Louis of Praet

Who was Louis of Praet?

Louis of Praet, Louis of Flanders, Lord of Praet, or locally Lodewijk van Praet was a nobleman from the Low Countries and an important diplomat and statesman under the Emperor Charles V.

Louis was descended through his father from a bastard son of Louis of Male, count of Flanders, and through his mother from a bastard daughter of Philip the Good. He was a student of the Brethren of the Common Life and studied in Leuven.

Louis was 'hoog-baljuw' of Ghent from 1515 to 1522 and of Bruges from 1523 to 1549. He served the Emperor between 1522 and 1525 as ambassador in England, where he in the end got into severe conflict with Thomas Wolsey and had to leave the country. Between 1525 and 1526 he also served as ambassador in France.

In England, Praet met the Spanish humanist Juan Luis Vives who dedicated his 1523 book De Consultatione to him. Praet also either directly inspired or encouraged Vives to write his book On Assistance to the Poor, which he did when living in Bruges in 1526. Vives dedicated the book to Lord Praet, writing: