Kateřina originated from a family of small-time landowners in Komárov, but her rise to power came through her husband Jan Bechyně of Lažany, the burgrave of Karlštejn, who resided in Pičín and Příbram.
Jan Bechyně had long held a protracted disagreement with the Dean of the Karlštejn Chapter, Wenceslaus Hajek, who later became a respected chronicler.
Rumours of Kateřina's crimes eventually reached the Dean, and he informed her husband about them, but Jan took it as a provocation and sued Hajek.
However, the summoned witnesses of the Pičín serfs, afraid of being punished, described Kateřina as a kind and good lady in the official interrogations.
On Friday before the Candlemas, Mrs. Kateřina Bechyňová was sentenced to death, because she killed several girls; later, having died, she was removed from so-called Mihulka's prison.