Isabel seemed predestined for sainthood. She was so named in memory of her great-aunt Isabel of Hungary (canonised in 1235). And “our” Isabel is often associated with a legend also attributed to her relative.
Tradition tells us that one day the queen was carrying a large amount of money for the poor. Her husband, the king, had forbidden her to give alms and when the king asked her to show what she was carrying in her skirt, the coins had turned into a bunch of roses, thus avoiding her husband’s wrath.
Francisco de Zurbarán depicted Isabel in this guise in 1626, on the occasion of her canonisation.

It is possible that the monarch had a tacit agreement with his wife not to object to her charitable activities, while Isabel turned a blind eye to her husband’s constant dalliances. The king, a troubadour and seducer, had many mistresses and children who then had to be “placed”. Isabel herself favoured their education and privileged support (one of them, in fact, would unsuccessfully dispute the throne with the legitimate son, Alfonso).

This extra-marital behaviour in privileged spheres is a very common occurrence throughout history, and in many periods it was considered “normal”. However, always in the same direction: the man could maintain this “double life”, but woe betide the adulterous woman! If discovered, she could be marked for life… in the best of cases.

Transposed to the present day, and beyond the affairs of kings and powerful… Do you think that today some of these double standards are maintained when it comes to dealing with sentimental and sexual matters? Is a person who has many relationships seen in the same way if they are a boy as if they are a girl?

Apart from these reflections, these things also happened because, in the spheres of power (and in other more modest spheres), marriage was a political matter. Marriages were the result of an agreement between states, a formula for reconciling interests, uniting patrimonies and influences, testing alliances with third parties… In these cases, love was the least important thing (if it appeared, it was by chance), and it was not seen as wrong that, once the formalities had been completed, the king (in this case) sought to give free rein to his instincts.

Marriage for reasons of state and this utilitarian consideration of women as a “factory of successors” were discussed in more detail in the case of Queen Petronila of Aragon. A century and a half separated Isabel from the great-grandmother of her grandfather James, but things had not changed much, nor would they change for a long time.

Without losing the thread of “marriage and politics”, we see that in the text a number of relationships and countries from all over Europe have been cited. We add a few to make up this curious mosaic:

Isabel’s parents were Peter of Aragon and Constanza of Sicily. Her two older brothers were to become kings of Aragon (successively Alfonso III and James II). Her great-aunt Isabel of Hungary was the sister of Violante (her grandmother, married to James I). Isabel married the King of Portugal: her son Alfonso would also occupy that throne. Her other daughter, Constanza, would marry the ruler of Castile, and her grandson would reign there as Alfonso XI.

Place on a map of Europe: Aragon, Sicily, Hungary, Portugal and Castile? The remoteness of Hungary is striking, and… that France, so close to Aragon and so closely linked to its history in previous centuries, does not appear on the map.

During the 13th century, Aragon’s relations with the kingdom of France were not good. In fact, they were openly hostile: the rivalry for influence over the territories of Occitania first, then the struggles for the Mediterranean… separated the two states, despite the fact that some time ago it had been common for the first kings of Aragon to seek marriages north of the Pyrenees, despite the decisive presence of Gascons, Béarnese, etc., in the conquest of Saragossa by Alfonso the Battler, or despite the continuous flow channelled through the Camino de Santiago (Pilgrim’s Way to Santiago). The raison d’état tended to impose other relationships.

The feast day of Santa Isabel

The 4th of July (the date of her death) is dedicated to this Santa, who is the patron saint of the province of Saragossa. The Diputación de Zaragoza gives the name of Santa Isabel to its annual prizes awarded to entities and groups, and also to different art, narrative, plastic arts, scenic arts, audiovisual script, etc. competitions.

A girl in the Aljafería

The central courtyard of the Aljafería is known as the courtyard of Santa Isabel, in memory of the illustrious girl born within the walls of the Taifal palace. It is easy to imagine an apparently privileged child, playing in the garden, hiding among the arches and orange trees, perhaps oblivious to the role reserved for her, perhaps partly aware of that responsibility, wondering about her troubled father’s absence…