CANTABRIA, a district of Hispania Tarraconensis, lying on the south coast of the Bay of Biscay. By the more ancient geographers the name was applied to the entire country now occupied by the provinces of Asturias, Santander, Biscay, and Guipuzcoa. After the conquest of Spain by the Romans, the name of Cantabria was restricted to what is now the province of Santander and the eastern portion of Asturias.

The Cantabri were not improbably the remains of an ancient Iberian population, and were, according to some, the ancestors of the modern Basques. They were the most warlike of all the native Spanish tribes that the Romans had to encounter, and were never completely subdued. Together with the Astures, they offered for many ages a successful resistance to the Roman arms, and were only at last compelled to acknowledge the supremacy of Rome by Augustus. They revolted a few years after, but were defeated with great slaughter by Agrippa, 19 b.c. When, however, their losses had been somewhat repaired, they again declared war; and they were only kept in check by the most vigorous exertions of the Emperor Tiberius. Their indomitable spirit is frequently alluded to in the ancient classics; among others Horace alludes to the “Cantabrum indoctum juga ferre nostra.” Cantabria under the Roman empire comprehended five principal tribes,—the Pleutauri, the Varduli, the Autrigones, the Conisci or Concani (who fed on the blood of their horses,—“loetum equino sanguine Concanum ”), and the Tuisi. There were numerous towns and villages distributed throughout the country, of which the most important was Juliobriga.

CANTACUZENUS, Johannes, emperor of the East, celebrated as a statesman, general, and historian, was born at Constantinople, of an ancient and opulent family, and under the reign of the elder Andronicus held the high office of Great Domestic. In the disputes that ensued between that emperor and his grandson, Cantacuzenus espoused the cause of the latter; and when Andronicus IL, on the abdication of his grandfather, ascended the throne (1328) he was entrusted with the supreme administration of affairs, in which capacity he displayed considerable vigour and ability. On the death of the emperor in 1341, Cantacuzenus was left regent, and guardian of his son John Palaeologus, who was but nine years of age "Whether he would have continued faithful to his trust is uncertain; but being suspected by the empress, and the object of the hostility of a powerful party at court, he rebelled, and got himself crowned emperor in one of the provincial towns, while his opponents, with the young emperor John, maintained themselves at Constantinople. The civil war which ensued lasted six years; and as the rival parties were obliged to call in the aid of the Servians and Turks, and to engage mercenaries of every description, the empire was reduced to a state of incredible confusion, and nearly ruined. At the outset Cantacuzenus was so hard pressed that he was obliged to flee into Servia. An alliance with Servia enabled him to make head against his enemies for some time; but his inconstant allies soon left him to join the other side, or to pursue their own private ends. It was with the help of the Turks that he brought the war to a termination. He formed an alliance with Orchan, the Ottoman Sultan of Broussa, on the disgraceful conditions of sending his daughter to the harem of the Turk, and of ...

CANTAGALLO, a town of Brazil, in the province of Rio de Janeiro, about 80 miles N.E. of the city of that name, on a small tributary of the Parahyba, with a station on the railway from Rio de Janeiro to Campos. It was formerly the seat of important gold mines; but, since these were worked out, it has depended almost wholly on agriculture. Population about 4200.

CANTAL, a department in central France, lying between 44° 37' and 45° 26' N. lat., and between 2° 3' and 3° 18' E. long., bounded N. by the department of Puy-de-Dôme, and E. by Haute-Loire and Lozère, S. by Aveyron and Lozère, and W. by Corrèze and Lot. Its area is 2208 square miles; and its population in 1872 was 231,867....

CANTARINI, Simone (1612-1648), called Simone da Pesaro, a painter and etcher, was born at Oropezza near Pesaro in 1612. He was a disciple of Guido, and a fellowstudent of Domenichino and Albano. The irritability of his temper and his vanity were extreme; and it is said that his death, which took place at Verona in 1648, was occasioned by chagrin at his failure in a portrait of the duke of Mantua. Others relate that he was poisoned by a Mantuan painter whom he had injured. His pictures, though masterly and spirited, are deficient in originality. Some of his works have been mistaken for examples of Guido, to whom, indeed, he is considered superior in the extremities of the figures. Among his principal paintings are St Anthony, at Cagli; the Magdalene, at Pesaro; the Transfiguration, in the Brera Gallery, Milan; the Portrait of Guido, in the Bologna Gallery; and St Romuald in the Casa Paolucci. His most celebrated etching is Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto, honouring the arms of Cardinal Borghese.