Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Luis d'Avila y Zuniga

AVILA Y ZUNIGA, Luis D', author of a Spanish history of the wars of Charles V. Nothing is known as to the place or date either of his birth or of his death. He was probably of low origin, but married a wealthy heiress of the house of Zuniga, whose name he added to his own. He rose rapidly in the favour of the Emperor Charles V., served in the army and as ambassador to Rome, and was present at the funeral of Charles in 1558. His work is entitled Comentarios de la Guerra de Alemaña, hecha de Carlos V. en el año de 1546 y 1547, and appears to have been printed in 1548. It became very popular, and was translated into English, French, Dutch, German, Italian, and Latin. As was to be expected from the position of the author, the book gave a rather one-sided account of Charles, and its misrepresentations have been severely criticised.