Caspar de Robles [SEP] date of birth
Caspar de Robles
Caspar de Robles or Gaspard di Robles (1527, Madrid, Spain – 1585, Antwerp), also known as "Billy" in Artois, was Stadholder of Friesland and Groningen at the beginning of the Eighty Years' War (reign: 1568 to 1576).
Family.
Robles was the son of Dońa María de Leyte, probably the wet nurse for Philip II of Spain, and João Lopes of Robles. In 1558 he married Jeanne de Saint-Quentin, baroness of Billy, their
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