Louis de Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol

Who was Louis de Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol?

Louis de Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, of Brienne, de Ligny, and Conversano belonged to the Ligny branch of the House of Luxemburg and was Constable of France.

Saint-Pol was the eldest son of Peter of Luxembourg and Margaret de Baux. His older sister Jacqueline, better known as Jacquetta of Luxembourg, married John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, and Louis was initially a supporter of the Lancastrian cause in the Hundred Years' War.

He was brought up by his uncle, John II of Luxembourg, Count of Ligny, who named Louis as heir to his estates. However, King Charles VII of France sequestrated the estates on John's death in 1441. As a result, Saint-Pol sought a rapprochement with the French king and duly had his inheritance restored to him. However, the county of Guise was claimed by Charles, Count of Maine. The affair was settled by an agreement that Saint-Pol's sister Isabelle would marry the Count of Maine and receive the disputed lands as her dowry.

Saint-Pol became a close friend of the Dauphin Louis, the future King Louis XI of France and fought with him in Flanders and in Normandy.