Niebla Castle (Spain)

Siege of Niebla (1811) In 1811, the castle's French garrison, under Colonel Fritzhardt, with 600 Spanish and British deserters plus six cannon and two obuses, 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. 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. ==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. Much to the disapproval of his father, the 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia, within a couple of months of having married at Madrid, 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, and which had been abandoned for many years, and residing both at Huelva and at Niebla. ==Notes==