Mr Paul Gallagher SC, representing several newspapers being sued by Mr Bailey, read out extracts from Mr Bailey's diaries in which he recorded his poetry, writings and sexual fantasies.
Following an assault on his partner, Welsh artist Ms Jules Thomas, in August, 1993, Mr Bailey, wrote: "I feel a sense of sickness at seeing my own account of that dreadful night. I actually tried to kill her. At present she is walking wounded with bruises on her face, lips and body."
Mr Gallagher said the account of the "vicious" assault, as well as others in the diaries, showed that Mr Bailey had a record of violence against at least one woman.
"And you record that you actually tried to kill her.
"Can you tell us about that, Mr Bailey," Mr Gallagher asked.
"I can't explain that," Mr Bailey said.
"You had forgotten that you had been so frank with yourself," Mr Gallagher said later.
After further questioning, Mr Bailey described the account as "wrong" and he said he did not believe he had tried to kill his partner.
Mr Bailey also admitted assaulting his partner on at least three different occasions but said the assaults were largely sparked by alcohol or pressure and he had now stopped drinking.
Mr Gallagher asked if the "abuse" Ms Thomas had suffered was worse than the abuse Mr Bailey said he suffered following the publication of articles which he says defamed him in relation to the murder of Ms du Plantier.
Mr Bailey said: "The difference between domestic violence and a murder are hugely different.
"The fact that I have had these assaults against Jules doesn't mean that I am given to murder."
The diaries also showed that in December 1995, Mr Bailey wrote that he felt like a "crazed beast" and that he was beginning to frighten people.
After an assault against his partner in May 1996, in which Ms Thomas's lip was severed from her lip and clumps of hair were pulled from her head, Mr Bailey wrote that he had felt like a "animal on two feet" and expressed remorse for making his partner feel "death was near".
Mr Gallagher suggested the reference to death illustrated the severity of the beatings, however, Mr Bailey said he had been referring to death as the poet Dylan Thomas would, where "death was ever present".
Mr Bailey's partner, Ms Thomas, sought two barring orders following the assaults, although the couple returned to living together after a period of time following each incident.
Mr Bailey said he did not know if the barring orders had been sought because of Ms Thomas's fear that he might assault her again and suggested that she had been pressurised into taking the action by gardaí.
He said the gardaí had been delighted to learn of an assault which followed Ms Toscan du Plantier's murder and sought to use it to their advantage.
He said that when he was planning to travel to England for a period following the assault, gardaí told Ms Thomas they would allow him to travel if she made a statement. She did not choose to make a statement, he said.
Mr Bailey accepted that he had a history of violence towards Ms Thomas, but said he had never taken such action against other women.
He also rejected suggestions at the time that he was travelling to England to "escape" and said the flight had been offered by a woman who lived locally.
Mr Gallagher suggested that the woman was doing so because of the fear that he might assault his partner again.
Mr Bailey, however, said he did not know what had prompted the woman's offer.
