 Elizabeth of Hungary
Saintly Princess
Elizabeth of Hungary was a
Hungarian princess and philanthropist of the
thirteenth century who was concerned for the
relief of the poor and sick. With consent of her
husband she used her dowry money to aid the
needy in her land.
Elizabeth was born at Presburg
in 1207 the daughter of Andreas II, king of
Hungary. At the age of four she was affianced to
the Landgraf of Thuringia, Louis IV, who was
himself an infant. She was then brought to his
court in the Wartburg, near Eisenach, to be
educated under the watchful eyes of her future
parents-in-law. She early displayed a passion
for the severities of the Christian life and as
she grew in age, she also grew in piety. She
hated pomp and ambition, cultivated humility,
and exhibited much self-denying benevolence. Her
conduct, even as a girl, amazed the Thuringian
court.
When she was but fourteen years
old, her marriage to Louis IV took place and
together they had three children. In spite of
her position at court, Elizabeth began to lead a
simple life and devoted herself to works of
charity. Louis admired Elizabeth for her long
prayers and ceaseless almsgiving, for he himself
was attracted to this mode of life. He was
inclined to religion and encouraged her in her
exemplary life. It was he who encouraged her to
use her dowry money for the relief of the poor
and the sick. In 1226, while Louis was away in
Italy, Elizabeth sold her jewels and established
a hospital at the foot of her castle where she
nursed the sick herself and opened the royal
granaries to feed the hungry, knowing she would
have her husband's approval.
Great misfortunes soon befell
the saintly Elizabeth. In 1227 tragedy first
struck with the death of Louis while fighting
with the Crusaders. After the death of her
husband, Louis's brother deprived Elizabeth of
her regency and she was expelled from her home
at Wartburg on the grounds that she wasted the
treasure of the state by her extravagant giving
to charities. She at last found refuge in the
church, where her first care was to thank God
that he had judged her worthy to suffer.
When the warriors who attended
her husband in the Crusade returned from the
East, they found Elizabeth and listened to her
recount all her sufferings at the hands of her
in-laws. Steps were taken to restore the
princess with her sovereign rights. She declined
the throne, however, but did accept a stipend of
500 marks a year.
She became a Franciscan tertiary
and devoted the remainder of her life to nursing
and charity and ascetic living. She put on a
nun's raiment and took up her residence in a
cottage at the foot of the hill on which stood
her castle of Marburg, giving her life to
ceaseless devotions, almsgiving, and
mortifications. All her revenues were given to
the poor and what she required for personal
expenditures for herself and her three children
she earned with her own hands. She died November
19, 1231.
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