Alfonso de Castro

Alfonso de Castro (1494 or 1495–1558) was a Spanish Franciscan of the Observance, born in Zamora. He studied and taught at Salamanca, preached at the court of Charles V, and attended the Council of Trent as a theologian. He accompanied Philip II to England in 1554. Named archbishop of Santiago de Compostela, he died in Brussels in 1558 before taking possession of the see.

Castro brought the Franciscan tradition into the Salamanca debates on heresy and law. His *Adversus omnes haereses* is an alphabetical survey and refutation of heresies. His *De iusta haereticorum punitione* and *De potestate legis poenalis* examine when and how human law binds and punishes, and the second is often counted among the first systematic treatments of penal law.

None of his works is in the library yet.