Gaspar de Robles (1527, Madrid, Spain – 1585,

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

) was Stadholder of Friesland and

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

at the beginning of the

Eighty Years' War The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt ( nl, Nederlandse Opstand) ( c.1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Refo ...

(reign: 1568 to 1576).

Family

Robles was the son of Doña María de Leyte, probably the wet nurse for

Philip II of Spain Philip II) in Spain, while in Portugal and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as Philip I ( pt, Filipe I). (21 May 152713 September 1598), also known as Philip the Prudent ( es, Felipe el Prudente), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from ...

, and João Lopes of Robles.Profile
; accessed 26 December 2014. In 1558 he married Jeanne de Saint-Quentin, baroness of Billy, their son was 1st Count of Annappes. They are considered to be the founders of the Flemish branch of the house and became owner of the castle and lands in

Billy Billy may refer to: * Billy (name), a name (and list of people with the name) Animals * Billy (dog), a dog breed * Billy (pigeon), awarded the Dickin Medal in 1945 * Billy (pygmy hippo), a pet of U.S. President Calvin Coolidge * Billy, a youn ...

in the County of Artois south of Lille. Amongst his many descendants we find the

Dukes of Ursel The House of Ursel is the name of an important old Belgian noble family of German origin. The Head of the House is styled the Duke of Ursel, while other members are styled as Count/Countess d'Ursel. History The Ursel family roots are ...

. don João Lopes of Robles ##don Caspar de Robles, Lord of Billy;
''married to Jeanne de Saint-Quentin'' ###don Juan de Robles, 1st Count of Annappes;
''married to Marie de Liedekerke.'' ####don Alejandro de Robles, 2nd Count of Annappes;
''married to dona Francisca de Mancicidor'' #####Michel de Robles, 3rd Count of Annapes;
''married to Catherine de St-Aldegonde''.

Military life

On 17 May 1568, de Robles landed with 1800 Walloon soldiers under his leadership in Harlingen. Six days later he was defeated by Louis of Nassau in the Battle of Heiligerlee, together with the Spanish army of Jean de Ligne, Duke of Aremberg, who was killed. De Robles then took part in the victorious battle of Jemmingen against the Dutch rebels led by Louis of Nassau, who only just managed to escape. Consequently, De Robles became

Stadtholder In the Low Countries, ''stadtholder'' ( nl, stadhouder ) was an office of steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and H ...

of Frisia and prevented the uprising of the Frisian cities which had only limited defences. He supported Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo with 1000 Walloon soldiers during the siege of Haarlem. On 23 May 1573, he was slightly injured by a

musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually d ...

shot.

Civil achievements

On 1 November 1570, Friesland was devastated by the

All Saints Flood All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All ...

which flooded almost the entire region. Major damage and broken dikes were the results. Dike repairs was urgently needed, but the Frisians could not agree on costs. Thanks to the efforts of de Robles it was quickly agreed to close and strengthen the dikes (especially around Harlingen). The work on the dikes was divided into two parts. The northern part was to be maintained by the ''Inner Dijkers'' and the southern part maintained by the ''Outer Dijkers''. When the work was done, the Inner Dijkers decided to construct a monument, marking the border of their territory. They chose to build a memorial pillar in honor of De Robles that came to be called the Stenen Man (English:Stone Man) (Frisian: Stiennen Man). This memorial column on the Westerburcht Zeedijk south of Harlingen for many years marked the boundary between the two water boards and can still be visited today. De Robles was also responsible for the construction of the ''Kolonelsdiep'' (Colonels-deep, named after him), between

Bergumermeer The Burgumer Mar ( nl, Bergumermeer) is a lake near the town of Burgum in the Dutch province of Friesland. The lake was formed during the last ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosph ...

and Briltil (west of

Zuidhorn Zuidhorn () is a town and former municipality in the northeastern Netherlands. The town largely depends on the city of Groningen. A railway line, operated by Arriva, connects the town with Leeuwarden in Friesland and Groningen. Due to a municipal ...

). This linked Leeuwarden and Groningen by a secure land fairway. It took three months to build and was used for 400 years, only being replaced in 1965 by a new canal.

Decline

Over the years, Caspar de Robles was increasingly hated. The Spanish soldiers were already a month's pay behind and were very dissatisfied and he asked the Duke of Alva to be paid for his work. In 1576 he went to Groningen in order to soothe the feelings of the soldiers, but was captured by his own soldiers when Spain was declared bankrupt. That was the end of the power of Caspar de Robles in the north of the Netherlands. Caspar de Robles died in 1585 at the Siege of Antwerp. During the siege the Spaniards had blocked the

Schelde The Scheldt (french: Escaut ; nl, Schelde ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corresponding to ...

with a bridge of ships in order to starve the city. Dutch troops made several attempts to break through the blockade, but those attempts all failed. However, one of the attempts involved sending in two fire ships that were filled with gunpowder. The first ship exploded harmlessly against the shore, but the other reached the bridge and exploded with devastating force, instantly killing over 800 Spanish soldiers, and de Robles was one of the casualties.

References

Books

*J. Sevenster: ''De stenen man : Caspar de Robles, stadhouder van Friesland, Groningen en Ommelanden van 1572-1576'' published A.J. Osinga, Leeuwarden, c1985 {{DEFAULTSORT:Robles, Gaspar De 1527 births 1585 deaths Stadtholders of Frisia Spanish people of the Eighty Years' War People from Madrid 16th-century governors