The landgravine, known for her charity, is born in Hungary
The historical record tells us that Elisabeth of Thuringia was born to the King of Hungary and his south German wife on 7 July 1207. Sent to the court of the Landgrave of Thuringia at the age of four, Elisabeth was betrothed to the landgrave’s eldest son Ludwig. Growing up in Thuringia, Elizabeth developed great piety and a strong sense of justice from a very early age. After the death of his father, Ludwig IV took over the rule of Thuringia, Saxony and Hesse at the age of 17. Four years later, he married his 14-year-old bride.
The young landgravine did not hide the fact that she aspired to imitate Christ in his care for the poor and sick. During her husband’s absence, she distributed the royal grain supplies to the starving population and founded a hospital in Eisenach. She sold her rich clothes and jewellery and gave the proceeds to the poor, whilst herself wearing coarse woollen clothes. Although many found such behaviour admirable, court opinion turned against Elizabeth after she fell under the influence of the radical preacher Konrad von Marburg. Whilst she enjoyed the protection of her husband during his lifetime, she was forced to leave her home on the Wartburg after Ludwig died whilst on crusade. Later, she followed Konrad – by now appointed as her guardian by the Pope – to Marburg, where she worked in a hospital, nursing lepers. After the death of Elizabeth in 1231 at the age of just 24, relic hunters cut off her hair, nails and even a finger, and her grave soon became a place of pilgrimage. Elizabeth was canonized after a number of miracles were ascribed to her intercession and was sometimes even venerated as the national saint of Germany.
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