Editing Elizabeth Báthory (section)

===Marriage and land ownership===

[[File:Nádasdy Ferenc és Ecsedi Báthori Erzsébet portréja Csejte múzeum.jpg|thumb|375px|Portraits of Nádasdy and Báthori from the Čachtice Museum]]

In 1573,<ref name=":5"/> Báthory was engaged to Count [[Ferenc Nádasdy]], a member of the [[Nadasdy family]]. It was a [[arranged marriage|political arrangement]] within the circles of the aristocracy. Nádasdy was the son of Baron [[Tamás Nádasdy|Tamás Nádasdy de Nádasd et Fogarasföld]] (1498–1562) and his wife, Orsolya Kanizsai (1523–1571).

On 8 May 1575, Báthory and Nádasdy were married at the palace of [[Vranov nad Topľou|Varannó]] (today Vranov nad Topľou, Slovakia).<ref name=":5"/> The marriage resulted in combined land ownership in both Transylvania and the Kingdom of Hungary.<ref name=":5"/>

Nádasdy's wedding gift to Báthory was his household in the [[Čachtice Castle|Castle of Csejte (Čachtice)]], situated in the [[Little Carpathians]] near Vág-Ujhely and Trencsén (present-day [[Nové Mesto nad Váhom]] and [[Trenčín]], [[Slovakia]]).<ref name=":5"/> At the time, [[Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor|King Maximilian II]] owned the castle, but made Ferenc's mother, Orsolya Kanizsai, official [[Steward (office)|steward]] in 1569. Nádasdy finally bought the castle in 1602 from [[Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor]], but during his constant military campaign, Elizabeth maintained the castle in his absence, along with the Csejte country house and seventeen adjacent villages.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://cachtickyhrad.eu/en/historia-hradu/|title=História hradu|accessdate=8 September 2024}}</ref>

After the wedding, the couple lived in Nadasdy's castle at [[Sárvár]].<ref name=":5"/>

In 1578, three years into their marriage, Nádasdy became the chief commander of Hungarian troops, leading them to [[Ottoman–Habsburg wars|war against the Ottomans]].{{citation needed|date=September 2021}} Báthory managed business affairs and the family's multiple estates during the war. This role usually included responsibility for the Hungarian and [[Slovaks|Slovak]] people, providing medical care during the [[Long Turkish War|Long War]] (1593–1606), and Báthory was charged with the defence of her husband's estates, which lay on the route to [[Vienna]]. The threat of attack was significant, for the village of Csejte had previously been plundered by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] while [[Sárvár]], located near the border that divided [[Royal Hungary]] and [[Ottoman Hungary|Ottoman-occupied Hungary]], was in even greater danger.

Báthory's daughter, Anna Nádasdy, was born in 1585 and was later to become the wife of [[Nikola VI Zrinski]]. Báthory's other known children include Orsolya (Orsika) Nádasdy (1590–unknown) who would later become the wife of István II [[House of Benyovszky|Benyó]]; Katalin (Kata or Katherina) Nádasdy (1594-unknown); András Nádasdy (1596–1603); and Pál (Paul) Nádasdy (1598–1650), father of [[Franz III. Nádasdy|Franz III Nádasdy]], who was one of the leaders of the [[Magnate conspiracy]] against [[Holy Roman Emperor]] [[Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor|Leopold I]].{{citation needed|date=October 2017}} Some chronicles also indicate that the couple had another son, named Miklós Nádasdy, who married Zsuzsanna [[Zrinski family|Zrinski]]. However, this cannot be confirmed, and it could be that he was simply a cousin or died young, as he is not named in Báthory's [[will and testament|will]] from 1610. György Nádasdy is also supposedly the name of one of the deceased Nádasdy infants, but this cannot be confirmed. All of Elizabeth's children were cared for by [[governess]]es, as Báthory herself had been.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}

Ferenc Nádasdy died on 4 January 1604 at the age of 48. Although the exact nature of the illness which led to his death is unknown, it seems to have started in 1601 and initially caused debilitating pain in his legs. From that time, he never fully recovered, and in 1603 became permanently disabled.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}} He had been married to Báthory for 29 years. Before dying, Nádasdy entrusted his heirs and widow to [[György Thurzó]], who would eventually lead the investigation into Báthory's crimes.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}