Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/544

 536 ELIZABETH CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH CITY to Louis, the eldest son of Hermann, landgrave of Tliuringia, and according to the custom of the age was transferred to the household of her future hushand, to be educated for her ex- pected rank. The nuptials were celebrated when she had reached her 14th year; and con- tinuing the religious practices for which she had early been remarkable, she enlisted the aid of her husband in the charitable works which engrossed her time. Louis joined the sixth crusade, but died before reaching the Holy Land, and his death at once changed the cir- cumstances of the landgravine. Her infant son, Hermann, was declared incapable of succeed- ing to his father's rule ; a party was organized in behalf of Henry, brother of the late land- grave ; the castle was seized, and Elizabeth with her three children was turned out of her home without provision, money, or a change of raiment. After living some time in great destitution, subsisting now by charity and now by spinning, she was sheltered by her aunt the abbess of Kitzingen, until a more suitable asylum was found in a castle offered for her use by her uncle the bishop of Bamberg. At the intercession of the friends of the deceased landgrave, Henry recalled her to the Wart- burg, and acknowledged the rights of her son; but afterward, in order to live in religious seclusion, and give herself wholly to works of charity, she took up her abode at Marburg in Hesse, where she spent the remaining three years of her life. She wore beneath her garment the haircloth of St. Francis, bound herself to obey the orders of her confes- sor, dismissed her favorite maids when she found herself loving them too well, devoted her liberal allowance entirely to the poor, and supported herself by spinning ; she ministered to the most loathsome diseases, and even re- ceived lepers into her house. Her confessor, Conrad the legate, in compliance with her own wishes, subjected her to unusual penan- ces. She was buried with great pomp in the chapel near the hospital which she had found- ed in Marburg, and the report of the frequent miracles wrought at her tomb induced Gregory IX. in 1235 to add her name to the list of saints. Her shrine was for ages one of the most famous of Europe, and the altar steps be- fore it are worn hollow by the knees of pil- grims. Her life has been written by many authors, Catholic and Protestant, in many lan- guages. No fewer than 38 published works and 13 MSS. relating her story are catalogued by Count de Montalembert, whose biography was translated by Mary Hackett (New York, 1854). The best Protestant life of St. Elizabeth is that of Justi (Zurich, 1797; new ed., Marburg, 1835). Her husband Louis IV. was also canonized, and their lives have been written together by Simon (Frankfort, 1854). ELIZABETH CHARLOTTE, duchess of Orleans, born in Heidelberg, May 27, 1652, died at St. Cloud, Dec. 8, 1722. She was a daughter of the elector Charles Louis of the Palatinate, and so homely that a duke of Courland who had been betrothed to her refused to marry her. After embracing Catholicism she became the second wife (Nov. 16, 1071) of Philip, duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIV. At the French court she became distinguished for her integrity and intellect, as well as for her blunt- ness and eccentricity. She had a cordial hatred for Mme. de Maintenon, and opposed the marriage of her son (the future regent) with Mile, de Blois, the king's natural daughter. Saint- Simon gives an amusing account of the energetic manner in which she displayed her feelings on the occasion by slapping her son in the face in the presence of the whole court. She often attended Louis XIV. to the chase, and the king enjoyed her wit and originality and esteemed her truthful character. Her pre- dilection for the German language and litera- ture increased the intercourse of French with German scholars, especially with Leibnitz, one of her principal favorites. Her claims to the Palatinate, however, proved disastrous for Germany, resulting in the devastation of that country by the armies of Louis XIV. (1688- '93). She wrote various memoirs, which have been several times translated and published in France. Her posthumous letters were also translated into French from the German, and published by P. G. Brunet in 1853 ; and into English, edited by Holland (2 vols., London, 1867-'72). ELIZABETH CHRISTINA, queen of Prussia, born in Brunswick, Nov. 8, 1715, died Jan. 13, 1797. She was a princess of Brunswick-Be- vern, and a niece of the empress of Germany, and was betrothed to the future Frederick the Great, March 10, 1732. Carlyle describes her as being at that time "an insipid, fine-com- plexioned young lady;" and Frederick, who was compelled to marry her by his father, and who was much opposed to the match, said of her in his letters to Grumkow: "She is not at all beautiful, speaks almost nothing, and is given to pouting." The marriage ceremony, however, was performed at Potsdam, June 12, 1733; and Carlyle says that, "with the gay temper of 18 and her native loyalty of mind, she seems to have shaped herself successively to the prince's taste, and growing yearly grace- fuller and better-looking was an ornament and pleasant addition to his existence." Frederick made generous provision for her, and remarked in his will : " During my whole reign she has never given me the slightest cause of dissatis- faction, and her high moral character must in- spire respect and love." She wrote several works in French. ELIZABETH CITY, a S. E. county of Virginia, bordering on Chesapeake bay at the mouth of James river, bounded S. by Hampton Roads, and N. by Back river : area, 50 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 8,303 of whom 5,471 were colored. It was one of the eight original shires into which Virginia was divided in 1634. It has a fertile soil, suitable for grain and potatoes.