Bathory, Elizabeth
The bloody legend of Countess Elizabeth Bathory has spawned a mass of web sites, but most feature gore-splattered stories or under-dressed women. Nothing wrong with a bit of horror fiction, but this list contains the more balanced, even academic, sites on Countess Bathory who didn’t, despite all the myths, bathe in blood.
Created in conjunction with his work on an opera, Dennis Báthory-Kitsz's site on Elizabeth Bathory is undoubtedly the best: his faq explains the paucity of fact, there's a comparison on the different portraits of Elizabeth, timelines, discussions and much more. The creator is also very modest.
This article by 'Court TV's Crime Library' moves effortlessly from a brief history of Bathory's life and crimes to an exploration of her role in horror culture, especially vampire novels.
More solid work from Mad Monarchs with this biography which, as you'd probably expect, highlights the darker parts of Elizabeth's life; however, the site rightly rejects several of the famous legends.
Beginning with an interesting question - is the life of Countess Bathory being manipulated for propaganda reasons? - this site's examination of Elizabeth explains the facts, the legend and explores her role in modern national myth.
