Elizabeth was born on a family estate in Nyírbátor, Hungary on August 7, 1560, and spent her childhood at Ecsed Castle.

Her father was George Báthory of the Ecsed branch of the family, brother of Andrew Bonaventura Báthory, who had been Voivod of Transylvania.

Her mother was Anna Báthory, daughter of Stephen Báthory of Somlyó, another Voivod of Transylvania, was of the Somlyó branch.Through her mother, Elizabeth was the niece of the Hungarian noble Stefan Báthory, King of Poland and Duke of Transylvania.
She was fluent in  Latin, German and Greek at a time when men would have been more scholarly then the females of the era.

Elizabeth as a child also suffered from seizures accompanied by intense rage and uncontrollable behavior. This was said to be the result of inbreeding. It was not uncommon for the nobility of the era to marry within the family in order to keep the bloodline pure.

Elizabeth was aware of the cruelty of the family at that time. Torcher and death were not uncommon punishments for those found to wrong the nobles of the family. Some punishments more gruesome than others , were common place at the time.

At the age of eleven she was engaged to Ferenc Nádasdy sixteen, also of Hungry. This was an arranged marriage by Ferenc’s mother Orsolya Nádasdy. Elizabeth then moved into Nádasdy Castle with her betrothed.

Two years after the arrangement of the marriage Elizabeth became pregnant by a servant of the house named László Bende. Ferenc immediately had him castrated and soon after thrown to a pack of wild dogs. Elizabeth was taken to another castle and in 1574 gave birth to a daughter named Anastasia Bathory. Ferenc made sure that the infant was not associated with the family shortly after the birth.

On May 8, 1575, Ferenc and Elizabeth married at Castle Varannó in Vrano. Elizabeth was 14 years old. Ferenc took his new wife’s name of Bathroy. At this time the Bathroy name was more honorable in the area than that of his own Nadasdy.

The couple then went to live at Csejte Castle. Csejte Castle,built in thirteenth century, on top of a hill, at the foot of which stood the village of Csejte, which lends its name to the castle, was a wedding gift to the couple, as well as 17 surrounding villages.