Ca’ da Mosto, Alvise da (c. 1430–1483) Venetian
nobleman and traveler
Sailing for England in 1454, he put in by chance at Cape
St. Vincent, Portugal, and gained permission to accom-
pany one of HENRY THE NAVIGATOR’s expeditions down the
west coast of Africa. On a second voyage (1456) he pos-
sibly reached the Cape Verde Islands. After returning to
Venice (1464) he held various official positions in the
Venetian state, but his fame rests on his accounts of his
two West African voyages, two manuscript versions of
which (neither Ca’ da Mosto’s own) survive in Venice’s
Marciana Library. The first printed edition was in Fracan-
zano Montalboddo’s collection Paesi nouamente retrovati
(1507), which was soon translated into several languages
(Latin and German in 1508, French in 1515).
Cádiz, Raid on (April 1587) The naval raid by Sir Fran-
cis DRAKEon Cádiz, where PHILIP IIof Spain was gathering
a fleet for the invasion of England. Taking advantage of
ambiguous instructions from ELIZABETH I, Drake forced his
way into the harbor, destroyed over 30 ships, and captured
four vessels loaded with provisions. This raid cost Spain
over 300,000 crowns and 13,000 tons of shipping, forcing
Philip to delay the SPANISH ARMADAuntil summer 1588.
Cádiz, Sack of (June 1596) An attack on Cádiz led by
Robert Devereux, earl of ESSEX, Lord Howard of Effing-
ham, and Sir Walter RALEIGH. After defeating the Spanish
fleet, Essex took 3000 men ashore and fought his way into
the town, which surrendered. On his return to England
with considerable booty he was greeted as a popular hero.
Caius, John (1510–1573) English physician and humanist
He was born at Norwich and educated at Gonville Hall,
Cambridge, and Padua University, where he studied under
VESALIUS. Caius returned to Cambridge in the 1540s. In
1557 he received permission to renovate his old college;
he became master in 1559, and ever since the college has
been known as Gonville and Caius. Despite his munifi-
cence, his tenure was unhappy; suspected of wishing to
introduce Catholicism into the college, Caius found him-
self involved in lawsuits, with dissension and expulsions
being the order of the day. Much of his own time was
spent editing a number of Hippocratic and Galenic texts
(see GALENISM, RENAISSANCE). He also produced A Boke or
Counseill against...the Sweatyng Sicknesse (1552), a prime
account of the mysterious epidemic which swept through
16th-century Britain, and involved himself with contro-
versies over the pronunciation of Greek and the relative
antiquity of Oxford and Cambridge.
Cajetan, Thomas de Vio (Gaetano) (1469–1534)
Italian theologian
His name derived from his birthplace of Gaeta. Cajetan
entered the Dominican Order in 1484 and taught philoso-
phy and theology at Padua, Paris, and Rome. He was gen-
eral of the order (1508–18), and was appointed a cardinal
in 1517 and bishop of Gaeta in 1518. He spoke for reform
at the Lateran Council of 1512–17 and disputed with
LUTHERin 1518. The elections of Charles V as king in Ger-
many (1519) and of Pope Adrian VI (1522) were partly
his doing. He opposed the divorce of HENRY VIIIfrom
Catherine of Aragon. Cajetan was a prolific writer, and his
commentary (1507–22) on the Summa theologica of St.
Thomas Aquinas remains an important contribution to
Thomist philosophy. Although he was antagonistic toward
humanism and Protestantism, his approach to critical
problems was remarkably modern.Calcar, Jan Steven van (1499–1546/50) German painter
and woodcut designer
Jan Steven was born at Kalkar and probably trained in the
northern Netherlands. By 1536/37 he had moved to
Venice, where he fell deeply under the influence of TITIAN.
In 1545 VASARImet him in Naples, where he died. His oeu-
vre is much confused with that of Titian and his work-
shop, but one of the best documented examples of his
style is the portrait of Melchior von Brauweiler of
Cologne, dated 1540, in the Louvre, Paris. Steven’s chief
claim to fame is his woodcut illustrations to VESALIUS’s De
humani corporis fabrica (1543). This remarkable anatomi-
cal textbook, of considerable significance for the develop-
ment of both medical science and figure painting, includes
prints of dissected cadavers in dramatic action, reproduc-
ing the gestures and poses of living beings (see illustration
p. 491).calendar A system for structuring years, determining
their beginnings, and ordering their subdivisions. Julius
Caesar, aided by Sosigenes, an Alexandrian astronomer,
restructured the 355-day calendar of republican Rome.
Ten days were added, together with, every fourth year, an
extra day. The Julian year thus averaged 365.25 days, a
close approximation to the 365.243 days of the tropical
year. Though undetectable over short periods of time the
discrepancy became evident with the passage of centuries.
For example, by the 16th century, the vernal equinox, cru-
cial to the calculation of Easter, had slipped from March
21 to March 11. The slippage had begun to be the subject
of proposals for reform in the 13th century, and by the
15th century ways to remedy it were being actively dis-
cussed, with REGIOMONTANUSamong those to put forward
ideas. LUTHERremarked on the discrepancy but consid-
ered it to be a matter for secular rather than ecclesiastical
intervention (see also CALENDAR, CHURCH). However, it
was the papacy that ultimately proved to have the re-
sources and determination to carry through the necessary
adjustments. To tackle the problem, Pope GREGORY XIIIin
1578 summoned to Rome astronomers, mathematicians,
and theologians to advise him on calendrical reform. It8822 CCaa’’ ddaa MMoossttoo,, AAllvviissee ddaa