In spite of all the academic and popular attention to St. Elizabeth, the holy princess of Hungary, landgravine of Thuringia, and hospital nurse at Marburg, it is still the medieval sources that offer the most authentic information about the saint. Therefore, it is crucial to provide meticulous translations of the Latin texts, not only for the general lay public but also to alleviate the work of experts and to encourage further research. Kenneth Baxter Wolf has brought forward a volume that consists of two parts, the latter of which features translations of the early sources of Elizabeth's life: the short Summa vitae, written by her spiritual leader and confessor, Conrad of Marburg in 1232 (91–95), and the Dicta quatuor ancillarum, which contain the depositions of Elizabeth's court ladies and fellow sisters during the process of canonization in 1235 (193–216). Along with these, Wolf publishes the three accounts of miracles performed by Elizabeth: the first list, embedded in a letter from various prelates attendant at the first questioning of witnesses of the saintliness of Elizabeth at Marburg in August 1232 and designed to encourage interest at the papal court (83–89); the elaborate bulletin written down after the official initiation of the canonization process in January 1233 (97–167); and the depositions made in the final and eventually successful phase of the process in January 1235 (169–91).

The first part of the book contains two essays about the afterlife (3–42) and life of St. Elizabeth (43–79). The inconvenient order of the articles must be due to Wolf's dating of the sources: He apparently considers the letter containing the miracle list of August 1232 the primary source (5) and hence analyzes the miracle depositions first, delivering very detailed and accurate research on the circumstances, people involved, diseases and injuries, and remarking on the mechanisms of medieval veneration of saints and relics, as well as belief in miracles. Concerning the strength of Elizabeth's intercession in the first years after her death, Wolf comes to the conclusion that it was easier to receive favors from a saint to-be who needed recognition for her canonization process than from an established saint. Elizabeth could easily be forced to intercede; she “comes across as rather desperate for recognition” (41). The miracle depositions generate the picture of a “mechanical, predictable Elizabeth” (42), bound in the ties of a holy advocate, and disregard the individual streaks of her life.

To these Wolf applies himself in the second essay. On the basis of the Summa vitae and the Dicta he investigates the role of Conrad of Marburg in Elizabeth's life and her canonization process. He looks into the model of sanctity that affected how Elizabeth configured her actions, how Conrad gave advice to Elizabeth, and the ways the creators of the first biographies (again Conrad, the four women relating in 1235, and the papal commissioners) arranged their knowledge about Elizabeth. Essentially, Wolf diagnoses Elizabeth as syncretic, reshaped partially after the examples of Radegundis, a holy queen of Thuringian descent of the sixth century, the beguines, and the early radical Franciscans.

All in all, Wolf's assumptions and conclusions are not completely new and outrageous. He relies on the existing literature and states his position convincingly, even if some points excite further discussion. Just one little problem with rather wide impacts shall be brought up here: the relations of Summa vitae and the first miracle list. Wolf dates the Summa vitae “sometime between August 11, 1232, when Conrad heard the depositions, and October 13, when Gregory IX responded to Conrad's report” (46). Since the Summa vitae was included in Conrad's first spontaneous application, which was sent to the pope immediately after the interviews, it is well worth considering that it was written in advance. Thus, the whole situation at Marburg in August 1232 appears completely different: Conrad's action was anything but spontaneous. He had a biography up his sleeve and was planning the canonization of Elizabeth. For this purpose he also needed some miracle accounts, which he got from the crowd that he himself had gathered for his preaching.

Wolf's order—miracle depositions followed by biographies—should be inverted: First there was Elizabeth's life arousing admiration and the whiff of sanctity; the miracles were the necessary, but secondary proof of her being elected by God.

In spite of this objection, Wolf has provided dependable translations of the early sources of St. Elizabeth and an important contribution to the research on the saint.