Woman in History-Elizabeth of Portugal(1271-1336)

Today I present woman about which in Lithuania people don't usually know-Elizabeth of Portugal.

She was born in 4 January 1271, in Aljaferia Palace.

Her parents was king Peter III of Aragon and Constance II of Sicily (their pictures below)


Elizabeth's marriage with king Denis I of Portugal was arranged in 1281 when she was only 10 years old. It was only in 1288 that the wedding was celebrated, when Denis was 26 years old, while Elizabeth was 17 (king Denis I of Portugal picture is bellow)

Despite this fact Elizabeth became Queen consort of Portugal on 26 June 1286 when she was approximately 11 years old.

During their marriage daugther Constance, the future queen consort of Castille and son Alfonso IV of Portugal.

But in my opinion the most interesting fact about this queen is that after the death of her husband king Denis I she retired to the monastery of the "Poor Clare Nuns" nowadays known as Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha.
Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha
She joined to the Third Order of St. Francis, devoting the rest of her life to the poor and sick in obscurity.

She was also known for being modest in her dress and humble in conversation, for providing lodging for pilgrims, distributing small gifts, paying the dowries of poor girls, and educating the children of poor nobles. She was a benefactor of various hospitals and of religious projects,

In 1516 she was beatified and on 24 June 1626 was canonized by Pope Urban VIII.

Nowadays this queen usually is known as Saint Elizabeth.