The most famous thing ever done from Bytča had nothing to do with weddings. In 1610 King Matthias II ordered an investigation into Elizabeth Báthory, widow of Ferenc Nádasdy and mistress of Čachtice, and Thurzó ran it: his notaries questioned more than three hundred people, many of whom said that young women in her household had been beaten and had died. At the end of 1610 he seized the castle at Čachtice, and in January 1611 four of her servants were tried — Ilona Jó and Dorota Sentešová were burned, Ján Ficko beheaded and burned, Katarína Benická jailed for life. Báthory herself was never charged and never tried; she was shut up in her own castle and died there on 21 August 1614. A trial would have forfeited the enormous Nádasdy estates to a crown that already owed the family a war loan, so confinement let everybody keep what they had — which is exactly why historians still argue about this case.Najznámejšia vec, aká sa kedy z Bytče urobila, so svadbami nesúvisela. Roku 1610 nariadil kráľ Matej II. vyšetrovanie Alžbety Bátoriovej, vdovy po Františkovi Nádašdym a panej Čachtíc, a viedol ho práve Turzo: jeho notári vypočuli vyše tristo ľudí a mnohí vypovedali, že mladé ženy z jej služby boli bité a že zomierali. Koncom roka 1610 obsadil čachtický hrad a v januári 1611 stálo pred súdom štvoro jej služobníctva — Ilonu Jó a Dorotu Sentešovú upálili, Jána Ficka sťali a spálili, Katarínu Benickú odsúdili na doživotie. Samotnú Bátoriovú neobžalovali a nesúdili nikdy; zavreli ju na jej vlastnom hrade a 21. augusta 1614 tam zomrela. Súd by znamenal, že obrovské nádašdyovské majetky prepadnú korune, ktorá rodu ešte dlhovala vojnovú pôžičku — takto si každý nechal, čo mal. Presne preto sa o tomto prípade historici hádajú dodnes.
