Elizabeth was educated very piously, and led a life of strict regularity from her childhood: she said the full Divine Office daily, fasted and did other penances.

[4] Elizabeth's marriage to King Denis of Portugal was arranged in 1282 when she was 11 years old,[5] receiving the towns of Óbidos, Abrantes and Porto de Mós as part of her dowry.

[3][6] Denis, a poet and statesman, was known as the Farmer King, because he planted a large pine forest near Leiria to prevent the soil degradation that threatened the region.

[8] Elizabeth took an active interest in Portuguese politics and was a decisive conciliator during the negotiations concerning the Treaty of Alcañices, signed by Denis and Fernando IV of Castile in 1297 (which fixed the borders between the two countries).

In 1304, the Queen and Denis returned to Spain to arbitrate between Fernando IV of Castile and James II of Aragon, brother of Elizabeth.

[10] She was called to act once more as a peacemaker in 1336, when Afonso IV marched his troops against King Alfonso XI of Castile, his nephew, to whom he had married his daughter Maria, and who had neglected and ill-treated her.

[8] Although Denis' tomb was located in Odivelas, Elizabeth was buried in the Convent of Santa Clara in Coimbra,[2] in a magnificent Gothic sarcophagus.

After frequent flooding by the Mondego River in the 17th century, the Poor Clares moved her mortal remains to the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Nova (also in Coimbra).

Elizabeth is often depicted in royal garb with a dove or an olive branch, usually holding a bunch of roses in her skirt or in the scapular of her religious habit.

The young adult historical fantasy novel A Curse of Roses by Portuguese author Diana Pinguicha retells her story as a princess who can turn food into flowers and falls for an Enchanted Moura.