Niebla Castle (Spain)

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, demolished the existing alcázar and constructed the new castle, where he, and later, his successor, Juan Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, 3rd Duke of Medina Sidonia, would reside.

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. 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. 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.

Gongora again referred to Niebla some years later, in El Panegírico al Duque de Lerma (1618).