colonies in the Americas. Charles named
Philip his regent in Spain in 1543, when
he also arranged his son’s marriage to
Maria of Portugal, who died giving birth
to Philip’s first son, Don Carlos, in 1545.
Charles then arranged the marriage of
Philip to Mary, the daughter of King
Henry VIII of England, in 1554. He also
made his teenage son the nominal ruler in
the duchy of Milan, the Franche-Comte,
Sicily, and Naples before abdicating all of
his titles, leaving the Holy Roman Empire
in the name of his brother Ferdinand I.
Raised and tutored as a devout Catholic,
Philip found the largely Protestant nation
of England hostile and uncongenial, and
returned to Spain in 1555. For the rest of
his life, Philip remained within the bor-
ders of his kingdom, having little interest
in following his father’s example of fre-
quent travel through far-flung domains.
At the start of Philip’s reign, Spain was
involved in open warfare with France, a
brewing rebellion in the Low Countries,
and threats to Spanish trade and shipping
in the Mediterranean from North African
pirates and the navy of the Ottoman Em-
pire. Although England had allied with
Spain in the war against France, the cam-
paign turned into a pointless stalemate and
was finally ended by the Treaty of Cateau-
Cambresis in 1559, which was followed by
Philip’s marriage to Elizabeth of Valois,
the daughter of the king of France. The
succession was thrown into doubt when
Philip’s son Don Carlos showed himself
unfit to inherit the throne; when evidence
came to light implicating Don Carlos was
plotting against Philip, the king had him
arrested. Don Carlos died under mysteri-
ous circumstances in 1568, and may have
been executed on Philip’s orders.
In 1571 Philip joined a grand alliance,
including Venice and the Papacy, that de-
feated the navy of the Ottoman Empire at
the Battle of Lepanto, off the western coast
of Greece. But in the Low Countries, Philip
badly miscalculated the determined oppo-
sition of Protestant towns and nobles
against rule by Catholic Spain. By raising
taxes, imposing Catholic prelates, and dis-
regarding the authority of local councils,
his policies inspired a full-scale revolt. The
occupation of the Low Countries would
end badly for Spain, as the northern Prot-
estant countries ultimately won indepen-
dence as the United Provinces (the mod-
ern Netherlands).
Philip’s rivalry with Elizabeth, the
queen of England who had spurned his
offer of marriage, prompted him to as-
semble a massive fleet, known as the Span-
ish Armada, for a full-scale assault on the
English coast. He ordered the ships to link
with Spanish troops in the Low Countries,
with the mission of disrupting England’s
support for the Protestant rebels and, ulti-
mately, the Catholic conquest of England
itself. In 1588 the Armada sailed to the
Phillip II, King of Spain.
Philip II