ibrary, occupies the
former bishop's palace, designed by Jules Mansart in the 17th century;
the Romanesque tower beside it is the only survival of an old
Benedictine abbey. The town possesses some old mansions of which the
hotel de Nayrac, of the Renaissance, is of most interest. Castres has a
sub-prefecture, tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a board of
trade-arbitrators, a chamber of commerce, a branch of the bank of France
and two hospitals. There are also communal colleges for boys and girls,
a school of artillery and school of draughtsmanship. The industrial
establishments include manufactories of earthenware and porcelain and
metal-foundries, and tanning, leather-dressing, turnery, the making of
wooden shoes and furniture, the weaving of woollen and other fabrics,
dyeing, and the manufacture of machinery, paper and parchment are
carried on.

Castres grew up round a Benedictine abbey, which is believed to have
been founded in the 7th century. It was a place of considerable
importance as early as the 12th century, and ranked as the second town
of the Albigenses. During the Albigensian crusade it surrendered of its
own accord to Simon de Montfort; and in 1356 it was raised to a
countship by King John of France. On the confiscation of the possessions
of the D'Armagnac family, to which it had passed, it was bestowed by
Louis XI. on Boffilo del Giudice, but the appointment led to so much
disagreement that the countship was united to the crown by Francis I. in
1519. In the wars of the latter part of the 16th century the inhabitants
sided with the Protestant party, fortified the town, and established an
independent republic. They were brought to terms, however, by Louis
XIII., and forced to dismantle their fortifications; and the town was
made the seat of the _chambre de l'edit_, or chamber for the
investigation of the affairs of the Protestants, afterwards transferred
to Castelnaudary (in 1679). The bishopric of Castres, which had been
established by Pope John XXII. in 1317, was abolished at the Revolution.

CASTRO, INEZ DE (d. 1355), mistress, and perhaps wife, of Peter I.
(Pedro), king of Portugal, called _Collo de Garza_, i.e. "Heron's Neck,"
was born in Spanish Galicia, in the earlier years of the 14th century.
Tradition asserts that her father, Don Pedro Fernandez de Castro, and
her mother, Dona Aldonca Soares de Villadares, a noble Portuguese lady,
were unmarried, and that Inez and her two brothers