Philip II of Spain

Philips II’s marriages

Philip entered into four marriages in the course of his life:

• His cousin Maria of Portugal in 1543.

She died in 1545, shortly after the birth of their son Don Carlos.

• Mary I of England in 1544.

This marriage made him joint sovereign of England until she died in 1558.

• Elizabeth of Valois in 1559.

This marriage with the daughter of Henry II of France was the result of an agreement called the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis, which ended the wars against Spain and France. They had two daughters: Isabella Clara Eugenia and Catherine Micaela. Elizabeth died in 1568.

• Anna of Austria in 1570.

Anna was the daughter of Emperor Maximilian II. Philip and Anna produced one surviving son, Philip III. Then Anna died in 1580.

Philip II’s empire

Like his father, Philip was set to inherit a large empire. He received the duchy of Milan from his father in 1540, then the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily in 1554. In 1556, he received the title of the Duke of Burgundy and King of Spain.

However, he did not inherit the Holy Roman Empire, which went to Charles V’s brother Ferdinand I instead. This initial setback was arguably beneficial to Philip, considering his father’s issues trying to rule an entire empire. Furthermore, Philip would likely have encountered problems in Germany. He was unpopular with German nobles due to his poor language skills and reserved personality.

Fig. 2: Philip II’s family tree

FThe Prudent King

He inherited titles and a weak financial position because his father had spent a lot of money on foreign wars. Philip had to declare bankruptcy already in the first year of his reign, and during his whole career, he had to work hard to get the financial problems under control.He was sometimes called the prudent or paper king because he was meticulous in all his decisions and worked slowly, often to Spain’s detriment.But Philip’s reign also restored stability to Spain after Charles I’s absenteeism and neglect of the country. The rule is associated with prosperity and Spanish culture (sometimes called the Golden Age), as Spain’s colonial expansion began to have a noticeable impact on Spanish society.

What opposition did Philip II face in Spain?

Unlike Charles, Philip spent almost his entire reign in the Iberian Peninsula. However, this did not prevent opposition to him in his homeland. Philip ruled from Madrid in the monastic palace of El Escorial, and his subjects outside Castile never saw him, which fostered resentment and criticism.

Antonio Pérez

From 1573 onward, Philip relied heavily on his advisor Pérez for advice and policy. However, Pérez caused disputes in the government by arguing about policy with Don Juan, Philip’s half-brother and governor of the Netherlands, and his secretary, Juan de Escobedo. Pérez portrayed Don Juan in a negative light to Philip in order to turn him against him, prompting Philip to block Don Juan’s plans for Flanders.

Assassination

When Escobedo was sent to Madrid to investigate why all of Don Juan’s plans were blocked, he realised this and threatened Pérez. As a result, he was murdered in the open street in 1578; Pérez was immediately suspected of having been involved.Philip’s unwillingness to discipline Pérez caused unrest among Escobedo’s family and the King’s private secretary, Mateo Vázquez, briefly threatening the stability of his government. In 1579, Philip read Don Juan’s personal papers, recognised Pérez’s deceit, and had him imprisoned.

Consequences

The crisis was averted, but Philip’s distrust of his servants and advisors remained throughout his reign. Pérez would cause problems again in the later years of Philip’s reign during the Revolt of Aragon.

The Morisco Uprising (1568-1570)

During his reign, Philip II was increasingly concerned about the Moors in Granada and their attempts to rebel against him.

Background

The Emirate of Granada was one of the last Moorish kingdoms in Spain until Ferdinand II conquered it in 1492. Many Muslim inhabitants remained but were forced to convert to Catholicism. These converts were known as Moriscos. They had been formally baptised into Catholicism but retained their culture, and many still practised their faith in secret.

Uprising

In 1566, Philip banned the expressions of Moorish culture, which naturally aroused antipathy. On Christmas Eve 1568, this antipathy erupted in a rebellion against Philip. A deadly two-year rebellion ensued, supported by the Ottomans until it was crushed in 1570.

Consequences

Philip issued a decree expelling some 50,000 Moors from Granada to be settled in Léon and other surrounding cities. This expulsion was harsh, and more than a quarter died during the process.

Philip’s brutal suppression of the uprising showed his lack of tolerance for anyone he considered a heretic or a threat to the Catholic religion.

The Revolt of Aragon (1591–92)

The kingdoms of Aragon and Castile were united under the rule of Ferdinand and Isabella but remained independent with different languages, forms of government and cultures. The nobility of Aragon detested the Castilian nobility and was concerned that Philip would try to impose Castilian culture on Aragon, as it was traditionally the preferred kingdom. The people of Aragon were proud of their heritage, language and traditional rights (fueros) and did not want Castilian values to override them.

Marquis of Almenara

In the 1580s, Aragon had lost control of Aragon and needed to restore its power. He sent the Marquis of Almenara there as viceroy to settle a dispute between the king’s most important minister, the Duke of Villahermosa, and one of Aragon’s most powerful nobles, the Count of Chincon. The people of Aragon did not receive this decision and saw it as an attempt to assert Castilian supremacy in the kingdom.

Pérez

In 1590, Philip’s disgraced former advisor Pérez broke out of prison and fled to Aragon, where he was relatively safe because of his Aragonese family. When Philip tried to transfer Pérez to a court where Aragon had less control, a Zaragoza mob freed him and beat Almenara so severely that he died of injuries.

Intervention

After another attempt to transfer Pérez resulted in a mob liberation, Philip sent an armed force of 12,000 men to intervene in 1591. Philip’s men executed the Justicia of Aragon, Lanuza, and in 1592 the fighting ended when an amnesty was agreed upon.

Consequences

Philip quickly put down the rebellion, proving his ability to control internal affairs in the last years of his reign. It was also criticised as unnecessary use of force, which increased Aragon’s distrust of Castile and led to Aragon remaining autonomous. Pérez fled to England, where he spread propaganda about Philip.

Religion under Philip II

Philip, like his predecessors, was passionately religious. He was convinced that Catholicism had to be protected in Europe, stating:

The idea of protection against Protestantism mainly motivated his involvement in foreign wars.

Religious threats under Philip

Under Philip, the Spanish Inquisition continued to eradicate heretics in Spain, focusing mainly on Jews and Muslims. However, the threat of Protestantism had grown stronger during the reign of Charles I and into Philip’s reign.

What was Philip II’s foreign policy?

Philip continued to engage in wars that had dominated his father’s reign. He fought in Italy against the Valois monarchy of France and in North Africa against the Ottomans in the 1550s and 1590s. Philip saw himself as the protector of Catholicism in Europe and intervened in states that had turned to Protestantism. These wars led to increasing financial difficulties in Spain. The high taxes led to a social division between the rich and workers who did not receive wages.

War with the Ottoman Empire and the Battle of Lepanto

Spain had been waging a major naval war against the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean for decades. Charles V had fought against the Ottoman Empire’s expansion in the Mediterranean, and Philip continued his father’s work. After a defeat by the Ottomans in 1560, Philip overhauled his forces and created a far more effective fleet.

Battle of Lepanto

Philip reaped the rewards of this new, improved fleet at the Battle of Lepanto in the Gulf of Patras off western Greece in 1571. The Christian forces successfully defeated the Ottoman forces in what was considered a pivotal moment in history.

Consequences

The battle and the success of the Christian army were often portrayed as a complete triumph for Philip II. He ceded control of the western Mediterranean to Spain and opened the shipping routes. However, some historians believe that this view is exaggerated. Ottoman policy in the Mediterranean changed from aggression to defence after Lepanto. Still, historians such as Kate Fleet argue that this was due more to concerns about Hungary and Iran than to defeat.²

The French Wars of Religion (1562–98)

The Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis and Philip’s marriage to Elizabeth of Valois ended the Franco-Spanish wars over Italy. However, a new problem emerged in a religious civil war in France.

Philip, driven by the need to eradicate heresy in Europe, intervened in the French Wars of Religion (1562-1598), which were fought between French Catholics (the Catholic League) and Protestants (the Huguenots). He financed the efforts of the French Catholics against Henry IV.

These efforts were unsuccessful, and Spain failed to suppress Protestantism in France.

Nevertheless, the intervention was not entirely without success. Henry IV eventually converted to Catholicism, and the wars ended in 1598.

The Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648)

Beginning in 1568, Philip faced a rebellion in the Netherlands. Protestantism was gaining ground in the Netherlands, which was still under Spanish (Catholic) rule and had been handed over to Philip by Charles II. High taxation for the wars of the Holy Roman Empire and the rising popularity of Protestantism led to growing dissatisfaction with Spanish rule in the Netherlands. In 1568, the Dutch revolted against Spanish rule.

The revolt was violently put down, heretics were killed, and the Protestant Prince William of Orange was assassinated. This marked the beginning of the Eighty Years’ War (1568-1648). England’s support for the Dutch and continued piracy against Spanish ships also drove Spain into war with England in 1585.

Philip II was known as the ‘Black Legend’ in Protestant lands, a monster of bigotry, ambition, lust, and cruelty. It is questionable to what extent this is true. It is likely that Philip’s II enemies, such as Pérez, and supporters of Protestantism, spread this rumour.

The Anglo-Spanish War and the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1585–1604)

Also, out of concern for Protestantism in Europe, Philip later went to war with England to reintroduce Catholicism in 1585. The conflict was intermittent but lengthy and costly to Spain until Philip’s son, Philip III, ended it in 1604.

The war ended with the infamous defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. Despite Spain’s naval strength, England pushed off the sea ships and forced them to retreat.

Although considered a major defeat, it probably did not destroy Spain’s reputation but instead strengthened England’s. The defeat of the Spanish Armada was a minor setback for Philip, and Spain remained a military superpower for another century.

Philip of Spain’s legacy

Philip died of cancer on September 13, 1598, in the palace of El Escorial. His son, Philip II, succeeded him and became the next king of Spain.

Philip II of Spain’s accomplishments

His supporters remembered Philip as a great king of Spain who repelled Protestant threats, expanded Spain’s power, and centralised the government. His critics remembered him as idle and despotic. Philip is credited with creating a Spain at the height of power, although indigenous peoples in the Americas and the poor paid the price. In what follows, we will outline the achievements and failures of his reign:

Achievements

• He defeated the Ottoman offensive in the Mediterranean at the Battle of Lepanto (1571).
• He completed the unification effort in the Iberian Peninsula.
• He successfully preserved the southern Netherlands.
• He suppressed the Morisco uprising.
• Spain remained a military superpower.

Failures

• His prudence was criticised as impeding progress.
• While suppressing the revolt in Aragon, he was criticised for his unnecessary use of force, which widened the gap between Aragon and Castile.
• His foreign wars led to high taxes in Spain and social divisions.
• He failed to suppress Protestantism in France.
• He failed in suppressing Protestantism in the Netherlands.
• He led the Spanish Armada to defeat.