Prague commemorates English-born Renaissance poetess Elizabeth Jane Weston

A mass was held in Prague on Saturday in memory of the English-born Renaissance poetess Elizabeth Jane Weston, who spent nearly all her life in Prague and died 400 years ago. The mass took place at the Church of St. Thomas where she is buried. Known as Virgo Angla (the English Maiden) at the court of Rudolph II at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries she was considered one of Europe’s great poets. Elizabeth Jane Weston wrote in Latin and a collection of her poems was published in Czech in 2003.