Luitgard (born around 776, died 4 June 800) was the last wife of

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

. Luitgard was the daughter of Luitfrid II of Sundgau, an

Alamanni The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213 CE, the Alemanni c ...

an count, and Hiltrude of Wormsgau. She married Charlemagne in 794, when he was around 50 years old. Little is known of her, except that the king found in her a calm and virtuous woman; at court, she was even appreciated by his children.

Alcuin Alcuin of York (; ; 735 – 19 May 804), also called Ealhwine, Alhwin, or Alchoin, was a scholar, clergyman, poet, and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Ecgbert of York, Archbishop Ecgbert at Yor ...

praises Luitgarde's love of letters: of her he says, “The queen loves to converse with learned and learned men; after his devotional exercises, it is his dearest pastime. She is full of complaisance for the king, pious, blameless and worthy of all the love of such a husband." She also accompanied Charlemagne on the great hunt each year. Luitgard died of an unknown illness on 4 June 800 at the monastery of Saint-Martin de Tours, during a tour with Charlemagne in

Neustria Neustria was the western part of the Kingdom of the Franks during the Early Middle Ages, in contrast to the eastern Frankish kingdom, Austrasia. It initially included land between the Loire and the Silva Carbonaria, in the north of present-day ...

, preceding his trip to Rome where, just over six months later, he was crowned ''

Imperator Romanorum The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

'' ("Emperor of the Romans"). She was buried there, and although the location of her tomb is not precisely known, reportedly it is under the Charlemagne Tower associated with

Basilica of Saint Martin, Tours The Basilica of Saint Martin is a Catholic basilica dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, over whose tomb it was built. It is located in Tours, France. The first basilica was established here in the 5th century (consecrated in 471) on the site ...

. She and Charlemagne had no children, and he did not remarry again. Jean-Baptiste-René Robinet, ''Dictionnaire universel des sciences morale, économique, politique et...'', p.393 According to 15th century chronicles from

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, Luitgard had a sister, Redburga/Redburh, who met Ecgberht, later to be

King of Wessex This is a list of monarchs of the Kingdom of the West Saxons (Wessex) until 886 AD. While the details of the later monarchs are confirmed by a number of sources, the earlier ones are in many cases obscure. The names are given in modern English f ...

, while he was exiled in

West Francia In medieval historiography, West Francia (Medieval Latin: ) or the Kingdom of the West Franks () constitutes the initial stage of the Kingdom of France and extends from the year 843, from the Treaty of Verdun, to 987, the beginning of the Capet ...

Beorhtric of Wessex Beorhtric (meaning "magnificent ruler"; also spelled Brihtric) (died 802) was the List of monarchs of Wessex, King of Wessex from 786 to 802, succeeding Cynewulf of Wessex, Cynewulf. During his rule, however, his wife and father-in-law had most ...

and

Offa of Mercia Offa ( 29 July 796 AD) was King of Mercia, a kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England, from 757 until his death in 796. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of ...

; the two later married.

Notes

, - Year of birth unknown 800 deaths Wives of Charlemagne Alemannic women Etichonid dynasty 8th-century Frankish people {{europe-royal-stub