Saint Elizabeth of Hungary

Hungarian social reformer

• Born: 1207
• Birthplace: Sárospatak, Hungary
• Died: November 17, 1231
• Place of death: Marburg, Hesse (now Maribor, Slovenia)

Elizabeth, seeking to live according to the Christian ideal, established the first orphanage for homeless children in Central Europe and actively cared for the poor and the unemployed.

Early Life

Elizabeth of Hungary was born in Sárospatak to King Andrew II of Hungary (r. 1205-1235) and Gertrud of Andechs-Meran. Her mother met a tragic death in 1213, when Hungarian conspirators had her murdered. Elizabeth’s two maternal uncles, Berthold, titular patriarch of Aquileia, and Bishop Eckbert of Bamberg, who had played a role in the assassination of the king of Germany and emperor Philip of Swabia (r. 1198-1208), and sought refuge at the Hungarian court, were high ecclesiastics. In 1211, Hermann I (c. 1156-1217), landgrave of Thuringia, sent a delegation led by the knight Walter of Vargila to Pozsony to request the hand of Elizabeth in marriage for his son, Hermann.

The landgrave probably wanted to restore his weakened social and financial resources through this marriage with the Hungarian royal family. He may also have hoped to rely on the support of the Eastern monarch in the deadly struggle between Emperor Otto IV of Brunswick (1174?-1215) and emperor Frederick II (r. 1220-1250), the new papal protégé for the German throne (r. 1212-1250). Bishop Eckbert may have suggested the plan, though it is possible that King Otakar I of Bohemia (r. 1198-1230) may have also tried to establish a triple alliance by including the king of Hungary. From another point of view, family ties between one of the leading noble families in the empire and the Hungarian court might have enhanced the diplomatic position of Andrew II against some German princes, who still looked on Hungary as a country to be invaded and plundered.

Knight Vargila successfully concluded a marriage agreement, and the four-year-old bride, richly endowed, was dispatched to the Thuringian court at the castle of the Wartburg, near Eisenach. A bathtub of pure silver and a thousand pieces of gold formed only a portion of her dowry. It is known from her second husband, Louis, that the Thuringian court had never before seen such riches. They also expressed surprise at Elizabeth’s large personal entourage of servants and nurses.

Hermann I maintained an elaborate court and provided for poets and artists of the age. It may be that Walther von der Vogelweide or Wolfram von Eschenbach (while working on his Parzival, c. 1200-1210; English translation, 1894) spent some time at the castle at Wartburg. Hermann I and his wife, Sophia, met the young Elizabeth at Eisenach, and the official engagement celebration was held soon after at Wartburg. Elizabeth was educated at the Thuringian court; the curriculum included the study of contemporary poetry and writers, the history of leading families in the empire, art appreciation, Latin, and religion. As a child, Elizabeth liked to play, ride horses, and participate in games as well as pray in the chapel. Even as a child she displayed empathy and compassion toward the poor. Concerned with Elizabeth’s appearance as a lady of society, however, her mother-in-law cautioned her about being too loud and exuberant.

In 1213, when her mother was murdered, the six-year-old Elizabeth saw her bloody, mutilated body in a dream. After that, she spent more time in prayer before the crucifix and began to dress more simply. She began to pray for the murderers of her mother. Elizabeth was nine when she lost her fiancé, Hermann, and one year later her father-in-law died. It was at this time that Louis, her fiancé’s younger brother, became Elizabeth’s protector and good friend. After discussing Elizabeth’s uncertain future, Louis decided that she would be his wife. They were married in 1221 in the presence of the nobles of Thuringia and of other German regions. Knight Vargila led Elizabeth to the altar, and her father sent additional gifts. At the end of September, 1222, the young couple visited King Andrew at Pozsony. Traveling by horse, they were horrified at the destruction and decline of the country. It was the year of the Hungarian Golden Bull, by which the Hungarian nobles, discouraged by the nearly total disintegration of law and order in the realm, had forced the king to share his government with them.

Life’s Work

Under the guidance of her confessor, Father Rodinger, a Franciscan friar, Elizabeth began to lead a deeper spiritual life, carried out charity work, and established an orphanage (the first in Central Europe). She cared for lepers, of whom she was not afraid, and constructed a twenty-eight-bed hospital for them. She then came under the spiritual directorship of Konrad von Marburg (c. 1180-1233, the noted mystic, Franciscan preacher, and chief papal inquisitor in Germany.

In 1225, Louis embarked on a military campaign summoned by the emperor, and in his absence, Elizabeth governed Thuringia. She healed the wounds caused by natural disasters and was concerned about social discrimination among the disadvantaged; she fed nine hundred poor people daily, provided tools and obtained work for the able-bodied unemployed men, and taught the women to spin. At the same time, she represented her husband in high society, received distinguished guests at the court, and participated in hunting parties.

In 1227, Louis was again summoned by the emperor and joined a Crusade; Elizabeth was expecting their third child. By the time Gertrud was born, Louis was already dead, having fallen ill at Otranto. Elizabeth’s brothers-in-law, uneasy about her spending habits, forbade her to handle her own fiscal affairs, prompting her to leave Wartburg in October, 1227, with her three small children. Nobody in Eisenach, however, would accommodate them. After placing the children in foster homes, Elizabeth, accompanied by two of her royal servants, Guda and Isentrud, finally found shelter in an innkeeper’s stable. She spun cloth for a living until Mechtild, abbess of Kitzingen, provided for her in the abbey. Her uncle, the bishop of Bamberg, placed his castle at Pottstein at her disposal. The bishop tried to persuade her to marry Emperor Frederick II, but Elizabeth firmly declined the proposal. Only the future of her children concerned her; for herself, she desired to live in poverty. She had her husband’s remains buried in the monastery he had founded at Reinhardsbrunn. After the burial, and with Knight Vargila’s support, she regained her right to manage the estates she had inherited as a widow. Making a vow in the Franciscan church in Eisenach to renounce all earthly love and free will, she retained her property for the sake of her children, Hermann, Sophia, and Gertrud, and for making provision for the poor. She did not live in the castle at Wartburg but in nearby Wehrda, in a primitive house built of blocks of dirt. She spun cloth to earn her living and assisted in the hospital she had founded.

To deepen Elizabeth’s humility, Konrad used crude methods such as flagellation and beatings, the dismissal of her two servants, forbidding her to distribute large sums of money to the poor, and allowing her to give only one slice of bread each to the hungry. Elizabeth used her own bed to care for a young boy sick with dysentery; when he died, she put a girl with leprosy in her bed. Augmenting the abuse and humiliation suffered at the hand of Konrad, gossip now began to undermine Elizabeth’s reputation. She was ridiculed for her loud laughter, her refusal to dress in black, and the apparent ease with which she forgot her deceased husband. There were even rumors that she was happily engaged in an affair with the friar, about which she was confronted by Knight Vargila. In response, Elizabeth showed the marks of the flagellations and beatings received from Konrad.

Knowing that she was weak and would die soon, Elizabeth stayed in bed for the last two weeks of her life, finalizing the arrangements for the distribution of her wealth and her children’s future. Three days before she died, she sent everyone away from her except Konrad, who remained at her bedside. She died in the early hours of November 17, 1231. Her body lay in state for four days in the Franciscan church at Eisenach, dressed in clothing of the poor. During this time, the inhabitants of Thuringia came to her coffin not to pray for her but to ask for her intercession on their behalf. It is reported that during the following days and weeks, numerous miracles occurred at her grave.

Konrad informed Pope Gregory IX of the death of Elizabeth, and the pontiff authorized the friar to make preparations for her canonization. When Konrad was murdered in July, 1233, the bishop of Hildesheim carried on with the canonization process. It was then that the Libellus de dictis IV ancillarum (depositions of Saint Elizabeth’s four handmaidens Isentrud, Guda, Irmingard, and Elisabeth) was recorded in writing, followed by a strict ecclesiastical investigation. On May 26, 1235, in Perugia on the Feast of Pentecost, Pope Gregory IX entered Elizabeth’s name in the canon of saints (papal bull Gloriosus in maiestate). The first church erected in her honor was built by her brother-in-law Konrad, who was grand master of the German Order, at Marburg. On May 1, 1236, her coffin was elevated on the altar in the presence of her children, brothers-in-law, four archbishops, eight bishops, and a multitude of German, Hungarian, Czech, and French pilgrims.

Significance

Saint Elizabeth of Hungary lived according to the Christian ideal, fusing it with the pastoral concept of the mendicant orders in teaching and practicing humility and social equality. She did not believe that social stabilization could occur by suddenly elevating the lower strata; rather, she believed that the upper classes should willingly descend to the aid of the poor. In addition to building a hospital and establishing an asylum for homeless children, Elizabeth demonstrated an attitude toward the poor that was realistic as well as humane. Thus, although she developed a plan for feeding the poor, she abhorred idleness, quoting from Saint Paul that one who did not work would not eat.

Bibliography

Bihl, Michael. “Elizabeth of Hungary.” Catholic Encyclopaedia 5 (1909): 389-391. A thorough report on Saint Elizabeth and her time in accordance with early biographies and sermons. The work colorfully depicts the Hungarian royal court, life in Thuringia, and the background of the Crusades in the early thirteenth century.

Hawkins, Henry. The History of St. Elizabeth, 1632. Ilkley, Yorkshire, England: Scolar Press, 1974. Originally written in the early seventeenth century, this text is a still-useful historical study of Elizabeth’s life.

Obbard, Elizabeth Ruth. Poverty, My Riches: A Study of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, 1207-1231. Southampton, England: Saint Austin Press, 1997. A brief look at Elizabeth’s life as an ascetic and her devotion to helping the poor and needy. Bibliography, appendix.

Thurston, Herbert, and Donald Attwater, eds. Butler’s Lives of the Saints, Complete Edition. 1956. Reprint. Vol. 3. Westminster, Md.: Christian Classics, 1990. A readable and informative account that includes quotations from the depositions of Elizabeth’s loyal servants. Reveals the remarkable depth of Elizabeth and Louis’ relationship, and treats Konrad’s spiritual directorship dispassionately. Bibliography.