Iconology of Charity: Medieval Legends of Saint Elizabeth in Central Europe

The images analyzed in this book give each viewer the possibility to

interact with Saint Elizabeth’s unique spiritual way, which was nurtured

by various sources, including moments of spontaneous inspiration. The

religious leaders who went on to imagine and commission a visual image

understood the enormous potential associated with the religious zeal of

the extraordinary noble lady as a shining example offering new paths

towards Christian charity. The images represent an important testimony

of what happened, or rather how the artist or the patron imagined events

from the saints life. Elizabeth’s extraordinary individual charity has

been a source of inspiration to many of her admirers, but the artists

and their patrons must have experienced and considered the needs and

desires which characterized their period and the communities they were

serving. There has been a significant interval between the over-temporal

needs or values and contingent historical situations with changing

constellations of interests, medial landscapes and rules of political

game. The medieval cult of saint Elizabeth awakened the interest of the

most influential political figures of the time. Their individual

dialogues with the saint connected resonant spiritual messages, which

were valid for the duration of any individual’s lifespan, with transient

concerns about political struggles, military fights, or materialistic

considerations. As a result, the images are multilayered products

reflecting human needs and longings on several levels. This book offers

a minuscule testimony from this endless flux of feelings, observations

and meditations in an effort to broaden slightly the limited range of

human experience.