struck at how appropriate the cover was for the story within. Penrose's focus is not solely Bathory herself. Rather, she is fascinated with the Hungarian society of the time and how that society was in many clear ways complicit in Bathory's crimes. It is easy to accuse the nobility of exploiting the peasants. One is inclined to advocate for the "little guy" in such a story. However, it was these very peasants who would drop off unwanted daughters at Erszebet Bathory's castles, knowing full well what would happen to them there because the countess's crimes were an open secret (servants talk). However, in a country that was constantly at war with the Turks and other enemies, there were many more women than men alive at the time and so there were many unmarried girls who were not likely to ever marry. I suppose the countess believed herself to be providing a sort of civic service by ridding Hungary of its surplus of spinsters. For this reason, I think that Penrose does a great job of presenting us Erszebet Bathory within the context of her society and times because her crimes by themselves are not the whole story. The society that allowed her to kill unfettered for 35 years is itself a truly important part of the story, adding a layer of meaning to Bathory's insane and meaningless crimes.

The way in which she was finally stopped is very telling. Bathory noticed that in spite of years of blood baths, she was still aging. Her resident witch, Jo Ilona, advised her to change the color of the blood from red to blue. Bathory then began to kill the daughters of the local nobility--and that was her mistake. So long as she was killing peasant girls no one cared, not even the "poor" peasants. As soon as she began killing aristocratic girls, she had to be stopped, and she was.

The examination of Bathory in her context allows us to draw parallels with our own times. Don't we have Kennedys who get away with rape nowadays? Don't we have football celebrities who get away with murdering their wives? People with status and prestige still get away with a lot--even in America, don't they? The only reason why Bathory was able to get away with her crimes for so long is her social status. She was a member of one of Hungary's founding families. It also helped that her first cousin was the King of Hungary, her uncle was the king of Russia, and her brother was the king of Poland. With such relatives she was herself untouchable. Reading this book you begin to see that although Bathory is dead and her crimes happened long ago, the circumstances that allowed her to commit her transgressions are still with us. For me, that was the scary part.

Currently there has been renewed interest and fascination with the character of the countess, impeled, I believe, by ignorance. "Feminist" writers have created sympathetic accounts in which the countess is cast in the role of the "wronged woman," betrayed by a society that prefers to have men in power rather than women. True: the king of Hungary wanted to seize the extensive lands and fortunes of the countess. Also true: the countess's crimes were real. She was indeed murdering young girls and bathing in their blood in order to "preserve the sweet bird of my youth," in her words. Her crimes were the achilles' heel the king had been waiting for, and he used the opportunity to both stop her and enrich himself. One monster gobbles up another, you might say. Am I supposed to feel sorry for the monster that became prey because that monster was a woman? Oh! How my heart bleeds for a woman who murdered hundreds of girls in order to bathe in their blood! I am absolutely heartbroken for a woman who would take a young girl and freeze her alive by pouring buckets of water on her outside in the cold night by the side of a stream. NOT! I hope my point is clear. You have to be pretty darn ignorant to feel sorry for the countess.

Modern goths and certain occultists find the countess to be mystically significant because of her blood practices. But to believe that the countess's practices actually work is something that in itself reveals an interesting truth. Ignorance and enlightenment are attitudes, and have nothing to do with the books you read or the academic degrees you've earned. In the end, belief depends on desire, not reason, and we believe in what we want to believe in. Could it be that some people find her so scary that, rather than defy her and what she stands for, they'd rather defend her? One sees situations like that in life, in which people choose to side with the bully rather than the victim--out of mere cowardice or fear. In an age of fear like the current one, the bullies and abusers are turned into heroes. The more fear you inspire the more fans you have. Joran Van der Sloot is a good modern example of this. How would you explain all the fan mail and wedding proposals he receives in jail from all over the world? It is the worship and admiration of power. And thus, the countess finds a place in some hearts.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The power of Blood, July 5, 2009

By 

Anibal Madeira (Lisboa Portugal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bloody Countess: Atrocities of Erzsebet Bathory (Paperback)

Not any eventual mystical or astrological power (that the author seems to believe in sometimes) but of the family a person is born into; other factors like the education and rolemodels are also extremely important in the personality of the person one becomes. Unfortunately all the elements joined in 1560, creating a monster of impressive proportions and unbelievable terror. Born in the Hungarian Highest class, powerfull, intelligent,mentally unstable and frustated because of a repressed education, when she found the freedom to do wathever she wanted, suffering came.

The author is no historian - point taken - she is a poetess of the surrealist movement, and that brings several advantages and disadvantages in this biography. The power and the emotions brought to life reading this book are quite strong, and she can sucessfully empathise with the monster (wich is an impressive feat that only a poet could do) being very impartial in her analyses. The downside is that she had a clear lack of material about the events related directly to Erzsébet Bathory. The book is also weakly structured , with too many chronological jumps, the repetition of concepts, almost with as many information about French Marechal Gilles de Rais then about Countess Bathory. But it is worthy comparing both characters, the analysis and dissecation makes sense and becomes the major conclusion of the author explaining the differences between these monsters that appear similar, but in essence are very different. The countess believed she had the right to kill hundreds of her peasant girls! Gilles de Rais lived a tormented life trying to please God and the Devil at the same time.

Hungary was a brutally savage land in ancient and medieval times. There remained old beliefs and superstitions, their nobility was known for bravery and savagery, and Christianity was only skin deep. The author explores (maybe exagerating a bit), the history, myths, superstitions and geography of the land; too many times forgetting completely the "storyline"!

The horrible tortures, and the sadism are described in detail; and the author proves that the tendency for torture started clearly before the worries about her vanishing beauty. Obviously with age she became the feared "vampire", that tried to steal youth and beauty...to no avail.

The author also focused on the political and religious situation created by this protestant countess in a period of severe religious tensions. The grand Paladin of Hungary, also a protestant had to arrest her and quietly try to stifle the entire affair...but the legend of the Bloody countess was too strong.

The lack of footnotes and bibliography impairs further investigation, and it becomes very difficult to separate events from the suppositions of the author. But the text is beautifully written and the reader is transported to a time and place where everybody feared the witch, the vampire and the wolf. For the artistic value of this book I would give four stars.