PHILIP II. (1527-1598), king of Spain, son of the emperor Charles V. and Isabella of Portugal, born at Valladolid on May 21, 1527. Philip was educated in Spain. The emperor, as he moved from one part of his wide dominions to another and in the camps of his armies, watched his heir's education from afar. The trend of his letters was to impress on the boy a profound sense of the high destinies to which he was born, the wisdom of distrusting counsellors, and the necessity for keeping his nobles apart from all share in the conduct of the internal government of his king dom. Philip grew up grave, self-possessed and distrustful. He was beloved by his Spanish subjects, but utterly without the power of attracting men of other races. Though accused of extreme li centiousness, Philip was probably less immoral than most kings of his time, and he was rigidly abstemious. His power of work was unbounded, and he had an absolute love of reading, annotat ing, and drafting dispatches. Unhappily for Spain, Charles de cided to transmit the Netherlands to his son. In 1543 Philip had been married to his cousin Mary of Portugal, who bore him a son, the unhappy Don Carlos, and who died in 1545. In 1554, Charles summoned Philip to Flanders and arranged the marriage with Mary, Queen of England, in order to form a union of Spain, the Netherlands and England against France. The marriage proved barren. The abdication of his father (Jan. 16, 1556) constituted Philip sovereign of Spain with its American possessions, of the Aragonese inheritance in Italy, Naples and Sicily, of the Burgun dian inheritance—the Netherlands and Franche Comte—and of the duchy of Milan. It was a legacy of immense responsibilities and perils, for France was bound to endeavour to ruin a power which threatened her independence. France was beaten at St. Quentin and Gravelines, and forced to make the Peace of Cateau Cambresis (April 2, 1559). But the death of Mary of England (Nov. 17, 1558) and the establishment of Elizabeth on the Eng lish throne, put on the flank of Philip's scattered dominions an other power, forced no less than France by political necessities to be his enemy. His marriage with Elizabeth of Valois (June 22, 1559), and the approach of the wars of religion, gave him a temporary security from France. Nevertheless, when Philip went
back to Spain, in August 1559, he was committed to a.life-long struggle, in which he could not prove victorious except by the conquest of France and England.
External and internal influences alike drove Philip into con flict with the Netherlands, France and England. The conflict be came one between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, in which Philip appeared as the champion of the Church. It was a part he rejoiced to play. His persecutions hardened the obstinacy of the Dutch, exasperated the English and provoked a revolt of the Moriscoes. No experience of the failure of his policy could shake his belief in its essential excellence. Philip had a high ideal of his duty as a king, and had no natural preferences for violent courses. His strong measures in Aragon in 1591 were provoked by extreme misconduct on the part of a faction. When he enforced his claim to the crown of Portugal (1579-1581) he preferred placate his new subjects by guarding their privileges. He ven made danger ous political concessions to win over the gentry. In private life he was orderly and affectionate to his family and servants. He was slow to withdraw the confidence he had once given. In the painful episode of the imprisonment and death of Don Carlos, Philip behaved honourably. He died at the Escorial on Sept. 13, 1598.
As an administrator Philip had all the vices of his type, that of the laborious, self-righteous man, who thinks he can supervise everything, is capable of endless toil, and jealous of his authority. He set the example of the unending discussions in committee and boundless minute writing which choked the administration.
See M. H. Forneron, Histoire de Philippe II. (Paris, 1880 ; M. Hume, Philip II. (1897) ; Documentos ineditos para la historia de Espana (1842, etc.), vols. i., vi., vii., xv., xxi., xxiv., xl., xcviii., ci., cx., cxi. ; L. P. Gachard, Actes des itats generaux des Pays Bas, 1576-1585 (Brussels, 1861-66) ; Calendars of State Papers, Foreign Series Elizabeth (1863-1901) ; M. Hume, Two English Queens and Philip (1908) ; C. Bratle, Philippe II., roi d'Espagne (1912) ; F. Perez R. Minguez, Psicologia de Felipe II. (1925).