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| Portrait by Sofonisba Anguissola (1565) |
Birth name: Felipe de Habsburgo
Born: 21 May 1527, Valladolid, Castile, Kingdom of Spain
Father: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Mother: Princess Isabella of Portugal
House: Habsburg
Nationality: Spanish
Religion: Catholicism
Co-monarch: Mary I
Reign: 25 July 1554 - 17 November 1558 (4 years)
Coronation: N/A
Predecessor: Mary I
Successor: Elizabeth I
Died: 13 September 1598 (aged 71), San Lorenzo, Castile, Kingdom of Spain
Cause: Cancer
Burial: El Escorial
Motto: The world is not enough
Spouse(s):
- Princess Maria Manuela of Portugal (m. 1543 - 1545)
- Queen Mary I of England and Ireland (m. 1554 - 1558)
- Princess Elisabeth of Valois (m. 1559 - 1568)
- Princess Anna of Austria (m. 1570 - 1580)
Children:
- With Princess Maria Manuela of Portugal
- Carlos, Prince of Asturias (1545 - 1568)
- With Princess Elisabeth of Valois
- *Unnamed Princess* (1564 - 1564)
- *Unnamed Princess* (1564 - 1564)
- Isabella, Archduchess of Austria (1566 - 1633)
- Princess Catherine, Duchess of Savoy (1567 - 1597)
- Princess Joan (1568 - 1568)
- With Princess Anna of Austria
- Ferdinand, Prince of Austrias (1571 - 1578)
- Prince Charles Laurence (1573 - 1575)
- Prince Diego (1575 - 1582)
- King Philip III of Spain and Portugal (1578 - 1621)
- Princess Maria (1580 - 1583)
Appearance:
He was described as being of short height and handsome in appearance. His skin may have been frequently flushed, described as pink, as well as being noted for having a round face and pale blue eyes.
Philip also had a prominent lower jaw, which was perhaps a hint of the famous 'Habsburg jaw'; a common deformity among people in his family due to inbreeding.
He was also described as having 'a smile that was cut by a sword' by one of his ministers.
Character:
Philip was known for being a very devout Catholic, and had a strong dislike towards Protestants and Muslims within his dominions.
He was quite introverted and soft spoken, and preferred to devote his time to his work, and was ambitious regarding the future of the Kingdom of Spain. Because of this, he was known to be very distrustful of the people around him and emotionally distant. He was described as having an icy personality, mainly fuelled by his father's influence.
However, he did also have an interest in the arts, even promoting female artists within his court, something which was quite unusual at the time.
From a young age, he was talented within the arts himself, and was a skill linguist, being able to speak Spanish, Latin, and Portuguese.
He was greatly influenced by, and often favoured, Castilian culture.
Biography:
Philip was born in the Kingdom of Spain in 1527. His father was the powerful Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, and his mother was Princess Isabella of Portugal. He was the eldest of seven children, though many of his younger siblings would die while they were still young. Philip was also the great-nephew of Katherine of Aragon, the first wife and queen of King Henry VIII of England.
While a child, Philip would be primarily brought up within the Castilian court by his mother and her ladies-in-waiting, whose culture would come to be a great influence on his life. He also received an excellent education as befitting a humanist Prince of the Renaissance period, which also included a focus on warfare and military skills.
From a young age, he was made the Archduke of Austria, though he held little regard for the Austrian people and their culture, and the dislike was very much mutual.
By the time he was 16 in 1540, he had been made the regency ruler of many lands within his father's vast Habsburg empire, though he would primarily spend most of his time in Spain. However, by 1548, Philip did begin to travel across Europe, where he managed to make excellent impressions on other European leaders, diplomats, and prominent people within the Catholic Church. Philip then briefly settled down in the Netherlands before returning to Spain.
During this period, Philip also married his first wife, his cousin, Princess Maria Manuela of Portugal, and the two of them would have one son together, though Maria would die as a result of complications from their son's birth.
In 1554, Philip was arranged to marry his first-cousin-once-removed, Queen Mary I of England and Ireland, by his father. Mary was desperate to restore England to Catholicism after it had broken away from the Catholic Church in 1533, beginning the Protestant reformation of the kingdom. Originally, Mary had been betrothed to Philip's father, and Mary was once again interested in perusing an alliance with the powerful Habsburg family. The marriage was not popular with the people of England, and Philip would come to be despised there. They resented his Spanish influence, as well as the religious policies that he and Mary imposed on them.
While married, Mary made Philip her co-monarch, and although Mary still retained primary control of the kingdom, Philip was granted much more power than what the English were comfortable with. However, Philip would possess very little feelings towards Mary, who was 11 years older than him. They barely spent any time together, much to Mary's dismay, as she had come to genuinely love him.
Despite Mary's best efforts, the two of them would never have any children together. In fact, it was likely Mary's desperation that caused her to experience multiple phantom pregnancies, in which she became so convinced that she was pregnant that she experienced all of the symptoms, including a swollen belly. After nine months passed, no baby arrived, and Mary was left devastated, while Philip would be angry, humiliated, and disappointed. After her second and final false pregnancy, Mary would die in 1558, leaving Philip a widower once again.
However, Philip was still keen on maintaining control of England, and became interested in marrying the new Queen Elizabeth I, Mary's half-sister. Learning from her sister's mistakes, and knowing England's strong dislike towards him, Elizabeth refused his proposal.
In 1559, Philip would go on to marry Princess Elisabeth of Valois, the daughter of the French king, and the two of them would go on to have six children together, though only two of them would survive infancy. Elisabeth, like his first wife, would die shortly after giving birth to their sixth child.
Finally, in 1570, Philip married his fourth and final wife, Princess Anna of Austria. In keeping with the inbreeding practices of the Habsburgs, Anna was Philip's niece. The Pope even initially refused to grant them a dispensation for their union, and Philip was only able to gain the Pope's permission after threatening to withhold his military support against the Ottoman Empire. Both Philip and Anna got along together very well, and the two of them would have five children together, until Anna died in 1580.
Even after Queen Elizabeth I refused his marriage proposal, relations between England and Spain remained tense, but amicable, despite Elizabeth once again restoring Protestantism to England. That was until Elizabeth began supporting Protestant rebels in the Habsburg controlled Netherlands. England also became fierce competition to Spain in the New World, with English pirates frequently raiding Spanish ships in the Atlantic Ocean.
All of these actions resulted in Philip being in support of the plot to place Elizabeth's cousin, Queen Mary of Scotland on the throne, an action that would once again restore England to a Catholic monarchy. However, she would be executed by Elizabeth in 1587.
With this plan no longer feasible, Philip instead decided that he would invade England. He began the creation of the Spanish Armada, whose construction would be chaotic, and was finally defeated in the English Channel due to stormy weather. This further inspired Protestants within England, as it made them believe that God was on their side, with Philip's plan to restore the kingdom to Catholicism backfiring completely. England would then attempt it's own Armada, however, this would face similar problems to the ones the Spanish had dealt with, and their own counter invasion would amount to nothing.
Philip would attempt to invade England two more times, but all of his fleets would be damaged and destroyed by storms.
By the 1590s, Philip was growing increasingly old and ill. He remained hard working until the very end, and died in 1598, likely as a result of cancer.
Rule:
From the very beginning, Philip was not a popular co-monarch within England. His marriage to Queen Mary I of England was heavily contested, as the people feared further Catholic and Spanish influence within the country.
Despite his role within England, he could not speak English and never learned the language, with all official documents having to be made in Latin or Spanish for him.
He also oversaw the military defeats against France, and lost England's remaining land there, making him even more unpopular.
His reign with Mary also oversaw the burning of Protestants at the stake. It's believed that up to 300 people in England were executed in this manner for heresy.
However, despite failings within England, he saw more success in his rulings of the Spanish Empire, with Spain entering its 'golden age' under his influence.
Trivia:
- N/A
Quotes:
"I would rather lose all my lands and a hundred lives than be king over heretics."
Regarding Protestantism in his realms.
"God, who has given me so many Kingdoms to govern, has not given me a son fit to govern them."
Lamenting over the behaviour of his son.
Timeline of Reign:
| 1554: Wyatt Rebellion - Protestant rebellion led by William Wyatt is defeated.
| 1554: Execution of Jane Grey - Former queen and her husband are executed for treason.
| 1554: Elizabeth imprisoned - Mary imprisons her sister on suspicion of being involved in rebellion.
| 1555: The Moscovy Company founded - First joint trading company established.
| 1555: Protestant burnings begin - 287 burned at the stake for heresy.
| 1556: Thomas Cranmer executed - Former Archbishop of Canterbury executed for heresy.
| 1557: Habsburg bankruptcy - Philip declares the bankruptcy of his kingdoms.
| 1557: War with France - England supports Spanish war with France only to be defeated.
| 1558: England loses Calais - France seizes English territory of Calais.
Sources & Further Reading:
Koenigsberger, H. (2019). Philip II | Biography, Accomplishments, & Facts. In Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philip-II-king-of-Spain-and-Portugal
Portrait of Philip II of Spain by Sofonisba Anguissola - 002b.jpg - Wikimedia Commons. (2013). Wikimedia.org. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Philip_II_of_Spain_by_Sofonisba_Anguissola_-_002b.jpg
Simkin, J. (2020). Philip II of Spain. Spartacus Educational. https://spartacus-educational.com/TUSphilip2.htm
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