[6][7] Other writers, such as Michael Farin in 1989, have said that the accusations against Báthory were supported by testimony from more than 300 individuals, some of whom described physical evidence and the presence of mutilated dead, dying and imprisoned girls found at the time of her arrest.

[8] Recent sources claim that the accusations were a spectacle to destroy her family's influence in the region, which was considered a threat to the political interests of her neighbours, including the Habsburg empire.

[10] Legends describing her vampiric tendencies, such as the tale that she bathed in the blood of virgins to retain her youth, were based on rumours and only recorded as supposedly factual over a century after her death.

Through her mother, Elizabeth was the niece of Stephen Báthory (1533–1586), Prince of Transylvania, who became the ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.

[9] Báthory was raised a Calvinist Protestant,[5] and learned Latin, German, Hungarian, and Greek as a young woman.

[9] Nádasdy's wedding gift to Báthory was his household in the Castle of Csejte (Čachtice), situated in the Little Carpathians near Vág-Ujhely and Trencsén (present-day Nové Mesto nad Váhom and Trenčín, Slovakia).

[9] At the time, King Maximilian II owned the castle, but made Ferenc's mother, Orsolya Kanizsai, official steward in 1569.

This role usually included responsibility for the Hungarian and Slovak people, providing medical care during the Long War (1593–1606), and Báthory was charged with the defence of her husband's estates, which lay on the route to Vienna.

[citation needed] Some chronicles also indicate that the couple had another son, named Miklós Nádasdy, who married Zsuzsanna Zrinski.

Although the exact nature of the illness which led to his death is unknown, it seems to have started in 1601 and initially caused debilitating pain in his legs.

Before dying, Nádasdy entrusted his heirs and widow to György Thurzó, who would eventually lead the investigation into Báthory's crimes.

[citation needed] Between 1602 and 1604, after rumours of Báthory's atrocities had spread throughout the kingdom, Lutheran minister István Magyari made complaints against her, both publicly and at the court in Vienna.

[22] However, she eventually began killing daughters of the lesser gentry, some of whom were sent to live with her hoping to learn from her and benefit from a connection to the high-ranking countess.

At that time, Hungary was embroiled in religious and political conflicts, especially relating to the wars with the Ottoman Empire, the spread of Protestantism and the extension of Habsburg power.

[5] Elizabeth Báthory's vast land holdings included fortresses that could have aided the Transylvanian army if Gábor had sent it to challenge Matthias.

[26] Landowners like Báthory were responsible for medical care of tenants, so sick and injured subjects were brought to her castles.

[5] On 13 December 1612, Nikola VI Zrinski confirmed the agreement with Thurzó about the imprisonment of Báthory and distribution of the estate.

[20] On New Year's Eve 1612, Thurzó went to Csejte Castle and arrested Báthory along with four of her servants, who were accused of being her accomplices: Dorotya Semtész, Ilona Jó, Katarína Benická and János Újváry ("Ibis" or Fickó).

[27] Thurzó debated further proceedings with Báthory's son Paul and two of her sons-in-law, Nikola VI Zrinski and György Drugeth.

[20] Her family, which ruled Transylvania, sought to avoid the loss of Báthory's property which was at risk of being seized by the crown following a public scandal.

[citation needed] Thurzó, along with Paul and her two sons-in-law, originally planned for Báthory to be sent to a nunnery, but as accounts of her actions spread, they decided to keep her under strict house arrest.

[31] On 25 January 1611, Thurzó wrote a letter to King Matthias describing that they had captured and confined Báthory to her castle.

György Thurzó wrote that Báthory was locked in a bricked room, but according to documents from the visit of priests in July 1614, she was able to move unhindered in the castle, more akin to house arrest.

This legend appeared in print for the first time in 1729, in the Jesuit scholar László Turóczi's Tragica Historia, the first written account of the Báthory case.

[40] In his book Hungary and Transylvania, published in 1850, John Paget describes the supposed origins of Báthory's blood-bathing, although his tale seems to be a fictionalised recitation of oral history from the area.