Coutinho, Luis

Coutinho, Luis a Portuguese prelate, was born near the close of the 14th century. He was made bishop of Viseu about 1440, and sent by Alfonso V as ambassador to Rome, where he assisted in the election of the antipope Felix V. Under the influence of this illegitimate authority he was made cardinal in 1443. He became bishop of Coimbra, and accompanied the daughter of king Edward when she went to Germany to marry the emperor Frederick III. Having been promoted to the archbishopric of Lisbon in 1452, but not sharing the favor of Alfonso. He retired from court, and withdrew into the solitude of Cintra to seek relief from leprosy, with which, it is said, he was attacked. He died at Cintra in April 1453, and was interred in the cemetery of the lepers, where a splendid monument was erected to his memory. See Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v.