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All articles related to the Elizabeth Bathory portrait.

Articles By: Jozef Borovský Original posting: January 1, 2016. Updated: June 2, 2019. © ElizabethBathory.Org

Articles: 1580 Portrait Found; Fantasy Portraits; Rip Off Portrait.

The Myth.

Bottom Coat of Arms

Bathory of Ecsed Coat of Arms - Elizabeth Bathory's family coat of arms. The three white stripes represent, according to some, three wolves' teeth, or three dragon claws. It's probably the latter. Why, exactly? Well, that's lost to history now. The dragon, however, is easily explained. It's the King of Croatia, Bohemia, Romans (Germany), Hungary, and Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund Luxembourg's symbol of his Order of the Dragon (ordo Draconis). The Bathorys used the wolves' teeth and dragon motif in their coat of arms in various forms right until their extinction by the Habsburgs in the seventeenth century.

In medieval symbology of the Knights Templar (c. 1119 to c. 1312), Satan was was represented by the lion, and Christ by the dragon. All Templar knights were forbidden to hunt any wild animal except for the Lion. The Templars were, of course, exterminated as heretics, not for their beliefs, as history, or myth would love you to believe, but because the French kingdom was bankrupt as a result of waging futile crusades. The Templars were exterminated as heretics for their wealth which was confiscated by the French King during the Avignon Papacy era - with the permission of their Avignon Pope, but not the Catholic Church in Rome and the rest of Europe. Thus, more than a century later when Sigismund chose this Templar symbology for his knightly order, members of Sigismund's Order of the Dragon who displayed the dragon motif on their coat of arms, also indicated Christ's eternal protection of their dynasty represented by the dragon encircling their coat of arms. Why did Sigismund choose an extinct heretical symbol for his knightly order? Read about it in the Chrysalis Books.

The coat of arms depicted here is a modern representation, but its based on the real historic medieval Serbian Lazareviċ design from about the same time when the Bathorys were inducted into the order.

Article Index

All articles related to the Elizabeth Bathory portrait.

1580 Bathory Portrait Found

Fantasy Portraits

Rip Off Portrait

Myth Genesis

Literary Origins

Tragic Consequences