CASTILE AND ARAGON 



1218 



CASTLE 



the separate castes were originally separate 

 races. The caste system prevails principally 

 in India, but it is known to exist or to have 

 existed in many other regions. 



In India there are four castes : the Brahmans, 

 or those highest in authority, usually priests; 

 the military order; the husbandman or trader 

 caste, which is divided into sub-castes, accord- 

 ing to occupation; and the servant caste. All 

 those below the fourth are called Pariahs, or 

 outcasts. This system has kept the people of 

 India contented in the castes to which they 

 were born. They can never rise above their 

 caste, but can lose caste by wrong-doing, and 

 to regain it must perform certain religious 

 rites. In other countries the only true social 

 divisions are those marked by degrees of abil- 

 ity and by achievements. 



CASTILE, kasteel', AND ARAGON, air' a 

 gon, or ah ' rah gohn, formerly two separate and 

 powerful kingdoms of Spain, which were united 



CASTILE (IN BLACK) 

 (o) Old Castile ; (b) the modern province. 



in 1469 by the marriage of Ferdinand of Ara- 

 gon and Isabella of Castile. These monarchs 

 are the ones whom Columbus interested in his 

 proposed voyages, and thus they earned a 

 place in American history. The combined ter- 

 ritories formed the nucleus of the modern king- 

 dom of Spain. Aragon extended over the 

 northeastern part of the peninsula, while Cas- 

 tile occupied the greater part of what is now 

 Spain, extending from the Bay of Biscay south- 



ARAGON (IN BLACK) 



(a) In the time of Isabella; (&) present-day 

 province. 



ward. In the great struggle against the Moors, 

 Castile had always played a prominent part, 

 and the additional strength derived from its 

 union with' Aragon made possible the death 



blow to Moorish dominion in Europe (see 

 MOORS). The language of Castile is still the 

 literary language of Spain and to a great ex- 

 tent of the Spanish-speaking countries of South 

 America. 



Under the present system of government 

 Castile is divided into Old and New Castile 

 and again subdivided into provinces, the most 

 important of which is Madrid, in which the 

 capital of Spain is situated. Aragon is now 

 divided into the provinces of Saragossa, Huesca 

 and Teruel. 



CASTLE, kas"l, a word derived from the 

 Latin castellum, meaning a fort, applied to an 

 edifice serving as a residence and a place of 

 defense. The Romans erected permanent for- 

 tified camps in their colonies and conquered 

 territories, surrounding them with walls and by 





CASTLE 

 The fortress of the medieval period. 



(1) Moat (6) Rampart 



(2) Drawbridge (7) Portcullis 



(3) Wicket (8) Donjon, or Keep 



(4) Merlon (9) Turret 



(5) Embrasures (10) Escutcheon 



other means making them strong enough to 

 resist attack. The castle was a natural evo- 

 lution from such camps and originated in the 

 desire for a safe place in which to dwell and 

 in which to store valuable possessions. In the 

 days of feudalism there was almost constantly 

 a state of war. Each feudal leader gathered 

 his retainers round him and was prepared to 

 protect his possessions by force of arms, or to 

 take from his neighbors what he wanted by 

 the same means. The feudal barons of Eu- 

 rope, the robber chiefs of the Rhine and the 

 nobles of France, especially, built for them- 

 selves castles, some so strong that they could 

 resist any attack. The Crusaders taught Eu- 

 rope much concerning the art of war and inci- 

 dentally how to build castles. 

 Sometimes a castle was built to defend a 





