Joost de Soete

Joost de Soete, by Jan Anthoniszoon van Ravesteyn

Joost de Soete , Lord of Villers (* 1541 in Sluis , † March 1589 in 's-Gravenhage ) was a military commander in the Eighty Years' War .

Joost de Soete was a son of Denys de Soete and his wife Cateline van de Haynin.

In 1580, Joost de Soete was in command of Bouchout. In 1584, after the death of Wilhelm the Silent , Marshal de Soete was appointed governor of Utrecht as his successor.

In 1584 de Soete, together with Adolf von Neuenahr, was commissioned by the States General of the Netherlands to burn down part of Twente in order to stall the advance of the Spaniards.

Martin Schenk von Nideggen , who had just defected from the Spanish camp to the side of the States General, joined Soete and Neuenahr on June 23, 1585, where they lost the battle of Amerongen . Joost de Soete was captured by the Spanish. Adolf von Neuenahr took over the post of governor of Utrecht and it was not until much later that de Soete was freed by the Spanish when the General States paid a substantial ransom.

In March 1589 he was seriously wounded in the battle of Geertruidenberg . He was taken to The Hague, where he soon died of the effects of his injuries.

predecessor	Office	successor
William I of Orange-Nassau	Governor of Utrecht 1584	Adolf von Neuenahr