View source for Philip II of Spain

{{Short description|King of Spain (1556–1598) and Portugal (1580–1598)}}
{{Redirect|Philip of England|the consort of Elizabeth II|Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2026}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name              = Philip II
| image             = Portrait of Philip II of Spain by Sofonisba Anguissola - 002b.jpg
| caption           = Portrait by [[Sofonisba Anguissola]], 1565
| succession        = [[King of Spain]]<br/>(as Philip II)
| more_text         = ([[List of titles and honours of the Spanish Crown|more...]])
| reign             = 16 January 1556 – {{nowrap|13 September 1598}}
| predecessor       = [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles I]]
| successor         = [[Philip III of Spain|Philip III]]
| succession1       = [[King of Portugal]] <br /> (as Philip I)
| more_text1        = ([[List of titles and honours of the Portuguese Crown|more...]])
| reign1            = 12 September 1580 – {{nowrap|13 September 1598}}
| cor_type1         = Acclamation
| coronation1       = 16 April 1581, [[Tomar]]
| predecessor1      = [[Henry, King of Portugal|Henry]] or [[António, Prior of Crato|Anthony]] (''[[War of the Portuguese Succession|disputed]]'')
| successor1        = [[Philip III of Spain]] (as Philip II)
| succession2       = [[King of England]] and [[King of Ireland|Ireland]]<br/>(as Philip)
| more_text2        = (''[[jure uxoris]]'')
| reign2            = 25 July 1554 – {{nowrap|17 November 1558}}
| predecessor2      = [[Mary I]]
| regent2           = Mary I
| reg_type2         = Co-monarch
| successor2        = [[Elizabeth I]]
| succession3       = [[Habsburg Netherlands|Lord of the Netherlands ]]<br/>[[Duke of Burgundy]]<br/>(as Philip V)
| reign3            = 25 October 1555 – {{nowrap|13 September 1598}}
| predecessor3      = [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles II]]
| successor3        = [[Isabella Clara Eugenia|Isabella Clara Eugenia]]
| birth_date        = 21 May 1527
| birth_place       = [[Palacio de Pimentel]], Castile
| death_date        = {{death date and age|df=y|1598|9|13|1527|5|21}}
| death_place       = [[El Escorial]], Castile
| burial_place      = El Escorial
| spouses           = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Maria Manuela of Portugal]]|12 November 1543|12 July 1545|end=d.}}
* {{marriage|[[Mary I]] of England|25 July 1554|17 November 1558|end=d.}}
* {{marriage|[[Elisabeth of Valois]]|1559|3 October 1568|end=d.}}
* {{marriage|[[Anna of Austria, Queen of Spain|Anna of Austria]]|May 1570|26 October 1580|end=d.}}
}}
| issue             = {{plainlist|
* [[Carlos, Prince of Asturias]]
* [[Isabella Clara Eugenia|Isabella Clara Eugenia, Lady of the Netherlands]]
* [[Catalina Micaela of Spain|Catalina Micaela, Duchess of Savoy]]
* [[Ferdinand, Prince of Asturias]]
* [[Diego, Prince of Asturias]]
* [[Philip III of Spain]]
}}
| issue_link        = #Family
| issue_pipe        = more...
| house             = [[House of Habsburg|Habsburg]]
| father            = [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor]]
| mother            = [[Isabella of Portugal]]
| signature         = Firma del Rey Felipe II.svg
}}
'''Philip II'''{{NoteTag|He was titled as '''Philip II''' ({{langx|es|Felipe II}}) in [[Crown of Castile|Castile]], while in [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portugal]], [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]] and his Italian kingdoms he ruled as '''Philip I''' ({{langx|pt|Filipe I}}, {{langx|ca|Felip I}}).}} (21 May 1527{{spnd}}13 September 1598), sometimes known in [[Spain]] as '''Philip the Prudent''' ({{langx|es|Felipe el Prudente}}), was [[King of Spain]]{{NoteTag|Spain was a [[composite monarchy]], and besides being the second Philip to rule [[Crown of Castile|Castile]], he was the first to rule [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]], and the fourth to rule [[Kingdom of Navarre|Navarre]].}} from 1556, [[List of Portuguese monarchs|King of Portugal]] from 1580, and [[List of Neapolitan monarchs|King of Naples]] and [[List of Sicilian monarchs|Sicily]] from 1554 until his death in 1598. He was also ''[[jure uxoris]]'' [[List of English monarchs|King of England]] and [[List of Irish monarchs|Ireland]] from [[Wedding of Mary I of England and Philip of Spain|his marriage]] to Queen [[Mary I]] in 1554 until her death in 1558. Further, he was [[Duke of Milan]] from 1540. From 1555, he was Lord of the [[Seventeen Provinces]] of the [[Habsburg Netherlands|Netherlands]].

The son of [[Emperor Charles V]] and [[Isabella of Portugal]], Philip inherited his father's [[Spanish Empire]] in 1556, and succeeded to the [[Kingdom of Portugal|Portuguese throne]] in 1580 following a dynastic crisis, forming the [[Iberian Union]]. The [[Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire|Spanish conquest]] of the [[Inca Empire]] and of the [[Philippines]], named in his honour by [[Ruy López de Villalobos]], were completed during his reign. He finished building the royal palace [[El Escorial]] in 1584. Under Philip II, Spain reached the height of its influence and power, advancing into the [[Spanish Golden Age]], and ruled territories in every continent then known to Europeans. Deeply devout, Philip saw himself as the defender of Catholic Europe against the [[Ottoman Empire]] and the [[Protestant Reformation]], and invested Spain's position as the leading [[great power|European power]] in multiple simultaneous warring efforts.

During his reign, Spain participated in notable victories against the Ottomans in [[Sieges of Oran and Mers El Kébir|Oran]], [[Great Siege of Malta|Malta]] and [[Battle of Lepanto|Lepanto]]. In 1584, during the [[Eighty Years' War]], Philip signed the [[Treaty of Joinville]], funding the French [[Catholic League (French)|Catholic League]] over the following decade against the French [[Huguenots]]. In 1588, he sent an [[Spanish Armada|armada]] to invade Protestant England, with the strategic aim of overthrowing his former sister-in-law [[Elizabeth I]] and re-establishing Catholicism there, but his fleet was repulsed in a skirmish and wrecked by storms as it returned to Spain. He sent additional Armadas in [[Second Spanish Armada|1596]] and [[Third Spanish Armada|1597]], (and his son who succeeded him as [[Philip III of Spain|Phillip III]] sent a fourth in [[Fourth Spanish Armada|1601]]), but these similarly failed. Philip's naval power recovered after the defeat of a similarly sized [[English Armada]] sent against Spain. As a consequence of these conflicts, Philip led a highly [[national debt|debt-leveraged regime]], seeing [[Sovereign default|state defaults]] in 1557, 1560, 1569, 1575, and 1596. An ambitious plan to extend his conquests to [[Empresa de China|China and across Asia]] was also considered and abandoned.

Historical reception of Philip II became heavily influenced by enemy [[propaganda]], which he refused to answer or defend himself against, even prohibiting biographical accounts of his life. His negative foreign reputation eventually developed into the [[Black legend|Spanish Black Legend]]. As a result, historian [[Helmut Koenigsberger]] would write about Philip, "there has, perhaps, been no personality in modern history, not even [[Napoleon]] or [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]], who has been both as enigmatic and controversial as Philip II of Spain... Neither his own contemporaries nor later historians have been able to agree on his character, his aims or even the degree of success he achieved."<ref>[[Helmut Koenigsberger]]: The Statecraft of Philip II. In: ''Politicians and Virtuosi. Essays in Early Modern History''. Hambledon, London 1986, (History series, Bd. 49 / Studies presented to the International Commission for the History of Representative and Parliamentary Institutions, Bd. 69), ISBN 0-907628-65-6, S. 77–96, p. 77“</ref>

==Early life: 1527–1548==
[[File:Bautizo Felipe II grande.jpg|thumb|left|''The Baptism of Philip II'' in [[Valladolid]], Castile. Historical ceiling preserved in [[Palacio de Pimentel]] (Valladolid).]]
A member of the [[House of Habsburg]], Philip was the son of [[Emperor Charles V]], who was also king of [[Crown of Castile|Castile]] and [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]], and [[Isabella of Portugal]]. He was born in the Castilian capital of [[Valladolid]] on 21 May 1527 at [[Palacio de Pimentel]],<ref>{{Cite web
| url = https://servicios.jcyl.es/pweb/datos.do?numero=16049&tipo=Inmueble&ruta=
| website = Junta de Castilla y León
| title = BIEN DE INTERÉS CULTURAL: PALACIO CONDES RIVADAVIA PALACIO DE PIMENTEL
| access-date = 12 January 2023
}}</ref> which was owned by Don Bernardino Pimentel (the first Marqués de Távara). The culture and courtly life of Castile were an important influence in his early life. He was entrusted to the royal governess [[Leonor de Mascareñas]], and tutored by [[Juan Martínez Siliceo]], the future [[archbishop of Toledo]]. Philip displayed reasonable aptitude in arts and letters alike. He would study with illustrious tutors, including [[renaissance humanism|humanist]]s like Silíceo and Juan Cristóbal Calvete de Estrella.<ref name="Humanism">Fernández Hoyos, M. A. (1998). "Las armas y las letras en Felipe II". Congreso Internacional "Felipe II (1598-1998), Europa dividida, la monarquía católica de Felipe II (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 20-23 abril 1998) / José Martínez Millán (dir. congr.), Vol. 4, ISBN 84-8230-025-3, págs. 117-132</ref> Though Philip had good command over [[Latin]], Spanish, and Portuguese, he never managed to equal his father as a [[polyglot]]. While Philip was also an [[archduke of Austria]], he was seen as a foreigner in the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. The feeling was mutual. Philip felt himself to be culturally Spanish; he had been born in Castile and raised in the Castilian court, his native language was Spanish, and he preferred to live in the Spanish kingdoms. This ultimately impeded his succession to the imperial throne.<ref name="JBE">James Boyden. ''Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopaedia of the Early Modern World''.</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}}

In April 1528, when Philip was eleven months old, he received the oath of allegiance as heir to the crown from the [[Cortes Generales|Cortes]] of Castile. From that time until the death of his mother Isabella in 1539, he was raised in the royal court of Castile under the care of his mother and one of her [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] ladies, Doña Leonor de Mascarenhas, to whom he was devotedly attached. Philip was also close to his two sisters, [[Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress|María]] and [[Joan of Austria, Princess of Portugal|Juana]], and to his two pages, the Portuguese nobleman [[Ruy Gómez de Silva|Rui Gomes da Silva]] and [[Luis de Requesens y Zúñiga]], the son of his governor. These men would serve Philip throughout their lives, as would [[Antonio Pérez (statesman)|Antonio Pérez]], his [[Secretary of State (Ancient Regime in Spain)|secretary]] from 1541.

Philip's martial training was undertaken by his governor, [[Juan de Zúñiga y Requesens]], a Castilian nobleman who served as the ''[[commendador]] mayor'' of Castile. The practical lessons in warfare were overseen by [[Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba]] during the [[Italian War of 1542–1546|Italian Wars]]. Philip was present at the [[Siege of Perpignan (1542)|Siege of Perpignan]] in 1542 but did not see action as the Spanish army under Alba decisively defeated the besieging French forces under the [[Henry II of France|Dauphin of France]]. On his way back to Castile, Philip received the oath of allegiance of the [[Cortes of Aragon#Early Cortes|Aragonese Cortes]] at [[Monzón]].

His political training had begun a year previously under his father, who had found his son studious, grave, and prudent beyond his years, and having decided to train and initiate him in the government of the Spanish kingdoms. The king-emperor's interactions with his son during his stay in Castile convinced him of Philip's precocity in statesmanship, so he determined to leave in his hands the [[List of Spanish regents|regency of the Spanish kingdoms]] in 1543. Philip, who had been made the [[Duke of Milan]] in 1540, began governing the most extensive empire in the world at the young age of sixteen.

Charles left Philip with experienced advisors—notably the secretary [[Francisco de los Cobos]] and the general, the Duke of Alba. Philip was also left with extensive written instructions that emphasised "piety, patience, modesty, and distrust". These principles of Charles were gradually assimilated by his son, who would grow up to become grave, self-possessed and cautious. Personally, Philip spoke softly and had an icy self-mastery; in the words of one of his ministers, "he had a smile that was cut by a sword".<ref>''Encyclopedia of World Biography'' (2004).</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}}

=== Philip's journey to Brussels (1548–1549) ===
On 1 October 1548, Philip departed Valladolid on his voyage, appointing his sister [[Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress|Maria]] and her husband [[Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor|Maximilian]] as regents in his absence. He began a formal journey through [[Kingdom of Aragon|Aragon]] and [[Principality of Catalonia|Catalonia]], visiting religious sites such as [[Zaragoza]] and Montserrat, and receiving homage in [[Barcelona]] and [[Girona]].<ref name="HumeRosas">{{cite book |last=Hume |first=Martin A. S. |title=Philip II of Spain |year=1906 |publisher=Cristo Raul Library |pages=13–14 |url=https://cristoraul.org/english/readinghall/pdf-library/Biographies/1527-1598-PHILIP-II-OF-SPAIN.pdf |access-date=24 June 2025}}</ref>

In November 1548, Philip travelled with [[Diego López de Medrano y Vergara#Diego López de Medrano y Vinuesa|Diego López de Medrano]], his first or chief [[Caballerizo mayor|equerry]], to [[Roses, Spain|Rosas]] and [[Genoa]] aboard the [[galley]] belonging to Antonio de Toledo, the senior equerry.<ref>''Diccionario de appelidos enciclopedia heraldica y genealogica.'' page. 188</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=12 February 2015 |title=La Costa da Morte y la Armada Invencible - Adiante Galicia |url=https://www.adiantegalicia.es/reportaxes/2015/02/12/la-costa-da-morte-y-la-armada-invencible.html |access-date=27 January 2025 |language=es}}</ref> Rosas was his point of departure for Italy.<ref>{{cite book | last=Ruiz | first=Teofilo F. |chapter=CHAPTER V. A King Goes Traveling: Philip II in the Crown of Aragon, 1585–86 and 1592 | title=A King Travels: Festive Traditions in Late Medieval and Early Modern Spain | publisher=Princeton University Press | publication-place=Princeton | date=2012 | isbn=978-1-4008-4224-7 | doi=10.1515/9781400842247.146 | url=http://www.degruyter.com/view/books/9781400842247/9781400842247/9781400842247.xml | access-date=20 May 2026 |pages=146–192}}</ref> At the Bay of Rosas, he was met by [[Andrea Doria]] with a fleet of fifty-eight galleys.<ref name="HumeRosas" /> Florentine obsequies depict his journey in large canvases depicting formative episodes from Philip's youth, including Philip's departure for Brussels from Rosas on the galley, and Philip's reception by the Doge of Genoa in 1548.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Borsook |first=Eve |date=1969 |title=Art and Politics at the Medici Court III: Funeral Decor for Philip II of Spain |url=https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/mkhi/article/view/41597 |journal=Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz |language=de |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=100–101 |doi=10.11588/mkhi.1969.1.41597 |issn=2532-2737}}</ref> The admiral, moved by the occasion, knelt before Philip and quoted [[Simeon (Gospel of Luke)|Simeon]]: "Now, Lord, let Thy servant depart in peace, for his eyes have seen Thy salvation."<ref name="HumeRosas" />

Philip landed at [[Savona]] and proceeded to Genoa, where he stayed at the Doria palace and received papal emissary [[Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma|Octavio Farnese]], who presented him with a ceremonial sword and cap of state from [[Pope Paul III]].<ref name="HumeRosas" /> The gesture, despite political tensions, reflected hopes that Philip would serve as a future protector of the Church. Celebrated in [[Milan]], [[Mantua]], and other cities, he continued through the [[Tyrol]] and [[Germany]] before reaching Brussels to meet Emperor Charles V on 1 April 1549.<ref name="HumeRosas" />

==Domestic policy==
{{more citations needed|section|date=January 2020}}
After living in the [[Spanish Netherlands|Netherlands]] in the early years of his reign,<ref>Parker, Geoffrey, ''The Dutch Revolt'' (1977, rev. ed. 1985). London: Penguin, p. 41.</ref> Philip II decided to return to Castile. Although sometimes described as an absolute monarch, Philip faced many constitutional constraints on his authority, influenced by the growing strength of the bureaucracy. The [[Spanish Empire]] was not a single monarchy with one legal system but a [[personal union]] of separate realms, each jealously guarding its own rights against those of the [[House of Habsburg]]. In practice, Philip often found his authority overruled by local assemblies and his word less effective than that of local lords.<ref>Parker, ''The Dutch Revolt'', p. 42.</ref>

Philip carried [[List of titles and honours of the Heir Apparent to the Spanish Throne#Titles held by the heir apparent to the Spanish Throne|several titles]] as [[List of heirs to the Spanish throne|heir to the Spanish kingdoms and empire]], including [[Prince of Asturias]]. The newest constituent kingdom in the empire was [[Upper Navarre]], a realm invaded by [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]] mainly with Castilian troops (1512), and annexed to Castile with an ambiguous status (1513). [[Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre|War across Navarre]] continued until the 1528 ([[Treaty of Madrid (1526)#Madrid|Treaties of Madrid and Cambrai]]). Charles V proposed to end hostilities with King [[Henry II of Navarre]]—the legitimate monarch of Navarre—by marrying his son Philip to the heiress of Navarre, [[Jeanne III of Navarre]]. The marriage would provide a dynastic solution to instability in Navarre, making him king of all Navarre (Upper and [[Lower Navarre|Lower]]) and a prince of the independent [[Viscounty of Béarn|Béarn]], as well as lord of part of southwestern France. However, the French nobility under [[Francis I of France|Francis I]] opposed the arrangement and successfully ended the prospects of marriage between the heirs of Habsburg and Albret in 1541.

[[File:Philip II of Spain by Antonio Moro.jpg|thumb|left|Philip, in the prime of his life, by [[Anthonis Mor]]]]

In his will, Charles stated his doubts over Navarre and recommended that his son give the kingdom back. Both King Charles and his son Philip II failed to abide by the elective (contractual) nature of the Crown of Navarre and took the kingdom for granted. This sparked mounting tension not only with King Henry II and Queen Jeanne III of Navarre but also with the Parliament of the Spanish Navarre (''Cortes'', ''The Three States'') and the ''Diputación'' for breach of the [[Fueros of Navarre|realm specific laws (fueros)]]—violation of the ''pactum subjection is'' as ratified by Ferdinand. Tensions in Navarre came to a head in 1592 after several years of disagreements over the agenda of the intended parliamentary session.

In [[Cortes of Tarazona (1592)|November 1592]], the Parliament (''Cortes'') of Aragón revolted against another breach of the realm-specific laws, so the Attorney General (''Justicia'') of the kingdom, [[Juan de Lanuza y Urrea|Juan de Lanuza]], was executed on Philip II's orders, with his [[Secretary of State (Ancient Regime in Spain)|secretary]] [[Antonio Pérez (statesman)|Antonio Pérez]] taking exile in France. In Navarre, the major strongholds of the kingdom were garrisoned by troops alien to the kingdom (Castilians) in a conspicuous violation of the local laws, and the Parliament had long been refusing to pledge loyalty to Philip II's son and heir apparent without a proper ceremony. On 20 November 1592 a ghostly Parliament session was called, pushed by Philip II, who had arrived in [[Pamplona]] at the head of an unspecified military force, and with only one point on his agenda—attendance to the session was kept blank on the minutes: unlawful appointments of trusted Castilian officials and imposition of his son as the future king of Navarre at the [[Pamplona Cathedral|Santa Maria Cathedral]]. A ceremony was held before the bishop of Pamplona (22 November), but its customary procedure and terms were altered. Protests erupted in Pamplona, but they were quelled.

[[File:Jooris van der Straeten - Portrait of Philip II of Spain.jpg|thumb|Philip II wearing the [[Order of the Garter]] by [[Jooris van der Straeten]], {{c.}} 1554]]

Philip II also grappled with the problem of the large [[Morisco]] population in the Spanish kingdoms, who had been forcibly converted to Christianity by his predecessors. In 1569, the [[Morisco Revolt]] broke out in the southern [[Kingdom of Granada (Crown of Castile)|Kingdom of Granada]] in defiance of attempts to suppress Moorish customs. Philip ordered the expulsion of the Moriscos from Granada and their dispersal to other provinces.

Despite its immense dominions, the Spanish kingdoms had a sparse population that yielded a limited income to the crown (in contrast to [[Kingdom of France|France]], for example, which was much more heavily populated). Philip faced major difficulties in raising taxes, and the collection was largely farmed out to local lords. He was able to finance his military campaigns only by taxing and exploiting the local resources of his empire. The flow of income from the [[New World]] proved vital to his militant foreign policy, but his exchequer several times faced bankruptcy.

Spanish culture flourished during Philip's reign, beginning the "[[Spanish Golden Age]]", creating a lasting legacy in literature, music, and the visual arts. One of the notable artists from Philip II's court was [[Sofonisba Anguissola]], who gained fame for her talent and unusual role as a woman artist.

==Economy==
[[File:Koning Spanje Filips II 1-5 Philipsdaalder 1566.jpg|upright=1.35|thumb|Portrait of Philip II on 1/5 Philipsdaalder, struck 1566, Guelders, Low Countries]]

Charles V had left his son Philip with a debt of about 36&nbsp;million [[ducat]]s and an annual deficit of 1&nbsp;million ducats. This debt caused Philip II to default on loans in 1557, 1560, 1575, and 1596 (including debt to Poland, known as [[Neapolitan sums]]).<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Drelichman |first1=Mauricio |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xfWKAQAAQBAJ |title=Lending to the Borrower from Hell: Debt, Taxes, and Default in the Age of Philip II |last2=Voth |first2=Hans-Joachim |date=2014 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-4843-0 |language=en}}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}} Lenders had no power over the King and could not force him to repay his loans. These defaults were just the beginning of Spain's economic troubles as its kings would default six more times in the next 65 years.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gat|first=Azar|title=War in Human Civilization|year=2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford [u.a.]|isbn=978-0-19-923663-3|page=488|edition=4th}}</ref> Aside from reducing state revenues for overseas expeditions, the domestic policies of Philip II further burdened the Spanish kingdoms and would, in the following century, contribute to its decline, as maintained by some historians.<ref>{{cite book |last=Elliott |first = J. H. |title=Imperial Spain 1469–1716 |year=2002 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=London [u.a.] |isbn=0-14-100703-6 |pages=285–291 |edition=Repr. }}</ref>

The Spanish kingdoms were subject to different assemblies: the [[Cortes Generales|Cortes]] in [[Crown of Castile|Castile]], the assembly in [[Navarre]], and one each for the four kingdoms of [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]], which preserved traditional rights and laws from the time when they were separate kingdoms. This made the Spanish kingdoms and its possessions difficult to rule, unlike France, which while divided into regional states, had a single [[Estates General (France)|Estates General]]. The lack of a viable supreme assembly led to power defaulting into Philip II's hands, especially as manager and final arbiter of the constant conflict between different authorities. To deal with the difficulties arising from this situation, authority was administered by local agents appointed by the crown and viceroys carrying out crown instructions. Philip II felt it necessary to be involved in the detail, and he presided over specialised councils for state affairs, finance, war, and the [[Spanish Inquisition|Inquisition]].

Philip II played groups against each other, leading to a system of checks and balances that managed affairs inefficiently, even to the extent of damaging state business, as in the [[Antonio Pérez (statesman)|Perez affair]]. Following a fire in [[Valladolid]] in 1561, he resisted calls to move his Court to [[Lisbon]], an act that could have curbed centralisation and bureaucracy domestically as well as relaxed rule in the Empire as a whole. Instead, with the traditional Royal and [[Primate of Spain|Primacy]] seat of [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]] now essentially obsolete, he moved his Court to the Castilian stronghold of [[Madrid]]. Except for a brief period under [[Philip III of Spain]], Madrid has remained the capital of Spain. It was around this time that Philip II converted the [[Royal Alcázar of Madrid]] into a royal palace; the works, which lasted from 1561 until 1598, were done by tradesmen who came from the Netherlands, Italy, and France.

King Philip II ruled at a critical turning point in European history toward [[modernity]] whereas his father Charles V had been forced to an itinerant rule as a medieval king. He mainly directed state affairs, even when not at Court. Indeed, when his health began failing, he worked from his quarters at the Palace-Monastery-Pantheon of [[El Escorial]] that he had built in 1584, a palace built as a monument to Spain's role as a centre of the Christian world. But Philip did not enjoy the supremacy that King [[Louis XIV]] of France would in the next century, nor was such a rule necessarily possible at his time. The inefficiencies of the Spanish state and the restrictively regulated industry under his rule were common to many contemporary countries.

==Foreign policy==
Philip's foreign policies were determined by a combination of Catholic fervour and dynastic objectives. He considered himself the chief defender of Catholic Europe, both against the [[Ottoman Empire]] and against the forces of the [[Protestant Reformation]]. He never relented from his fight against [[heresy]], defending the Catholic faith and limiting freedom of worship within his territories.<ref>As Philip wrote in 1566 to [[Luis de Zúñiga y Requesens|Luis de Requesens]]: "You can assure his Holiness that rather than suffer the least injury to religion and the service of God, I would lose all my states and a hundred lives if I had them, for I do not intend to rule over heretics." {{Harvnb|Pettegree|2002|p=214}}.</ref> These territories included his patrimony in the Netherlands, where Protestantism had taken deep root. Following the [[Revolt of the Netherlands]] in 1568, Philip waged a campaign against Dutch heresy and secession. It also dragged in the English and the French at times and expanded into the German Rhineland with the [[Cologne War]]. This series of conflicts lasted for the rest of his life. Philip's constant involvement and focus in European wars took a significant toll on the treasury and caused economic difficulties for the Crown and even bankruptcies.

[[File:Guidon of King Philip II of Spain.svg|thumb|Personal guidon of Philip&nbsp;II]]

In 1588, the English defeated Philip's [[Spanish Armada]], thwarting his planned invasion of the country to reinstate Catholicism, while he in turn defeated the [[English Armada]] sent in 1589 to capitalize on the chance. But [[Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)|war with England]] continued for the next sixteen years, in a complex series of struggles that included France, Ireland and the main battle zone, the [[Low Countries]]. It would not end until all the leading protagonists, including himself, had died. Earlier, however, after several setbacks in his reign and especially that of his father, Philip did achieve a decisive victory against the Turks at [[Battle of Lepanto (1571)|Lepanto]] in 1571, with the allied fleet of the [[Holy League (1571)|Holy League]], which he had put under the command of his illegitimate brother, [[John of Austria]]. He also successfully secured his succession to the throne of [[Iberian Union|Portugal]].

The administration of overseas conquests was reformed. Extensive questionnaires were distributed to every major town and region in New Spain called [[relaciones geográficas]]. These surveys helped the Spanish monarchy to govern Philip's overseas possessions more effectively.

===Italy===
{{Main|Italian Wars}}
Charles V abdicated the [[Kingdom of Naples|throne of Naples]] to Philip on 25 July 1554, and the young king was invested with the kingdom (officially a Papal fief) on 2 October by [[Pope Julius III]]. The date of Charles' abdication of the [[Kingdom of Sicily|throne of Sicily]] is uncertain, but Philip was invested with this kingdom on 18 November 1554 by Julius.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Braudel |first=Fernand |author-link=Fernand Braudel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LPp63EKb9moC&pg=PA935 |pages=935–936 |title=The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II |volume=2 |date=1995 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-20330-3 |language=en}}</ref> In 1556, Philip decided to invade the [[Papal States]] and temporarily held territory there, perhaps in response to [[Pope Paul IV]]'s anti-Spanish outlook. According to Philip II, he was doing it for the benefit of the [[Catholic Church|Church]].

In a letter to the Princess Dowager of Portugal, Regent of the Spanish kingdoms, dated 22 September 1556, [[Francisco de Vargas y Mexia|Francisco de Vargas]] wrote:
{{quote|I have reported to your Highness what has been happening here, and how far the Pope is going in his fury and vain imaginings. His Majesty could not do otherwise than have a care for his reputation and dominions. I am sure your Highness will have had more recent news from the Duke of Alva, who has taken the field with an excellent army and has penetrated so far into the Pope's territory that his cavalry is raiding up to ten miles from Rome, where there is such panic that the population would have run away had not the gates been closed. The Pope has fallen ill with rage, and was struggling with a fever on the 16th of this month. The two Carafa brothers, the Cardinal and Count Montorio, do not agree, and they and Piero Strozzi are not on as good terms as they were in the past. They would like to discuss peace. The best thing would be for the Pope to die, for he is the poison at the root of all this trouble and more which may occur. His Majesty's intention is only to wrest the knife from this madman's hand and make him return to a sense of his dignity, acting like the protector of the [[Holy See|Apostolic See]], in whose name, and that of the [[College of Cardinals]], his Majesty has publicly proclaimed that he has seized all he is occupying. The Pope is now sending again to the potentates of Italy for help. I hope he will gain as little thereby as he has done in the past, and that the French will calm down. May God give us peace in the end, as their Majesties desire and deserve!<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/cal-state-papers/spain/vol13/pp275-280|title=Spain: September 1556|editor=Royall Tyler |publisher=Institute of Historical Research|year=1954|work=Calendar of State Papers, Spain |volume=13: 1554–1558|access-date=19 April 2013}}</ref>}}

In response to the invasion, [[Pope Paul IV]] called for a French military intervention. After minor fights in Lazio and near Rome, [[Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba]], Viceroy of Naples met Cardinal [[Carlo Carafa]] and signed the Treaty of [[Cave, Lazio|Cave]] as a compromise: French and Spanish forces left the [[Papal States]] and the Pope declared a neutral position between France and the Spanish kingdoms.<ref name="fiuRebiba">{{cite web|url=https://cardinals.fiu.edu/bios1555-ii.htm|access-date=21 April 2010|title=The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church|author=Salvador Miranda|year=2010|publisher=[[Florida International University]]|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303175609/http://www2.fiu.edu/~mirandas/bios1555-ii.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

Philip led the Spanish kingdoms into the final phase of the [[Italian Wars]]. A Spanish advance into France from the Low Countries led to their important victory at the [[Battle of St. Quentin (1557)]]. The French were defeated again at the [[Battle of Gravelines (1558)]]. The resulting [[Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis]] in 1559 secured [[Piedmont]] to the [[Duchy of Savoy]], and [[Corsica]] to the [[Republic of Genoa]]. Both Genoa and Savoy were allies of Spain and, although Savoy subsequently declared its neutrality between France and Spain, Genoa remained a crucial financial ally for Philip during his entire reign. The treaty also confirmed Philip's control over [[Duchy of Milan|Milan]], Naples, Sicily, and [[Kingdom of Sardinia|Sardinia]]. Therefore, all of southern Italy was under Spanish rule as part of the [[Crown of Aragon]]. In the north, Milan was a duchy of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] held by Philip. Attached to the Kingdom of Naples, the [[State of Presidi]] in Tuscany gave Philip the possibility to monitor maritime traffic to southern Italy, whilst the grant of the Duchy of Siena to the new [[Grand Duchy of Tuscany]], ensured it would remain a Spanish ally. The [[Council of Italy]] was set up by Philip in order to co-ordinate his rule over the states of Milan, Naples and Sicily. Ultimately, the treaty ended the 60-year [[French-Habsburg rivalry|Franco-Habsburg wars]] for supremacy in Italy. It marked also the beginning of a period of peace between the Pope and Philip, as their European interests converged, although political differences remained and diplomatic contrasts eventually re-emerged.

By the end of the wars in 1559, [[Habsburg Spain]] had been established as the premier power of Europe, to the detriment of France. In France, [[Henry II of France|Henry II]] was fatally wounded in a joust held during the celebrations of the peace. His death led to the accession of his 15-year-old son [[Francis II of France|Francis II]], who in turn soon died. The French monarchy was thrown into turmoil, which increased further with the outbreak of the [[French Wars of Religion]] that would last for several decades. The states of Italy were reduced to second-rate powers, with Spain dominating the peninsula. [[Mary I of England|Mary Tudor]]'s death in 1558 enabled Philip to seal the treaty by marrying Henry II's daughter, [[Elisabeth of Valois]], later giving him a claim to the throne of France on behalf of his daughter by Elisabeth, [[Isabella Clara Eugenia]].

===France===
{{main|French Wars of Religion}}

The French Wars of Religion (1562–1598) were primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants (Huguenots). The conflict involved the factional disputes between the aristocratic houses of France, such as the [[House of Bourbon]] and [[House of Guise]], and both sides received assistance from foreign sources. Philip claimed descent from [[Constantine I]] and [[Charlemagne]], justifying his intervention in French Wars of Religion and his continuing efforts to depose [[Henry IV of France]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lV9Xdn3c6IoC&pg=PA135|page=135|title=Clio and the Crown: The Politics of History in Medieval and Early Modern Spain|author=Richard L. Kagan|date=2009|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=978-1421401652 }}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}}

Philip signed the [[Treaty of Vaucelles]] with Henry II of France in 1556. Based on the terms of the treaty, the territory of [[County of Burgundy|Franche-Comté]] in [[Burgundy]] was to be relinquished to Philip. However, the treaty was broken shortly afterwards. France and the Spanish kingdoms waged war in northern France and Italy over the following years. Spanish victories at St. Quentin and Gravelines led to the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis, in which France recognised Spanish sovereignty over Franche-Comté.

During the [[War of the Portuguese Succession]], the pretender [[António, Prior of Crato|António]] fled to France following his defeats and, as Philip's armies had not yet occupied the [[Azores]], he sailed there with a large Anglo-French fleet under [[Filippo di Piero Strozzi|Filippo Strozzi]], a [[Florence|Florentine]] exile in the service of France. The naval [[Battle of Terceira]] took place on 26 July 1582, in the sea near the Azores, off [[São Miguel Island]], as part of the War of the Portuguese Succession and the [[Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)]]. The Spanish navy defeated the combined Anglo-French fleet that had sailed to preserve control of the Azores under António. The French naval contingent was the largest French force sent overseas before the age of [[Louis XIV]].<ref>Jan Glete p. 156</ref>

[[File:PhilipIIbust.JPG|thumb|A [[marble]] [[Bust (sculpture)|bust]] of Philip II of Spain by [[Pompeo Leoni]], [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]]]

The Spanish victory at Terceira was followed by the [[Conquest of the Azores|Battle of the Azores]] between the Portuguese loyal to the claimant António, supported by French and English troops, and the Spanish-Portuguese forces loyal to Philip commanded by the admiral Don [[Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz|Álvaro de Bazán]]. Victory in Azores completed the incorporation of [[Iberian Union|Portugal into the Spanish Empire]].<ref>Nascimiento Rodrigues/Tessaleno Devezas p. 122</ref>

Philip financed the [[Catholic League (French)|Catholic League]] during the [[French Wars of Religion]], obtaining the support of the [[Henri I, Duke of Guise|Duke of Guise]]. In 1588, Guise proposed Philip to proclaim him emperor of France with the support of [[Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon (born 1523)|Cardinal Bourbon]], which would hopefully land Guise in the royal throne, but Philip declined the title, unwilling to invest heavily in French politics at the time.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dubet|first=Anne|author-link=|title=Las monarquías española y francesa (siglos XVI-XVIII)|date=2010|publisher=Casa de Velázquez|page=77-79}}</ref>

However, he directly intervened in the final phases of the wars (1589–1598), ordering [[Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma]] into France in an effort to unseat [[Henry IV of France|Henry IV]], dreaming of placing his favourite daughter, [[Isabella Clara Eugenia]], on the French throne. [[Elisabeth of Valois]], Philip's third wife and Isabella's mother, had already ceded any claim to the French Crown with her marriage to Philip and in France the [[Salic law]] remained in effect. However, the [[Parlement of Paris]], in power of the Catholic party, gave verdict that Isabella Clara Eugenia was "the legitimate sovereign" of France. Philip's interventions in the fighting—sending the Duke of Parma to end Henry IV's [[Siege of Paris, 1590|siege of Paris]] in 1590 and the [[Siege of Rouen (1591)|siege of Rouen]] in 1592—contributed in saving the French Catholic Leagues's cause against a Protestant monarchy.

In 1593, Henry agreed to convert to Catholicism; weary of war, most French Catholics switched to his side against the hardline core of the Catholic League, who were portrayed by Henry's propagandists as puppets of a foreign monarch, Philip. By the end of 1594 certain League members were still working against Henry across the country, but all relied on the support of the Spanish Crown. In January 1595, therefore, Henry officially declared war on the Spanish Crown, to show Catholics that Philip was using religion as a cover for an attack on the French state, and Protestants that he had not become a puppet of the Spanish Crown through his conversion, while hoping to reconquer large parts of northern France from the Franco-Spanish Catholic forces.<ref>Knecht, ''French Civil Wars'' p. 272</ref>

French victory at the [[Battle of Fontaine-Française]] in Burgundy, 5 June 1595, marked an end to the Catholic League in France. The French also made some progress during an invasion of the [[Spanish Netherlands]]. They captured [[Ham, Belgium|Ham]] and massacred the small Spanish garrison, provoking anger among the Spanish ranks.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}} The Spanish launched a concerted offensive that year, taking [[Siege of Doullens|Doullens]], [[Cambrai]], and [[Siege of Le Catelet (1595)|Le Catelet]]; at Doullens, they massacred 4,000 of its citizens.<ref>{{cite book |last=Goubert |first=Pierre |title=The Course of French History |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |page=103}}</ref> On 24 April 1596, the Spanish also [[Siege of Calais (1596)|conquered Calais]]. Following the Spanish capture of [[Amiens]] in March 1597, the French Crown laid siege to it until it managed to [[Siege of Amiens (1597)|reconquer Amiens]] from the overstretched Spanish forces in September 1597. Henry then negotiated a peace with the Spanish Crown. The war was only drawn to an official close, however, with the [[Peace of Vervins]] in May 1598.

The 1598 Treaty of Vervins was largely a restatement of the 1559 Peace of Câteau-Cambrésis and Spanish forces and subsidies were withdrawn; meanwhile, Henry issued the [[Edict of Nantes]], which offered a high degree of religious toleration for French Protestants. The military interventions in France thus failed to oust Henry from the throne or suppress Protestantism in France, and yet they had played a decisive part in helping the French Catholic cause gain the conversion of Henry, ensuring that Catholicism would remain France's official and majority faith—matters of paramount importance for the devoutly Catholic Spanish king.

===Mediterranean===
{{further|Ottoman–Habsburg wars}}
[[File:Felipe IV offers Ferdinand to Glory.jpg|thumb|[[Titian]]; after the [[Battle of Lepanto]] in 1571, Philip offers his short-lived heir [[Ferdinand, Prince of Asturias|Fernando]] to Glory in this [[allegory]].]]
[[File:Tercio - Morados Viejos.svg|thumb|[[Standard (flag)|Standard]] of the {{lang|es|[[tercio]]s morados}} of the Spanish army under Philip&nbsp;II]]

In the early part of his reign Philip was concerned with the rising power of the [[Ottoman Empire]] under [[Suleiman the Magnificent]]. Fear of Islamic domination in the Mediterranean caused him to pursue an aggressive foreign policy.

In 1558, Turkish admiral [[Piyale Pasha]] captured the [[Balearic Islands]], especially inflicting great damage on [[Menorca]] and enslaving many, while raiding the coasts of the Spanish mainland. Philip appealed to the Pope and other powers in Europe to bring an end to the rising Ottoman threat. Since his father's losses against the Ottomans and against [[Hayreddin Barbarossa]] in 1541, the major European sea powers in the Mediterranean, namely the Spanish Crown and [[Republic of Venice|Venice]], became hesitant in confronting the Ottomans. The myth of "Turkish invincibility" was becoming a popular story, causing fear and panic among the people.

In 1560, Philip II organised a ''Holy League'' between the Spanish kingdoms and the Republic of Venice, the [[Republic of Genoa]], the [[Papal States]], the [[Duchy of Savoy]] and the [[Knights Hospitaller|Knights of Malta]]. The joint fleet was assembled at [[Messina]] and consisted of 200 ships (60 galleys and 140 other vessels) carrying a total of 30,000 soldiers under the command of [[Giovanni Andrea Doria]], nephew of the famous Genoese admiral [[Andrea Doria]].

On 12 March 1560, the Holy League captured the island of [[Djerba]], which had a strategic location and could control the sea routes between [[Algiers]] and [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]]. As a response, Suleiman sent an Ottoman fleet of 120 ships under the command of Piyale Pasha, which arrived at Djerba on 9 May 1560. The battle lasted until 14 May 1560, and the forces of Piyale Pasha and [[Turgut Reis]] (who joined Piyale Pasha on the third day of the battle) won an overwhelming victory at the [[Battle of Djerba]]. The Holy League lost 60 ships (30 galleys) and 20,000 men, and Giovanni Andrea Doria was barely able to escape with a small vessel. The Ottomans retook the Fortress of Djerba, whose Spanish commander, D. [[Álvaro de Sande]], attempted to escape with a ship but was followed and eventually captured by Turgut Reis.

In 1563, capitalizing on the political climate, the [[Regency of Algiers]] launched the [[sieges of Oran and Mers El Kébir]] in a large scale attempt to dislodge the major Spanish positions in Northern Africa, but the attempt met failure. Philip's rebuilt navy then [[Conquest of the Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera (1564)|conquered Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera]] the following year. The Ottomans sent a [[Siege of Malta (1565)|large expedition to Malta]], which laid siege to several forts on the island and took some of them, but the Spanish sent a relief force under D. [[García Álvarez de Toledo y Osorio|García de Toledo]] and a rescued Álvaro de Sande, which finally drove the Ottoman army out of the island.

The grave threat posed by the increasing Ottoman domination of the Mediterranean was finally reversed in one of history's most decisive battles, with the destruction of nearly the entire Ottoman fleet at the [[Battle of Lepanto]] in 1571, by the [[Holy League (1571)|Holy League]] under the command of Philip's half brother, Don [[John of Austria]], and Don [[Álvaro de Bazán, Marquis of Santa Cruz|Álvaro de Bazán]]. The battle was followed by the [[skirmish at Cerigo Channel]], where John of Austria's lieutenant [[Marcantonio Colonna]] put the rebuilt Ottoman fleet to flight. However, the Holy League would disband shortly after.

A fleet sent by Philip, again commanded by Don John, [[Conquest of Tunis (1573)|reconquered Tunis]] from the Ottomans in 1573. The Turks soon rebuilt their fleet, and in 1574 [[Uluç Ali Reis]] managed to [[Conquest of Tunis (1574)|recapture Tunis]] with a force of 250 galleys and a siege that lasted 40 days, with thousands of Spanish and Italian soldiers became prisoners. Nevertheless, Lepanto marked a permanent reversal in the balance of naval power in the Mediterranean and the end of the threat of Ottoman control. In 1585 a peace treaty was signed with the Ottomans.{{Citation needed|reason=The name of this treaty?|date=May 2024}}

===Strait of Magellan===
{{further|Spanish colonization attempt of the Strait of Magellan}}
[[File:Philip II of Spain armor DSC02246.JPG|thumb|upright=.6|Armour of Philip&nbsp;II]]
During Philip's reign Spain considered the [[Pacific Ocean]] a ''[[mare clausum]]''—a sea closed to other naval powers— as the only known entrance from the Atlantic, the [[Strait of Magellan]] was at times patrolled by fleets sent to prevent entrance of non-Spanish ships.<ref name="lytle">{{Citation
| last       = Lytle Schurz
| first      = William
| title      = The Spanish Lake
| journal    = The Hispanic American Historical Review
| volume     = 5
| issue      = 2
| year       = 1922
| pages      = 181–194
| doi        = 10.1215/00182168-5.2.181
| jstor      = 2506024
| doi-access = free
}}</ref>

To end navigation by rival powers in the Strait of Magellan Spanish viceroy [[Francisco de Toledo]] ordered [[Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa]] to explore the strait and found settlements on its shores.<ref name="MCLEstrecho">{{Cite journal| url = http://www.memoriachilena.cl/602/w3-article-641.html
| title = Navegantes europeos en el estrecho de Magallanes
| journal = Memoria Chilena
| publisher = [[Biblioteca Nacional de Chile]]
| access-date = 30 September 2014
| language = es
}}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}}

In 1584, Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa founded two colonies in the strait: [[Nombre de Jesús (Patagonia)|Nombre de Jesús]], and [[Puerto del Hambre|Ciudad del Rey Don Felipe]]. The latter was established north of the strait with 300 settlers.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.artehistoria.jcyl.es/cronicas/contextos/10105.htm|title=Relación y derrotero del viaje y descubrimiento del Estrecho de la Madre de Dios – antes llamado de Magallanes|language=es|quote=Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, según Amancio Landín, uno de sus más reputados biógrafos, nació en Pontevedra, hacia 1532. Julio Guillén—el marino-académico—, por su parte, dice que es posible fuera Colegial Mayor en la Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, ciudad que fue—asegura—cuna del gran marino español. Este, no ha dejado aclarada la duda sobre su origen geográfico, pues afirmó ser natural de ambos lugares.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080922103737/http://www.artehistoria.jcyl.es/cronicas/contextos/10105.htm|archive-date=22 September 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Sarmiento de Gamboa |first=Pedro |others=Translated by Clements R. Markham |title=Narratives of the Voyages of Pedro De Gamboa to the Straits of Magellan |location=London |publisher=Hakluyt Society |year=1895 |url=https://archive.org/details/narrativesofvoya00sarm }}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}} The new colonies suffered from high death rates, likely as a consequence of executions, brawls, violent encounters with indigenous peoples and diseases which were rife.{{sfn|Martinic|1977|p=119}} A contributing cause for failure of the settlement may have been poor morale, an issue that plagued the venture almost from the beginning.{{Sfn|Martinic|1977|p=119}} This can in part be explained by a series of difficulties the expedition had to go through between the departure from Spain and the arrival to the strait.{{sfn|Martinic|1977|p=119}} Philip II's inaction despite repeated pleas by Sarmiento to aid the ailing colony has been attributed to the strain on Spain's resources that resulted from wars with England and Dutch rebels.{{sfn|Martinic|1977|p=121}}

In 1587, English corsairs renamed Ciudad del Rey Don Felipe, Puerto del Hambre, or "Port Famine". Most of the settlers had died from cold or starvation.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blogpatagonia.australis.com/history-strait-of-magellan/|title=History of the Strait of Magellan|access-date=25 October 2019|date=7 April 2017}}</ref> When Sir [[Thomas Cavendish]] landed at the site of Rey Don Felipe in 1587, he found only ruins of the settlement.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wilson |first=Derek |title=A Brief History of Circumnavigators |date=2013 |publisher=Little, Brown Book Group |isbn=978-1-4721-1329-0 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XDGeBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT40 |language=en |chapter=3. The Triumph of Desire}}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}} The Spanish failure at colonizing the Strait of Magellan caused [[Chiloé Archipelago]] to assume the role of protecting western Patagonia from foreign intrusions.<ref name=Urbina2013>{{cite journal |last=Urbina C. |first=M. Ximena |date=2013 |title=Expediciones a las costas de la Patagonia Occidental en el periodo colonial |language=es |journal=[[Magallania]] |volume=41 |issue=2 |pages=51–84 |doi= 10.4067/S0718-22442013000200002|doi-access=free |hdl=10533/140447 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> [[Valdivia]] and Chiloé acted as sentries, being hubs where the Spanish collected intelligence from all over Patagonia.<ref name=Urbina2017>{{cite journal |last=Urbina C. |first=María Ximena |date=2017 |title=La expedición de John Narborough a Chile, 1670: Defensa de Valdivia, rumeros de indios, informaciones de los prisioneros y la creencia en la Ciudad de los Césares |trans-title=John Narborough expedition to Chile, 1670: Defense of Valdivia, indian rumors, information on prisoners, and the belief in the City of the Césares |journal=[[Magallania]] |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=11–36 |doi=10.4067/S0718-22442017000200011 |doi-access=free |hdl=10533/232318 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

===Revolt in the Netherlands===
{{Main|Eighty Years' War}}

[[File:Philip II of Spain berating William the Silent Prince of Orange by Cornelis Kruseman.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|left|Philip II berating William of Orange, by [[Cornelis Kruseman]]]]
Philip's rule in the [[Seventeen Provinces]] known collectively as the [[Habsburg Netherlands|Netherlands]] faced many difficulties, leading to [[Eighty Years' War|open warfare]] in 1568. He appointed his half-sister [[Margaret of Parma]] as Governor of the Netherlands, when he left the low countries for the Spanish kingdoms in 1559, but forced her to adjust policy to the advice of [[Cardinal Granvelle]], who was greatly disliked in the Netherlands, after he insisted on direct control over events in the Netherlands despite being over two weeks' ride away in Madrid. There was discontent in the Netherlands about Philip's taxation demands and the incessant [[Inquisition of the Netherlands|persecution]] of Protestants. In 1566, Protestant preachers sparked anti-clerical riots known as the [[Dutch Revolt#1566 — Iconoclasm and repression|Iconoclast Fury]]; in response to growing Protestant influence, the army of the [[Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba|Duke of Alba]] went on the offensive. In 1568, Alba had [[Lamoral, Count of Egmont]] and [[Philip de Montmorency, Count of Horn]] executed in [[Brussels]]' [[Grand-Place|central square]], further alienating the local aristocracy. There were massacres of civilians in [[Spanish Fury at Mechelen|Mechelen]],<ref name="Nierop69-70">[[Henk van Nierop]], ''Treason in the Northern Quarter: War, Terror, and the Rule of Law in the Dutch Revolt'' (Princeton University Press, 2009), 69–70.</ref> [[Massacre of Naarden|Naarden]],<ref>Henk van Nierop, ''Treason in the Northern Quarter: War, Terror, and the Rule of Law in the Dutch Revolt'' (Princeton University Press, 2009), 177.</ref> [[Zutphen]]<ref name="Nierop69-70"/> and [[Haarlem]]. In 1571, Alba erected at [[Antwerp]] a bronze statue of himself trampling the rebellious Dutch under his horse's hooves, cast from the melted-down cannon looted by the Spanish troops after the [[Battle of Jemmingen]] in 1568; it was modelled on medieval images of the Spanish patron [[James Matamoros|Saint James "the Moorslayer"]] riding down Muslims and caused such outrage that Philip had it removed and destroyed.<ref name=Goodwin>{{cite book |last=Goodwin |first=Robert |title=Spain: The Centre of the World 1519–1682 |date=2015 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |pages=179–180}}</ref>

In 1572, a prominent exiled member of the Dutch aristocracy, [[William the Silent]], [[Prince of Orange]], invaded the Netherlands with a Protestant army, but he only succeeded in holding two provinces, [[County of Holland|Holland]] and [[County of Zeeland|Zeeland]]. Because of the Spanish repulse in the [[Siege of Alkmaar]] (1573) led by his equally brutal son [[Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, 4th Duke of Alba|Fadrique]],<ref name=Goodwin/> Alba resigned his command, replaced by [[Luis de Requesens y Zúñiga]]. Alba boasted that he had burned or executed 18,600 persons in the Netherlands,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://necrometrics.com/pre1700a.htm#Ne1566|title=Twentieth Century Atlas – Historical Body Count|website=necrometrics.com}}</ref> in addition to the far greater number he massacred during the war, many of them women and children; 8,000 persons were burned or hanged in one year, and the total number of Alba's [[Flemish people|Flemish]] victims can not have fallen short of 50,000.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sharp Hume |first=Martín Andrew |title=The Spanish People: Their Origin, Growth and Influence |page=372}}</ref> Under Requesens, the [[Army of Flanders]] reached a peak strength of 86,000 in 1574 and retained its battlefield superiority, destroying [[Louis of Nassau]]'s German mercenary army at the [[Battle of Mookerheyde]] on 14 April 1574, killing both him and his brother [[Henry of Nassau-Dillenburg]].

Rampant inflation and the loss of [[Spanish treasure fleet|treasure fleets]] from the [[New World]] prevented Philip from paying his soldiers consistently, leading to the so-called [[Spanish Fury]] at [[Sack of Antwerp|Antwerp]] in 1576, where soldiers ran amok through the streets, burning more than 1,000 homes and killing 6,000 citizens.<ref>Henry Kamen, ''Philip of Spain'' (Yale University Press, 1997), 160.</ref> Philip sent in [[Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma]], as Governor-General of the [[Spanish Netherlands]] from 1578 to 1592. Farnese defeated the rebels at the [[Battle of Gembloux (1578)]],<ref>James Tracy, ''The Founding of the Dutch Republic: War, Finance, and Politics in Holland, 1572–1588'' (Oxford University Press, 2008), 141.</ref> and he captured many rebel towns in the south: [[Siege of Maastricht (1579)|Maastricht]] (1579), [[Tournai]] (1581), [[Oudenaarde]] (1582), [[Dunkirk]] (1583), [[Bruges]] (1584), [[Siege of Ghent (1583–1584)|Ghent]] (1584), and [[Fall of Antwerp|Antwerp]] (1585).<ref>{{cite book |last=Black |first=Jeremy |title=The Cambridge Illustrated Atlas of Warfare: Renaissance to Revolution, 1492–1792|volume =2 |date=1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521470339 |page=58}}</ref>

[[File:Beloningsbrief van koning Filips II van Spanje aan Balthasar Gerards, 1590.jpg|thumb|Reward letter of Philip II to the family of [[Balthasar Gerards]], assassin of [[William the Silent]], 1590]]
The [[States General of the Netherlands|States General]] of the northern provinces, united in the 1579 [[Union of Utrecht]], passed an [[Act of Abjuration]] in 1581 declaring that they no longer recognised Philip as their king. The [[southern Netherlands]] (what is now Belgium and Luxembourg) remained under Spanish rule. In 1584, [[William the Silent]] was assassinated by [[Balthasar Gérard]], after Philip had offered a reward of 25,000 crowns to anyone who killed him, calling him a "pest on the whole of Christianity and the enemy of the human race". The Dutch forces continued to fight on under Orange's son [[Maurice of Nassau]], who received modest help from the Queen of England in 1585. The Dutch gained an advantage over the Spanish because of their growing economic strength, in contrast to Philip's burgeoning economic troubles. The war came to an [[Peace of Westphalia|end in 1648]], when the [[Dutch Republic]] was recognised by the Spanish Crown as independent. The eight decades of war came at a massive human cost, with an estimated 600,000 to 700,000 victims, of which 350,000 to 400,000 were civilians killed by disease and what would later be considered [[war crime]]s.<ref>{{cite web|title=Victimario Histórico Militar|url=http://remilitari.com/guias/victimario9.htm}}</ref>

==King of Portugal==
{{Main|Iberian Union}}

[[File:Anthony I of Portugal.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Anthony I of Portugal]]]]
In 1578 young King [[Sebastian of Portugal]] died at the [[Battle of Alcácer Quibir]] without descendants, triggering a [[1580 Portuguese succession crisis|succession crisis]]. His granduncle, the elderly [[Henry, King of Portugal|Cardinal Henry]], succeeded him as king, but Henry had no descendants either, having taken holy orders. When Henry died two years after Sebastian's disappearance, three grandchildren of [[Manuel I of Portugal|Manuel I]] claimed the throne: [[Infanta Catarina, Duchess of Braganza]]; [[António, Prior of Crato]]; and Philip II of Spain. António was acclaimed [[King of Portugal]] in many cities and towns throughout the country, but members of the Council of Governors of Portugal who had supported Philip escaped to the Spanish kingdoms and declared him to be the legal successor of Henry.

In 1580, Philip II marched into Portugal and defeated Prior António's troops in the [[Battle of Alcântara (1580)|Battle of Alcântara]]. The Portuguese suffered 4,000 killed, wounded, or captured, while the Spanish sustained only 500 casualties.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tucker |first=Spencer C. |title=500 Great Military Leaders |volume=1 & 2|date=2014 |page=19}}</ref> The troops commanded by [[Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba]]<ref>[[Geoffrey Parker (historian)|Parker, Geoffrey]], ''The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road, 1567–1659: The Logistics of Spanish Victory and Defeat in the Low Countries' Wars'', London: Cambridge University Press, 1972 {{ISBN|0-521-08462-8}}, p. 35.</ref> imposed subjection to Philip before entering Lisbon, where he seized an immense treasure.<ref>[[Henry Kamen|Kamen, Henry]], ''The Duke of Alba'', New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004.</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}} Philip II of Spain assumed the Portuguese throne and was crowned ''Philip&nbsp;I'' of Portugal on 17 July 1580<ref>Hatton, Barry, ''Queen of the Sea: A History of Lisbon'', London: C. Hurst & Co., 2018, p. 89.</ref> (recognized as king by the [[Portuguese Cortes]] of [[Tomar]]) and a near sixty-year [[personal union]] under the rule of the [[Philippine Dynasty]] began. This gave Philip control of the extensive [[Portuguese Empire]]. When Philip left for Madrid in 1583, he made his nephew [[Albert VII, Archduke of Austria|Albert of Austria]] his viceroy in Lisbon. In Madrid he established a [[Council of Portugal]] to advise him on Portuguese affairs, giving prominent positions to Portuguese nobles in the Spanish courts, and allowing Portugal to maintain autonomous law, currency, and government. This followed on the well-established pattern of [[Polysynodial System|rule by councils]].

[[File:ImperioDeFelipeII.svg|thumb|Spanish Empire of Philip II, III and IV including all charted and claimed territories, maritime claims (''mare clausum'') and other features]]

==Relations with England and Ireland==

===King of England and Ireland===
[[File:Philip II.jpg|thumb|Titian's [[Philip II in Armour|portrait]] of Philip as prince (1551), aged about 24, dressed in a lavishly decorated set of armour]]
[[File:Philip & Mary Irish groat 602446.jpg|thumb|left|Irish [[Groat (English coin)|groat]] with Philip's and Mary's initials and portraits]]

Philip's father arranged his marriage to 37-year-old Queen [[Mary I]] of England, Charles' maternal first cousin. His father ceded the crown of Naples, as well as his claim to the [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]], to him. Their [[Wedding of Mary I of England and Philip of Spain|marriage]] at [[Winchester Cathedral]] on 25 July 1554{{NoteTag|Philip was made [[King of Naples]] on the same day.}} took place just two days after their first meeting. Philip's view of the affair was entirely political. Lord Chancellor [[Stephen Gardiner]] and the [[House of Commons of England|House of Commons]] petitioned Mary to consider marrying an Englishman, preferring [[Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon|Edward Courtenay]].

Under the terms of the [[Act for the Marriage of Queen Mary to Philip of Spain]], Philip was to enjoy Mary I's titles and honours for as long as their marriage should last. All official documents, including [[Act of Parliament|acts of Parliament]], were to be dated with both their names, and [[Parliament of England|Parliament]] was to be called under the joint authority of the couple. Coins were also to show the heads of both Mary and Philip. The marriage treaty also provided that England would not be obliged to provide military support to Philip's father in any war. The Privy Council instructed that Philip and Mary should be joint signatories of royal documents, and this was enacted by an act of Parliament, the [[Queen Mary's Marriage Act 1554]] ([[1 Mar Sess. 3]]. c. 2), which gave him the title of king and stated that he "shall aid her Highness ... in the happy administration of her Grace's realms and dominions".<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Adams |editor-first1=George Burton |editor-last2=Stephens |editor-first2=H. Morse |chapter=An Act for the Marriage of Queen Mary to Philip of Spain |title=Select Documents of English Constitutional History |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/documentsofengli00adamiala#page/282/mode/2up |date=1901 |publisher=MacMillan |page=284 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> In other words, Philip was to co-reign with his wife.<ref name="Montrose">Louis Adrian Montrose, ''The subject of Elizabeth: authority, gender, and representation'', University of Chicago Press, 2006</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Berenguer |first=Gonzalo Velasco |url=https://brill.com/display/title/56814 |title=Habsburg England: Politics and Religion in the Reign of Philip I (1554–1558) |date=2023 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-53621-0 |language=en}}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}} As the new King of England could not read English, it was ordered that a note of all matters of state should be made in Latin or Spanish.<ref name=Montrose/><ref name="Pollard">A. F. Pollard, ''The History of England – From the Accession of Edward VI. to the Death of Elizabeth (1547–1603)'', Read Books, 2007</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}}<ref name="Groot">Wim de Groot, ''The Seventh Window: The King's Window Donated by Philip II and Mary Tudor to Sint Janskerk in Gouda (1557)'', Uitgeverij Verloren, 2005</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}}

[[File:Philip II of Spain and Mary I of England.jpg|thumb|left|Philip and Mary&nbsp;I of England, 1558]]

Acts making it high treason to deny Philip's royal authority were passed by the [[Parliament of Ireland]] (the [[Treason Act 1556]])<ref name="Edwards">Robert Dudley Edwards, ''Ireland in the age of the Tudors: the destruction of Hiberno-Norman civilisation'', Taylor & Francis, 1977</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}} and England (the [[Treason Act 1554]]). Philip and Mary appeared on coins together, with a single crown suspended between them as a symbol of joint reign. The Great Seal shows Philip and Mary seated on thrones, holding the crown together.<ref name=Montrose/> The [[coat of arms of England]] was impaled with Philip's to denote their joint reign.<ref name="Marks">Richard Marks, Ann Payne, British Museum, British Library; ''British heraldry from its origins to c. 1800''; British Museum Publications Ltd., 1978</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}}<ref name="ANA">''The Numismatist'', American Numismatic Association, 1971</ref> During their joint reign, they waged war against France, which resulted in the [[Siege of Calais (1558)|loss of Calais]], England's last remaining possession in France.

Philip's wife had succeeded to the [[Kingdom of Ireland]], but the title of [[Crown of Ireland Act 1542|King of Ireland]] had been created in 1542 by Mary's father, [[Henry VIII]], after he was excommunicated, and so it was not recognised by Catholic monarchs. In 1555, [[Pope Paul IV]] rectified this by issuing a [[papal bull]] recognising Philip and Mary as rightful King and Queen of Ireland.<ref>{{cite web|author=Francois Velde|url=http://www.heraldica.org/topics/national/ireland_docs.htm#bull1555|title=Text of 1555 Bull|publisher=Heraldica.org|date=25 July 2003|access-date=22 August 2012}}</ref> [[County Offaly|King's County]] and [[Daingean|Philipstown]] in Ireland were named after Philip as King of Ireland in 1556. The couple's joint royal style after Philip ascended the Spanish throne in 1556 was: ''Philip and Mary, by the Grace of God, King and Queen of England, Spain, France, Jerusalem, both the Sicilies and Ireland, Defenders of the Faith, Archdukes of Austria, Dukes of Burgundy, Milan and Brabant, Counts of Habsburg, Flanders and Tirol''.

However, the couple had no children. Mary died in 1558 before the union could revitalise the [[Catholic Church in England and Wales|Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales]].{{citation needed|reason=source and page needed for this exact assertion. The English schism was lifted by 1554 and Sarum use was restored in her reign which is written as being a reversion to Catholicism on the Mary I page|date=May 2025}} With her death, Philip lost his rights to the English throne (including the ancient [[English claims to the French throne]]) and ceased to be king of England, Ireland and (as claimed by them) France.

Philip's great-grandson, [[Philippe I, Duke of Orléans]], married Princess [[Henrietta of England]] in 1661; in 1807, the [[Jacobitism|Jacobite]] claim to the British throne passed to the descendants of their child [[Anne Marie d'Orléans]].

===After Mary I's death===
{{further|Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)}}
[[File:Dominios de Felipe II.svg|thumb|upright=1.6|Philip's European and North African dominions in 1581]]

Upon Mary's death, the throne went to [[Elizabeth I]]. Philip had no wish to sever his tie with England, and had sent a proposal of marriage to Elizabeth. However, she delayed in answering, and in that time learned Philip was also considering a [[House of Valois|Valois]] alliance. Elizabeth I was the Protestant daughter of [[Henry VIII]] and [[Anne Boleyn]]. This union was deemed illegitimate by English Catholics, who disputed the validity of both the annulment of Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon and of his subsequent marriage to Boleyn, and hence claimed that [[Mary, Queen of Scots]], the Catholic great-granddaughter of [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]], was the rightful monarch.

For many years Philip maintained peace with England, and even defended Elizabeth from the Pope's threat of excommunication. This was a measure taken to preserve a European balance of power. Ultimately, Elizabeth allied England with the Protestant rebels in the Netherlands. Further, English ships began a policy of [[privateer]]ing against Spain's merchant shipping and started threatening the Spanish treasure ships coming from the New World. In one instance, English ships attacked a Spanish port. The last straw for Philip was the [[Treaty of Nonsuch]] signed by Elizabeth in 1585—promising troops and supplies to the anti-Spanish rebels in the Netherlands. Although it can be argued this English action was the result of Philip's [[Treaty of Joinville]] with the [[Catholic League (French)|Catholic League of France]], Philip considered it an act of war by England.
[[File:Invincible Armada.jpg|thumb|A late 16th-century painting of the [[Spanish Armada]] in battle with English warships]]
The execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1587 ended Philip's hopes of placing a Catholic on the English throne. He turned instead to more direct plans to invade England and return the country to Catholicism. In 1588, he sent a fleet, the [[Spanish Armada]], to rendezvous with the [[Army of Flanders]] and convey it across the English Channel. However, the operation had little chance of success from the beginning, because of lengthy delays, lack of communication between Philip II and his two commanders and the lack of a deep bay for the fleet. At the point of attack, a storm struck the [[English Channel]], already known for its harsh currents and choppy waters, which devastated large numbers of the Spanish fleet. There was a tightly fought battle against the English [[Royal Navy]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Grant |first=R. G. |title=1001 Battles That Changed the Course of History |date=2017 |page=296}}</ref> and the Spanish were forced into a retreat, and the overwhelming majority of the Armada was destroyed by the harsh weather. Although the English Royal Navy did not destroy the Armada at the Battle of Gravelines, they prevented it from linking up with the army it was supposed to convey across the channel. Thus, while the English Royal Navy only won a slight tactical victory over the Spanish, it had delivered a major strategic victory—preventing the invasion of England. Through a week of fighting the Spanish had expended 100,000 cannonballs, but no English ship was seriously damaged.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tucker |first=Spencer |title=Battles that Changed History: An Encyclopedia of World Conflict |date=2011 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |page=183}}</ref> However, over 7,000 English sailors died from disease during the time the Armada was in English waters.

The defeat of the Spanish Armada gave great heart to the Protestant cause across Europe. The storm that smashed the Armada was seen by many of Philip's enemies as a sign of the will of God. While the invasion had been averted, England was unable to take advantage of this success. An attempt to use her newfound advantage at sea with a [[English Armada|counter-armada]] the following year failed disastrously with 40 ships sunk and 15,000 men lost.<ref>[[Cesáreo Fernández Duro|Fernández Duro, Cesáreo]] (1972). ''Armada Española desde la Unión de los Reinos de Castilla y Aragón.'' Museo Naval de Madrid, Instituto de Historia y Cultura Naval, Volume III, Chapter III. Madrid. p. 51</ref> Likewise, English buccaneering and attempts to seize territories in the Caribbean were defeated by Spain's rebuilt navy and their improved intelligence networks (although [[Capture of Cádiz|Cádiz was sacked]] by an Anglo-Dutch force after a failed attempt to seize the treasure fleet). The Habsburgs also struck back with the [[Dunkirkers]], who took an increasing toll on Dutch and English shipping.

Eventually, the Spanish attempted two further Armadas, in October 1596 and October 1597. The [[2nd Spanish Armada|1596 Armada]] was destroyed in a storm off northern Spain; it had lost as many as 72 of its 126 ships and suffered 3,000 deaths. The [[3rd Spanish Armada|1597 Armada]] was frustrated by adverse weather as it approached the English coast undetected. This [[Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)]] would be fought to a grinding end, but not until both Philip II (d. 1598) and Elizabeth I (d. 1603) were dead. Some of the fighting was done on land in Ireland, France, and the Netherlands, with the English sending expeditionary forces to France and the Netherlands to fight Spain, and Spain attempting to assist Irish rebellions in Ireland.

==Death==
Philip II died on 13 September 1598 at [[El Escorial]], aged 71, after a prolonged illness, likely [[cancer]].<ref>{{citation |last=Koenigsberger |first=Helmut Georg |title=Philip II |year=2012 |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/456081/Philip-II |access-date=31 January 2012 |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica Online}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=13 September 2024 |title=The Death and Legacy of Philip II |url=https://rebelsorbeggars.com/blog/the-death-and-legacy-of-philip-ii/ |access-date=12 August 2025 |website=Rebels or Beggars: Renaissance History |language=en-US}}</ref> He was surrounded by priests, family, and trusted officials. His personal chamber was divided into a main room, bedroom, study, and oratory, following the layout of his father's monastery.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Spain |first=Fascinating |date=27 June 2022 |title=El Escorial, and the room where "Philip the Prudent" died |url=https://www.fascinatingspain.com/articulo/what-to-see-in-community-of-madrid/el-escorial-philip-the-prudent/20220627085845067371.html |access-date=12 August 2025 |website=Fascinating Spain |language=en}}</ref> The most notable feature was the monarch's bed, still preserved, which was positioned so he could observe the [[liturgy]] at the church's main [[altar]] from his bedside.<ref name=":1" /> Despite severe pain in his final months, he continued to review state papers and correspondence.<ref name=":1" /> The [[Funeral oration (ancient Greece)|funeral oration]] honouring the virtues of Philip&nbsp;II is attributed to [[Tomás Fernández de Medrano]], Lord of Valdeosera, author of the ''[[República Mista]]'' (1602), and a trusted adviser and crown official under both Philip&nbsp;II and Philip III.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Proyectos |first=HI Iberia Ingeniería y |title=Tomás Fernández de Medrano |url=https://historia-hispanica.rah.es/biografias/16936-tomas-fernandez-medrano |access-date=3 May 2025 |website=historia-hispanica.rah.es |language=es}}</ref>

Philip II governed one of the largest and most diverse empires in history, encompassing the [[Iberian Peninsula]], [[Spanish America]], parts of [[Africa]], the [[Low Countries]], parts of [[Italy]], and territories as far away as [[Asia]], including the [[Philippines]], which was named in his honour.<ref name=":1" /> He was succeeded by his 20-year-old son, [[Philip III of Spain|Philip III]], who inherited a vast but financially strained empire.<ref name=":0" />

==Legacy==
{{Main|Cultural depictions of Philip II of Spain}}

[[File:Philip II's realms in 1598.png|thumb|upright=1.35|Philip's dominions in 1598, coloured by governing council:
{{Legend inline|#008000|[[Council of Castile|Castile]]}}
{{Legend inline|#f5ab12|[[Council of Aragon|Aragon]]}}
{{Legend inline|#0000ff|[[Council of Portugal|Portugal]]}}
{{Legend inline|#800000|[[Council of Italy|Italy]]}}
{{Legend inline|#ff0000|[[Council of the Indies|the Indies]]}}
{{Legend inline|#d87ada|[[Council of Flanders|Flanders]]}}
]]

Under Philip II, Spain reached the peak of its power. However, in spite of the great and increasing quantities of gold and silver flowing into his coffers from the American mines, the riches of the Portuguese spice trade, and the enthusiastic support of the Habsburg dominions for the [[Counter-Reformation]], he would never succeed in suppressing Protestantism or defeating the Dutch rebellion. Early in his reign, the Dutch might have laid down their weapons if he had desisted in trying to suppress Protestantism,{{citation needed|date=October 2013}} but his devotion to Catholicism would not permit him to do so. He was a devout Catholic and exhibited the typical 16th century antipathy for religious heterodoxy; he said, "Before suffering the slightest damage to religion in the service of God, I would lose all of my estates and a hundred lives, if I had them, because I do not intend nor do I desire to be the ruler of heretics."<ref>{{YouTube|id=qhlAqklH0do#t=21m27s|title=The Myth of the Spanish Inquisition}} (at 21:27 – 21:40). BBC.</ref>

As he strove to enforce Catholic orthodoxy through an intensification of the [[Spanish Inquisition|Inquisition]], students were barred from studying elsewhere, and books printed by Spaniards outside the kingdom were banned. In addition to the banning of books, Philip II authorized the burning of at least 70,000 volumes.<ref name="auto">{{Cite book |last=Murray |first=Stuart |title=The library: an illustrated history |date=2009 |publisher=Skyhorse Pub |isbn=978-1-60239-706-4 |location=New York, NY}}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}} Even a highly respected churchman like Archbishop [[Bartolome Carranza]] of Toledo was jailed by the Inquisition for 17 years, for publishing ideas that seemed sympathetic in some degree with Protestantism. Such strict enforcement of orthodox belief was successful, and Spain avoided the religiously inspired strife tearing apart other European dominions.

Although he was deeply dedicated to rooting out heretical titles, he collected forbidden books for his own royal library at the El Escorial. His library contained 40,000 volumes (1,800 of which were Arabic titles) and several thousand manuscripts.<ref name="auto"/>{{page needed|date=March 2025}} The banned books were protected in a room on an upper floor of the library. He was passionate about rare books he personally collected from far and wide and researched and recorded information about previous owners.<ref name="auto"/>{{page needed|date=March 2025}}

Due in part to Philip's [[Renaissance humanism|humanist]] education,<ref name="Humanism"/> the [[School of Salamanca]] flourished under his reign. [[Martín de Azpilcueta]], highly honoured at Rome by several popes and looked on as an oracle of learning, published his ''Manuale sive Enchiridion Confessariorum et Poenitentium'' (Rome, 1568), long a classical text in the schools and in ecclesiastical practice. [[Francisco Suárez]], generally regarded as the greatest scholastic after [[Thomas Aquinas]] and regarded during his lifetime as being the greatest living philosopher and theologian, was writing and lecturing, not only in Spain but also in Rome (1580–1585), where [[Pope Gregory XIII]] attended the first lecture that he gave. [[Luis de Molina]] published his ''De liberi arbitrii cum gratiae donis, divina praescientia, praedestinatione et reprobatione concordia'' (1588), wherein he put forth the doctrine attempting to reconcile the [[omniscience]] of God with human [[free will]] that came to be known as [[Molinism]], thereby contributing to what was one of the most important intellectual debates of the time; Molinism became the ''de facto'' [[Jesuit]] doctrine on these matters, and is still advocated today by [[William Lane Craig]] and [[Alvin Plantinga]], among others.

[[File:Felipe II de España 01.jpg|upright|thumb|Statue of Philip II at the [[Sabatini Gardens]] in Madrid ([[Felipe de Castro|F. Castro]], 1753)]]

Philip had a passion for architecture and building, seeking to improve Spain's constructions after those of Italy and the Netherlands. At the same time, he personally favoured fields and forests, indulging often in hunting and fishing, and was an obsessive builder of gardens. In 1582 he issued orders to conservate the Spanish forests, worrying that they might get depleted. According to historian [[Henry Kamen]], "his love of nature turned him into one of the first [[Ecologism|ecologist]] rulers in European history".{{sfnp|Kamen|1999|p=182-183}}

Because Philip II was the most powerful European monarch in an era of war and religious conflict,<ref>Fernández Álvarez, Manuel. ''Felipe II y su tiempo''. [[Espasa-Calpe]], Madrid, 6th ed. {{ISBN|84-239-9736-7}} In the introduction to this work, Felipe is mentioned as the most powerful European monarch by resources and army, depicting Europe at the time as a world full of unsolved issues and religious conflicts</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}} evaluating both his reign and the man himself has become a controversial historical subject.<ref>Fernández Álvarez, Manuel. ''Felipe II y su tiempo'' (6th ed.). Espasa Calpe, Madrid. {{ISBN|84-239-9736-7}}. Yet again, the several points of view towards his reign are mentioned in the Introduction.</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}} Even before his death in 1598, his supporters had started presenting him as an archetypical gentleman, full of piety and Christian virtues, whereas his enemies depicted him as a fanatical and despotic monster, responsible for inhuman cruelties and barbarism.<ref>Kamen, Henry. ''Felipe de España'', Madrid, Siglo XXI, 1997. Cultural depictions of the King are mentioned, although Kamen tends to place himself with those favouring the King.</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}} This dichotomy, further developed into the so-called [[Spanish Black Legend]] and [[White Legend]], was helped by King Philip himself. Philip prohibited any biographical account of his life to be published while he was alive, and he ordered that all his private correspondence be burned shortly before he died.<ref>Fernández Álvarez, Manuel. ''Felipe II y su tiempo''. Espasa Calpe, Madrid, 6th ed. {{ISBN|84-239-9736-7}}. He discusses the lack of correspondence of the king because he ordered it burned, thus avoiding any chance of getting further into Philip's private life.</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}}

Moreover, Philip did nothing to defend himself after being betrayed by his ambitious [[Secretary of State (Ancient Regime in Spain)|secretary]] [[Antonio Pérez (statesman)|Antonio Pérez]], who published incredible calumnies against his former master; this allowed Pérez's tales to spread all around Europe unchallenged.<ref>Vid. Marañón, Gregorio. ''Antonio Pérez: el hombre, el drama, la época''. Madrid, Espasa Calpe, 1951, 2 vols. Judiciously argued review on the harm Perez did to the king, analyzing the king's responsibility on the assassination of Escobedo.</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}} That way, the popular image of the King that survives to today was created on the eve of his death, at a time when many European princes and religious leaders were turned against Spain as a pillar of the [[Counter-Reformation]]. This means that many histories depict Philip from deeply prejudiced points of view, usually negative.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.authorama.com/ten-great-events-in-history-8.html |title=Ten Great Events in History – Chapter VII. The Invincible Armada |first=James |last=Johonnot |publisher=Authorama.com |access-date=22 August 2012}}</ref>

Some historians classify this anti-Spanish analysis as part of the [[Black Legend]]. In a more recent example of popular culture, Philip II's portrayal in ''[[Fire Over England]]'' (1937) is not entirely unsympathetic; he is shown as a very hardworking, intelligent, religious, somewhat paranoid ruler whose prime concern is his country, but who had no understanding of the English, despite his former co-monarchy there.
[[File:Naval Battle of Lepanto.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of Lepanto]] in 1571, a major victory for the [[Holy League (1571)|Holy League]] under the command of Philip II's half-brother [[John of Austria]].]]
Even in countries that remained Catholic, primarily France and the Italian states, fear and envy of Spanish success and domination created a wide receptiveness for the worst possible descriptions of Philip II. Although some efforts have been made to separate legend from reality,<ref>Hume, Martin. ''Philip II of Spain'', London, 1897. Martin tried to resurrect the prejudiced views concerning the king, as did Carl Bratli in his ''Filip of Spanien'' (Koebenhaven, 1909). By contrast, Ludwig Pfandl, in ''Felipe II. Bosquejo de una vida y un tiempo'', Munich, 1938, assessed Philip's personality negatively.</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}} that task has proved extremely difficult, since many prejudices are rooted in the cultural heritage of European countries. Spanish-speaking historians tend to assess his political and military achievements, sometimes deliberately avoiding issues such as the King's inflexible Catholicism.<ref>In ''Felipe II'' (Madrid, 1943), W. T. Walsh depicts Felipe's reign as prosperous and successful. Fernández Álvarez, in ''España y los españoles en la Edad Moderna'' (Salamanca, 1979), points out how White Legend supporters flourished during the 1940s and 1950s, and how they omitted the darkest issues of Philip's reign.</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}} English-speaking historians tend to show Philip II as a fanatical, despotical, criminal, imperialist ruler,<ref>Those kinds of adjectives can be read in M. Van Durme's 1953 ''El Cardenal Granvela''.</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}} minimising his military victories ([[Battle of Lepanto (1571)|Battle of Lepanto]], [[Battle of St. Quentin (1557)|Battle of Saint Quentin]], [[Fall of Antwerp]], [[English Armada]], etc...) to mere anecdotes, and magnifying his defeats ([[Battle of Djerba]], [[Conquest of Tunis (1574)|Ottoman conquest of Tunis]], [[Dutch Revolt]], [[Spanish Armada|Armada]]<ref>Cabrera de Córdoba, ''Felipe II rey de España'', ed. RAH, 1877, criticizes how Felipe's victories are minimised by English historians, and points out the small consequences of defeats such as the Armada.</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}}, etc...) even though at the time those defeats did not result in great political or military changes in the balance of power in Europe.

He ended French Valois ambitions in Italy and brought about the Habsburg ascendency in Europe. He secured the Portuguese kingdom and empire. He succeeded in increasing the importation of silver in the face of English, Dutch, and French privateers, overcoming multiple financial crises and consolidating Spain's overseas empire. Although clashes would be ongoing, he ended the major threat posed to Europe by the [[Ottoman Navy]].

Historian [[Geoffrey Parker (historian)|Geoffrey Parker]] offers a management-psychological explanation, as summarised by [[Tonio Andrade]] and William Reger:<blockquote> One might have expected that Philip — being a dedicated, persistent, and hard-working man, and being the head of Western Europe's wealthiest and largest empire — would have succeeded in his aims. He didn't. His endeavors were doomed by his own character, or at least that's how Parker sees it. Drawing on studies in management science and organizational psychology, Parker argues that a successful manager of a large organization must keep attention on the big picture, must have a good strategy for dealing with copious information, must know how to delegate, and must be flexible. Philip failed on all counts. He was a micromanager who got bogged down in details, refusing to delegate and trying to read every dispatch that came to his desk. He obsessed and dithered, so that by the time his decisions were made and his orders reached the men meant to carry them out, the situation on the ground had changed. Philip was also inflexible, unwilling to abandon ineffective policies. Most pernicious of all was Philip's tendency toward messianic thinking, a belief that he was doing God's work and that heaven would support him with miracles.<ref>[[Tonio Andrade]] and William Reger, eds., "Geoffrey Parker and Early Modern History" in ''The Limits of Empire: European Imperial Formations in Early Modern World History: Essays in Honor of Geoffrey Parker'' (Routledge, 2016), p. xxiii.</ref></blockquote>

== Titles, honours and styles ==
[[File:Cannon with arms of Philip II as King of England and Ireland.jpg|thumb|Cannon with arms of Philip II as King of Spain and ''jure uxoris'' King of England and France]]
[[File:Alonso Sánchez Coello - Felipe II como Rey de Portugal.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Philip II as King of Portugal by [[Alonso Sánchez Coello|Sánchez Coello]], {{c.}} 1580]]
* Heir titles
** [[Prince of Gerona]]: 21 May 1527 – 16 January 1556
** [[Prince of Asturias]] 1528–1556
* [[List of Castilian monarchs|King of Castile]] as '''Philip II''': 16 January 1556 – 13 September 1598
** King of Castile, of León, of Granada, of Toledo, of Galicia, of Seville, of Cordoba, of Murcia, of Jaen, of the Algarves, of Algeciras, of Gibraltar, of the Canary Islands, of the Indias, the Islands and Mainland of the Ocean Sea;{{NoteTag|With the incorporation of Portugal to the Monarchy the title changed to East and West Indies, the Islands and Mainland of the Ocean sea.}} Lord of Molina
** [[Lord of Biscay]]
* [[List of Aragonese monarchs|King of Aragon]] as '''Philip I''': 16 January 1556 – 13 September 1598
** King of Aragón
** King of the Two Sicilies
*** [[List of kings of Naples|King of Naples]], of Jerusalem (from 25 July 1554)
*** [[List of monarchs of Sicily|King of Sicily]]. [[Duchy of Athens|Duke of Athens]], of [[Duchy of Neopatras|Neopatria]]
** [[List of Valencian monarchs|King of Valencia]]
** [[List of Majorcan monarchs|King of Majorca]]
** [[list of Sardinian monarchs|King of Sardinia]] and of Corsica, Margrave of Oristano, Count of Goceano
** [[List of Navarrese monarchs|King of Navarre]]
** [[Count of Barcelona]], of Roussillon, of Cerdanya
* [[List of Portuguese monarchs|King of Portugal]] as '''Philip I''': 12 September 1580 – 13 September 1598
** King of Portugal and the Algarves of either side of the sea in Africa, Lord of Guinea and of Conquest, Navigation, and Commerce of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia, and India, etc.
* [[List of kings of England|King of England de ''jure uxoris'']] as '''Philip I''': 25 July 1554 – 17 November 1558<ref>Not usually included in lists of monarchs, although legally recognized as co-monarch, as his reign ended de facto with Mary's death.</ref>
** King of England, France (titular); [[Fidei Defensor|Defender of the Faith]]
** [[List of kings of Ireland|King of Ireland]]
* Imperial and Habsburg patrimonial titles:
** [[list of dukes of Milan|Duke of Milan]]: 11 October 1540 (secret donation) / 25 July 1554 (public investiture) – 13 September 1598
** Imperial vicar of Siena: since 30 May 1554
** Archduke of Austria
** Princely Count of Habsburg and of Tyrol
** Prince of Swabia
* Burgundian titles
** [[Lord of the Netherlands]]: 25 October 1555 – 13 September 1598
*** Duke [[Dukes of Brabant|of Lothier, of Brabant]], [[Dukes of Limburg|of Limburg]], [[Counts, Dukes and Grand Dukes of Luxembourg|of Luxemburg]], [[Dukes of Guelders|of Guelders]]. Count [[Counts of Flanders|of Flanders]], [[Counts of Artois|of Artois]], [[Counts of Hainaut|of Hainaut]], [[Count of Holland|of Holland]], [[Count of Zeeland|of Zeeland]], [[Marquis of Namur|of Namur]], [[Count of Zutphen|of Zutphen]]. Margrave of the Holy Roman Empire, Lord of Frisia, Salins, Mechelen, the cities, towns and lands of Utrecht, Overyssel, Groningen
** [[List of counts of Burgundy|Count Palatine of Burgundy]] from 10 June 1556; [[Charolais (county)|Count of Charolais]] from 21 September 1558
** [[Duke of Burgundy]]
** Dominator in Asia, Africa
* Honours
** [[List of Knights of the Golden Fleece|Knight of the Golden Fleece]]: 1531 – 13 September 1598
** [[Grand Master of the Order of the Golden Fleece]]:<ref name="Brug">Rocquet, Claude-Henri. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=6hgmESDLZM4C Bruegel; or The Workshop of Dreams]''. Univ. of Chicago Press, 1991. {{ISBN|0226723429}}.</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}} 23 October 1555 – 13 September 1598
** [[List of Grand Masters of the Order of Calatrava|Grand Master of the Order of Calatrava]]: 16 January 1556 – 13 September 1598
** [[List of Grand Masters of the Order of Alcantara|Grand Master of the Order of Alcantara]]: 16 January 1556 – 13 September 1598
** [[List of Grand Masters of the Order of Santiago|Grand Master of the Order of Santiago]]: 16 January 1556 – 13 September 1598
** [[Order of Montesa|Grand Master of the Order of Montesa]]: 8 December 1587 – 13 September 1598

Philip continued his father's style of "[[Majesty]]" (Latin: ''Maiestas''; Spanish: ''Majestad'') in preference to that of "[[Highness]]" (''Celsitudo''; ''Alteza''). In diplomatic texts, he continued the use of the title "[[Rex Catholicismus|Most Catholic]]" (''Rex Catholicissimus''; ''Rey Católico'') first bestowed by [[Pope Alexander VI]] on [[Catholic Monarchs|Ferdinand and Isabella]] in 1496.

Following the [[Act for the Marriage of Queen Mary to Philip of Spain|Act of Parliament sanctioning his marriage with Mary]], the couple was styled "Philip and Mary, by the grace of God King and Queen of England, [[British claims to the French throne|France]], [[Kingdom of Naples|Naples]], [[Kings of Jerusalem|Jerusalem]], and [[Kingdom of Ireland|Ireland]], [[Fidei Defensor|Defenders of the Faith]], Princes of [[Spanish Empire|Spain]] and [[Kingdom of Sicily|Sicily]], Archdukes of [[Archduchy of Austria|Austria]], Dukes of [[Duchy of Milan|Milan]], [[Duchy of Burgundy|Burgundy]] and [[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]], Counts of [[Habsburg]], [[Count of Flanders|Flanders]] and [[County of Tyrol|Tyrol]]".<ref name="waller">Waller, Maureen. ''Sovereign Ladies: The Six Reigning Queens of England''. St. Martin's Press (New York), 2006. {{ISBN|0-312-33801-5}}.</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}} Upon his inheritance of Spain in 1556, they became "Philip and Mary, by the grace of God King and Queen of England, Spain, France, both the Sicilies, Jerusalem and Ireland, Defenders of the Faith, Archdukes of Austria, Dukes of Burgundy, Milan and Brabant, Counts of Habsburg, Flanders and Tyrol".<ref name="waller"/>{{page needed|date=March 2025}}

His coinage typically bore the [[obverse]] inscription "<small>PHS·D:G·HISP·Z·REX</small>" (Latin: "Philip, by the grace of God King of Spain et cetera"), followed by the local title of the mint ("<small>DVX·BRA</small>" for Duke of Brabant, "<small>C·HOL</small>" for Count of Holland, "<small>D·TRS·ISSV</small>" for Lord of Overissel, etc.). The [[obverse and reverse|reverse]] would then bear a motto such as "<small>PACE·ET·IVSTITIA</small>" ("For Peace and Justice") or "<small>DOMINVS·MIHI·ADIVTOR</small>" ("[[Epistle to the Hebrews|The Lord is my helper]]").<ref>See, ''inter alia'', "[http://www.maravedis.net/europa_felipe_i_i_amberes.html Amberes] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120203174438/http://www.maravedis.net/europa_felipe_i_i_amberes.html |date=3 February 2012 }}" {{in lang|es}} and ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=tXSrLbIEDBMC&pg=PA1255 Standard Catalog of World Gold Coins]{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}''.</ref> A medal struck in 1583 bore the inscriptions "<small>PHILIPP II HISP ET NOVI ORBIS REX</small>" ("Philip II, King of Spain and the New World") and "<small>NON SUFFICIT ORBIS</small>" ("The world is not enough").<ref>Cremades, Checa. ''Felipe II''. Op. cit. in "[https://books.google.com/books?id=Ed_6gw5_5TkC&pg=PA177 The Place of Tudor England]". ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society'', 6th Series, Vol. 12. Cambridge Univ. Press, 2003. {{ISBN|0521815614}}.</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}}

==Heraldry==

{{collapse top|title=Heraldry of Philip II of Spain}}
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|-
! colspan="5" |'' Common versions ''
|-
| align="center" | [[File:Coat of Arms of Philip II of Spain, English King Consort-Spanish Variant (1556-1558).svg|125px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Coat of Arms of Philip II of Spain (1558-1580).svg|125px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Royal Coat of Arms of Spain (1580-1668).svg|125px]]
|-
|1556–1558<br><small>(as Spanish monarch)</small>
|1558–1580
|1580–1598
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|-
! colspan="5" |Spanish realms versions
|-
! colspan="3" |[[Kingdom of Navarre]]
! colspan="2" |[[Kingdom of Galicia]]
|-
| align="center" | [[File:Coat of Arms of Philip II of Spain (Navarre) - 1558-1580.svg|125px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Royal Coat of Arms of Spain (1580-1668) - Navarre.svg|125px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Royal Coat of Arms of Spain (1580-1668) - Navarre Variant.svg|125px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Coat of Arms of Philip II of Spain - Galicia Variant (1558-1580).svg|125px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Royal Coat of Arms of Spain - Galicia Variant (1580-1668).svg|125px]]
|-
|1558–1580
|1580–1598
|1580–1598
|1558–1580
|1580–1598
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|-
! colspan="2" |Burgundian variants
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Free County of Burgundy]]
|-
| align="center" | [[File:Royal Coat of Arms of the Count Palatine of Burgundy (1556-1580).svg|125px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Royal Coat of Arms of the Count Palatine of Burgundy (1580-1678).svg|125px]]
|-
|1556–1580
|1580–1598
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|-
! colspan="5" |[[Coats of arms of Spanish Monarchs in Italy|Italian Variants]]
|-
! colspan="3" |[[Duchy of Milan]]
|'''[[Kingdom of Sardinia (1324–1720)|Kingdom of Sardinia]]'''
|'''[[Kingdom of Naples|Naples]] and [[Kingdom of Sicily|Sicily]]'''
|-
| align="center" | [[File:Coat of Arms of Philip II of Spain as Monarch of Milan (1554-1558).svg|155px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Coat of Arms of Philip II of Spain as Monarch of Milan (1558-1580).svg|155px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Coat of Arms of the King of Spain as Monarch of Milan (1580-1700).svg|155px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Royal Coat of Arms of Spain (1580-1668) - Sardinia Variant.svg|155px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Coat of Arms of Philip II of Spain as Monarch of Naples and Sicily.svg|155px]]
|-
|1554–1558
|1558–1580
|1580–1598
|1580–1598
|1554–1598
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: none;"
|-
! colspan="4" |Ornamented versions
|-
| align="center" | [[File:Coat of Arms of Philip II of Spain (Order of the Garter).svg|250px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Coat of Arms of Philip II of Spain with the Eagle of St. John (1558-1580).svg|135px]] [[File:Royal Coat of Arms of Spain with the Eagle of St. John (1580-1668).svg|135px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Full Ornamented Coat of arms of Philip II of Spain (1556–1558).svg|250px]]
|-
|Coat of arms at his investiture as Knight of the<br>[[Order of the Garter]]<br>(in 1554)
|Coat of arms<br>(with the Eagle of St John as supporter)<br>1558–1580 / 1580–1598
|Coat of arms as Spanish monarch and king<br>''[[jure uxoris]]'' of England<br><small>(with symbols of the Crown of [[Crown of Castile|Castile and León]] and<br>a [[cap of maintenance]] with the crest of [[Kingdom of England|England]] imperially crowned in the top</small>)<br>1556–1558
|-
| align="center" | [[File:Full Ornamented Coat of arms of Philip II of Spain (1558–1580).svg|250px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Full Ornamented Coat of Arms of Philip II of Spain (1580-1598).svg|250px]]
| align="center" | [[File:Full Ornamented Coat of Arms of Spanish House of Austria (1580-1668).svg|250px]]
|-
|Coat of arms with supporters, crest and motto<br><small>(with symbols of the Crowns of [[Crown of Castile|Castile and León]] and [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]] in the top</small>)<br>1558–1580
|Coat of arms with supporters, crest and motto<br><small>(with symbols of the Crowns of [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]] and [[Crown of Castile|Castile and León]] and of the [[Kingdom of Portugal]] in the top</small>)<br>1580–1598
|Coat of arms with supporters (a lion and a griffin) and crest<br><small>(with symbols of the Crowns of [[Crown of Aragon|Aragon]] and [[Crown of Castile|Castile and León]] and of<br> the [[Kingdom of Portugal]] in the top</small>)<br>1580–1598
|}
{{collapse bottom}}

==Family==
Philip was married four times and had children with three of his wives. He also had two long-term relationships with [[Isabel Osorio]] and [[Eufrasia de Guzmán]].
<gallery>
File:Maria Manuela, Princess of Portugal and Asturias - El Prado.jpg|[[Maria Manuela, Princess of Portugal|Maria Manuela of Portugal]] (1527–1545)
File:Anthonis Mor 001.jpg|[[Mary I]], Queen of England (1516–1558), by [[Antonis Mor]]
File:Isabel de Valois2..jpg|[[Elisabeth of Valois]] (1545–1568), by [[Juan Pantoja de la Cruz]]
File:Ana de Austria, reina consorte de España (Museo Lázaro Galdiano).jpg|[[Anna of Austria, Queen of Spain|Anna of Austria]] (1549–1580), by [[Alonso Sánchez Coello]]
</gallery>
===First marriage===
Philip's first wife was his double first cousin, [[Maria Manuela, Princess of Portugal]]. She was the daughter of Philip's maternal uncle, [[John III of Portugal]], and paternal aunt, [[Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal|Catherine of Austria]]. They were married at [[Salamanca]] on 12 November 1543. The marriage produced one son in 1545, after which Maria died four days later due to haemorrhage:
* [[Carlos, Prince of Asturias]] (8 July 1545 – 24 July 1568), died unmarried at the age of 23 and without issue.

===Second marriage===
Philip's second wife was his first cousin once removed, Queen [[Mary I]] of England. The marriage, which took place on 25 July 1554 at [[Winchester Cathedral]], was political. By this marriage, Philip became ''[[jure uxoris]]'' [[List of English monarchs|King of England]] and [[King of Ireland|Ireland]], although the couple was apart more than together as they ruled their respective countries. The marriage produced no children, although there was a [[false pregnancy]], and Mary died in 1558, ending Philip's reign in England and Ireland.

===Third marriage===
Philip's third wife was [[Elisabeth of Valois]], the eldest daughter of [[Henry II of France]] and [[Catherine de' Medici]]. The original ceremony was conducted by proxy (the [[Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba|Duke of Alba]] standing in for Philip) at [[Notre Dame de Paris|Notre Dame]] prior to Elisabeth's departure from France. The actual ceremony was conducted in [[province of Guadalajara|Guadalajara]] upon her arrival in Spain. During their marriage (1559–1568), they conceived six children, though only two of the daughters survived. Elisabeth died a few hours after the loss of her last child. Their children were: 

* Stillborn son (1560)<ref>{{Citation |last=Toulalan |first=Sarah |chapter=Bodies, Sex and Sexuality |date=2019 |title=The Routledge History Of Women In Early Modern Europe |pages=32 |url=https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429355783-2 |access-date=25 February 2026 |place=New York | series= Routledge histories |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9780429355783-2 |isbn=978-0-429-35578-3}}</ref>
* Miscarried twin daughters (August 1564)
* [[Isabella Clara Eugenia]] (12 August 1566 – 1 December 1633), married [[Albert VII, Archduke of Austria]]
* [[Catalina Micaela of Spain|Catherine Michaela]] (10 October 1567 – 6 November 1597), married [[Charles Emmanuel I]], Duke of Savoy, and had issue
* Joan (3 October 1568) died shortly after birth.

===Fourth marriage===
Philip's fourth and final wife was his niece, [[Anna of Austria, Queen of Spain|Anna of Austria]]. Pope Pius V initially refused to grant Philip the dispensation needed to marry Anna, citing biblical prohibitions and the danger of birth defects. The pope reluctantly gave his permission when Philip threatened to abandon the [[Holy League (1571)|Holy League]] in their fight against the Ottoman Turks.<ref>{{cite book |last=Parker |first=Geoffrey |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=na4SDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA232 |title=Great Strategic Rivalries: From the Classical World to the Cold War |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0190620462 |editor-last=Lacey |editor-first= Jim |edition=illustrated, reprint |page=232 |chapter=6 Incest, Blind Faith, and Conquest: The Spanish Hapsburgs and Their Enemies}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Parker |first=Geoffrey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9OquBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA164 |title=Imprudent King: A New Life of Philip II |date=2014 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0300196535 |edition=unabridged |page=164}}</ref> By contemporary accounts, this was a convivial and satisfactory marriage (1570–1580) for both Philip and Anna. This marriage produced four sons and one daughter. Anna died of heart failure 8 months after giving birth to Maria in 1580.{{cn|date=April 2023}}

Their children were:
* [[Ferdinand, Prince of Asturias]] (4 December 1571 – 18 October 1578)
* Charles Laurence (12 August 1573 – 30 June 1575)
* [[Diego, Prince of Asturias|Diego Félix]] (15 August 1575 – 21 November 1582)
* [[Philip III of Spain]] (14 April 1578 – 31 March 1621)
* Maria (14 February 1580 – 5 August 1583).

<gallery>
File:Cenotafio de Felipe II y su familia.jpg|Cenotaph of Philip and three of his four wives at [[El Escorial]]
File:Sánchez Coello Royal feast.jpg|King Philip and Queen Anna banqueting with family and courtiers, by [[Alonso Sánchez Coello]]
</gallery>

==Ancestry==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|1= 1. '''Philip II of Spain'''
|2= 2. [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor]]
|3= 3. [[Isabella of Portugal]]
|4= 4. [[Philip I of Castile]]<ref name="1911-Charles V">{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Charles V. (Roman Emperor) |volume=5 |first=Edward |last=Armstrong}}</ref>
|5= 5. [[Joanna of Castile]]<ref name="1911-Charles V"/>
|6= 6. [[Manuel I of Portugal]]<ref name="Stephens1903">{{cite book|last=Stephens|first=Henry Morse|title=The Story of Portugal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jwMqAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA139|access-date=23 October 2018|year=1903|publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons|pages=139, 279}} {{isbn|978-0-7222-2473-1}}.</ref>
|7= 7. [[Maria of Aragon, Queen of Portugal|Maria of Aragon]]<ref name="Stephens1903"/>
|8= 8. [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor]]<ref name="BLKO-Philip">{{BLKO |wstitle=Habsburg, Philipp I. der Schöne von Oesterreich |volume=7 |year=1861 |page=112}}</ref>
|9= 9. [[Mary of Burgundy]]<ref name="BLKO-Philip"/>
|10= 10. [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]]<ref name="1911-Joanna">{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Joanna |volume=15}}</ref> (= 14)
|11= 11. [[Isabella I of Castile]]<ref name="1911-Joanna"/> (= 15)
|12= 12. [[Ferdinand, Duke of Viseu]]<ref name="Stephens1903"/>
|13= 13. [[Beatriz of Portugal, Duchess of Viseu|Beatrice of Portugal]]<ref name="Stephens1903"/>
|14= 14. [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]]<ref name="Portugal-Maria">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.arqnet.pt/dicionario/maria_rainha.html |title=Maria (D.). Rainha de Portugal |encyclopedia=Portugal - Dicionário Histórico, Corográfico, Heráldico, Biográfico, Bibliográfico, Numismático e Artístico |language=pt |volume=IV |pages=823–824}}</ref> (= 10)
|15= 15. [[Isabella I of Castile]]<ref name="Portugal-Maria"/> (= 11)
}}

==Male-line family tree==
{{Habsburg family tree}}

== See also ==
* [[Library of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial]]
* [[Descendants of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile]]
* [[The empire on which the sun never sets]]
* [[List of Spanish monarchs]]
* [[Royal Armoury of Madrid]]
* [[Ruy Gómez de Silva, 1st Prince of Éboli]]

== Notes ==
{{NoteFoot}}

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin|3}}
* {{cite book|last= Boyden|first=James M. |title=The Courtier and the King:Ruy Gómez de Silva, Philip II, and the court of Spain|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|date=1995|isbn=9780520086227}}
* {{cite book|last=Braudel|first=Fernand|title=The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II|volume=I|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkley|date=1995|isbn=9780520203082}}
* {{cite book|last=Braudel|first=Fernand|title=The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II|volume=II|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkley|date=1995|isbn=9780520203303}}
* {{cite book|last=Clouse|first=Michele L.|title=Medicine, Government and Public Health in Philip II's Spain: Shared Interests, Competing Authorities|publisher=Ashgate|location= |date=2013|isbn=}}
* {{ cite journal|first=James |last=Conklin |title=The Theory of Sovereign Debt and Spain under Philip II |journal=Journal of Political Economy |volume=106 |issue=3 |date=1998 |pages=483–513 |doi=10.1086/250019 |jstor=250019}}
* {{ cite book|first1=Mauricio |last1=Drelichman |first2=Hans-Joachim|last2= Voth |title=Lending to the Borrower from Hell: Debt, Taxes, and Default in the Age of Philip II |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |date=2016 |isbn=9780691151496}}
* {{cite book|last=Elliott|first=J. H.|title=Imperial Spain: 1469–1716|publisher=Penguin |location=London|date=2002|isbn=9780141007038}}
* Elliott, John H. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/650136 "The decline of Spain"]. ''Past & Present'' 20 (1961): 52–75.
* {{ cite journal|first=David |last=Goodman |title=Philip II's Patronage of Science and Engineering |journal=British Journal for the History of Science |volume=16 |issue=1 |date=1983 |pages=49–66 |doi=10.1017/S000708740001952X }}
* {{cite book|last= Grierson|first=Edward|title=The Fatal Inheritance: Philip II and the Spanish Netherlands|publisher= Doubleday|location=Garden |date=1969|oclc=1046309486}}
* {{cite journal|last=Gwynn|first=Aubrey|jstor=30094971|title=A Catholic King: Philip II of Spain|journal=Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review|volume=22|issue=85 |date=1933|pages=48–64 }}
* {{ cite web|first1=Antonio |last1=Henriques |first2=Nuno Pedro G. |last2=Palma |title=Comparative European Institutions and the Little Divergence, 1385–1800 |url=http://ehes.org/EHES_171.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719061314/http://www.ehes.org/EHES_171.pdf |archive-date=19 July 2020 |date=2019 }}
* {{cite book|last=Hume|first=M. A. S.|author-link=Martin Sharp (historian)|title=Philip II of Spain|series=Foreign statesmen |publisher=Macmillan |date=1897|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007707592|location=London}}
* [[Jonathan Israel|Israel, Jonathan]]. [http://publicaciones.eafit.edu.co/index.php/co-herencia/article/download/5023/4145 "King Philip II of Spain as a symbol of 'Tyranny{{'"}}]. ''Co-herencia'' 15.28 (2018): 137–154.
* {{ cite journal|first=Richard L. |last=Kagan |title=Philip II and the Art of the Cityscape |journal=Journal of Interdisciplinary History |volume=17 |issue=1 |date=1986 |pages=115–135 |doi=10.2307/204127 | jstor= 204127 }}
* {{cite book|last=Kamen|first=Henry|title=Philip of Spain|publisher=Yale University Press|location= New Haven|date=1999|isbn=9780300078008}}
* {{cite book|last= Kelsey|first=Harry|title= Philip of Spain, King of England: The Forgotten Sovereign|location=London |publisher=I.B. Tauris|date=2011|isbn=9781848857162}}
* {{cite book|last=Koenigsberger|first=H. G. |title=The Habsburgs and Europe, 1516–1660|publisher=Cornell University Press|location=Ithaca |date=1971|oclc=721312525}}
* {{ cite journal|first=Guy |last=Lazure |title=Possessing the Sacred: Monarchy and Identity in Philip II's Relic Collection at the Escorial |journal=Renaissance Quarterly |volume=60 |issue=1 |date=2007 |pages=58–93|doi=10.1353/ren.2007.0076 |url=https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=historypub }}
* López, Anna Santamaría. {{"'}}Great Faith is Necessary to Drink from this Chalice': Philip II in the Court of Mary Tudor, 1554–58". ''Early Modern Dynastic Marriages and Cultural Transfer'', ed. by Joan-Lluis Palos and Magdalena S. Sanchez (2017) pp. 115–138.
* {{cite book|last= Lynch|first= John|series=Spain Under the Habsburgs| volume= I |title= Empire and Absolutism: 1516–1598|publisher=Blackwell|location=Oxford |date=1981|oclc=928663276}}
* {{cite journal|last=Lynch|first=John|jstor=3678749|title=Philip II and the Papacy |journal=Transactions of the Royal Historical Society|volume= 11|date=1961|pages=23–42 |doi=10.2307/3678749 }}
* {{cite book |last=Martinic |first=Mateo |author-link=Mateo Martinic |date=1977 |title=Historia del Estrecho de Magallanes |language=es |url=http://www.memoriachilena.cl/602/w3-article-10441.html |location=Santiago |publisher=Andrés Bello |oclc=5414474}}
* {{ cite journal|first=P. G. |last=Matthews |title=Portraits of Philip II of Spain as King of England |journal=Burlington Magazine |volume=142 |issue=1162 |date=2000 |pages=13–19 |jstor= 888764 }}
* Merriman, R. B. [https://archive.org/details/riseofspanishemp04merruoft ''The Rise of the Spanish Empire in the Old World and in the New''] (4 vols., 1918). Vol. 4 has in-depth coverage of Philip II.
* {{ cite journal|first=Stephanie R. |last=Miller |title=A Tale of Two Portraits: Titian's Seated Portraits of Philip II |journal=Visual Resources |volume=28 |issue=1 |date=2012 |pages=103–116 |doi=10.1080/01973762.2012.653485 }}
* {{cite book|last=Parker|first=Geoffrey|title=Imprudent King: A New Life of Philip II|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven |date=2014|isbn=9780300216950}}
* {{cite book|last=Parker|first=Geoffrey |title=The Grand Strategy of Philip II|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|date=1998 |isbn=9780300075403}}
* Parker, Geoffrey. ''Philip II'' (1995), short scholarly biography
* {{cite book|last=Parker|first=Geoffrey |title=The World is Not Enough: The Imperial Vision of Philip II of Spain|publisher=Baylor University Press|location=Waco|date=2001|isbn=9780918954770}}
* {{cite journal|last=Parker|first=Geoffrey|jstor=3679344 |title=The Place of Tudor England in the Messianic Vision of Philip II of Spain|journal=Transactions of the Royal Historical Society|date=2002|volume=12 |pages=167–221 |doi=10.1017/S0080440102000063 }}
* {{cite book|last=Patterson|first=Benton Rain|title=With the Heart of a King: Elizabeth I of England, Philip II of Spain & the Fight for a Nation's Soul & Crown|publisher=St. Martin's Press|location=New York |date=2012|isbn=9781466858848}}
* {{cite book|last=Petrie|first=Charles|title=Philip II of Spain|publisher= Eyre & Spottiswoode|location=London |date=1964|oclc=313167911}}
* {{cite book |last=Pettegree |first=Andrew |title=Europe in the Sixteenth Century |year=2002 |publisher=Blackwell |location=Oxford, England |isbn=0-631-20704-X}}.
* {{cite book|last=Pierson|first=Peter|title=Philip II of Spain|publisher=Thames & Hudson|location=London|date=1975|oclc=253737198}}
* {{cite book|last=Prescott|first=William Hickling|title=A History of the Reign of Philip II|publisher=George Routledge & Co.|location= London, Boston, Philadelphia|date=1855–1902|isbn=}}
* [[Martyn Rady|Rady, Martyn]] (2020). ''The Habsburgs: To Rule the World''. New York: Basic Books, ch. 8, pp. 85-95: "Philip II: The New World, Religious Dissent, and Royal Incest". {{ISBN|978-1-5416-4450-2}}
* Redworth, Glyn. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/22097 "Philip (1527–1598)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,'' online edition, May 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
* {{cite book|last=Rodriguez-Salgado|first=M. J.|title=The Court of Philip II of Spain |series=Princes, Patronage, and the Nobility: The Court at the Beginning of the Modern Age, cc. 1450–1650. Edited by Ronald G. Asch and Adolf M. Birke.|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=|date=1991|isbn=0-19-920502-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Samson|first=Alexander|title=Mary and Philip: The Marriage of Tudor England and Habsburg Spain|publisher=Manchester University Press|location=Manchester |date=2020|isbn=9781526160249}}
* {{cite book|last=Samson|first=Alexander|title=Power Sharing: The Co-monarchy of Philip and Mary"|series=Tudor Queenship: The Reigns of Mary and Elizabeth'|editor=Alice Hunt, Anna Whitelock|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|location=New York|date=2010 |pages=159–172|isbn=9781349380930}}
* Samson, Alexander. [http://www.academia.edu/download/31290156/ChangingPlaces.pdf "Changing Places: The Marriage and Royal Entry of Philip, Prince of Austria, and Mary Tudor, July-August 1554"]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}. ''Sixteenth Century Journal'' (2005): 761–784.
* Scully, Robert E. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25026461 {{"'}}In the Confident Hope of a Miracle': The Spanish Armada and Religious Mentalities in the Late Sixteenth Century"]. ''Catholic Historical Review'' 89.4 (2003): 643–670.
* {{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Hugh |title=World Without End: The Global Empire of Philip II|publisher=Penguin|location=London |date=2014|isbn=9780141034478}}
* {{cite journal|last=Waxman|first=Matthew C.|jstor=26004392 |title=Strategic Terror: Philip II and Sixteenth-Century Warfare|journal=War in History|volume=4|issue=3|date=1997|pages=339–347 |doi=10.1177/096834459700400305 }}
* {{cite book|last=Wilbur|first=Marguerite Eyer |title=The Unquenchable Flame: The Life of Philip II|publisher=P. Owen|location=|date=1956|oclc=7343383}}
* {{ cite book|first=Catherine |last=Wilkinson-Zerner |title=Juan de Herrera: Architect to Philip II of Spain |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven |date=1993 |isbn=9780300049916}}
* {{cite book|last=Williams|first=Patrick|title=Philip II|publisher=Palgrave|location=Houndmills|date=2001|isbn=9780333630426}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons}}
{{Wikiquote|Philip II of Spain|Philip II of Spain}}
* [https://lib.byu.edu/collections/letters-of-philip-ii/ Letters of Philip II, King of Spain 1592–1597, online edition at Brigham Young University]
* {{cite EB9 |wstitle = Philip II. of Spain |volume= XVIII |last= |first= |author-link= | pages=743-746 |short=1}}
* {{CathEncy|wstitle=Philip II}}
* {{NPG name|name=Philip II, King of Spain}}

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{{S-hou|[[Habsburg Spain|House of Habsburg]]|21 May|1527|13 September|1598}}
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{{S-ttl|title=[[Duke of Guelders]];<br>[[Count of Zutphen]], [[County of Holland|Holland]] and [[Zeeland]]|years=16 January 1556 – 26 July 1581}}
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{{S-ttl|title=[[King of Naples]] and [[King of Sicily|Sicily]]|years=1554–1598}}
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{{S-end}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Philip 02 Of Spain}}
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