trade is maintained in lime, gypsum, timber, grain, fruits, wine, wool, cattle and farm implements, and the building of canal boats forms an important industry. The public institutions include the sub-prefecture, tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a communal college and a farm school.
Castelnaudary probably represents the ancient town of Sostomagus, taken during the 5th century by the Visigoths, who, it is conjectured, rebuilt the town, calling it Castrum Novum Arianorum, whence the present name. Early in the 13th century the town was the scene of several struggles during the war against the Albigenses, between Simon IV., count of Montfort, and Raymond VI., count of Toulouse, and their supporters. In 1229 it was deprived of its ramparts, and after these had been rebuilt, it was captured and burned by the Black Prince in 1355, but again rebuilt in 1366. In 1632 it was the scene of a cavalry engagement in which the rebel Henry II., duke of Montmorency, was defeated and captured by the royal troops.
CASTELSARRASIN, a town of south-western France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Tarn-et-Garonne, 12 m. W. of Montauban on the Southern railway. Pop. (1906) town, 3189; commune, 7496. Castelsarrasin, situated on the left bank of the lateral canal of the Garonne and about a mile from the right bank of that river, is surrounded by promenades occupying the site of the old fortifications. Its chief building is the brick-built church of St Sauveur, which dates from the 13th century. The administrative buildings are modern. The town has a sub-prefecture, a tribunal of first instance, and a communal college. The principal industrial establishment is the metal-foundry of Sainte-Marguerite, where copper, tin and other metals are worked; there are also flour-mills, saw-mills and dye-works. Trade is in cattle, agricultural produce, wine, baskets and game.
The name Castelsarrasin appears in the 13th century, when the village of Villelongue was replaced by the present bastide. Castrum Cerrucium, Castel-sur-Azine (from the neighbouring stream, Azine) and Castellum Sarracenum are suggested derivations, no one of which can be adopted with certainty.
CASTI, GIOVANNI BATTISTA (1721–1803), Italian poet, was born of humble parents at Montefiascone, in the states of the church, in 1721. He rose to the dignity of canon in the cathedral of his native place, but gave up his chance of church preferment to satisfy his gay and restless spirit by visiting most of the capitals of Europe. In 1782, on the death of Metastasio, he was appointed Poeta Cesario, or poet-laureate of Austria, in which capacity he applied himself with great success to the opera bouffe; but in 1796 he resigned this post, in order that he might not be hampered by political relations; and he spent the close of his life as a private gentleman at Paris, where he died in 1803. Casti is best known as the author of the Novelle galanti, and of Gli Animali parlanti, a poetical allegory, over which he spent eight years (1794–1802), and which, notwithstanding its tedious length, excited so much interest that it was translated into French, German and Spanish, and (very freely and with additions) into English, in W. S. Rose’s Court and Parliament of Beasts (Lond., 1819). Written during the time of the Revolution in France, it was intended to exhibit the feelings and hopes of the people and the defects and absurdities of various political systems. The Novelle Galanti is a series of poetical tales, in the ottava rima—a metre largely used by Italian poets for that class of compositions. The sole merit of these poems consists in the harmony and purity of the style, and the liveliness and sarcastic power of many passages. They are, however, characterized by the grossest licentiousness; and there is no originality of plot—that, according to the custom of Italian novelists, being taken from classical mythology or other ancient legends. Among the other works of Casti is the Poema Tartaro, a mock-heroic satire on the court of Catherine II., with which he was personally acquainted.
CASTIGLIONE, BALDASSARE (1478–1529), Italian diplomatist and man of letters, was born at Casanatico near Mantua, and was educated at Milan under the famous professors Merula and Chalcondyles. In 1496 he entered the service of Lodovico Sforza, duke of Milan, returning to Mantua in 1500 when Lodovico was carried prisoner into France. In 1504 he was attached to the court of Guidobaldo Malatesta, duke of Urbino, and in 1506 he was sent by that prince on a mission to Henry VII. of England, who had before conferred on Federigo Malatesta, “the Good
Duke,” the most famous mercenary of his age, the order of the Garter. Guidobaldo dying childless in 1508, the duchy of Urbino was given to Francesco Maria della Rovere, for whom Castiglione, envoy at the court of Leo X. (Medici), obtained the office of generalissimo of the Papal troops. Charged with the arrangement of the dispute between Clement VII. (Medici) and Charles V., Castiglione crossed, in 1524, into Spain, where he was received with highest honours, being afterwards naturalized, and made bishop of Avila. In 1527, however, Rome was seized and sacked by the Imperialists under Bourbon, and in July of the same year the surrender of the castle of Sant’ Angelo placed Clement in their hands. Castiglione had been tricked by the emperor, but there were not wanting accusations of treachery against himself. He had, however, placed fidelity highest among the virtues of his ideal “courtier,” and when he died at Toledo in 1529 it was said that he had died of grief and shame at the imputation. The emperor mourned him as “one of the world’s best cavaliers.” A portrait of him, now at the Louvre, was painted by Raphael, who disdained neither his opinion nor his advice.
Castiglione wrote little, but that little is of rare merit. His verses, in Latin and Italian, are elegant in the extreme; his letters (Padua, 1769–1771) are full of grace and finesse. But the book by which he is best remembered is the famous treatise, Il Cortegiano, written in 1514, published at Venice by Aldus in 1528, and translated into English by Thomas Hoby as early as 1561. This book, called by the Italians Il Libra d’oro, and remarkable for its easy force and undemonstrative elegance of style no less than for the nobility and manliness of its theories (see the edition by V. Cian, Florence, 1894), describes the Italian gentleman of the Renaissance under his brightest and fairest aspect, and gives a charming picture of the court of Guidobaldo da Montefeltre, duke of Urbino, “confessedly the purest and most elevated court in Italy.” In the form of a discussion held in the duchess’s drawing-room—with Elizabetta Gonzaga, Pietro Bembo, Bernardo Bibbiena, Giuliano de’ Medici, Emilia Pia, and Ceretino the Unique among the speakers—the question, What constitutes a perfect courtier? is debated. With but few differences, the type determined on is the ideal gentleman of the present day.
See P. L. Ginguené, Histoire littéraire de l’Italie, vi., vii.; J. A. Symonds, The Renaissance in Italy (London, 1875); C. Hare, Courts and Camps of the Italian Renaissance (1908); Julia Cartwright, B. Castiglione, the Perfect Courtier (1908), with good bibliography.
CASTIGLIONE, CARLO OTTAVIO, Count (1784–1849), Italian philologist, was born at Milan of an ancient family. His principal work was done in connexion with the Arabic and other Oriental languages, but he also performed good service in several other departments. In 1819 he published Monete cufiche del Museo di Milano, and assisted Cardinal Mai in his Ulphilae partium ineditarum in Ambrosianis palimpsestis repertarum editio. A learned Mémoire géographique et numismatique sur la partie orientale de la Barbarie appelée Afrikia par les Arabes appeared in 1826, and established his reputation. In 1829 he published by himself the Gothic version of the second epistle of Paul to the Corinthians; and this was followed by the Gothic version of the epistle to the Romans, the first epistle to the Corinthians, and the epistle to the Ephesians in 1834, by Galatians, Philippians, and 1 Thessalonians in 1835, and by 2 Thessalonians in 1839. He died at Genoa on the 10th of April 1849.
His Life, by Biondelli, appeared at Milan in 1856.
CASTIGLIONE, GIOVANNI BENEDETTO (1616–1670), called in Italy Il Grechetto, and in France Le Benédette, Italian painter of the Genoese school, was born in Genoa, and studied for some time under Vandyck. He painted portraits, historical pieces and landscapes, but chiefly excelled in fairs, markets and rural scenes with animals. Noah and the animals entering the
