Helisabet filia Stephani regis Ungarorum illustris : image of a saintly nun of the Arpad dynasty as reflected in hagiographic sources

Princess Elizabeth (1255?–1321?), daughter of King Stephen v of Hungary, spent most of her life in Dominican convents, first on the Island of the Hares near Buda (including about a decade with her saintly aunt Margaret), then in Naples. Elizabeth was not a nun her entire life, however, but was also a wife and mother. Despite the uncertain chronology, her biography is relatively well studied, but the development of her figure as a beata in hagiography has not yet been systematically explored. Drawing on hagiographic and historical works produced primarily by the Order of Preachers until the eighteenth century, in which Elizabeth's years spent outside religious communities are not recorded, this paper looks first at the life, then at the circumstances, of the "rediscovery" of a holy Arpadian princess at the time of the Observant reform, investigating factors that could have motivated her inclusion in various works produced throughout Europe. It shows how the image of her life was shaped over time by additions of new, everyday details, such as contemplation and miracles, and hitherto unknown or differently understood information that strengthens her image as a saint. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century works reporting the life of Elizabeth also reflect the emergence of history as a discipline.