Gaspar de Robles (1527,

Madrid, Spain Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

– 1585,

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

) was Stadholder of

Friesland Friesland ( ; ; official ), historically and traditionally known as Frisia (), named after the Frisians, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the country's northern part. It is situated west of Groningen (p ...

and

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

at the beginning of the

Eighty Years' War The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt (; 1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish Empire, Spanish government. The Origins of the Eighty Years' War, causes of the w ...

(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 (21 May 152713 September 1598), sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent (), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and List of Sicilian monarchs, Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He ...

, 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) * Billy (surname), a surname (and list of people with the surname) Animals * Billy (dog), a dog breed * Billy (pigeon), awarded the Dickin Medal in 1945 * Billy ( ...

in the

County of Artois The County of Artois (, , ) was a historic province of the Kingdom of France, held by the Dukes of Burgundy from 1384 until 1477/82, and a state of the Holy Roman Empire from 1493 until 1659. Present-day Artois lies in northern France, near ...

south of

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

. Amongst his many descendants we find the Dukes of Ursel. 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 Louis of Nassau (Dutch: Lodewijk van Nassau, 10 January 1538 – 14 April 1574) was a Dutch nobleman, the third son of William I, Count of Nassau-Siegen and Juliana of Stolberg, and the younger brother of Prince William the Silent, William ...

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

, who only just managed to escape. Consequently, De Robles became

Stadtholder In the Low Countries, a stadtholder ( ) was a steward, first appointed as a medieval official and ultimately functioning as a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and ...

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 dis ...

shot.

Civil achievements

On 1 November 1570, Friesland was devastated by the All Saints Flood 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 and Briltil (west of Zuidhorn). 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 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