Jeronimo Merino Cob (1769-1844) was a general of Spain during the Peninsular War.
Biography[]
Cob was born in Villoviado in Burgos Province in northern Spain in 1769 and became a priest at his local parish. After a quarrel with the French military, he fled from his village and led a guerrilla group that won several battles against the French. In late November 1811 he linked up with British forces and assisted them in their campaign in northern Spain against General Geraud Duroc's French army. King Fernando VII of Spain rewarded him with a seat in Valencia's cathedral chapter but, his rough lifestyle did not adapt to this kind of life, and returned to his village.
When the liberal revolution of 1820 succeeded he returned to lead a guerrilla group until the French absolutist invasion of 1823. In 1833, he joined the Carlist army and commanded fourteen battailons in the mountains of Burgos. His troops menaced Madrid, operated in la Rioja and the province of Soria and tried to seize the city of Burgos. He participated also in the siege of Bilbao. Cob was appointed Carlist commander-in-chief of Castilla la Vieja. After the Vergara agreement of 1839 he exiled to France, where he died. He is buried in Lerma, Burgos.