other parts of Spain. The important Barcelona-Valencia railway skirts the coast, passing through the capital; and the Calatayúd-Sagunto line crosses the southern extremity of the province. Elsewhere the roads, which are generally indifferent, form the sole means of communication. Castellón (29,904), Villarreal (16,068), the port of Burriana (12,962), and Peñiscola (3142), a town of some historical interest, are described in separate articles. The other chief towns are Alcalá de Chisbert (6293), Almazora (7076), Benicarló (7251), Maella (7335), Onda (6595), Segorbe (7045), Vall de Uxó (8643), Villafamés (6708) and Vinaroz (8625).
CASTELLÓN DE LA PLANA, the capital of the province described above, on the Barcelona-Valencia railway, 4 m. from the Mediterranean Sea. Pop. (1900) 29,904. The broad and fertile plain in which Castellón is built is watered artificially by a Moorish aqueduct, largely cut through the solid rock, and supplied by the estuary of the Mijares, 5 m. south-east. The town is partly encircled by ancient walls; and, although most of its public buildings are modern, it contains several convents of early foundation, a curious old bell-tower, 150 ft. high, and a parish church chiefly noteworthy for a painting in the interior by Francisco Ribalta, who was born here in the middle of the 16th century. Castellón has a brisk trade, its manufactures comprising porcelain, leather, silk, linen, brandy and cork goods. Its harbour, El Gráo de Castellón, about 4 m. east, is annually entered by some 200 small vessels. A light railway, which traverses the numerous and profitable orange plantations on the south-west, connects it with the towns of Almazora, Villarreal, Burriana and Onda. Under its Moorish rulers Castellón occupied a hill to the north of its present site; its removal to the plain by James I. of Aragon (1213–1276) gave the town its full name, “Castellón of the Plain.”
CASTELNAU, MICHEL DE, Sieur de la Mauvissière (c. 1520–1592), French soldier and diplomatist, ambassador to Queen Elizabeth, was born in Touraine about 1520. He was one of a large family of children, and his grandfather, Pierre de Castelnau, was equerry to Louis XII. Endowed with a clear and penetrating intellect and remarkable strength of memory, he received a careful education, to complete which he travelled in Italy and made a long stay at Rome. He then spent some time in Malta, afterwards entered the army, and made his first acquaintance with war in the campaigns of the French in Italy. His abilities and his courage won for him the friendship and protection of the cardinal of Lorraine, who took him into his service. In 1557 a command in the navy was given to him, and the cardinal proposed to get him knighted. This, however, he declined, and then rejoined the French army in Picardy. Various delicate missions requiring tact and discretion were entrusted to him by the constable de Montmorency, and these he discharged so satisfactorily that he was sent by the king, Henry II., to Scotland with despatches for Mary Stuart, then betrothed to the dauphin (afterwards Francis II.). From Scotland he passed into England, and treated with Queen Elizabeth respecting her claims on Calais (1559), a settlement of which was effected at the congress of Cateau-Cambrésis. He was next sent as ambassador to the princes of Germany, for the purpose of prevailing
upon them to withdraw their favour from the Protestants. This embassy was followed by missions to Margaret of Parma, governess of the Netherlands, to Savoy, and then to Rome, to ascertain the views of Pope Paul IV. with regard to France. Paul having died just before his arrival, Castelnau used his influence in favour of the election of Pius IV. Returning to France, he once more entered the navy, and served under his former patron. It was his good fortune, at Nantes, to discover the earliest symptoms of the conspiracy of Amboise, which he immediately reported to the government.
After the death of Francis II. (December 1560) he accompanied the queen, Mary Stuart, to Scotland, and remained with her a year, during which time he made several journeys into England, and attempted to bring about a reconciliation between Mary and Queen Elizabeth. The wise and moderate counsels which he offered to the former were unheeded. In 1562, in consequence of the civil war in France, he returned there. He was employed against the Protestants in Brittany, was taken prisoner in an engagement with them and sent to Havre, but was soon after exchanged. In the midst of the excited passions of his countrymen, Castelnau, who was a sincere Catholic, maintained a wise self-control and moderation, and by his counsels rendered valuable service to the government. He served at the siege of Rouen, distinguished himself at the battle of Dreux, took Tancarville, and contributed in 1563 to the recapture of Havre from the English.
During the next ten years Castelnau was employed in various important missions:—first to Queen Elizabeth, to negotiate a peace; next to the duke of Alba, the new governor of the Netherlands. On this occasion he discovered the project formed by the prince of Condé and Admiral Coligny to seize and carry off the royal family at Monceaux (1567). After the battle of St Denis he was again sent to Germany to solicit aid against the Protestants; and on his return he was rewarded for his services with the post of governor of Saint-Dizier and a company of orderlies. At the head of his company he took part in the battles of Jarnac and Moncontour. In 1572 he was sent to England by Charles IX. to allay the excitement created by the massacre of St Bartholomew, and the same year he was sent to Germany and Switzerland. Two years later he was reappointed by Henry III. ambassador to Queen Elizabeth, and he remained at her court for ten years. During this period he used his influence to promote the marriage of the queen with the duke of Alençon, with a view especially to strengthen and maintain the alliance of the two countries. But Elizabeth made so many promises only to break them that at last he refused to accept them or communicate them to his government. On his return to France he found that his château of La Mauvissière had been destroyed in the civil war; and as he refused to recognize the authority of the League, the duke of Guise deprived him of the governorship of Saint-Dizier. He was thus brought almost to a state of destitution. But on the accession of Henry IV., the king, who knew his worth, and was confident that although he was a Catholic he might rely on his fidelity, gave him a command in the army, and entrusted him with various confidential missions.
Castelnau died at Joinville in 1592. His Mémoires rank very high among the original authorities for the period they cover, the eleven years between 1559 and 1570. They were written during his last embassy in England for the benefit of his son; and they possess the merits of clearness, veracity and impartiality. They were first printed in 1621; again, with additions by Le Laboureur, in 2 vols. folio, in 1659; and a third time, still further enlarged by Jean Godefroy, 3 vols. folio, in 1731. Castelnau translated into French the Latin work of Ramus, On the Manners and Customs of the Ancient Gauls. Various letters of his are preserved in the Cottonian and Harleian collections in the British Museum.
His grandson, Jacques de Castelnau (1620–1658), distinguished himself in the war against Austria and Spain during the ministries of Richelieu and Mazarin, and died marshal of France.
See Hubault, Ambassade de Castelnau en Angleterre (1856); Relations politiques de la France . . . avec l’Écosse au seizième siècle, edited by J. B. A. T. Teulet (1862); and De la Ferrière, Les Projets de mariage d’Elisabeth (1883).
CASTELNAUDARY, a town of south-western France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Aude, 22 m. W.N.W. of Carcassonne, on the Southern railway between that city and Toulouse. Pop. (1906) 6650. It is finely situated on an elevation in the midst of a fertile and well-cultivated plain; and its commercial facilities are greatly increased by the Canal du Midi, which widens out, as it passes the town, into an extensive basin surrounded with wharves and warehouses for the timber used in the upkeep of the canal. The principal buildings are the law court, the hôtel de ville, and the church of St Michel, dating from the 14th century; none of these offers any feature of unusual interest. There are a number of flour-mills, as well as manufactories of earthenware, tiles and blankets; an extensive
