The population of Old Castile scarcely amounts to one half of its forme' number. It is estimated at present at 1,190,108 persons, among whom arc 146,036 nobles, 9013 vicars and secular priests, 8774 monks and nuns, 1865 advocates and writers, 5760 students, and 37,183 domestics.
The principal places in this province are Burgos, the ( apital and an archbishop's sec ; the episcopal cities of °strt, Siguenza, Avila, Valladolid, Segovia, Calahorra, and Soria ; and the towns of Logrono, Santo Domingo, de la Calzada, Granou, and Acofra. It has three cathe dral chapters, twenty-five collegiate chapters, three establishments of the military order, 4555 parishes, 390 religious houses, a superior military government, a cap tain general, six subordinate military governments, six provincial intendants or comptrollers, a royal chancery, and three universities.
In Old Castile was laid the foundation of the Spanish monarchy. This province was first wrested from the Saracens by the kings of Leon, who annexed it to their dominions, and entrusted its government to a certain number of nobles, who held the rank of counts. Its sub jection to Leon, however, was but of short duration ; for, in the beginning of the 10th century, the high spirited Castilians, provoked by the cruelties and oppres sions of King Orduno, who had seized and murdered all their governors, renounced their allegiance, and declared themselves independent. Having established a popular form of government, the legislative and executive pow ers were vested in two judges chosen by the people, until 923, when Fernando Gonzales, one of the judges, was proclaimed sole count of Castile. The succession
continued in his family for three generations, when the male line becoming extinct, Nuna Mayor, the great grand-daughter of Gonzalez, resigned her hereditary right in favour of her husband Sancho, king of Navarre, who, in 1028, assumed the title of king of Castile. The greatest part of New Castile was still occupied by the Moors ; and it was not until 1085, that that province was reunited to Old Castile. The descendants of Sancho succeeded to the kingdoms of Leon, Arragon, and Va lencia, and the principality of Catalonia ; the province of Biscay and a part of Navarre were afterwards annexed to their crown ; and they obtained by conquest the Moorish kingdoms of Murcia, Seville, Cordova, and Granada, thus uniting under one dominion the isolated states of the Spanish peninsula. The capital of Old Castile was the seat of the government ; and notwith standing the extension of the empire, it continued to be the royal residence till the 13th century, after which it shared that honour with Toledo, until the beginning of the 16th century, when Charles V. transferred his court to Madrid. See Laborde's View of Spain, vol. iii. p. ; and Swinburne's Travels through Spain, vol. ii. p. (it)