Alfonso de Castro

[2] He was most well-known in the sixteenth century for his work Adversus omnes haereses, libri XIV, an encyclopedic treatise on ancient and modern heresies.

Alfonso de Castro entered, at the age of 15, the Franciscan Order and quickly became known as a good preacher.

According to his commitment in Bruges in 1532 against the doctrine of the Lutherans, he became counselor of emperor Charles V and of the Spanish king Philip II.

His first work, Adversus omnes haereses, libri XIV (Paris, 1534; Antwerp, 1556), an alphabetical encyclopedia of heresy, collocates more than 400 species of this crime.

Castro's chief work in criminal law, however, may be his last publication, De potestate legis poenalis libri duo (Salamanca, 1550; reprinted in Madrid, 1961).

Spanish translations of his works may be found in 25 Homilías Sobre el Salmo 50 (Miserere), translated and edited by José Félix Álvarez Alonso (Colección Instituto de Estudios Hispánicos en la Modernidad (IEHM), 2020) and Antología: Alfonso de Castro (Breviaros del Pensamiento Español, Fé, 1942).