The Jeweled Box

Elizabeth was a princess. When she was four years old she was brought to the court of Herman I, Landgrave of Thuringia, and was betrothed to his son. Elizabeth married Prince Ludwig in 1221, when she was fourteen. She founded hospitals and worked with the sick. Her husband supported her devotion to God even as she gave away his fortune to the poor.

Ludwig joined the Crusades and died of the plague. Elizabeth was accused of mismanaging his estate because of her great charity. She was removed from the castle and roamed the streets. She put her children in foster homes and devoted her life to caring for the sick.

She died in 1231 and was canonized four years later. Her remains were placed in a jeweled box in Marburg, Germany. Many miracles occurred at her shrine, which became one of the most popular in the Europe.

In 1539 one of her own descendants, Count Philip of Hesse, raided her shrine and sold her bones, leaving behind the jeweled box. Her skull is enshrined at the Convent of St. Elizabeth in Vienna. It now wears her crown.