Cristóbal de Mondragón

Who was Cristóbal de Mondragón?

Cristóbal de Mondragón y Mercado was a Spanish general during the Eighty Years' War.

He was a prominent military figure of the sixteenth century, and was colonel of the Tercios of Flanders under the Duke of Alba, Luis de Requesens, Alexander Farnese and Peter Ernst I von Mansfeld-Vorderort. He fought during the Eighty Years' War against the armies of William of Orange first and after Maurice of Nassau.

His talent as a strategist led to important victories by the Spanish troops in Flanders and the Netherlands in a time of decline of Spanish domination in this region.

Mondragón developed several military techniques like wading through tidal rivers and espionage.