John Hawkins

HAWKINS, JOHN ; and DRAKE, FRANCIS). In the Mediterranean he was equally forced by his position and the tradition of the Crown of Castile to take part in resisting the Turks (see MALTA; and LEPANTO, BATTLE OF). But his relations with his Flemish subjects formed the centre of his policy. With his absolutist tendencies, which did not however differ from those of other European monarchs, he was bound to wish to govern them as he did Castile, and the principle of religious toleration, which was not understood by any prince in Europe with the exception of the prince of Orange, William I., the Silent (q.v.), was peculiarly im possible for him. His reign was therefore one long struggle with forces which he was unable to master.

The burden of the struggle fell with crushing effect on his Spanish dominions and particularly on Castile. Aragon, which was poor and tenacious of its rights, would give little ; Catalonia and Valencia afforded small help. The Flemish revenue was de-' stroyed by the revolt. The Italian states barely paid their ex penses. Resources for the incessant wars of the reign had been sought in the taxation of Castile and the revenue from the mines of America. They were wholly inadequate, and the result of the attempt to dominate all western Europe was to produce bank ruptcy and exhaustion. In his internal government Philip was fully absolute, but he was at the same time careful to ensure good administration, public integrity and justice.

Foreign Policy of Philip II.

The first years of the reign of Philip II. were occupied in concluding the last of his father's wars with France, to which was added a very unwelcome quarrel with the pope, arising out of his position as duke of Milan. He was unable to avoid sending an army under Alva against Paul IV., and was glad to avail himself of the services of Venice to patch up a peace. On the Flemish frontier, with the help of an English contingent and by the good generalship of Philibert of Savoy he defeated a French army at St. Quentin on Aug. 1o, 1557, and again at Gravelines on July 13, 1558. But he did not follow up his successes, and the war was ended by the signing of the peace of Cateau Cambresis on April 2, 1559. The exhaustion of his resources made peace necessary to him, and it was no less desir able to the French Government. Philip's marriage with Eliza beth, the daughter of Henry II. and of Catherine de' Medici, to

gether with their common fear of the Reformation, bound him to the French royal house, but for a brief period only.

By 1567 the revolt in the Netherlands was flagrant, and the duke of Alva was sent with a picked army, and at the expense of Spain, to put it down. In the same year, a decree of the king, which repeated the terms of another decree of Charles (1526) regarding the Catholic education of Moriscoes and the prohibition of the use of Arabic, led to a revolt which desolated Granada from 1568 to 1570. The Moriscoes had looked for help from the Turks, who were engaged in conquering Cyprus from Venice. The danger to Spain and to the Spanish possessions in Italy stimulated the king to join in the Holy League formed by the pope and Venice against the Turks ; and Spanish ships and soldiers had a great share in the splendid victory at Lepanto.

In 1581 Philip annexed Portugal, as heir to King Henry, the aged successor of Dom Sebastian. Philip endeavoured to placate the Portuguese by the fullest recognition of their constitutional rights, and in particular by favouring the fidalgos or gentry. The duke of Braganza, whose claims were better than Philip's, was bought off by immense grants. Outwardly at the zenith of its powers, the country in reality was internally exhausted, and its weakness was shown when open war began with England in 1585.

While a vast armament was being slowly collected for the in vasion of England, Drake swept the West Indies, and in 1587 burnt a number of Spanish ships in their own harbour of Cadiz. The ruinous failure of the great Armada in 1588 demonstrated the incapacity of Spain to maintain her pretensions. In 1591 the support given by the Aragonese to Antonio Perez (q.v.) led to the invasion of their country by a Castilian army. The constitu tional rights of Aragon were not entirely suppressed, but they were diminished, and the kingdom was reduced to a greater measure of submission. In his later years Philip added to all his other burdens a costly intervention in France to support the League and resist the succession of Henry IV. to the throne. He was compelled to acknowledge himself beaten before his death on Sept. 13, 1598. He left the war with England and with the Netherlands as an inheritance to his son.