spiritual experiences can be gauged from the compilation
Vita e dottrina (1551).
Catherine of Siena, St. (Caterina Benincasa) (1347–
1380) Italian mystic
The daughter of a prosperous Sienese dyer, Catherine re-
jected proposals of marriage to become a Dominican ter-
tiary (1363). She traveled widely in Italy, accompanied by
a band of disciples, including priests and nobles. Her spir-
itual experiences were remarkable, including receiving the
stigmata (1375). Drawn into a public role by her fame, she
attempted to mediate in an armed conflict between the pa-
pacy and some of the Italian cities led by Florence, and to
unite the Christian powers in a crusade against the Turks.
She also went to Avignon and helped to persuade Pope
Gregory XI to return to Rome (1377). From 1378 she sup-
ported Urban VI against the antipope Clement (VII) and
attempted to win Queen Joanna I of Naples over to
Urban’s side.
Catholic Majesties The title accorded to FERDINAND II
AND ISABELLA Iof Castile, and subsequently to other kings
and queens of Spain. It is said to have been bestowed upon
Ferdinand by Pope Alexander VI in recognition of his hav-
ing completed the reconquest of Spain from the Moors by
the taking of Granada in 1492.
Cattamelata, Il See GATTAMELATA, IL
Caus, Salomon de (Salomon de Caux) (1576–1626)
French hydraulic engineer and garden designer
Born into a Huguenot family in Normandy, de Caus visited
Italy in the mid-1590s, observing the great Italian gardens
such as those of the Villa d’Este and the Medici villa at
Pratolino. He was in England in 1598 but later worked for
the Archdukes in Brussels (c. 1603–05) before returning
to England around 1607 to work for James I’s queen, Anne
of Denmark, and to tutor their son Henry, Prince of Wales,
in perspective. In 1610 he was appointed Henry’s architect
and advised on a never-completed garden project at Rich-
mond Palace. De Caus’s La Perspective, avec les raisons des
ombres et miroirs (1612) is dedicated to Henry. After the
prince's untimely death he accompanied Henry’s sister
Elizabeth to Heidelberg in 1613 where he designed a gar-
den for her and her husband, Elector Palatine Frederick V
(see WINTER KING); a bird’s-eye view of this complex gar-
den appears in an engraving by Matthäus Merian for de
Caus’s Hortus Palatinus (1620), published by Johann
Theodor DE BRY. Grottoes and hydraulic devices featured
in this garden are illustrated in De Caus’s Les raisons des
forces mouvantes (1615; enlarged second edition, 1624),
dedicated to Elizabeth. De Caus was also an authority on
organs and published his theory of music in Institution
harmonique (1615). He later worked for Louis XIII and
died in Paris.
Further reading: Roy Strong, The Renaissance Garden
in England (London: Thames & Hudson, 1979).Cavalcanti, Guido (c. 1250–1300) Italian poet
Born in Florence some time prior to 1257, Cavalcanti be-
longed to a prominent Guelph family. In 1267 he was be-
trothed to the daughter of a Ghibelline in one of several
such engagements arranged to end the continual strife be-
tween the GUELPH AND GHIBELLINEparties. He represented
the Guelphs in 1280 as a guarantor of peace and later
served on the general council of the commune. Accused of
being a leader of the Guelph faction, on June 24, 1300 he
was condemned to exile. Although the ban was soon
lifted, Cavalcanti died in Sarzana on August 29. DANTE
dedicated the Vita nuova to him and they exchanged son-
nets, but the friendship may not have lasted; in the Divine
Comedy Dante only refers briefly to his “disdain” (Inferno
X 63). The principal Florentine contributor to the DOLCE
STIL NUOVO, Cavalcanti wrote sonnets, ballads, and can-
zoni, 52 of which are extant.Cavendish, Thomas (1560–1592) English navigator
Cavendish, son of a wealthy Suffolk family, took part in
RALEIGH’s first Virginian expedition (1585). In 1586 he set
sail in the Desire to circumnavigate the globe, the first per-
son to set out with this express intention. He returned tri-
umphant in 1588, hugely enriched by the capture of a
Spanish treasure ship. In 1591 he embarked on a more
ambitious expedition, aiming to establish trading relations
with Japan and China, but after failing to pass the Straits
of Magellan, he turned back and died in mid-Atlantic.
Cavendish’s journal of this disastrous voyage was pub-
lished by HAKLUYT.Caxton, William (c. 1420–1492) English merchant and
printer
Caxton was born in Kent and after a career as a cloth mer-
chant in Bruges, he learned to print in Cologne, probably
with Johann Veldener. In partnership with Colard Man-
sion he then set up a printing press in Bruges, where the
first book printed in English, his own translation of Raoul
le Fèvre’s Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, was finished in
1474 or early 1475. In 1476, leaving Mansion to go on
printing in Bruges, he brought the first English press to a
shop by the chapterhouse of Westminster Abbey, where he
printed about 100 books, 73 in English. The first dated
publication was Earl Rivers’s translation of Dictes or
Sayengis of the Philosophres (1477), the first illustrated one
Myrrour of the Worlde (1481). About 1478 he printed
Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, with an illustrated edition five
years later, followed by Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte
Darthur in 1485. As well as printing, Caxton imported andCCaaxxttoonn,, WWiilllliiaamm 9955