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 CASTIGLIONE

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CASTILE

Italy, 1784; d. at Genoa, 10 April, 1849. He was de- scended from Baldassare Castiglione, the author of the "Cortegiano". Early in life he displayed a great aptitude for languages and numismatics and quickly acquired a mastery of almost all the Indo-Germanic and Semitic languages. In 1819 he published a de- scription of the Cufic coins in the Gabinetto of Brera at Milan, under the title, "Monete cufiche del musee di Milano" (Milan, 1819). His principal work in Orien- tal literature is entitled "Memoire geographique et numismatique sur la partie orientale de la Barbarie appelee Afrikia par les Arabes, suivi de recherches sur les Berberes atlantiques " (Milan, 1826). In this he endeavours to ascertain the origin and the history of the towns in Barbary whose names are found on Arabic coins. Outside of Italy he is perhaps best known by his edition, begun in 1819, of some frag- ments of the Gothic translation of the Bible by Ulfilas, which had been discovered in 1S17 by Cardinal Mai among the palimpsests of the Ambrosian Library. At first Castiglione brought out some specimens in con- junction with the cardinal, but later at various times he published by himself a number of fragments of the Epistles of St. Paul. Besides these he wrote numer- ous unpublished works on linguistics.

Biondelli, Vita di C. 0. Castiglione (Milan, 1856).

Edmund Burke. Castiglione, Giovanni Benedetto, painter and etcher, b. at Genoa, Italy, 1616; d. at Mantua, 1670. In Italy he was known as // Grechetto from his beauti- ful colouring, and in France as II Benedetto. Some authorities make him a pupil of Paggi and Andrea de' Ferrari, and others of Van Dyck. But as Van Dyck left Genoa when Castiglione was nine years old, and since Genoa was rich in Van Dyck's works, it is more than probable that the young man never saw Van Dyck, but had ample opportunity, in his native city, to study his works and those of Rubens also. He travelled throughout Italy and painted in nearly every large city. In 1654 Charles II, Duke of Man- tua, generously gave him an apartment in his own palace and pensioned him. Castiglione did his best work in Mantua. His specialty was animal painting, but he enjoys an excellent reputation as a landscape, historical, and portrait painter. He frequently chose Biblical subjects, but, apparently only when these afforded him a chance to introduce animals. He was fond of painting kermesses, village, market, and rural scenes, and closely approached the marvellous Dutchmen in this kind of work. His touch was spirited, his colour beautiful and the chiaroscuro ex- cellently managed. His many pastoral scenes show him possessed of a keen sense of the picturesque, and he proved himself an admirable draughtsman and figure-painter. Orders poured in upon him from England, France, and Germany. His rank as a master is, however, due to his point-work more than to his brush-work. He etched in a free, spirited, and effective style more than seventy plates, and so skill- fully managed the light and shade that many of them have, the effect of aquatint. Unlike his Italian con- temporaries, he seldom used the graver, but relied on pure line, like Rembrandt and the etchers of the North. Lipmann thinks Castiglione \s needle-work was based "on contact with Van Dyck". Benedetto had many imitators, especially his brother Salvatore and his son Francesco, both his pupils. Salvatore's work is often very difficult to distinguish from Castig- lione's. Among his noted works are "The Nativity" (his masterpiece), at Genoa; "Adoration of the Shepherds", at the Louvre, Paris; "Noah entering the Ark", at Dresden. Some notable prints are: "Mel- ancholy", "Landscape" (dated 1658), "Animals Entering the Ark".

Soprani, he Vile de' pitlori genovesi (Genoa, 176S); La- roussb, Diet. Universe! (Paris, 1877); Lipmann', Engraving n„.l Etching (New York, 1906); Maherly, The Print Collector (New York, 1880). LuiUH Hunt.

Castile and Aragon, the united kingdom which came into existence by the marriage (1469) of Isa- bella, heiress of Castile, with Ferdinand the Catholic, King of Aragon. Columbus made his voyages of dis- covery as the agent of "the Catholic Kings" (los Reyes Catdlicos) of this united kingdom, which in the course of history became the Kingdom of Spain — or, more precisely, of the Spains.

Castile. — The origin of the name Castile is a mat- ter of dispute, but it is more than probably derived from the fortified castles (castillos), built first by the Romans to protect themselves from the Cantabrians whom they had not completely subjugated, and after- wards by the Christians todefend the northern regions which they had conquered from the Moors. At the present time this name is given to the extensive region which forms the central portion of Spain, and is bounded on the north by the Bay of Biscay (the ancient Sinus Cantabricus), on the east by the Basque Provinces, and the provinces of Navarre, Aragon, and Valencia, on the south by Andalusia, and on the west by Estremadura, Leon, and the Asturias, and is di- vided into Old Castile and New Castile.

Old Castile (Castilla la Vieja). — It is asserted by some (Fernandez Guerra, Cantabria) that Old Castile was called Yellegia and afterwards Vetula. whence Vieja. but the most probable explanation is that it was called Vieja, or Antigua, to distinguish it from Castilla la Xuera — the New Castile formed from the lands which since the eleventh century had been reconquered beyond the mountain chain of the Car- petano-Vetoniea. Old Castile is in outline an irregu- lar triangle, the western frontier bordering on the ancient Kingdom of Leon, the south-eastern boundary being the Sierras de Credos, Guadarrama, and the Moncayo (Mons Caunus), and the north-eastern, the river Ebro. In the political division of Spain the ancient province of Cantabria, whioh is included in Castile, does not belong to it either ethnographically or geographically, but forms a separate district called by those who inhabit it de Penas al Mar, or more commonly La Montana. In the present political division Old Castile comprises a territory of 22,415 square miles, with a population of 1,654,5S5, and since the division of 1833 it has included the eight provinces of Burgos, Palencia, Valladolid, Avila, Segovia, Soria, Logrono, and Santander. Old Castile forms the highest plateau of Spain, perhaps of Europe, the mean height being 880 feet. The mountain streams of this region feed the river Ebro in the north- east, the Duero, which Hows through the centre, and the Pisuerga, which is a tributary of the Duero. Owing to its situation it has the most extreme climate of Spain, both as to cold and heat, and its fertile soil produces wheat and other cereals. The most impor- tant cities are: Burgos, population 29,683, famous for its Gothic cathedral, which is one of the most beauti- ful in the world; Valladolid, population 52,181, which was the capital of Spain until the time of Philip II; Santander, population 41,021, capital of Cantabria, a maritime city with an extensive commerce; Segovia, population 11,318, where the ancient Alcazar and the artillery school are situated; and Avila, population 25,039," the city of St. Teresa.

New Castile. — As has already been said, this name was given to the territory reconquered from the Arabs, from the time of Alfonso VI to that of St. Fer- dinand. This region also forms a great table-land, not quite so lofty as that of Old Castile, ami is bounded on the north by the mountain chain of the Carpet ano-Vctc'miea, on the south by the Sierra Morena, on the east by the mountains of Cuenca; t he mountains of Toledo, which merge into the Sierra de Guadalupe in Estremadura, run through the centre and separate the two great valleys into which New Castile is divided, that of the Tagus to the north, and that of the Guadiana to the south. The river Jucar,