Also called St. Elizabeth of Thuringia, She was born in Hungary, probably at Pressburg, 1207.  She was a daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary   and his wife Gertrude, a member of the family of the Counts of Andechs-Meran;   Her mother's sister  was St.Hedwig, wife of Duke Heinrich I, while another saint, St.Elizabeth (Isabel) of Portugal (d. 1336), the wife of the tyrannical King Diniz of that country, was her great-niece.

In 1211 a formal embassy was sent by Landgrave Hermann I of Thuringia to Hungary to arrange a marriage between his son Hermann and Elizabeth, who was then four years old. This plan of a marriage was the result of political considerations and the little girl was taken to the Thuringian court to be brought up with her future husband.   
She grew up a very religious child with an evident inclination to prayer, pious observances and small acts of self-mortification.

In 1221, Ludwig and Elizabeth were married: he was twenty-one years old and She fourteen. The marriage was in every regard a happy and exemplary one, they had three children and were devotedly attached to each other. Ludwig proved himself worthy of his wife. He gave his protection to her acts of charity, penance, and her vigils, and often held Elizabeth's hands as she knelt praying at night beside his bed. He was also a capable ruler and brave soldier. The Germans call him St. Ludwig, an appellation given to him as one of the best men of his age and the pious husband of St. Elizabeth.

In 1221 the followers of St.Francis made their first permanent settlement in Germany and Brother Rodeger was for a time Her spiritual instructor:  in his teachings he unfolded to her the ideals of St. Francis, and these strongly appealed to Her. With the aid of Elizabeth, the Franciscans in 1225 founded a monastery in Eisenach.
After a while, the post Brother Rodeger had filled was assumed by Conrad of Marburg, who belonged to no order, but was a very ascetic and severe man. 
He treated Elizabeth with inexorable severity, even using corporal means of correction, but he brought Her with a firm hand by the road of self-mortification to sanctity, and after Her death was very active in Her canonization.
Ludwig was often  employed by the Emperor Frederick II, in the affairs of the empire and, in the spring of 1226, while Ludwig was in Italy, Elizabeth assumed control of affairs and distributed alms in all parts of Her husband's territory. She built a hospital, visiting the inmates daily,  and aiding at the same time nine hundred poor.   

In 1227 Ludwig started with the Emperor Frederick II on a crusade to Palestine, but he died, 11 September, at Otranto, from the pest.   The news reached Elizabeth in October, just after She had given birth to Her third child. and She cried out: "The world with all its joys is now dead to me.".

Her uncle Eckbert, Bishop of Bamberg, wanted to arrange another marriage for Her, although during the lifetime of Her husband Elizabeth had made a vow of continence in case of his death. While She was maintaining Her position against Her uncle, the remains of Her husband were brought to Bamberg by his faithful followers who had carried them from Italy. Weeping bitterly, She buried the body in the family vault of the landgraves of Thuringia in the monastery of Reinhardsbrunn.

From a letter by Conrad of Marburg : "...Elizabeth was a lifelong friend of the poor and gave herself entirely to relieving the hungry. She ordered that one of her castle should be converted into a hospital in which she gathered many of the weak and feeble. She generously gave alms to all who were in need, not only in that place but in all the territories of her husband's empire. She spent all her own revenue from her husband's four principalities, and finally she sold her luxurious possessions and rich clothes for the sake of the poor.

Twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, Elizabeth went to visit the sick. She personally cared for those who were particularly repulsive; to some she gave good, to others clothing; some she carried on her own shoulders, and performed many other kindly services. Her husband, of happy memory, gladly approved of these charitable works. Finally, when her husband died, she sought the highest perfection; filled with tears, she implored me to let her beg for alms from door to door."

In 1228, in the Franciscan house at Eisenach Elizabeth formally renounced the world; then, going to Master Conrad at Marburg, She received the dress of the Third Order of St. Francis, being among the first tertiaries of Germany.  
In the summer of the same year, She built the Franciscan hospital at Marburg and on its completion devoted Herself entirely to the care of the sick.  
Constant in her devotion to God, Elizabeth's strength was consumed by Her charitable labours, and She passed away at the age of twenty-four, 17 November 1231, a time when life to most human beings is just opening.

From a letter by Conrad of Marburg : "...Before Her death, I heard Her confession. When I asked what should be done about Her goods and possessions, She replied that anything which seemed to be Hers belonged to the poor. She asked me to distribute everything except one worn-out dress in which She wished to be buried. When all this had been decided, She received the body of our Lord. Afterward, until vespers, She spoke often of the holiest things She had heard in sermons. Then, She devoutly commended to God all who were sitting near Her, and as if falling into a gentle sleep, She died".

Very soon after the death of Elizabeth, miracles began to be worked at Her grave in the church of the hospital, especially miracles of healing.
At Pentecost (28 May) of the year 1235, the solemn ceremony of canonization of the "greatest woman of the German Middle Ages" was celebrated by Gregory IX at Perugia.