Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/97

CASTRI CASTRO DEL RIO 89 is noted for its fine wool-dyed cloths, and has manufactures of silk, woollen, and cotton goods, linen, paper, soap, &c. Castres was a flourishing place in the 12th century. It suf- fered much in the religious wars of the 16th century, and its fortifications were destroyed by Louis XIII. in 1629. It was long the resi- dence of Henry IV. during his religious wars. CASTRI. See DELPHI. CASTRIOT, George. See SOANDEKBEG. CASTRO, Henry, a Texan pioneer, of Portu- guese descent, born in France in 1786, died in Monterey, Mexico, in 1861. He was an officer of the Paris national guard in 1814, and after the overthrow of Napoleon came to the United States, where he was naturalized, and appointed in 1827 Neapolitan consul at Provi- dence, R. I. In 1838 he went to Paris as a partner in the banking house of Laffitte, and in 1842 he became consul general in that city of the republic of Texas. Having received a grant of land on the banks of the Medina river, he began in 1840 to send out emigrants to Galveston; and though the first attempt was unfortunate, he succeeded in 1844 in es- tablishing a settlement on the site of the pres- ent town of Oastroville ; and in the next two years he founded Quihi and Vandenberg. The number of his emigrant vessels amounted in 1846 to 26, which brought over 485 families and 457 single persons, chiefly Alsatians. In 1847 he founded Dhanis. All his settlements subsequently constituted Medina county, with Castroville as the capital. CASTRO, Ines de, wife of the crown prince Dom Pedro of Portugal, assassinated in 1355. She was a daughter of Dom Pedro Fernandez de Castro, a descendant of the royal house of Cas- tile, and a maid of honor to Constantia, first wife of Pedro. After Constantia's death in 1344, Pe- dro, fascinated by the extraordinary beauty of Ines, contracted a secret marriage with her, which, when a few years afterward it was dis- closed to his father Alfonso IV., met a violent opposition from the king. The apprehension that the children of Ines might interfere with the claims to the throne of Pedro's children by his first wife, also preyed upon the mind of Al- fonso. Her death was therefore resolved upon by the king, who caused her to be assassina- ted while Pedro was on a hunting excursion. When Pedro came home and found the bleed- ing corpse of his wife, his mother and the archbishop of Braga succeeded with the great- est difficulty in restraining him from taking ven- geance upon the king. After the king's death in 1357 his wrath broke out with increased fury. One of the assassins succeeded in escaping to Aragon. The other two, who had sought pro- tection at the court of Pedro the Cruel in Cas- tile, were surrendered to the king of Portugal, who, after subjecting them to torture, had their hearts torn out, their bodies burnt, and their ashes scattered to the winds. He convened a council at Castanheda, when, in the presence of the nobility and the court, he produced the papal documents and the evidence of the arch- bishop of Guarda, the attending priest, in order to establish by irrefragable proof the legiti- macy of his marriage with Ines. The remains of Ines were then exhumed, her corpse was put upon the throne, clothed with the insignia of royalty, and the dignitaries of the kingdom approached to kiss the hem of the royal gar- ment. Ines was afterward buried with great pomp at Alcobaca, the king, the bishops, the lords and officers of Portugal following the fu- neral procession on foot, a distance of 60 miles. A superb monument was dedicated to her at Alcobaca. Gomes in Portugal, Count Soden in Germany, and Feith in Holland have founded tragedies upon the incidents of Ines de Castro's life ; but the most remarkable tribute paid to her memory is that of Camoens in the "Lusiad." CASTRO, Joao de, a Portuguese naval hero and explorer, born in Lisbon in February, 1500, died in Goa, June 6, 1548. He belonged to an ancient family, and early became proficient in mathematics, having as teacher Pedro Nunez, and as fellow student the infante Dom Luis. He accompanied the latter in the expedition to Tunis in 1533, after having been previously knighted by the governor of Tangier ; a similar honor was offered to him at Tunis by Charles V., but declined. In 1538 he was made^ com- mander of a small religious order, and soon afterward went with his uncle to Goa, where he served against the Moors. In 1540 he ex- plored the Red sea under Estevao da Gama ; in 1543 he was placed in command of a naval expedition for the extirpation of piracy ; and in 1545 he was appointed councillor of the crown and governor of Goa. In 1546 he gained a cele- brated victory over the Moors at Diu, and was celebrated by Camoens as Castro forte (the pow- erful Castro). The king of Portugal, though never partial to him, appointed him viceroy of India, Oct. 13, 1547. He died soon afterward in the arms of St. Francis Xavier, a'nd a statue was erected in his honor at Goa. His remains were removed in 1576 to Portugal, and deposited with great pomp in the convent of Bemfica. His MS. log book (Roteiro) of his hydrographical investi- gations in the Red sea, preserved in the British museum, was first published in Paris in 1833, and possesses great scientific merit. He left also MS. narratives of his voyage from Lisbon to Goa, and from Goa to Diu. His biography was published in Lisbon in 1651, by Jacintho Freyre de Andrada. CASTRO DEL RIO, a town of Spain, on the Guadajoz, in the province and 16 m. S. E. of Cordova; pop. about 9,000. The ancient part of the town is surrounded by a dilapidated wall with towers. The entrance is by a single gate, once defended by an Arab castle, now in ruins. The modern portion is outside the walls, and is well and handsomely built. There are two colleges and several schools, convents, chapels, and hospitals. It has manufactures of woollen and linen fabrics, and earthen ware, and a trade in wine, wheat, cattle, oil, honey, &c.