Alonso del Castillo

Alonso del Castillo was a Morisco physician, Arabic scholar and translator born in Granada in the early sixteenth century. He worked with Arabic manuscripts and inscriptions for royal and ecclesiastical patrons and served the crown as an interpreter. His command of Arabic gave him an important role when the parchment from the Torre Turpiana and the Lead Books of Sacromonte were discovered from 1588 onwards.

Modern scholarship frequently identifies Castillo, together with Miguel de Luna, as a probable author or collaborator in the forgeries. The texts presented Arabic as an apostolic Christian language and offered a sacred history that could accommodate Morisco culture within Counter-Reformation Spain. Castillo’s career therefore sits at the intersection of medicine, translation, antiquarian scholarship and the precarious politics of converted Muslim communities.