St. Feast day: 19 November

Stations of a life Elizabeth, landgravine of , died in Marburg, over 770 years ago, on 17 November 1231, at the age of 24. Scarcely four years later, at Whitsun (Pente- cost) in the year 1235, Elizabeth was canonized by Pope Gregory IX in the church of St. Dominic in Perugia. And an other ten years later, an inscription was at- tached to the golden shrine in Marburg that held her relics for three centuries, llntil1548: "Gloria Teutoniae" -"Ruhm der deutschen Lande" (glory of the Ger- man lands). -In such respect was this holy woman held, not' only at the Wartburg in Thuringia, not only in Marburg, her last place of her activity, but far beyond the borders of the empire. Elisabeth was greatly revered in from the first, above all in. Andechs, for her mother! came from the Andechs dynasty, and soon after' her death Elisabeth joined the and beatified members of this proud and noble family as one of the brightest and most beautiful stars in what is called the "Andechser Himmel" (Andechs Sky/Heaven of Saints). The Andechser Himmel

Andechs -church and monastery. Copperplate engraving by Matthaus Merian 1644 This "Andechser Himmel" is something extraordinary, even for the High . The unusually large number of saintly men and women produced by this powerful family of counts, living in Diessen and on the Andechs mountain.

1 2 has stirred the mind of the local people again and again, occupied historians and Hueber reports: inspired artistic genius. What began in the High Middle Ages, in the 12th and "The monastery and church on the holy mountain of Andechs, following 13rd centuries, was taken up again and continued by the monks of Andechs mon- their dedication to Our Lady and the St. Nicholas, have now been dedic- astery, founded in 1455. In the baroque period, in 1670, the eloquent Franciscan ated to St. Elizabeth; and it is considered that, as shown by the old chronicles, she Fortunat Hueber, a capable and respected historian and writer, published a book visited her friends [relations] at Schloss Andechs in person; she is also said to "Unsterbliche Gedachtnis" (Immortal Memory) in which he claimed he would re- have touched the place where her chapel and well now stand ... " trieve the history of the Andechs dynasty and its saints from oblivion and set it in "bright light". Relics in Andechs The "old chronicles" really do try to emphasise the close relationship between Andechs and Elizabeth. Even in the very early days of the monastery on the holy mountain, the descriptions of the relics associate four items with St. Elizabeth; two of these, her wedding dress and a pectoral cross, are still shown to pilgrims and visitors in the Gothic reliquary chapel. The 1518 inventory of relics reports "The grey piece, line d with green dam- ask, is part of the dress of St. Elizabeth that she gave to the church for liturgical vestments; her mother Gertrude, Queen of Hungary, wore it at her coronation ... It was also St. Elizabeth's wedding dress, in which the holy relic was found, together with the holy sacrament, and it lay under the ground for one hundred and fifty- nine years."

St. Elizabeth's weddingdress from the Andechs reliquary chamber (text p. 3) The material of this dress really does date from the 12th century, but the little cross, said to have been a present from Pope Gregory IX to Elizabeth, is much newer. The fact that it is said to have belonged to Elizabeth shows what efforts St. Elizabeth as a savereign (crown) and benefactress (bread in her were made to find tangible links to this member of the house of Andechs in partic- hand) at the high altar of the Andechs monastery church, J. B. Straub, ular. Another tradition is that Elizabeth visited the ancestral of her mother's c. 1755 family and brought these valuables of hers to Andechs herself; since the days of But St. Elizabeth became the third patron of Andechs, as Fortunate

3 4 Count Rasso there had been an exquisite collection of relics there. aries: at all events capable, and of ten hard. For example, Elizabeth's father, Andrew II of Hungary, can scarcely be seen The family of Elizabeth's mother as a model chivalrous ruler. He only became king after he had ousted his brother, In the High Middle Ages, the house of Andechs was one of the most power- the lawful heir, with violence and malice. As a result he was excommunicated. ful families in Bavaria. They eventually owned seven counties, and the younger But Gertrude, his consort, is described as supremely ambitious. After the murder sons were in Freising and Passau, in Bamberg and Brixen, and patriarchs of the king in Bamberg in the year 1208, her brothers sought refuge with her, and in Aquileia. The centre of their domain was the land around Diessen and Andechs she impru dently, indeed provocatively favoured them, attracting the profound and the count y of Wolfratshausen, but in the 12th century their territory extended hatred of the Hungarian dignitaries; in this way she helped to start a revolt against from the Upper River Main in the north to far in the south, where the members of the royal family and herself was assassinated. Today, Hungarian historians in par- the house of Andechs were heirs to the house of Greifenstein in Tyrol and foun- ticular have found positive aspects in Gertrude's character, but her imprudent acts ded the city of Innsbruck; it even extended as far as the Adriatic, where they and her dreadful end can not be interpreted away. owned the margraviate of Istria and the duchies of Croatia and Dalmatia; from Hungarian home 1180 on they were of Meran and from time immemorial they had been ad- ministrators of the abbeys of Tegemsee, Benediktbeuem and Neustift in Tyrol, and Elizabeth was born in the year 1207, probably at Sárospatak castle in north- of the archdioceses of Bamberg and Brixen. Such possessions are not acquired by ern Hungary, a massive building that is still imposing today and that is used as a accident. They were the result of a purposeful policy that was not par tic ul ar museum. But at the age of only four, Elizabeth became a pawn in political man- about the means it used. Berthold IV is a typical great lord of Andechs, intrepid in oeuvres: Hermann of Thuringia sought her hand for his son, also called his battle against the heathens on the 1189 crusade, reliable and loyal as a liege- Hermann. It was necessary to make alliances and to strengthen these by marriages. man of the emperor and last but not least a judicious patron of the arts: the In addition, a princess of Hungary was an attractive party on account of her Franconian poet Wimt von Gravenberg, in his "Wigalois", has a lament for the wealth, her ancestry and last but not least the exotic appeal of this distant country. death of Berthold. Eight of Berthold's children lived to adulthood, and all of them Young Elizabeth's bridal process ion plays a great role in the accounts of her life played important roles in European public life: Otto († 1234) and Heinrich († and in the medieval panel paintings that tell her story. The chronicle of the 1228) as counts of Andechs and Wolfratshausen, the former with the title of a Thuringian royal chaplain Berthold recounts it as follows: of Meran and count pala tine of Burgundy, and Hein rich as of Is- "Therefore Queen Gertrude tria; Eckbert († 1237) as bishop of Bamberg, who built Bamberg Cathedral; Ber- made sure that she sent her thold (t 1251) as the patriarch of Aquileia; Mechthild (t 1254) was an abbess in daughter out of the country in a Kitzingen convent; Agnes, celebrated for her beauty (t 1201), lived without the manner suited to a king's daugh- blessing of the church as the consort of the King of France, whose lawful wife she ter. When she had obtained had ousted; Hedwig († 1243) was married to Duke Heinrich of Silesia in her early everything necessary for the youth, and far from home she became engaged in beneficent works and after an long journey and had given the exemplary and saintly life she became the patron saint of Silesia, as she remains honest messengers rich presents today. Finally, Berthold's daughter Gertrude († 1213), married to King Andrew of of silver and gold and jewels, Hungary, was the mother of St. Elizabeth. she la id her daughter, dear St. If we consider that Berthold's son Otto also acquired the county of Burgundy Elizabeth, in a silver cradle lined through his marriage, it becomes plain to see what a network of relationships exis- with exquisite silk cloth. With ted here, from France and Burgundy in the west to Poland, Hungary and Friaul, the child, she sent countless gold from the river Main in the north over the Alpine passes to Istria and Dalmatia. and silver drinking vessels, In the literature about St. Elisabeth, the Andechs family are represented, per- splendid fastenings, wreaths and haps to give a dark foil to the bright subject of the saint her self, as unscrupulous circlets, much-decorated rings and power-hungry; one biography (by Gisbert Kranz) does not hesitate to use a and bracelets, beautifully contrast as drastic as "criminal and saint". The members of the house of Andechs worked and with precious were people of their time, endeavouring to increase their possessions and prestige. stones, many colourful ribbons They became involved in conflicts and were confronted with difficult decisions. and rich clothing of fur, cloths But this family too, in the last instance, was not very different from its contempor- interwoven with gold and bal- The cross known as St. Elizabeth's cross (text p. 4), in its present form dating from the 15th c., Andechs, reliquary chamber 5 6 dachins. Who could afford the princely bedlinen of purple silk that was sent along with other luxurious household items too numerous to be counted?

The Wartburg in Thuringia

Two bracteates, at the left Margrave Ludwig IV and his wife Elizabeth (c. 1225), at the right Landgrave Ludwig as a crusader (t 11.9.1227) There was also one thousand marks in fine silver, and there were many other articles, and a silver tub in which the child was to be bathed. Such a rich treasure Elizabeth Well at Andechs (text p. 3), which sprang on this spot in answer to St. was never again seen in the land of Thuringia." Elizabeth's prayer, statue by Joseph Graven, 1862 The chronicle continues: "And so they went from there and came to Thuringia. The King's daughter was we11 received. Then the girl was given to the young prince to accompany him in a childlike way, preparing for the future wed-

7 8 ding, until the time had come. She was industriously raised, as was right and prop- Landgrave Hermann's court er." The land of Thuringia was not one of the greatest and most powerful in the empire. But Landgrave Hermann was ambitious and full of bold plans. An out- ward indication of this is the way he extended his , above all the Wartburg. The impressive Landgrave's Building (Palas) there was a high point of castle ar- chitecture of the time, and it became the centre of his court, a court of truly regal splendour and virtually royal pretensions, as expressed above all in the manu- scripts that have been preserved. Hermann became the patron of the poetry of the high Middle Ages in Germany: Albrecht von Halberstadt and Herbort von Fritzlar wrote poems at his commission, he called Heinrich von Veldeke and Wolfram von Eschenbach to his court, where the legendary Minnesingers' Contest is said to have take n place. Finally, Walther von der Vogelweide sang his praises and hon- oured his name in the following famous strophe (35,7): Ich bin des milten lantgrâven ingesinde - (I am one of the retinue of the generous landgrave). But the same Walther, in another saying (20,4-12), complains of the noise and the coarseness that are found at this court: Der in den ôren siech von ungesühte sî daz ist mîn rât, der lâz den hof ze Dürengen frî: wan kumet er dar, dêswâr er wirt ertceret (He who has sensitive ears, he should stay away from this court, for if he is there, he will become completely deaf.) Wolfram von Eschenbach joined in this complaint. Finally, Walther even lost his horse in Eisenach: Lord Atze, a feudal re- tainer of the landgrave's, killed it in anger, and no-one there helped Walther to attain justice. After an unsettled life, full of bold adventures and fluctuations in policy, Her- mann became melancholy and died insane and ex communicated in 1217. A prayer that his consort, Landgravine Sophie, a Wittels- bach princess, had written in her psalter, is striking: "I commend to Thee, Jesus, Thy servant Hermann, who, although he is entangled in many crimes and sins, vet was created by Thee and redeemed through Thy dear blood, and who hopes in Thee ... To Thee I com- mend him in the devout hope that he may be redeemed through Thy bitter suffering. Hear me, a sinner, for Thy brother Hermann." The Landgrave's Building (Palas) at the Wartburg in Thuringia had been completed at the time when St. Elizabeth was landgravine The legend of the leper in Elizabeth's bed (text p.. 21), Lübeck, Heiligen-Geist-Spit- al Eli abeth Cycle 1420 9 10 Youth in Thuringia brother, was unmistakably attracted to her. After the death of his eldest brother, he was to succeed his father as sovereign. Would he also take his brother's fiancé as a The Landgrave's son, .Hermann, Elizabeth's fiancé, had died a year before his bride? In her distress and uncertainty, Elizabeth tumed to her confidant, the knight father. The girl's fate was therefore quite uncertain. In addition, since her mother's Walter von Varila [Vargila], who had once sought her hand in the Landgrave's death Elizabeth no longer had anyone to tum to in her home country. She was name. Dietrich von Apaida tells of this: brought up at court together with the Landgrave's children, but she was no longer popular with everyone. Elizabeth remained a mystery to those around her. She was a beautiful child with glowing eye s and dark hair, and her intelligence was "Once, on a journey, Walter von Varila approached Landgrave Ludwig and expressly praised; she was a bold rider, keen to gain the advantage when playing said, 'May it be your pleasure that I may speak to you and you answer my ques- with others, sensitive to breaches of etiquette and also sensitive to stale air in the tion. ... I ask you and beseech you to answer: what have you decided to do with heated rooms. All of this fits the picture of a future ruler. the King's daughter? Will you take her as your wife or send her back to her "When Elizabeth was five years old and did not know her letters, she of ten father? Then the Landgrave pointed to a large mountain in front of them and said, threw herself down before the altar and opened the psalter as if she were praying 'If this mountain were of gold from top to bottom, I would rather renounce it than from it." give up a marriage to Elizabeth. Let others think and say what they want love But at the same time she was quite different: ev en as a child she was unusu- Elizabeth and value marriage to her above all else. Tell her this and give her what ally religious, even as a child she was drawn to those in need and fired with enthu- I will send her as a pledge.' Here, he took from his pocket a double mirror with a siasm for the ideal of Christian poverty, even as a child she was critical of those bronze frame and gave it to the knight ... with power. This is easy to say and sounds like pious talk. But there are unbiased When the holy virgin carefully received this gift from the knight's hand, she sources to support it, simple, almost simple-minded statements by Elizabeth's showed her gladness at it in a very joyful smile." companions and maidservants, whose naivety shows they cannot have been inven- ted. Landgravine Elizabeth "In many ways she took the opportunity to slip into the chapel with out being seen. For if she was seen by maidservants, she pretended that she was playing and And so, in 1221, a splendid wedding was celebrated. Ludwig was twenty and wanted to catch another girl, ran towards the chapel and quickly sprang in." Elizabeth not yet fourteen. The marriage was to last for six years, and Elizabeth "If she was playing and had the best prospects of winning, she said, 'Now I bore three children to her husband. want to stop, for love of God.' And in a dance, when many rounds had to be Ludwig himself seemed rather to take after his father: he was impetuous and danced, she would only join in one, and she told her playmates, 'One round is somewhat hard when political goals needed to be achieved. But Elizabeth knew enough for the world, but I will leave out the others for the love of God.'" how to change him, so strong was the effect of her personality even at such a Surely the will to renounce is shown here, for the love of God? These child- young age. Her marriage was also unconventional and attracted attention because ish signs of a pious disposition cannot have caused much offence. But when Eliza- Elizabeth refused to follow conventions that contradicted her nature or her love. beth took off her he ad wear in church, wore threadbare clothes to the service, She did not retire to the women's apartments, but whenever possible she remained talked to mere servants and renounced all her titles, she was bound to cause of- at the side of her beloved husband; she even accompanied him on strenuous long fence. Landgravine Sophie reproaches her: "Miss Elizabeth, do you want to intro- rides. But if he had to go on a journey for a long time, or if she was confined to duce new customs here so that people laugh at us?" It is always the same thing: the castle for other reasons, she adorned her self for his return, hurried to meet everything that attracts attention must be avoided; the opinion of "other people" is him and kissed him in public and quite impetuously, as the contemporary account decisive. Elizabeth replies, "Far be it from me, myself a modest creature made of of her life relates, "with heart and mouth, a good thousand times". There are many earth, to appear crowned in vain arrogance in the face of my God and King Jesus reports handed down about her marriage, for example how Ludwig gave her love Christ, whom I see crowned with thorns." But the Landgravine replies; "Elizabeth, and absolute fidelity, how Elizabeth, contrary to the custom of the time, always sat you should not be numbered among the ruling lords, but among the serving with him at tab le, or how in their conversations in bed they discussed the ideal of maids." a simple life. Three decisive incidents will be given here as examples. The ser- vants relate: "At table, beside her husband, Elizabeth refused to eat anything that had been The young bride bought from the money collected by the tax officers. She only helped herself if she knew that the food came from the rightful possessions of her husband. When The maids' remarks tell of intrigues and harassment, even of the plan to send she and the servants requested the Landgrave not to be angry, he replied, 'I would Elizabeth back home or to a convent. But Ludwig, brought up as Elizabeth's

11 12 like to do the same, if I were not afraid of my people and others opposing me. But The most beautiful legend from Elizabeth's life if God will, I will soon arrange my life differently. '" The third report may be one of the many legends that surround Elizabeth's life, but it is the most important of all. Elizabeth spent more and more time look- ing after the poor and sick. At the foot of the Wartburg she had founded a hospital with 28 beds, which she visited regularly in order to comfort, feed and look after the sick.

The of the roses, Wartburg, Elisabethgalerie, painted in 1854 by Moritz von Schwind "The blessed Elizabeth of ten rose at night to pray, although her husband urged her not to damage her health. Sometimes he even held her hand while she Larulgrave Ludwig takes leave of Elizabeth (text pp. 20f.), Marburg, Elisabethkirche, was praying and requested her, from concern about her health, to lie down again. south-eastern choir window, c. 1250 Once Elizabeth instructed her maidservants to pull her toes when they woke her to pray at night, so as not to disturb her husband. Isentrud then accidentally pulled "Although otherwise she loathed stale air, she tolerated the worst possible the lord 's toe. He woke up, but since he knew what she had meant to do, he ac- sickroom air, even in summer, without nausea, when her maids could tolerate it cepted it without complaint." only with difficulty and grumbling. She served the sick with her own hands and

13 14 with a glad heart." The conclusion is: sente Elyzabeth rif mit lutir kel, "we mir vel armen Here now is the legend told by Dietrich von Apolda: wibe".** "Once, Elizabeth took a leper into the castle, looked after hím and washed him and then la id him in the bed that she shared with her hus band. When this After this parting, Elizabeth returned and dressed like a widow. But Ludwig was re porte d to the Landgrave, he hurried to see this enormity for himself. But became ill in Otranto in Apulia and died of a fever. Dietrich von Apolda tells of when he threw back the bedcover, instead of the expected leper he saw the cruci- how Elizabeth heard the news of his death from her mother in law and broke into fied Christ. The court servants saw this miracle in astonishment. But the Land- wild grief "Dead? Then the world is dead for me and everything the world can grave blessed his wife, who had sunk to her knees, and said he approved of give me."She sprang up and ran weeping through the hall, quite beside herself. everything she had done." But they all wept for grief at the death of such a lovable man and for compassion Elizabeth really did of ten look after lepers, although leprosy was feared be- with the pitiable widow. Her comforter had been taken from her, and with him all cause of the risk of infection. But this story opens the inner eye of the listener for happiness vanished. But there was one who looks after orphans and comforts wid- her real motive, the love of God: the sick man, as if transparent, allows a quite dif- ows, the Holy Spirit ... " ferent reality to show through, a reality towards which Elizabeth strives unwaver- In Ludwig's life time, when he was away and there was a famine in ingly. Thuringia, Elizabeth had once given all the money in the household to alleviate Another legend has become more popular because it is sentimental and rather superficial: the miracle of the roses. When Elizabeth is about to leave the castle carrying bread for the poor in her skirt, she meets her husband. He mistrustfully asks her what she is hiding, and she replies, "Roses" -and indeed , roses appear in her lap. This episode was transferred from Elizabeth of Portugal to "our" Eliza- beth at a fairly late date. It does justice neither to the loving understanding of the couple nor to their personal dignity. Only in the 19th century was the legend intro- duced from Italy by the Nazarenes (M. Hartwig). There have been roses in pic- tures of Elizabeth since the late Middle Ages, but only beside the crucified Christ in the bed miracle as a symbol of love. Farewell for ever This same Elizabeth was beside herself when she learnt of her husband's in- tention to accompany Emperor Friedrich II on his crusade to the Holy Land. She rode with him to the borders of Thuringia, and then a day's ride and a second day's ride, before she finally tore herself away from him. A contemporary poem tells of this parting:

Ir ein daz ander umbeving gar früntlich da mit armen, groz jamer durch ir herze ging, wen sold dis nicht erbarmen? ez word in auch zere vergozzin vil mere ... *

Elizabeth** is givenSt. Elizabeth her dower called by her in abrother- loud voice,in-law "woe Heinrich, is me, tapestrypitiable woman!"at the Wartburg, On this poem, cf.: A.Basle, Huyskens, c. 1480/90 Quellenstudien zur Geschichte der hl. *They embraced each other full of love. Deep grief pierced their hearts. Who would Elisabeth. Marburg 1908; Wolfgang Kayser, Geschichte der deutschen Ballade. Berlin not fee! with them? Many tears were shed. 1936, p. 18; Marburg Katalog of 1981, no. 61.

15 16 the suffering. Was the Thuringian court afraid of Elizabeth's unchecked generos- dominant role in Elizabeth's life from this time on. She and her husband had ity? There were arguments and Elizabeth was treated condescendingly, and finally chosen him a long time earlier as a spiritual guide and father confessor and had she hastily decided to leave the castle and sought refuge in Eisenach with her chil- obtained his advice in religious matters, but also in church matters, for example dren, but she was unsuccessful. when they were awarding clerical benefices. This learned master lived strictly in accordance with the gospel, refused all honorary offices and lived in absolute Refuge with her aunt and unde in Franconia poverty. Elizabeth and Ludwig valued this quality, and for this reason they con- Then her Andechs relations helped her: her aunt Mechthild, the abbess of the fided in him. But Konrad was inexorable, indeed, harsh, not only to himself he Benedictine convent in Kitzingen, and her uncle Eckbert, the Bishop of Bamberg. also required Elizabeth's absolute submission. Bishop Eckbert gave Elizabeth lodging in the episcopal castle, Pottenstein, looked after her well, and believed that a new marriage would be the best solution for the young widow. He had many bold plans; he even thought of a marriage to the em- peror, whose wife had recently died. But Elizabeth firmly refused. Her husband had been given a provisional burial in Lower Italy, When the crusade was over, his body was brought back to Thuringia, as Dietrich von Apolda reports: "After the crusade, the body was disinterred and the flesh separated from the bones in boiling water. After this, the bones appeared, whiter than snow. They were la id in a scrupulously de an shrine, locked, respectfully covered with a cloth, laden onto a beast of burden and transferred. When Ludwig's retinue approached Bamberg, they announced to the Bishop of Bamberg that they were bringing the mortal remains. The bishop had the daughter of his royal sister, the maidservant of God and widow of the deceased, Elizabeth, called to go to meet the remains of her former husband and receive them. The sensible man, to honour and comfort Elizabeth, the servant of God, that all noble and high ranking persons should assist her when she met the funeral pro- cess ion and strengthen her so that she did not collapse. -When the remains were set down in the cathedral, the shrine was opened for the venerable widow to see and the bones were taken out of it. What suffering and love the blessed Elizabeth now felt in her soul can be known only by Him who knows the hearts of all Pottenstein castle towering 60m above the town of Potterutein in Franconian creatures. I think her pa in was new ly aroused, her innermost self tom; she Switzerland trembled alI over when she saw the beautiful skeleton of the man she once loved Elizabeth needed his help and his support not only for her spiritual develop- now separated into its parts, and these separated from each other, lying there apart. ment, but also for the financial element of her charitable works. Even before the However overcome she was by extreme grief, she yet regained her composure in death of her husband, incidentally, she had joined the third order of St. Francis of thinking of God ... « Assisi and saw St. Francis' pro gramme as her purpose in life: "This is what I have always thought!" Life in Marburg -Franciscan virtue Mother of the poor Ludwig was buried in the family vault of the of Thuringia in Re- In Marburg, Elizabeth devoted her life completely to the welfare of the poor inhardsbrunn monastery. But first, Bishop Eckbert talked to the knights who were and sick and her personal sanctity. Under the leadership of her master Konrad she going to Thuringia with Elizabeth and Ludwig's remains, and asked them to stand built a hospital where she herself took on the hard est and most unpleasant work. up vigorously for the rights of their lady, and this they did, with great frankness. Until this time, the care of the sick had been mainly the province of men, because Elizabeth's financial circumstances were decided, and she was given income in it was regarded as improper for women. Here too Elizabeth trod a new path and Marburg as maintenance, which also made it possible for her to found a hospital. set an example for many centuries to come. This is the place to add some words about Konrad von Marburg, who played a In her lifetime, Elizabeth earned little thanks and recognition; she was even

17 18 suspected of having an improper relationship with her father confessor, master The death of a saint Konrad. When one of her knights told her about this, she folded her hands and said: "Blessed be my lord and God, who has imposed this additional bur den on me. I have denied the nobility of my birth for his love and made myself a maid; I have scored the riches and honour of the world and made myself poor; I have des- troyed the beauty of my youth and made myself unsightly, but I thought I would keep the virtue of womanly honour. But now I thank God that I can sacrifice this too to him. So that you, Knight Rudolf, think no ill of me, see this." She pulled her dre ss from her shoulders, which were covered with marks of the rod and con- gealed blood, and said, "See, this is the love that Master Konrad has for me, to draw me to God in this way." (Dietrich von Apolda) It was Konrad who finally asked her to break off relations with her children, the last possession remaining to her. "But on Good Friday, when, on the ceremony of the Redeemer, who hung na- ked on the bare cross for us, the decoration had been removed from the altars, she stood in a chapel before Master Konrad and some of the , laid her holy hands on the bare altar and, in the imitation of Christ, renounced her own will, her par- ents, children and relations, and ali the glory of the world." It is not easy to grasp the weight of these words, but they tell us everything about Elizabeth's love of God. Such love of God is always expressed in love of one's neighbour too. This is why Elizabeth want ed to serve, help and spread joy. Her slo- gan was: "We must make people happy in every way we can." There was another reason too: Elizabeth feeding the poor, Marburg, Elisabethkirche, south-eastern choir window, c. Elizabeth knew that her family in An- 1250 dechs, Hungary and Thuringia were Her restless activity in Marburg, her hard, devoted work in the service of the Elizabeth retires from the world, Lübeck, wrongdoers. Because of this, she wanted to sick, quickly exhausted Elizabeth's energy. On 16 November 1231, she felt her Heiligen-Geist-Spital, Elizabeth Cycle, offer her life as an atonement: "I must 1420 end approach ing and prepared to die. She spoke to her companions about secrets make up and try to heal for what lies be- of faith and she told them stories from the Bible, of the Resurrection, of Martha hind me by doing the opposite." and Mary, of the raising of Lazarus and how Christ wept three times when he Her belief in the power of expiation on behalf of others was as strong in her heard of Lazarus' death, over the city of Jerusalem and on the Cross. At about heart as in the moving legend of Gregorius, the good sinner, which was written midnight, in a quiet voice, she asked all those standing around her bed to be silent, down by Hartmann von Aue at that time for the courtly world and the effect of and she died. which even today's readers cannot escape. "How the poor people hurried together, how great was their pain, how deep their grief, and what moaning, especially among the sick and the poor, when she

19 20 died! For she had become a second mother to all of them!" -(One of Elizabeth's Richard Wagner). So let us finish with a poem handed down in Seeon from Pater maidservants) Johannes Werlin (t 1666), a Benedictine from Landsberg on the river Lech, not far from Andechs. The poem not only calls Elizabeth the "mother of all the poor" , Model and veneration but very delicately indicates that she carried out her hard service to these poor Elizabeth was buried in Marburg. One year after her canonisation, her relics people happily, that is, "with joy". were ceremoniously raised in the presence of many bishops and rulers, even of the A mother to all the poor emperor, who had hurried to be present and who laid a precious crown with her was saint Elizabeth, bones. Elizabeth's relations were present too, her mother-in-law Sophie, her hus- She had compassion for all, band's brothers and her three children. But her brother-in-law Konrad entered the Saved many from death: Teutonic Order and together with his fellow-members he not only looked after the Kept many alive. foundations of St. Elizabeth in Marburg, but also began the building of a large To the young and the old church in her honour. All the astonishing matters recounted here were part of a At every time life of only twenty-four years. But it is the life of an unusual woman, unusual in Mercy every respect: as a child and as a wife, as a ruler and as the mother of the wretched She showed with joy. and the sick. In the last instance, the secret of her life and her work is being a Bibliography Christian, at the same time so radical and so profound that opinions are divided about her way of mercy: for some it is an outrage and for others a model. I. Biography: Peter Dörfler, Die hl. Elisabeth. Munich 1930. - Maria The Cistercian monk Caesarius von Heisterbach (t 1240), the great story-tell- Maresch, Elisabeth von Thüringen. Bonn 1931 (with modern German translations er from the Rhineland, prefaced his sermon on the cerernenial raising of the relics of the most important biographical sources): - Reinhold Schneider, E. v. Th. In: of St. Elizabeth with the motto: "A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid." This Die Großen Deutschen. Ed. by H. Heimpel. Th. Heuli, B. Reifenberg, vol. 1. Ber- reminds us of the Wartburg again and of Andechs, the holy mountain of Bavaria, lin 19562, pp. 130-156. -St. Elisabeth. Fürstin, Dienerin, Heilige. Catalogue of the which also tells constantly of the miraculous life of St. Elizabeth, its daughter and exhibition in Marburg. Sigmaringen 1981. - Walter Nigg, E. v. Th. Die Mutter der patron. Armen. Freiburg 19812. - Gertrud Fussenegger, Elisabeth. Pictures by Elisabeth The memory of St. Elizabeth has been kept alive through the centuries in An- Singer. Innsbruck 1991. - Herzöge und Heilige. Das Geschlecht der Andechs- dechs. She is the second patron of the monastery church; in the 18th century, the Meranier im europaischen Mittelalter. Catalogue. Regensburg 1993. - Bernhard abbey built a little church especially in her honour -after secularisation it was de- Demel, Die hl. Elisabeth von Thüringen - Patronin des Deutschen Ordens. In: molished, but the Elizabeth Well, loved by the people, was put in its place. Since Archiv für Kirchengesch. von Böhmen-Máhren-Schlesien 12 (1993), pp. 2-24. - the Middle Ages, more over, the monastery has kept precious mementos of the Ernst-Otto Lurhardr, Ins Land der hl. Elisabeth. Bamberg 1993. - Michael Friese saints (see pp. 3 f.). In many countries in Europe, churches have been dedicated in (words), Roland Dressler u. Günther Prator (pictures), Eine Heilige in Thüringen: her honour, and hospitals and old people's homes are named after her. Associ- Elisabeth. Erfurt 2000. ations for the care of the sick and the welfare of the poor have been created, inten- II. Literature: H. Auer, Die hl. Elisabeth in der Literatur. Freiburg 1932. - L. ded to keep St. Elizabeth's example alive over the centuries. From this movement, Wolff, Die hl. Elisabeth in der Literatur des deutschen Mittelalters. In: Hess. Jahr- a number of women's orders arose, including the Elizabethines, founded in buch für Landesgesch. 13 (1963), pp. 23-38. - Das Leben der hl. Elisabeth. Von Aachen in 1622 by Apollonia Radermacher; their section in Vienna guards St. einem unbekannten Dichter aus dem Anfang des 14. Jahrhunderts. Ed. by Man- Elizabeth's head in a precious reliquary; or the Sisters of St. Elizabeth, formerly fred Lemmer. Graz, Vienna and Cologne 1981. - Helmut Lomnitzer, Die hl. Elisa- known as the Grey Sisters, which began in 1842 in Neisse in Silesia and has long beth in deutschen Prosalegenden des ausgehenden Mittelalters; Fidei Radle, Eine since been working for the poor and help less in many countries in Europe and in Comoedia Elisabeth (1575) im Jesuitenkolleg zu Fulda. In: Elisabeth, der North America. Countless women bear the name of this saint. Her effigy, scenes Deutsche Orden und ihre Kirche. Festschrift zur 700jahrigen Wiederkehr der from her life and pictures of her work have been created by gifted artists for Weihe der Elisabethkirche Marburg 1982. Marburg 1983 (Quellen u. Studien zur churches and hospitals, as devotional pictures and for altar chests. There are par- Geschichte des deutschen Ordens 18). ticularly beautiful examples in the Elisabethkirche in Marburg, in the hospital at III. Art: F. Schmoll, Die hl. Elisabeth in der bildenden Kunst des 13. bis 16. Lübeck, in Kassa in Hungary with the cathedral and the superb Elizabeth altar (c. [ahrhun derts. Marburg 1918. - S. Eisner, St. Elisabeth in Kunst, Poesie und Le- 1490), or at the Wartburg above Eisenach. Finally, in music and literature her genden. Düssel dorf 1921. -Michael Hartig, Die hl. Elisabeth von Thüringen u. die name is glorified in songs and legends, in dramas and oratorios (Franz Liszt, deutsche Kunst. Eine ikonograph. Studie. In: Die christl. Kunst. 27 (1931), pp.

21 22 194-205, Illus. To 223. - Eberhard Leppin, Die Elisabethkirche in Marburg. Translation: Margaret Marks Königstein 19802. - Cordula Photos: Bildarchiv Foto Marburg front cover, pp. 14, 20, 23; Klosterarchiv Bischoff, Strategien barocker Bildpropaganda, Aneignung und Verfremdung Andechs p. 3; Archiv Wolf-Christian von der Mülbe, Dachau pp. 3, 4, 6; Margit der hl. E. v. Th. Marburg 1990. - Justus Lang, E. v. Th. Eine Bildbiographie. Freifrau von Wintzingerode M.A. p. 16; Ulrich Kneise, Weimar pp. 8, 9,16, back Freiburg 1993. - Schnell Kunstführer von Andechs (no. 394), Altenberg a. d. Lahn cover; Eckhart Dettmering, Marburg, p. 25; Heiligen-Geist-Spital Lübeck pp. 11, (no. 1482), Bamberg, Dom (no. 100) und von der Wartburg (no. 1902). - Hans 17; Hessisches Landesamt für geschichtliche Landeskunde, Marburg p. 8; Roman Pörnbacher, Andechser Heiligenhimmel, Regensburg 2000, Schnell & Steiner von Götz, Regensburg p. 7. Kunstführer 40126. /Iconography/Folklores series Order no 40112 (1st edition 1997) 2nd English edition 2003

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Elizabeth caring for a sick woman, Marburg, Elisabethkirche, south-eastern chair win- Front cover: St. Elizabeth, wood,dow c c. 1250 1470, Marburg (on the Lahn), Church of St. Elizabeth . Back cover: Raising of the saint in the presence of the emperor, from Moritz von Schwind's fresco cycle at the Wartburg (1854/55) Text: Hans Pörnbacher

23 24 Reliquary of St. Elisabeth in Marburg (after 1235) figure of the saint on the end

25 26