ASTORGA  , a

city of N.W . Spain, in the province of Leon; situated near the right bank of the river Tuerto, and at the junction of the Salamanca-Corunna and Leon-Astorga railways . Pop . (1900) 5573 . Astorga was the Roman Asturica Augusta, a provincial capital, and the meeting-place of four military roads . Though sacked by the Goths in the 5th century, and later by the Moors, it is still surrounded by massive walls of Roman origin . A ruined castle, near the city, recalls its strategic importance in the 8th century, when Asturias, Galicia and Leon were the headquarters of resistance to the Moors . Astorga has been the see of a bishop since the 3rd century, and was formerly known as the City of Priests, from the number of ecclesiastics resident within its walls . Its Gothic cathedral dates from the 15th century . The city confers the title of marquis on the Osorio family, the ruins of whose palace, sacked in 1810 by the French, are still an object of interest . For the history, especially the ecclesiastical history, of Astorga, see the anonymous Historia de la ciudad de Astorga (Valladolid, 184o) ; with Fundacion de la iglesia . . . de Astorga, by P .

A . Ezpeleta (

Madrid, 1634) ; and Fundacion, hombre y armas de . . . Astorga, by P . Junco (Pamplona, 1635) .