Phillip II
Philip II was born the 21 May 1527 born at Valladolid as only zoon of Emperor Charles V and Isabella of Portugal. Although he spoke during his life exclusively Spanish, he was educated; French, Greek and Latin. In 1543 he married his cousin Maria of Portugal. She died, only 17 years old, at the birth of their zoon Don Carlos. In 1554 he remarried with the eleven years older Maria Tudor, queen of United Kingdom. This political marriage ensured that Philip could directly exert influence on the English policy. Philip remained however in Spain. As soon it had become clear that its English spouse would not bare any children, he did not longer show himself in United Kingdom. After Maria Tudors death in 1555, the relation between the to Countries rapidly cooled down.
Before he became king of Spain, when his father stepped down in 1556, Philip already gained control of the duchy Milan (1540), the monarchies Naples and Sicily (1554)and the Netherlands (1555). On the 25th of October 1555 Philip was crowned king of the Netherlands. His first official act as king was no success, stuttering he thanks his father for the faith that was put in him, however he has to apologise to the "Staten Generaal", he does not master the French vocabulary enough to give them a speech, and leaves this to Granvelle, the Bishop of Atrecht. The impression that Philip left, inspired no confidence. A person who in those days did not speak French made the same unintelligent impression as someone who these days can not speak English.
In the first years of his rule, Philip continued as much as possible the same line in politics his father initiated. Especially where it concerned the fight against Heresy. This Heretic-hunt was exactly one of the sore points with the Dutch nobility. Apart from this the "Staten-Generaal" was fed up with continuous warfare against France. They did not support any Dutch interest, costed heaps and heaps of money and were bad for the Dutch economy. Philip does very little to get the nobility to support him. He secluded himself in his Brussels' Palace and surrounds himself with only Spanish counsellors. On the 3rd of April 1559 the war ends, not in the last place thanks to the Dutch army ("Peace of Cateau- Cambresis"). This peace is sealed with a marriage: Philip married for the third time, this time to Elisabeth van Valois, daughter of Hendrick II. It was a happy marriage out of which two daughters are born . Elisabeth died, after a miscarriage in, 1568.
The romantics found in the the marriage of Philip to Elisabeth the start for the hatred that will grow between father and son Don Carlos. Don Carlos intended to marry Elisabeth himself, but now she became his stepmother! The envy and the rotten character (he loved to torture animals) and the hereditary insanity of the Don Carlosses forced Philip in the end to imprison his own son. (He was imprisoned in his own room - the door nailed shut - his arms and papers taken from him). The prince died in the night of 23 to 24 July 1568, shortly after his twenty-third birthday . By lack of a son to succeed him he married for a fourth time, this time to his cousin Anna arch-duchess of Austria.
After 1559 Philip resided permanently in Spain. Not only cause he felt more at home but also since his presence is, politically, required. He still had to be crowned, officially, as king of Spain. therefore he appointed his half-sister, Margaretha of Parma, regent of The Netherlands. She was assisted by three counsellors: Viglius van Aytta, Charles de Berlaymont and Cardinal Granvelle. This purposely to keep the Dutch nobility without influence. There was of course high-nobility who were seated in the "Staten-Generaal" but since many of them were stadtholder as well, they resided more then often in the provinces than in Brussels. High Nobles like the prince of Orange and the Counts van Egmond and Horne had the feeling they were purposely left out of important decisions.
The normal people began to get more and more annoyed with the vast amount of Spanish soldiers which resided in the Netherlands. It seemed like the the Dutch are supposed support the troops, that kept their Country occupied, with their own money. Irritation kept growing by Philips stubborn prosecution of the heretics. The victims of this hunt were however not as large as the propaganda wanted the people to believe. According to official sources (transcripts of processes) the amount of executed people comes ,in the period up till 1566, to1300. This is certainly not a small amount but differs hugely from the thousands mentioned in the anti-Spanish propaganda which played on the fear amongst the people.
The prince of Orange and the Count of Egmond sent on the 23rd of July 1561 a letter of complaint to King Philip II. When after a year nothing had changed the nobility united itself in a council. The 11th of March 1563 a letter is written again, this time to Granvelle. They demanded the resignation of the Cardinal. Even Margaretha of Parma indicated to Philip that she no longer wanted to work with Granvelle. Phillip could do little but to recall Granvelle (with an excuse) from the Netherlands. The strict prosecution of the heretics was a personal point on the political agenda of the king which he refused to adjust. On December 31st, 1564 William of Orange pledged with the Staten Generaal in favour of freedom of religion: to have two religions to coexist. As follow up the count of Egmond is sent to Spain to clarify this point of view. More request and pledges followed, all without result. During one of these venues Berlaymont is supposed to have said to Margaretha of Parma: "N'ayez pas peur madame, ce ne sont que des gueux""don't be afraid madam, they are only view beggars" From this the later name Geuzen was derived
Even though Phillip stuck stubbornly with the heretic-prosecution policy the Calvinists support kept growing even in the southern parts of the Netherlands. Thousands of people, in the farming industry, who live a very sober/poor life irritated themselves more and more at the wealth of the Roman Catholic Church. A bad harvest and a bad winter cause the starvation of 1566. Infuriated civilians, incited by preachers, started attacking churches and monasteries, smashing up their contents. (the beeldenstorm). Margaretha van Parma had no idea how to deal with the revolts and asked the local nobility to assist her in reinstating order. She demanded as well that they would pledge their loyalty to the Spanish king and the Catholic Church. The reaction of the nobility was not a unified one. In reaction to this Margaretha wrote Phillip, asking him to defend the Catholic faith against this gross insult . In the October 1567 the situation in Holland calmed down but Philip had at this time already decided to send the Duke of Alva the Netherlands. In 1567 Alva arrived with an approximately 10.000 man strong army. Margeratha decided to leave the country out of precaution.
The Duke of Alva is a fanatic Catholic with an almost blind hatred for anything protestant. This very much unsympathetic person made governor of the Netherlands in 1567. Shortly after his inauguration he assembled the "blood-council", a special court with the purpose of hunting down protestants. The blood-council did not sit back, and the stake-burnings became an everyday sight.. It made in total over 6.000 victims. Due to these terrorist politics Alva became more and more powerful. The cities and districtscould not withstand the power of the king. Levies and taxes were raised without permission of the Staten Generaal. A rising led by William of Orange wais the result. In 1579 the protestant districts united themselves in Utrecht into the Republic of the United Netherlands and by this reject Philips as ruler. Philips II refused to accept this and put a 25.000 crown bounty on the head of William of Orange. In the period 1580 and 1584 several attempts were made on the life of the prince. Op 10 juli 1584 Balthazar Gerards succeeded to assassinate William of Orange. William was however succeeded by his son , prince Maurits, a very capable strategist en warlord. Philip was therefore unable to re-conquer the Netherlands.
The revolting Netherlands were not the only difficulty for Philip. The good relationship with England had ended in 1555, with the death of Maria Tudor. Philip tried, by means of a marriage proposal to Queen Elizabeth, to restore this relation. She is however not at all interested. When on top of that she proclaimed herself protector of the Protestant Faith and provided help to the Dutch in their fight the two nations became irreconcilable enemies. In order to defeat England, Phillip prepared a large fleet of ships to sail from Spain to the Straits of Dover, the unstoppable Armada ('armed feet'). However almost the whole fleet was lost due to incorrect manoeuvres and storms in 1588. From this point onwards, the English navy, led by Sir Francis Drake, was the ruler of the sea and Spain's naval capabilities were near nonexistent
In 1563 Philip had started building the 'Escorial', a sombre looking palace just out of Madrid, which now is reckoned to one of Europe's most impressive monuments. In 1584 the building was finished and it became his second residence. He died there, 71 years of age on 13 September 1598.