Background
Robles was the son of Dońa María de Leyte, probably the wet nurse for Philip II of Spain, and João Lopes of Robles.
Robles was the son of Dońa María de Leyte, probably the wet nurse for Philip II of Spain, and João Lopes of Robles.
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 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 shot.
Over the years, Caspar de Robles 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 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.