Saint Elizabeth of Portugal

Isabella of Aragon was born in Zaragoza on January 4, 1271, the daughter of Peter III the Great, king of Aragon, and of Constance of Sicily, who was the daughter of King Manfred. In Portugal, where she went as a bride at twelve, they called her Isabel; we call her Elizabeth. She was queen consort of Portugal from 1282 to 1325, beside King Denis. The marriage was not a happy one: her husband had many children outside the marriage, and she raised them at home together with her own. All the sources mention it, and none of them quite knows what to make of it. What she is remembered for, though, is something else. Twice she physically placed herself between two armies drawn up for battle, to stop it. The first time between her husband and her son Afonso, who were fighting over the throne: she rode onto the field at Alvalade and planted herself between the two lines. The second, already old and ill, between her son, by then king, and her grandson, king of Castile: she made the journey to Estremoz to stop them, and died there shortly afterward, on July 4, 1336. She is called the Peacemaker Queen. There is also the legend of the roses: surprised by her husband while she was carrying bread for the poor in her lap, she is said to have opened her cloak and roses spilled out — the same story told of Elizabeth of Hungary, who was her great-aunt and whose name she bore. If your name is Elizabeth, today is your name day.