PHILIP II., son of the Emperor Charles V. and Elizabeth of Portugal; born in Valladolid, in 1527. Of a cold and gloomy nature, he was educated by ec clesiastics, and his reign was marked by a crusade against political and religious freedom. He married, in 1543, his cousin Mary of Portugal, who became the mother of Don Carlos, and died in 1545. In 1554 he received from his father the kingdom of Naples, and the same year, after troublesome negotia tions, married Mary, Queen of England. He was disliked in England, and soon quitted it. His father gave up to him the Netherlands in October, 1555, and the kingdom of Spain early in the fol lowing year. He declared war on France, and induced Queen Mary to join him; won, by his troops under the Duke of Savoy, the memorable victory of St. Quentin over the French in 1557. He vowed never to witness another battle, and he never did. He vowed also to show his gratitude by building a monas tery, which he more than fulfilled in the magnificent Escurial. A second victory over the French at Gravelines, in 1558, was followed by the peace of Cateau Cambresis. Immediately on his return to Spain, he began a terrible persecution of "heretics."
The most momentous event of his reign was the revolt of the Netherlands, first excited by his edict against heretics, and attempt to establish the Inquisition there in 1565, and resulting, after years of war, in the establishment of the Dutch Re public. In 1565, he persecuted the Chris tian Moors of Granada, and provoked a revolt, which began in 1569; and after the greatest atrocities on both sides, ended by the flight or submission of the Moors in 1571. On the death of Henry, King of Portugal, in 1580, Philip con quered that country and annexed it to Spain. He made immense preparations for an invasion of England; and in 1588, the year after Drake's attack on Cadiz, his great fleet, which he named "the In vincible Armada," sailed from Lisbon; but a great storm and contrary winds damaged and threw it into disorder, and it was defeated by the English. It was Philip II. who removed the seat of gov ernment from Toledo, and made Madrid the capital of Spain. He died at the Escurial, Sept. 13, 1598.