There is no shortage of cruelty in history. From the birth of civilization to the 21st century, cruelty has been a staple of human society. When one thinks of torture, mass killings, rape, and genocide, one often thinks of war, and one's mind is often drawn to images of men being the culprits.
.jpg)
While this is undeniably the case in the vast majority of instances, there are exceptions where women have been the sociopathic murderers responsible for malicious savagery so awful that it beggars belief. Here are five of the most cold-blooded, ruthless and cruelest women in history, who have also been in positions of authoritative power.
Lady Elizabeth Báthory: One of the World’s Cruelest Women
Killing people is one thing. Revealing in blood and mutilation is another. It is what separates a simple murderer from a grotesque butcher who redefines our understanding of depravity.
Born in 1560 on a family estate in Royal Hungary, Elizabeth Báthory was of noble blood. She was the niece of Stephen Báthory, voivode and later prince of Transylvania, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, and the King of Poland. As such, she was born into nobility and was privileged with education, wealth, and a lofty social rank. Her first taste of the morbidly bizarre her was introduced to her during childhood.
As a child, she suffered seizures which may have been epilepsy. Treatment for such bouts included feeding the patient blood and bits of skull from a non-sufferer. Although there is no hard evidence for it, tales of her childhood describe her being introduced to violence and cruelty by her own family. She witnessed brutal punishments and executions carried out by her father’s officers and was influenced by family members involved with Satanism and witchcraft.
Between the ages of 10 and 12 (sources are unclear), Elizabeth was engaged to Count Ferenc Nádasdy. On 8 May 1575, the couple was married. She was 15 at the time, and he was 19. Before this, however, at the age of 13, Bathory bore a daughter with a peasant boy. The child was given away to a peasant woman whom the Báthory family trusted, and the affair was kept quiet.