On the 31st of December 1612, the countess Elizabeth Báthory is arrested by the men of count György Thurzó, the Palatine of Hungary, at Csejte Castle, her home in Upper Hungary. The accusation was that she had ritually tortured and murdered 650 virgin girls to steal their beauty and their youth. Thus began the infamous legend of the notorious ‘Blood Countess’.
But maybe the whole story was a conspiracy set up by the Roman catholic Habsburgs who took a dim view of the rising power of House Báthory, who were both protestant and independent-minded? Moreover, the Holy Roman Emperor Matthias owed a considerable debt to the countess, a debt that would be cancelled should she be found guilty...
The French graphic novel Báthory carries out the enquiry.
