Niebla Castle
View of one of the castle's two parade grounds

Niebla Castle (castillo de Niebla) is a mediaeval castle at Niebla, in the province of Huelva, Andalusia.

The current structure is that of the castle built by Duke Enrique de Gúzman, the 2nd Duke of medina Sidonia (died 1492) who, in the latter half of the 15th century,[1] demolished the existing alcázar and constructed the new castle,[2] where he, and later, his successor, Juan Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, 3rd Duke of Medina Sidonia, would reside.[note 1]

Peninsular War

Siege of Niebla (1811)

Partial view of the city walls and defensive towers

In 1811, the castle's French garrison, under Colonel Fritzhardt, with 600 Spanish and British deserters[3] plus six cannon and two obuses,[4] was briefly besieged by Blake and Zayas's division.

Instead of marching on Seville, as planned, Blake laid siege to the castle for five days, from 30 June to 2 July.[3] However, an escalade having failed and having been unable to bring up artillery, due to the bad mountain roads, the Spanish troops were unable to take the place and Blake was finally forced to lift the siege on hearing that Marshal Soult's troops, under Conroux and Godinot, were heading in his direction.[5] Although the siege itself was not successful, it did serve to draw 11,000 French troops into a remote corner of the region for some weeks.[3]

Cultural references

The Spanish poet Luis de Góngora, himself from Andalusia, refers to the castle in the initial octave of his Fábula de Polifemo y Galatea (1612), dedicated to the 11th Count of Niebla.[1][6][note 2] Much to the disapproval of his father, the 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia, within a couple of months of having married at Madrid,[note 3] the Count had left the courtier's life of the city and retired to Huelva, where he would concentrate on extending a magnificent palace and dedicating himself to the patronage of the arts. He then turned to restoring his castle at Niebla, which Góngora refers to,[note 4] and which had been abandoned for many years, and residing both at Huelva and at Niebla.[6]

Gongora will, again, refer to Niebla some years later, in El Panegírico al Duque de Lerma (1618).[6][note 5]

Notes

  1. ↑ Pedro de Medina referred to it as one of the best and most imposing of all the castles in Andalusia. (Ladero, footnote 159.)
  2. ↑ Stanza 1, Line 5: "Ahora que de luz tu Niebla doras,..." ("Now that with light you gild your Niebla [castle],..."). (Ponce, p. 131.)
  3. ↑ The wedding took place at the royal palace, the Royal Alcázar of Madrid, with the newly crowned King Felipe III as the best man, and the King's elder sister, infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, as the matron of honour. (Ponce: p. 109.)
  4. ↑ Although Robert Jammes, in his La Obra poética de don Luis de Góngora y Argote, Madrid: Castalia, 1987 (p. 234, note 85). considers that Góngora could be referring to both residences; the one at Huelva and the one at Niebla. (Rico, p. 169.)
  5. ↑ Stanza 15: "... sidonios muros besan hoy la plata/que ilustra la alta Niebla que desata." ("... Sidonian walls today kiss the silver/that the high-standing Niebla releases."). (Ponce, p. 132.)

References

  1. 1 2 (in Spanish). Rico García, José, ed. (2016). El duque de Medina Sidonia: mecenazgo y renovación estética, pp. 13, 169–179, 307–308. ISBN 9788416621521, 8416621527. Google Books. Retrieved 13 May 2023.
  2. ↑ (in Spanish). Ladero Quesada, Miguel Ángel (1992). Niebla, de Reino a Condado: noticias sobre el Algarbe andaluz en la baja edad media, p. 67. Real Academia de la Historia. Google Books. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 Oman, Charles (1911). A History of the Peninsular War, Vol. IV, pp. 475–476. Project Gutenberg. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  4. ↑ (in Spanish). Gómez de Arteche, José (1896). Guerra de la independencia: Historia militar de España de 1808 á 1814. Tomo 10, pp. 475–477. Google Books. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  5. ↑ Grehan, John; Martin Mace (2014). The Battle of Barrosa: Forgotten Battle of the Peninsular War. ISBN 9781629140735, 1629140732. Google Books. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 (in Spanish). Ponce Cárdenas, Jesús (2009). "Góngora y el conde de Niebla. Las sutiles gestiones del mecenazgo". Criticón, 106, pp. 109, 117, 131–132. Centro Virtual Cervantes. Retrieved 13 May 2023.

37°21′44″N 6°40′43″W / 37.3623°N 6.6785°W / 37.3623; -6.6785

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