Six-Fingered Queen – Elizabeth of Poland, Queen of Hungary, Through the Lens of Disability

In 1330, the Hungarian royal family was attacked in the palace of Visegrád. This attack wounded the King and severed four fingers off the right hand of the Queen, Elizabeth of Poland. Queen Elizabeth lived another fifty years as a partial amputee. While she is mostly known for her artistic patronage and her religious pilgrimages, thus far the question of her status as a partial amputee has not been explored. This article thus aims to discuss not only how disability was depicted in fourteenth century Hungary, but even how Elizabeth herself is depicted in various media. Ultimately, sculpture depicting the Queen shows that rather than emphasizing her wounded right hand, her advanced age seems to be more of a defining and unique feature.