Anna Bornemisza was born around 1630. She was descended from one the oldest families of Hungarian nobles of Transylvania. Her father was Pal Bornemisza of Berhida and Petrilin and her mother was Anna Kendeffy. She had Romanian relatives as well.

She married Michael Apafi I (1632-1690) in the summer of 1653. He was a short, red haired young man. Eight years later he became the penultimate Prince of Transylvania. Apafi gifted his wife the fortress of Făgăraș. The princely couple preferred to stay at Făgăraș and Dumbrăveni, because the Princely Palace in Alba Iulia had been destroyed by Tatars and Ottomans during the invasions of 1658-1662. Although it remained empty for a long time, the Princely Palace’s importance did not diminish.

Apafi’s reign was not without difficulties. At this time, the principality was shaken by religious, political and military upheavals, as well as famine and plague, which amplified its decay. Anna Bornemisza supported her husband during his reign. In 1660, after a failed campaign in Poland, she paid the ransom to retrieve her husband from the Tatars of Crimea. She had great influence on his thinking, his decisions and his actions. She gave her Apafi highly pertinent counsel on diplomacy and politics.

Anna enjoyed writing, music and other arts. She also shared some of Apafi’s passions: she often accompanied him on hunting parties, and they also both read extensively. At the family castle in Iernut, she had a private library containing 104 volumes (known from inventories from 1671-76). She also had prayer books, bibles, books of sermons, Aesop’s Fables in Hungarian, law collections and gardening books. Her economic diaries “Administrative chronicles” have been preserved to the present day. In these, she recorded the princely domain’s revenues and expenses. She also owned what could be described as the earliest cooking book in Transylvania (On the new cooking fashion), translated into Hungarian by János Keszei, in 1680 and dedicated to the princess.

Despite her own appreciation of reading, she repeatedly reproached and quarrelled with her husband for spending too much time on the very same pastime, which she perceived as a waste of (his) time. She was also irritated with his obsession for fixing horologes, which were “arranged all over his house.” According to court chronicler Michael Cserei, Anna Bornemisza “would not shut up, and day and night kept scolding him.” She reproached him for not “winning great glory and riches through wars,” as his ancestors had.

Anna Bornemisza led a life filled with personal occupation which fed her creative, beauty-loving spirit. She was especially attentive to culture and education. She continued the educational work of Zsuzsana Lorantffy, wife of George Rákóczi I, by extending the network of village schools in Făgăraș, insisting on native language classes and girls’ education.

On the other hand, she had a reputation for being extremely authoritarian, mercantile, moody, and proud. In 1675, as the Lady of Făgăraș fortress, she imposed severe punishments for insubordination, including capital punishment for those who failed to announce a danger, those who raised their hands against their masters, or those who slept or drank during religious services. Despite her authoritarian style, she skilfully administered the domain of Făgăraș, a role which she took over after the prince fell prey to apathy and drinking.

Suffering for dementia, a condition that she had already in a lighter form since adolescence, she took to her bed and remained in her room, which was adorned with valuable objects and paintings. The best physicians from Transylvania were brought to try to heal the princess. Her “turbulence of mind” was blamed on the work of witches. She was afraid of flies, which, in her mania, she thought witches coming to do her evil. As soon as she saw a fly, she panicked and was filled with dread. She tried to hide from the flies under the bed, behind the stove, or in the attic of the palace. If a fly sat on the table, she would immediately order a change of the cutlery. “Sometimes she cried with sighs and said that she cannot escape no matter what, other times she laughed extremely loudly saying that she had defeated them.” Her obsessive idea that somebody was working magic against her may have been rooted in her repeated attempts to become a mother. The princess and her husband had several children, but only one lived to mature age, Michael Apafi II, the last prince of Transylvania. All the other children died.

Several women who were suspected of stealing the princess’ mind were interrogated, accused and tortured. This was a time when witch-burning pyres were often set alight in Transylvania, following frenzied witch hunts. In response to Anna’s illness, the executioners became more ‘diligent’ than ever. In the capital of the Principality, so many executions were held that the stench of corpses did not diminish, even in winter. According to novelist Mihail Diaconescu, “All Transylvania was aware that the devils rule Alba Iulia without hindrance.” The most famous case of witchcraft was that of Ileana Lenart of Dej. Several noblewomen had asked for her magic and charm rituals, including Anna Bornemisza. Later, the princess claimed that she was a witch who had caused the death of her children, and she was burnt on a pyre. Other women who had nothing to do with black magic were condemned for simply joking or gossiping about the princess’ disease, such as an unmarried young Saxon lady from Sebeș and Maria Asztálos, from Reghin, mother of two. The princess’ unexpected sickness and the cruel accusations and punishments for witchcraft inspired fear, hatred and a desire for revenge among the inhabitants of Alba Iulia.

Despite the dedicated attention of the court physician Ferenc Páriz Pápai, the princess died on 3 August 1688, at 10 p.m. She was buried without pomp in the sacristy of the church in Mălâncrav (Sibiu County), which was a foundation of Apafi family. The disturbances of that year did not allow any ceremonial burial. In 1942, her bones were exhumed and moved next to those of her husband, in the Reformed church in Cluj-Napoca. (C.I.P.)