Carlos Coloma, engraved by Paulus Pontius after Anthony van Dyck

Don Carlos II Coloma y de Saa, knight of Santiago, 1st Marquess of Espinar (

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...

, 9 February 1566 – 23 November 1637,

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

) was a Spanish military commander, diplomat and author. He is also known as a translator of

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

Family

Coloma was born in the important

House of Coloma Coloma or de Coloma or Colomba is an old important Spanish Noble House. A branch belongs to the Flemish nobility, and became the Counts of Bornhem. Other branches became the Counts of Elda, Marquesses of Espinar, Marquesses of Noguera and Marq ...

. He was the fourth son out of 14 children from the third marriage of don Juan IV Coloma y Cardona, 1st Count of Elda. His older brother

Alfonso Coloma Alfonso Coloma y Jasarte de Melo, (1555 – 20 April 1606) was a Spanish prelate and bishop, member of the House of Coloma. Family He is a son of don Juan IV Coloma y Cardona, 1st Count of Elda and a brother of Carlos Coloma. Like others in ...

was bishop of Barcelona. He married a Flemish noblewoman, Marguerite of Gavere-Liedekercke, Noble canoness of the Saint Waltrude Collegiate Church. Marguerite was a daughter of Anthony I van Liederkerke and Louise de la Barre. They had 4 sons and 6 daughters. * don Antonio de Coloma * don Carlos IV Ignatio de Coloma * don Antonio de Coloma * dona Maria de Coloma, marr. don Nicolas de Velasco. * doña Jeronima de Coloma * doña Juana de Coloma * doña Margaritavde Coloma * doña Isabella de Coloma * doña Blanca de Coloma * doña Luisa de Coloma

Career

His father was also a soldier and a writer. Coloma joined the army as an ensign in 1581 and campaigned in Portugal, Sicily, the Netherlands and Germany, eventually making his way up to the rank of ''maestro de campo general''. He played an important part in the

Siege of Doullens The siege of Doullens, also known as the Spanish capture of Doullens or the Storming of Doullens, took place between 14 and 31 July 1595, as part of the Franco-Spanish War (1595-1598), in the context of the French Wars of Religion. After ten days ...

(1595). After serving as governor of the Roussillon (1600-1611) and viceroy of Mallorca (1611-1617), he became governor of Cambrai in 1617. In 1621 he took over from

Spinola Spinola is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Agostino Spinola (d. 1537), Italian cardinal * Alberto Spinola (born 1943), Italian water polo player * Ambrogio Spinola, 1st Marquis of the Balbases (1569–1630), Genoese banker an ...

as commander-in-chief of the Spanish invasion of the

Electorate of the Palatinate The Electoral Palatinate (german: Kurpfalz) or the Palatinate (), officially the Electorate of the Palatinate (), was a state that was part of the Holy Roman Empire. The electorate had its origins under the rulership of the Counts Palatine of ...

. The following year he succeeded the

Count of Gondomar Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

as Spanish ambassador to England. Recalled when war broke out between England and Spain in 1624, he participated in Spinola's Siege of Breda (August 1624-June 1625) and is supposedly portrayed on Velázquez' Las Lanzas. After a term as commander in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, Coloma returned to London in 1630 to restore peace between the two crowns. From 1631 until his return to Spain in 1634, he acted as commander-in-chief of the

Army of Flanders The Army of Flanders ( es, Ejército de Flandes nl, Leger van Vlaanderen) was a multinational army in the service of the Habsburg Spain, kings of Spain that was based in the Spanish Netherlands during the 16th to 18th centuries. It was notable for ...

. During his final years he served King Philip IV as mayordomo mayor and member of the Council of State. Coloma received the habito of the

Order of Santiago The Order of Santiago (; es, Orden de Santiago ), is a religious and military order founded in the 12th century. It owes its name to the Patron Saint of Spain, "Santiago" (St. James the Greater). Its initial objective was to protect the pilgri ...

in 1591 and was given the Commandry of Montiel y La Ossa in 1621. On 16 September 1627, Philip IV created him Marquess of Espinar.

Works

* Carlos Coloma, ''De las guerras de los Estados Baxos, desde el año de M.D.LXXXVIII. hasta el de M.D.XC.IX'' (Cambrai, Jean de la Rivière, 1622). Further editions: Antwerp 1624 and 1635 and Barcelona 1627. Recently, April 2010, Antonio CORTIJO OCAÑA(http://www.gbv.de/dms/sub-hamburg/334516609.pdf), has coordinated a new edition and study, based in the 1625 edition made at Anwerp, now Belgium, for the Spanish Ministry of Defense, ISBN, 978-84-9781-551-3, 766 pages. * Tacitus, ''Obras de Cajo Cornelio Tacito'', Carlos Coloma transl. (Douai, Wyon, 1629).

References

* Miguel Angel Guill Ortega, ''Carlos Coloma, 1566-1637: Espada y pluma de los tercios'' (Madrid, Editorial Club Universitario, 2007). * J. F. A. F. de Azevedo Coutinho y Bernal "Généalogie de la Famille de Coloma", 1777. *http://www.grandesp.org.uk/historia/gzas/elda.htm

*http://historicaltapestry.blogspot.com/2008/11/why-i-lovelittle-known-characters-from.html. {{DEFAULTSORT:Coloma, Carlos 1560s births 1637 deaths Spanish generals People from Alicante Knights of Santiago Carlos Military personnel of the Eighty Years' War People of the Anglo-Spanish War (1625–1630) Expatriates of Spain in the Holy Roman Empire Expatriates of Spain in the Kingdom of England