Elizabeth portrayed as donor of the church in a 15th-century sculptureSouthern choir with Margravial tombs
Saint Elizabeth founded a hospital for the sick and needy in Marburg in 1228, dedicated to Francis of Assisi. She died there in 1231, and was buried in a simple tomb inside of the hospital's modest Chapel of St. Francis. Immediately following her death, Elizabeth's grave became a site of pilgrimage and alleged healing miracles. In 1234, Elizabeth's widowed husband, Conrad of Thuringia, donated the hospital to the Teutonic Knights, who undertook a comprehensive expansion of the pilgrimage infrastructure at the hospital.[2][3]
A view down the nave
Construction on the current structure started in 1235, the year Saint Elizabeth was canonized. Pope Gregory IX granted the church the authority to issue indulgences in a letter dated 30 May 1235, and the cornerstone was laid on 14 August of the same year. Elizabeth's grave was not moved, as the north apse of the new church was built on top of the original Hospital Chapel.[3] On 1 May 1236, in the presence of Emperor Frederick II, her body was ceremoniously translated to a new bejeweled shrine. Construction proceeded rapidly, as the church was built on a unified foundation. The crossing, and triple choir was completed in the 1240s, and in 1249, further relics were brought to the church. A two-storey sacristy was completed by 1261, and the church was consecrated in 1283. However, the towers were not finished until 1340. The church was the property of the Order of the Teutonic Knights; some buildings of the Order still exist near the church, among them the Deutschhausgut, which now houses the mineral collection and the department of geography of the Philipps University of Marburg.
Although the church was named after Saint Elizabeth and referred to as such in most official communications, its official dedication was to Mary, Mother of God, the patroness of the Teutonic Order. For this reason, the church contains many depictions of Mary. In 1290, after the completion of the High Altar, Elizabeth's shrine were moved to the sacristy.
From 1240 to 1509, the Landgraves of Hesse were buried in the south choir of the church in the so-called Landgrave's Choir. In the context of the Reformation, Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse had Elizabeth's remains removed, in order to deter pilgrims from the Protestant city of Marburg. Her skull and tibiae were brought to St. Elizabeth Convent in Vienna, and an elaborate arm reliquary found its way to the chapel of Sayn Palace, at the foot of Sayn Castle.[4][5] The Skull Reliquary of St. Elizabeth was looted from Marienberg Fortress in Würzburg and is now in the Swedish History Museum, Stockholm.[6]
Most of the knights and clerics of the Order who were attached to the church converted to Protestantism during the 16th century, and the church was used for Protestant services from 1539 on. However, due to the Imperial Immediacy that the church held, it remained officially Catholic until 1570, when the last Catholic bailiwick commander of the order in Hesse died. In 1605, Landgrave Moritz converted to Calvinism and ordered all images west of the choir screen to be destroyed. The church was damaged during the Seven Years War, and was used as a powder magazine and warehouse. Restoration works were undertaken from 1767 to 1770. From 1811 to 1827, the church was a Simultaneum, meaning that both Catholic and Protestant services were held in different parts of the church.[7] Further renovations were done between 1854-1861 and 1930-1931.
In 1954, the church was made an independent parish, and in 1969, ownership of the building was transferred from the Hessian state to the Evangelical Congregation of Marburg. Several archeological excavations since have yielded rich insights into the church's status as a medieval center of the Teutonic Order and pilgrimage site, including hundreds of pilgrims' graves below the nave. A comprehensive renovation, aimed at restoring the original interior paint scheme, was begun in 2021 and completed in 2024. Further renovation works began on the stained glass in 2023.[9]
Architecture
Floor plan
The church is one of the earliest purely Gothic churches in German-speaking areas, and is held to be a model for the architecture of Cologne Cathedral. It is built from sandstone in a cruciform layout, and is considered by architectural historians to be an early example of a hall church with an attached triconch choir at the east end of the church. The nave and its flanking aisles have a vaulted ceiling more than 20m (66 ft) high. The triconch choir consists of the northern Elisabeth Choir, the eastern High Choir and the southern Landgrave Choir. The crossing is separated from the nave by a stone choir screen. In earlier times, the front part of the church had been reserved for the knights of the Order. The church has two towers with an approximate height of 80m (263 ft). The northern one is crowned by a star, the southern one by a knight. The representative west portal of the church, completed in 1270, shows the Virgin Mary flanked by angels in a floral setting.
The High Choir of the church, completed in 1249, contains six 13th and 14th-century stained glass windows, which are representative of a transitional Romanesque-Gothic style. Most of the stained glass windows in the church were heavily damaged in the Seven Years War, and remnants were put together haphazardly. Only after a restoration in the 1970s was the actual order of images in the Elizabeth Window, depicting the life and deeds of Saint Elizabeth, reconstructed.[10] The church also contains a number of 19th- and 20th-century stained glass windows.
At the corner of the northern (Elisabeth) choir, there is a large mausoleum dating to 1280, which is situated above the spot where Elizabeth was originally laid to rest in St. Francis' Hospital Chapel, before her shrine was moved to the sacristy.[11] The church also contains five significant Gothic altars, the most valuable of which is the polychromed 1290 High Altar.[12] The Altar of the Cross, situated in front of the choir screen, is topped with a crucifix by Ernst Barlach, commissioned in 1931 to commemorate the 700th anniversary of Elizabeth's death. This crucifix was removed from the church in 1936 as an example of Degenerate Art, however, it was spared from destruction and placed back on the altar following the fall of the Nazis.[13]
The Gothic shrine of St. Elizabeth is the most important treasure of the church. It was begun in 1235 and completed in 1249 upon the translation of Elizabeth's relics to the new choir. It is constructed of oak, sheathed in gilded silver and copper, and covered in pearls and gems sourced from the Mediterranean, including an original three dozen engraved gems. Many of these gems have been lost to looting and burglary since the shrine's first display, most recently in a 1920 burglary. It is now encased in glass. The pseudo-architectural shrine is lined by sculptures of Christ and the Apostles, while the roof of the shrine shows scenes from the life of Elizabeth and Mary, along with a crucifixion group.
The shrine of Saint Elizabeth
St. Elizabeth's church also contains a wealth of other treasures, including the original choir screen and pulpit, misericords, sacrament niche and piscina.
St. Elizabeth's has hosted a number of organs since the 16th century. The church's main organ is a 2006 Klais with 57 registers across three manuals and pedals. There is an additional choir organ, built in 1960 by Werner Bosch, and a 2006 Gerhard Woehl positive organ, intended to produce an early baroque sound.[14]
Marburg is a university town in the German federal state of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district. The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximately 76,000.
Cologne Cathedral is a cathedral in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia belonging to the Catholic Church. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne and of the administration of the Archdiocese of Cologne. It is a renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and was declared a World Heritage Site in 1996. It is Germany's most visited landmark, attracting an average of 6 million people a year. At 157 m (515 ft), the cathedral is the tallest twin-spired church in the world, the second tallest church in Europe after Ulm Minster, and the third tallest church of any kind in the world.
The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, spelled Hesse-Cassel during its entire existence, also known as the Hessian Palatinate, was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. The state was created in 1567 when the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided upon the death of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. His eldest son William IV inherited the northern half of the Landgraviate and the capital of Kassel. The other sons received the Landgraviates of Hesse-Marburg, Hesse-Rheinfels and Hesse-Darmstadt.
Elizabeth of Hungary, also known as Elisabeth of Thuringia, was a princess of the Kingdom of Hungary and the landgravine of Thuringia.
Henry I of Hesse "the Child" was the first Landgrave of Hesse. He was the son of Henry II, Duke of Brabant and Sophie of Thuringia.
Otto I was Landgrave of Upper Hesse from 1308 and then Landgrave of Lower Hesse from 1311 until his death.
Conrad was the landgrave of Thuringia from 1231 to 1234 and the fifth Grand Master of the Teutonic Order from 1239 to 1240. He was the first major noble to join the military order.
The Church of St. Anne is a medieval Evangelical Lutheran parish church in Augsburg, Germany. Originally built in 1321, it has undergone several significant renovations since, and is notable for its elaborate interior decoration, and its role in Protestant-Catholic relations in Germany.
The University Church of Marburg is a 13th-century, asymmetric, two-aisled hall church in Marburg, Hesse.
Sophie of Thuringia was the second wife and only Duchess consort of Henry II, Duke of Brabant and Lothier. She was the heiress of Hesse which she passed on to her son, Henry upon her retention of the territory following her partial victory in the War of the Thuringian Succession in which she was one of the belligerents. Sophie was the founder of the Brabant dynasty of Hesse.
Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg was Landgravine consort and Regent of Hesse-Kassel. She married the future William V, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel in 1619 and became Landgravine upon his ascension to power in 1627. In 1637, military defeats forced her and William V into exile in East Frisia. Later that year, she became regent for their son William VI upon her husband's death. Through skillful diplomacy and military successes in the Thirty Years' War, she advanced the fortunes of Hesse-Kassel and influenced the Peace of Westphalia that brought the conflict to an end. She handed over an enlarged landgraviate to her son when she abdicated upon his majority in 1650. However, her health had deteriorated over the course of the war, and she died soon after her abdication in 1651.
Elisabeth of Hesse was Hereditary Princess of Saxony in 1519-1537 by marriage to John of Saxony. After the death of her husband, she managed her Wittum, the Saxon districts of Rochlitz and Kriebstein between 1537 and 1547, earning her the name Elisabeth of Rochlitz. She allowed for the spread of Protestantism in her territories. She acted as mediator between her Catholic mother and Lutheran brother, and as the nurse of Maurice of Saxony.
Count Philipp I of Hanau-Münzenberg, nicknamed Philipp the Younger, was a son of Count Reinhard III of Hanau and Countess Palatine Margaret of Mosbach. He was the Count of Hanau from 1452 to 1458. The county was then divided between him and his uncle Philipp the Elder. Philipp the Younger received Hanau-Münzenberg and ruled there from 1458 until his death.
Juditten Church is a Russian Orthodox church in the Mendeleyevo district of Kaliningrad, Russia. originally built as a Roman Catholic church, it later become a Prussian Union (Protestant) church. Juditten was the name of the Mendeleyevo district when it was a quarter of Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany. It is the oldest building of Kaliningrad.
St. Valentin is the common name for the Catholic parish church and Basilica minor Basilica of SS Dionysius and Valentinus in Kiedrich in the Rheingau, in Hesse, Germany. It was built at the end of the 15th century in the Gothic style. Its organ is one of the oldest playable organs in Germany. The church was a pilgrimage destination for people with epilepsy and therefore has notable carved wooden laity stalls, including one decorated with the "Gerechtigkeitsspirale".
The Bergkirche is one of four main Protestant churches in Wiesbaden, the capital of Hesse, Germany. It was completed in 1879 in Gothic Revival based on a design by Johannes Otzen. The church is focused on having the altar and pulpit close to the congregation, following Luther's concept of a universal priesthood. It also serves as a concert venue for church music.
St Martin's Church is a Protestant parish church in Kassel, Hesse, Germany. It is also the preaching-church of the bishop of the Evangelical Church of Hesse Electorate-Waldeck. It is in the Gothic style and was begun in 1364 and completed in 1462, dedicated to St. Martin of Tours. It became a Protestant church in 1524, when Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse converted to Protestantism. From the 16th century until the end of the 18th century it was the burial place for the landgraves of Hesse.
Mariä Krönung is a Catholic pilgrimage church in Lautenbach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, where pilgrimage to a miraculous image of Mary was documented in the 14th century. The present church was built in the 15th century in Late-Gothic style, a home for Premonstratensian friars from a dissolved monastery. Mariä Krönung is a significant cultural monument in southern Germany, because it retains many original Gothic features, such as the rood loft and fused stained-glass windows. It has been the parish church of the village since 1815.
St Walpurgis' Church in the upper part of the village of Großengottern in Thuringia, Germany, is a Late Gothic church building dating from the 15th century. Today, it is a Lutheran parish church. St Walpurgis' Church is known for its large Baroque organ by the significant organ builder Tobias H. G. Trost.
Situated atop a basalt hill, Braunfels Castle overlooks the spa town of Braunfels in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis, Hesse, Germany. Since the 13th century, it has served as the residence and seat of government for the Counts, and later Princes, of Solms-Braunfels. Remarkably, the castle remains in the possession of the family to this day, now under the stewardship of the Counts of Oppersdorff-Solms-Braunfels.
↑ Burke, L. (2016). A Sister in the World: Saint Elizabeth of Hungary in the “Golden Legend.” The Hungarian Historical Review, 5(3), 509–535. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44390788
↑ Atkinson, C. W. (1991). “Mother of Love, Mother of Tears”: Holiness and Families in the Later Middle Ages. In The Oldest Vocation: Christian Motherhood in the Medieval West (pp. 144–193). Cornell University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctvn1t9zn.9
↑ Jacobsen, W. (1997). Saints’ Tombs in Frankish Church Architecture. Speculum, 72(4), 1107–1143. https://doi.org/10.2307/2865960
↑ Lemberg, Margret (2006) Die Chorschranke in der Marburger Elisabethkirche. Ein Beispiel für die konfessionellen Auseinandersetzungen in Hessen und für den Wandel im Geschmack. Rathaus-Verlag, Marburg, ISBN 978-3-923820-86-3, pp. 132–134.
Hermann Bauer: Sankt Elisabeth und die Elisabethkirche zu Marburg. Marburg, Hitzeroth 1990 ISBN3-89616-031-1(in German)
Andreas Köstler: Die Ausstattung der Marburger Elisabethkirche. Zur Ästhetisierung des Kultraums im Mittelalter. Berlin, Reimer 1995 ISBN3-496-01134-3(in German)
Eberhard Leppin: Die Elisabethkirche in Marburg an der Lahn. Königstein, Langwiesche 1999 ISBN3-7845-2913-5(in German)
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