Carlos Coloma

Don Carlos Coloma de Saa, 1st Marquess of Espinar (Alicante, 9 February 1566 – 23 November 1637, Madrid) was a Spanish military commander, diplomat and author. He is also known as a translator of Tacitus.

Coloma was born in a noble family with strong connections to the military. He was the fourth son out of 14 children from the third marriage of Juan Coloma y Cardona, 3rd Sieur and 1st Count of Elda. His father was also a soldier and a writer. He joined the army as an ensign in 1581 and campaigned in Portugal, Sicily, the Netherlands and Germany, eventually making his way up to the rank of maestro de campo general. He played an important part in the Siege of Doullens (1595).

After serving as governor of the Roussillon (1600-1611) and viceroy of Mallorca (1611-1617), he became governor of Cambrai in 1617. In 1621 he took over from Spinola as commander-in-chief of the Spanish invasion of the Electorate of the Palatinate. The following year he succeeded the Count of Gondomar as Spanish ambassador to England. Recalled when war broke out between England and Spain in 1624, he participated in Spinola's Siege of Breda (August 1624-June 1625) and is supposedly portrayed on Velázquez' Las Lanzas. After a term as commander in Milan, Coloma returned to London in 1630 to restore peace between the two crowns. From 1631 until his return to Spain in 1634, he acted as commander-in-chief of the Army of Flanders. During his final years he served King Philip IV as mayordomo mayor and member of the Council of State.

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