Serial Killers
of the
Middle Ages
Overview:
- no true criminal justice system
- most were aristocrats
- status let them get away with murder
- led to rumors of witchcraft
- said to be "vampires" or "werewolves"
- generally sentenced to death, if possible
Country: France
Years active:
1432-1440
Number of Victims:
140+ young children
primarily boys
Treatment of victims:
tortured
sodomized
murdered
Country:
Romania
(Transylvania)
Years active:
1459-1463
Number of victims:
40,000-100,000 "criminals"
included actual criminals, poor people, & anyone he didn't like
Treatment of victims:
Various methods of torture
- skinned
- boiled
- burned
- (but mostly) impaled
Country:
Germany
Years active:
1564-1589
Number of victims:
humans - 18
animals - unknown
Treatment of victims:
Women sexually assaulted
All killed
Most partially eaten
Country:
Hungary
Years active:
1603-1610
Number of victims:
400+ young girls
Treatment of victims:
Bled to death for "youthful baths"
Country:
Chile
Years active:
1623-1665
Number of victims:
40+ people
Treatment of victims:
Abused & murdered Inquilinos (indentured servants/serfs)
Poisoned her father
Stabbed a priest
Tortured a lover to death
Works Cited
- De Rais: http://jeriwesterson.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/11/medieval_serial.html
- Vlad: http://www.hellhorror.com/killers/serial_killer/64/Vlad-Tepes-aka-Vlad-the-Impaler-Count-Dracula.html
- Stumpp: http://paranormal.about.com/od/werewolves/a/The-Werewolf-Of-Bedburg.htm
- Bathory: http://www.hellhorror.com/killers/serial_killer/60/Erzsebet-Bathory-Elizabeth-Bathory-aka-The-Blood-Countess.html
- Catalina:
http://www.allsantiago.com/the-historic-quarter/around-iglesia-de-san-agustin/the-story-of-la-quintrala/
Peter
Stumpp
Punishment:
Executed by breaking wheel
Elizabeth
Bathory
Punishment:
Not allowed to be executed (royal lineage)
Sealed in castle closet & never released
Died 4 years later (1614)
Gilles de
Rais
Vlad the
Impaler
Punishment:
Hanged until dead
Punishment:
Imprisoned by king of Hungary
Escaped
Recaptured & beheaded
Catalina de los Rios
Punishment:
None
Cases never tried
(her uncle was a judge)