Alfonso de Castro
Encyclopedia
Alfonso de Castro is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
– February 11, 1558, Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
), known also as Alphonsus a Castro, was a Franciscan theologian and jurist. He belongs to the group of theologian-jurists known as the School of Salamanca
School of Salamanca
The School of Salamanca is the renaissance of thought in diverse intellectual areas by Spanish and Portuguese theologians, rooted in the intellectual and pedagogical work of Francisco de Vitoria...
(otherwise identified as Spanish Late Scholasticism).
Life
Alfonso de Castro entered, at the age of 15, the FranciscanFranciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
Order and quickly became known as a good preacher. After his studies of theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
and philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
at the University of Alcalá
University of Alcalá
The University of Alcalá is a public university located in Alcalá de Henares, a city 35 km northeast of Madrid in Spain. Founded in 1499, it was moved in 1836 to Madrid. In 1977, the University was reopened in its same historical buildings...
which was established in these years, he became professor at the famous University of Salamanca
University of Salamanca
The University of Salamanca is a Spanish higher education institution, located in the town of Salamanca, west of Madrid. It was founded in 1134 and given the Royal charter of foundation by King Alfonso IX in 1218. It is the oldest founded university in Spain and the third oldest European...
, where, next to Luis Carvajal and Francisco de Vitoria
Francisco de Vitoria
Francisco de Vitoria, OP was a Spanish Renaissance Roman Catholic philosopher, theologian and jurist, founder of the tradition in philosophy known as the School of Salamanca, noted especially for his contributions to the theory of just war and international law...
, he founded the "Renaissance of Theology". According to his commitment in Bruges
Bruges
Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....
in 1532 against the doctrine of the Luther
Martin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
ans, he became counselor of emperor Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
and of the Spanish king Philip II
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
. As he took part in the Council of Trient in 1545-47 and again in 1551-52 he appeared to advocate both the Spanish-imperial interests and the Catholic faith. Philip II, whom Castro accompanied in 1553 and 1554 to his marriage in England, nominated him in 1557 as Archbishop of Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, Spain.The city's Cathedral is the destination today, as it has been throughout history, of the important 9th century medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St. James...
, but Castro did not assume that office. In his last years, Castro acted as a preacher in Antwerp.
Works
In his works Castro attended himself, basically, to the defense of "true faith" through criminal lawCriminal law
Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...
. He gave enormous systematic impulses to the criminal law, so that in Spanish literature he was called the "father and founder of criminal law" - padre y fundador del Derecho Penal. Outside of Spain, however, Castro remains nearly unknown.
His first work, Adversos omnes haereses libri XIV (Paris 1534, Antwerp 1556), an alphabetical encyclopedia
Encyclopedia
An encyclopedia is a type of reference work, a compendium holding a summary of information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge....
of heresy
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
, collocates more than 400 species of this crime. This became one of the foundations of persecution of heretics in the 16th and 17th centuries. It was translated into the French language in 1712.
Castro second opus, De iusta hereticorum punitione libri III (Salamanca 1547), dedicated to emperor Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
, made him renowned as "flagellum of heretics" (azote de herejes). With theological and juristic principles therein he tried to define the golden mean between Pharisaic damnation and craven sufferance of heresy, the form of reversal to "true faith", the punishment of obstinacy and the socio-religious causes of heresy.
The equalisation of heresy and magics is the subject of Castro's short commentary on the "Malleus Maleficarum
Malleus Maleficarum
The Malleus Maleficarum is an infamous treatise on witches, written in 1486 by Heinrich Kramer, an Inquisitor of the Catholic Church, and was first published in Germany in 1487...
" with the title De impia sortilegarum, Maleficarum, & Lamiarum haeresi, earumque punitione Opvscvlvm (Lyon 1568). He held that magics as a sort of heresy should be punished by death by fire. The pact with the demons, which is against Catholic faith, should clearly be explored.
Castro's chief work in criminal law, however, may be his last publication, De potestate legis poenalis libri duo (Salamanca 1550, Reprint Madrid 1961). This work in detail deals with the notion of the criminal laws (in the meaning of "lex"), with nature and purpose of penalty
Sanctions (law)
Sanctions are penalties or other means of enforcement used to provide incentives for obedience with the law, or with rules and regulations. Criminal sanctions can take the form of serious punishment, such as corporal or capital punishment, incarceration, or severe fines...
and with the relations of delict and penalty. Castro therein presents not only the prescription of analogy
Analogy
Analogy is a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject to another particular subject , and a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process...
and the principle of restrictive interpretation
Statutory interpretation
Statutory interpretation is the process by which courts interpret and apply legislation. Some amount of interpretation is always necessary when a case involves a statute. Sometimes the words of a statute have a plain and straightforward meaning. But in many cases, there is some ambiguity or...
in criminal law, but, with his own radicalness, he acuminates the notion of penalty (poena) completely to the penalty for guilt
Guilt
Guilt is the state of being responsible for the commission of an offense. It is also a cognitive or an emotional experience that occurs when a person realizes or believes—accurately or not—that he or she has violated a moral standard, and bears significant responsibility for that...
, and, accordingly and for the first time in history, fits penalty with moral blame
Blame
Blame is the act of censuring, holding responsible, making negative statements about an individual or group that their action or actions are socially or morally irresponsible, the opposite of praise. When someone is morally responsible for doing something wrong their action is blameworthy...
. His notion of penalty survives through the canonists Martin de Azpilcueta
Martín de Azpilcueta
Martín de Azpilcueta , or Doctor Navarrus, was an important Spanish canonist and theologian in his time, and an early economist, the first to develop monetarist theory.-Life:...
and Diego de Covarubias y Leyva
Diego de Covarubias y Leyva
Diego de Covarubias y Leyva or Covarruvias was a Spanish jurist and bishop of Segovia.-Life:Covarruvias was born in Toledo, Spain, on 25 July 1512. According to his biography by Schott , his maternal grandfather was the architect of the Toledo cathedral...
in secular criminal law.
After his death the collected works were published in Paris 1565 in four volumes.
Literature
- Eloy Bullón y Fernández, Alfonso de Castro y la ciencia penal, Madrid 1900.
- Santiago Castillo Hernández, Alfonso de Castro y el problema de las leyes penales, o, la obligatoriedad moral de las leyes humanas, Salamanca 1941.
- Manuel de Castro, Fr. Alfonso de Castro, O.F.M. (1495-1558), consejero de Carlos V y Felipe II, in: Salmanticensis 6 (1958), p. 281-322.
- Odilo Gómez Parente, Hacia el cuarto centenario de Fray Alfonso de Castro, fundador del derecho penal (1558-1958). Conferencia pronunciada el 26 de Marzuo de 1957, en la casa de Zamora de Madrid, Madrid 1958.
- Harald Maihold, Strafe für fremde Schuld? Die Systematisierung des Strafbegriffs in der Spanischen Spätscholastik und Naturrechtslehre. Köln u.a. 2005.
- Harald Maihold, Systematiker der Häresien – Erinnerung an Alphonso de Castro (1492-1558), in: Zeitschrift für Rechtsgeschichte, Kan. Abt. 118 (2001), p. 523ff.
- Andres de la Mañaricua Neure: La obligatoriedad de la ley penal en Alfonso de Castro, in: Revista Española de Derecho Canónico 4 (1949), p. 35ff.
- Daniela Müller, Ketzerei und Ketzerbestrafung im Werk des Alfonso de Castro, in: Frank Grunert und Kurt Seelmann (Hrsg.), Die Ordnung der Praxis. Neue Studien zur Spanischen Spätscholastik, Tübingen 2001, S. 333ff.
- José María Navarrete Urieta: Alfonso de Castro y la ley penal, in: Revista de la Escuela de Estudios Penitenciarios 141 (Madrid 1959), p. 1405ff.
- Teodoro Olarte: Alfonso de Castro (1495-1558). Su vida, su tiempo y sus ideas filosóficas-juridicas, San José, Costa Rica, 1946.
- Marcelino Rodríguez Molinero: Origen español de la ciencia del Derecho penal, Alfonso de Castro y su sistema penal, Madrid 1959.
- Domingo Savall: Fray Alfonso de Castro (1495-1558). La orientación voluntarista de su Derecho Penal in: Archivo Ibero-Americano 38 (1935), p. 240ff.
- Enciclopedia Universal Ilustrada Europeo-Americana, Bilbao, Madrid, Barcelona 1905-30, tom. XII, p. 877.