[2][6] Elisabeth stayed with her grandmother Louise Juliana of Nassau in Heidelberg before moving to the Netherlands at the age of nine.

[5][6] Elisabeth had a wide ranging education, studying philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, jurisprudence, history, modern and classical languages.

[8] Although the previous abbess (Elisabeth's cousin) had also been a Calvinist, this difference in faith created some initial distrust.

[11] By 1639, Elisabeth was corresponding with Anna Maria van Schurman, a learned woman, called the Dutch Minerva.

[11][12] In an early letter van Schurman offered Elisabeth guidance on what subjects to study, arguing for the usefulness of history.

[1] Elisabeth's side of the correspondence was first published in 1879 by Louis-Alexandre Foucher de Careil, after he was alerted to its existence by an antiquarian bookseller, Frederick Müller, who had found a packet of letters in Rosendael.

[1][13] Elisabeth also corresponded with a number of prominent Quakers, including Robert Barclay and William Penn.

[1] There are letters written both by and to her concerning political and financial matters in the English Calendar of State Papers.

In this letter, dated May 16, 1643, Elisabeth writes, "tell me please how the soul of a human being (it being only a thinking substance) can determine the bodily spirits and so bring about voluntary actions".

She proposes three ways something can be "moved": through self-propulsion, external propulsion, or movement determined by the properties of something pushing it.

[1] In addition to Descartes, Elisabeth held correspondence with many others, including Presbyterian and Puritan Divine Edward Reynolds and various Quakers.

Among them most notably were Nicholas Malebranche, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Robert Barclay, and William Penn.

[1] She also held a correspondence for a time with the "Dutch Minerva", Anna Maria van Schurman, who encouraged Elisabeth to further her studies in history, physics, and astronomy.

Van Schurman, however, emphatically refuted the idea when Elisabeth inquired about it, instead defending the scholastic traditional view.

It has been speculated that Elisabeth's correspondence and deep connection with Descartes effectively ended her communications with Van Schurman.

Feminist scholars study her correspondences and life to understand the limitations placed on 17th century female thinkers.

Some argue that Elisabeth's correspondence with Descartes helps feminist scholars re-conceptualize how women are to be included in the philosophical canon.

One scholar states that Elisabeth's health and femininity informed her interest about the immaterial soul's influence on the material body.

Including Elisabeth, the network consisted of Anna Maria van Schurman, Marie de Gournay, and Lady Ranelagh.