Stay in Germany and Lyons between 1577 and 1586

• Journey through Germany
• François De La Porte: De Castro's interim patron in Lyons

Journey through Germany

On 1 January 1580 De Castro put his signature under a new book with chansons, motets, and madrigals. He was then in Lyons. The Second livre de chansons, madrigalz et motetz à trois parties was the sequel to his debut of 1569, Il primo libro di madrigali, canzoni e motetti.

In the preface of this French volume of 1580 the composer informed us that he, together with many other "gens de bien", had left Antwerp because of the "malheur du tems" and the great troubles the Low Countries wrestled with at that time. He further wrote that he had arrived in Lyons "apres avoir vue l'Alemagne" ("after having seen Germany") (where he may have been looking for a new position at one of the many German courts. Maybe he established some contacts with the court of Düsseldorf, where later, from 1588 onwards, he would take service). He then had continued his journey to Lyons, he said, where eventually he had found a new patron in the person of François De La Porte.

After having fled Antwerp and travelled through Germany, De Castro arrived in Lyons around 1579, where he hoped for the support of his friend, the wealthy Justinien Pense. His hope was in vain, though, since the Pense trade was by then on the verge of a bankruptcy. De Castro was forced to look out for a new patron, whom he found in the circles of the Pense family: François De La Porte, a councillor of the city of Lyons, who was a relative of Pense's mother-in-law.