Person - Castro, Adolfo de (1823-1898)

Castro, Adolfo de (1823-1898)

Identification

Type:

Person

Preferred form:

Castro, Adolfo de (1823-1898)Other forms

Fechas de existencia:

Cádiz (España)  1823 - Cádiz (España)  1898

History:

Spanish archivist, politician, writer and Cervantes scholar. Government employee Corps of Archivists-Librarians of the State since 1880. He was on secondment to the provincial Library of Cadiz. Member of the Royal Spanish Academy.

In 1847, on the occasion of the 3rd centenary of Cervantes’ birth, he wrote the work: "El Buscapié: opúsculo inédito que en defensa de la primera parte del Quijote escribió Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra", which was published in Cadiz the following year. He presented it as an original and unpublished work of Miguel de Cervantes. This attribution stayed for decades until the scholars discovered, already in the 20th century, that it was a fiction work from Castro himself. A proof of that was that Castro’s widow, María Fernández Boarda, on behalf of her daughter, sued a lawsuit to the Juzgado de Distrito de Hospicio de Madrid (District Hospice Judge of Madrid), against the publishing company Buscapié claiming the intellectual property rights of the said work, as heir of its author, Adolfo de Castro. The justice did not prove her right, reaffirming Cervantes’ authorship of the booklet.

Apart from archivist and writer, Adolfo de Castro held various political offices, being outstanding:

-Civil Governor of Huelva and Cadiz.

-Major of Cadiz.

-Vocal of the provincial Welfare Board of Cadiz (1861).

-Vocal of the provincial Council of Cadiz (1860-1863).

Places

Lugar de Nacimiento:

Cádiz (España) in 1823

Lugar de Defunción:

Cádiz (España) in 1898

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