Thereafter, Louis concentrated on Charles the Bold,
duke of Burgundy, who, at Péronne in 1468, had humili-
ated him by extorting a guarantee of the independence
of Flanders. Charles’s death in 1477 was Louis’s great-
est stroke of good fortune. The remaining years of the
reign were devoted to the acquisition of Burgundian
territories. In these same years, Louis’s annexation of
Anjou and inheritance of Maine and Provence virtually
completed the territorial unifi cation of modern France
before his death.
Louis’s successes came as a fulfi llment of his pre-
decessors’ policies. Ugly and socially isolated from his
peers, Louis’s rejection of medieval courtly behavior,
dress, and ritual later endeared him to 19th-century ro-
mantics but in his own day alienated many whose help he
needed. Louis was not some sort of “New Monarch” but
rather an idiosyncratic medieval king whose breaches
with convention often proved self-defeating and whose
greatest successes came through the traditional means
of diplomacy and warfare made possible by the military
and fi scal reforms of his less colorful father.
See also Charles VII
Further Reading
Bittmann, Karl. Ludwig XI. und Karl der Kuhne: Die Memoiren
des Phillipe des Commynes als historische Quelle. Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1964.
Champion, Pierre. Louis XI. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1929.
Kendall, Paul M. Louis XI: The Universal Spider. New York:
Norton, 1970.
Lewis, Peter S. Later Medieval France: The Polity. New York:
St. Martin, 1968.
Tyrell, Joseph M. Louis XI. Boston: Twayne, 1980.
Paul D. Solon
LUITGARD OF AYWIÈRES
(Luitgard of Tongres; 1182–1246)
Born into a wealthy family, Luitgard entered the mon-
astery of Sainte-Catherine at Saint-Trond at the age of
twelve. Twelve years later, she was elected prioress but
chose instead to leave for the Cistercian monastery at
Aywières. After a long life of exemplary holiness, Lui-
tgard died among her fellow sisters on July 16, 1246.
She eventually became the patron saint of Flanders.
Several vitae of Luitgard exist, the most notable being
composed by Thomas de Cantimpré three years after
her death. Luitgard’s life was fi lled with an extravagant
array of visions and miracles. The visions include highly
abstract apparitions of light, concrete personal admo-
nitions by Christ and by angelic messengers, political
and ecclesiastical messages (e.g., asking her to fast for
seven years because of the Albigensians), and contacts
with souls in Purgatory. Among her miracles are such
physical phenomena as levitation, profuse sweating and
crying, ecstasies, healing with spittle and the laying on
of hands, prophecy, and raptures.
Illiterate and unable to speak French, Luitgard none-
theless contributed powerful images to the growing
movement of christocentric mysticism: Christ urges her
repeatedly to drink directly from his bleeding wound
and receives her heart in his own. Luitgard’s vita offers
remarkable insight into the fl ourishing communities
of spiritual women and their mutual infl uence on each
other. Marie d’Oignies, for example, is present at her
deathbed and predicts Luitgard’s miraculous activities
from beyond the grave. A Cistercian nun, Sybille de
Gages, composes a poem in her honor; Luitgard’s spirit
frequently appears to other nuns in visions.
See also Marie d’OigniesFurther Reading
Thomas de Cantimpré. Vita Lutgardis, ed. Pinius. Acta Sanctorum
(1867) 3.187–209.
——. The Life of Lutgard of Aywíères, trans. Margot H. King.
Saskatoon: Peregrina, 1987.
Deboutte, A. “S. Lutgarde et sa spiritualité.” Collectanea cister-
ciensa 44 (1982): 73–87.
Dinzelbacher, Peter. “Das Christusbild der heiligen Luitgard
von Tongeren im Rahmen der Passionsmystik und Bildkunst
des 12. und 13. Jahrhunderts.” Ons geestelijk erf 56 (1982):
217–77.
Ulrike WiethausLUNA, ÁLVARO DE (1388–1453)
Don Álvaro, as he is commonly referred to, was the
illegitimate son of a minor noble of Aragónese origin
by the same name. He was born in Castile at Cañete in
1388, and his mother was from that village. When his
father died in 1395, Álvaro was taken in by his uncle,
Juan Martínez de Luna. In 1408 Álvaro de Luna was
sent to court to further his education. There he was
known for his elegance and wit, and quickly became
the friend, companion, and favorite of Prince Juan,
the considerably younger boy who had inherited the
throne during infancy and would become Juan II, king
of Castile. From their earliest days together, Luna and
the king were constant companions and confi dantes.
Fearing the worst of the association, the young prince’s
mother, the Queen Regent Catalina de Lancaster, ar-
ranged to have Luna removed from court in 1415. Juan
was miserable without his friend’s company, and Luna
was quickly recalled. By 1418, when Catalina had
died, Luna and the king’s relationship had grown to
the point that it inspired both public gossip and private
envy among many of the nobles, who sought infl uence
to augment their power at the expense of the crown. (In
later years the king would be confronted by the nobles
with rumors of their homosexual relationship). Luna,LOUIS XI