ALFONSO OF CASTRO. - Franciscan theologian of the 16th century, born in Zamora, Spain, in 1495 and died in Brussels on 3 February 1558. At the age of 16 he entered the Franciscan order in Salamanca, where he completed his theological studies, later moving to the University of Alcalá. Returning to Salamanca, he taught theology there for about 30 years, while also successfully exercising the ministry of preaching in Germany, England, and at the court of Charles V. In 1530 he took part in the debate on the validity of Henry VIII’s marriage and wrote on the matter a pamphlet published posthumously in Lyon in 1568. He participated, as theologian to Cardinal Pacheco, in the early sessions of the Council of Trent, performing notable work especially in discussions concerning original sin, the canon, and the use of Sacred Scripture. He was also highly skilled in penal law, earning the title of “princeps poenalisarum.”
He was also designated as Archbishop of Compostela, but died before being preconized.
Various works have been attributed to A. Certainly his, in addition to the aforementioned pamphlet and some minor manuscripts, are the following: 1) *Adversus omnes haereses* lib. XIV (Paris 1534); a work that, while A. was still alive, had several editions, the definitive one, extensively revised in 1556, appearing in Antwerp in 1560. In it, arranged in alphabetical order, all the heresies that had arisen from the time of the Apostles to the 16th century are enumerated and refuted; 2) *Homiliae* 25 in Ps. 50 (Salamanca 1537); 3) *Homiliae* 24 in Ps. 31 (Salamanca 1540); 4) *De justa haereticorum punitione* (Salamanca 1547); 5) *De potestate legis poenalis* (Salamanca 1550).
ALFONSO DI CASTRO — ALFONSO II D'ESTE
natural daughter of the nun of the “Corpus Domini” and Francesco, Marquis of Massa Lombarda. Moreover, from Laura Eustochia Dianti, the natural sons Alfonso, father of Cesare, first Duke of Modena, and Alfonsino.
He adhered to the League of Cambrai and wrested from the Venetians, who aspired to his domains on the Po, Rovigo, Montagnana, and Este, and dispersed at Polesella the Venetian fleet commanded by Gradenigo (1509). He was Gonfalonier of the Holy Roman Church, but later came into conflict with Julius II, who in the peace with Venice did not support his fortunes; he went in vain to Rome to see him, sending Ludovico Ariosto as his ambassador. In the dispute he lost Modena and Reggio, which were later reconfirmed to him by Adrian VI and granted back to him after he had reconquered Modena during the Sack of Rome (6 June 1527), by virtue of an arbitration award of Charles V (Cologne, 21 December 1530).
A conspiracy of his brothers Ferrante and Giulio marred his private life, which was partly devoted to travel (England and Flanders), commerce, the arts, and strategy (he was a woodcarver, a maker of majolica, a founder of cannons), and notable for that mechanism, characteristic of his dynasty, which he put at the service of politics. Ludovico Ariosto, his governor in Garfagnana, suggested to him the personal enterprise or program: a grenade with the motto: *Tempore et loco*.