King Philip II of Spain - Essay Example

King Philip II of Spain Sana Osman King Philip II of Spain "The Catholic King was born in Spain......here he is treated with all the deferenceand respect which seemed due to him as the greatest emperor whom Christendom had ever had and to the heir to such a number of realms and to such grandeur"( Trueman, 2000, para 8). According to Michele Suriano, the Venetian ambassador to Spain, King Philip II resembled his father Charles V in speech and looks, he was different from him in several aspects, as he gave importance to his religious duties and was habituated to good faith and kindness, these are a few aspects in which the greatness of rulers lies. Unlike his father Philip II was not interested in war and avoided wars and paid less attention to enhancing his own greatness than to deter that of others. King Philip II usually followed the opinion of others. King Philip II considered that Spaniards superior to the nation. He believed that he lived among the Spaniards and he should consult them and they should direct his policies. He considered the Spaniards above all the others that he ruled, that is, the Flemish, the Italians and the Germans. He would give them positions only in the military, in the hope that he could prevent his enemies from using them. Born in 1527 Phillip II became the king of Spain in 1556, he died in 1598. He governed Spain in her Golden Age. However during his rule Spain went through an economic crunch. Spain's bankruptcy continued for a decade from 1588 to 1598. Inclusive of the disaster of the Spanish Armada. Philip II had a good taste for music and art and considered him self a traditional Spanish man. He also loved collecting master pieces and his collection was at his palace outside Madrid which was called Escorial. Philip II was an educated man but however he was weak at languages but good at Politics and History. He also collected art works and rare books. He was a very religious man and his rooms at his palace were Spartan which contained very less furniture. Philip II was married four times to Maria Manuela of Portugal, Mary Tudor of England, Elizabeth of Valois and Anne of Austria respectively. Philip had a major problem of not trusting his own judgments and also relied on the advice of others. He also mistrusted the advice of his advisors. Due to this any issues took a very long time to be decided upon. It is believed he had a persistent lack of self confidence. "Your majesty spends so long considering your undertakings that when the moment to perform them comes the occasion has passed and the money has been spent"(Maran, 1954, p. 17). Long term policies could be cultured to achieve long term results as a result of him taking time to make important decisions. He wanted to 'Castilise' Spain which resulted in the most important government positions going to Castilians. Philip strongly believed that the right of the kings was divine and believed that kings were appointed by god and he as a king was also appointed by god so he could never makes any mistakes as god could not make mistakes. King Philip II settled down in the Netherlands during the early years of his reign. In 1559 he returned to the peninsula and never left the peninsula again. King Philip II was a native Spanish speaker and he decided to rule from Spain rather than travel around to his different states. Though, King Philip II was sometimes described as a monarch, he faced many constitutional limitations on his power. Spain was considered a coalition of many separate territories. It wasn't a single monarchy with one legal system. Precedence was usually taken over King Philip's authority by the local assemblies. The word of the local Lords was considered more effective than the King's own word. He also struggled with the issue of the Morisco population in Spain, who were forced to convert to Christianity by his ancestors. When the Morico Revolt broke out in 1568 in response to the attempts to restrain Moorish customs, King Philip ordered the distribution of Moricos onto other states after their expulsion from Granada. Spain was a poor country which had a very small population and therefore yielded an inadequate income to the crown. King Philip suffered many problems in raising taxes, as most of the taxes were collected by and given to the local lords. The only way King Philip could finance his military campaigns was by taxing his empires local resources. Though there was a flow of income from the New World, King Philips exchequer faced bankruptcy many times. However, during King Philip's reign Spain witnessed a period of cultural excellence, which was a part of the Golden Age. This created a heritage in music, literature and arts. Spain saw many great dramatist, musicians, poets, and artists during this period. "Philip II claimed to have built El Escorial in order to provide a monastery for monks to pray for the salvation of the kings and the benefits of the royalty received" (Williams, 1996, p. 49). Philip II was left with an annual deficit of 1 million ducats and 36 million ducats a debt of about 36 million ducats by his father Charles V. Apart from decreasing state revenues for foreign expeditions, his domestic policies further loaded Spain and would further add to its downfall. Spain was subject to various assemblies like Navarre, three assemblies for each of the three regions of Aragon and Cortes in Castile. Each of the assemblies defended their own laws and traditional rights which were inherited when they were different kingdoms. Spain and its possessions became difficult to rule due to this. France had a single Estates General though it was divided by regional states. Due to the lack of a practical supreme assembly the power remained concentrated in the hands of Philip II, and this was necessary due to the continuous problems amongst the authorities, and required his involvement as final authority. To tackle such issues the authority was managed by local negotiators appointed by the king and the viceroys had to follow the instructions by the king. Philip felt the need to take control of specific councils for war, finance, state of affairs and the Inquisition. The state of affairs was administered in an inefficient manner by indulging royal bureaucrats in controversies against each other; leading to a system of checks and balances, this often resulted in harming state business like the Perez affair. Philip opposed the efforts to move the capital from the Castilian to Lisbon, which could have led a plenty of decentralization. The industries were burdened by many governmental rules and regulations due to the Spanish government's inefficiencies. The dispersion of the Moricos from Granada had very serious negative effects on the economy, especially in Granada. King Philip's favored sheep ranching and neglected farming, which resulted in forcing Spain to import huge amounts of grain and other foods. As far as taxes were concerned, the upper class and the church were not liable to paying normal taxes. The burden of paying taxes fell on the strata of society which was engaged in industry, trade and commerce. During King Philip's rule, the prices in Spain increased by five times. Most of Spain's wealth was spent in importing goods by the wealthy status-oriented nobility. The Spanish merchants and manufactures were burdened by the high taxation and inflation, which harmed the Spanish industry. Soon Spain became dependent on the revenues coming in from the commercial empire in the Americas, which led to Spain first bankruptcy in 1557; this was due to the increasing military expenditure. The taxes coming in from Spain, Castile and the Netherlands were too small to support Philip's plans. This made King Philip more and more dependent on loans which he took from foreign bankers. Almost forty per cent of the states revenue was spent in the interest given on these loans. King Philip's foreign policies were a combination Catholic enthusiasm and self interest. He believed that he was the chief defender of Catholic Europe, against the Protestant Reformation and the Ottoman Turks. "He had devoted his life to the task of establishing the universal supremacy of Catholicism in the political interests of Spain" (Hume, p. 2) He preferred to fight rather than tolerating the freedom of worship in any of his territories. This included the Netherlands where Protestantism had become prominent. In 1568, Philip had a indecisive and brutal war to control the Netherlands after the Revolt of the Netherlands. This pulled in the French and the English which lasted for his life. In 1588, Philips Spanish Armada was defeated by the English. In 1571, Philip achieved a victory against the Turks in Lepanto. In 1580, he also secured his progression to the throne of Portugal. "The two countries of Spain and Portugal were now united and the entire Portuguese empire was under Philip's personal rule" (Hilliam, 2005, p. 87). Spain reached the peak of its power during the reign of Philip II. During his period he recaptured Netherlands and the defeat was permanent, they lost due to Philips firm attitude. His war plans expanded in span and difficulty. Though the inflow of gold and silver was increased from the American mines, the Portuguese spice trade and the support of Habsburg dominions, he could never defeat the Dutch rebellion or suppress Protestantism. He was devoted to Catholic religion and displayed the 16th century derision for religious sacrilege. Slow oppression of Spain's intellectual life was one of the long term effects of his motivation to impose Catholic convention through intensification of Inquisition. Books printed out side his kingdom by Spaniards were banned and the students were restricted from studying outside the kingdom. These enforcements were successful and Spain avoided the religiously encouraged conflicts ripping apart other European dominions. Yet, Philip II's reign cannot be characterized as a failure. He has many feathers in his cap, as he united Spain's empire, he also succeeded in increasing the import of silver from the English, French and Dutch, and he was successful in ending the threat to Europe by the Ottoman navy. King Philip II also succeeded in uniting Spain and Portugal. King Philip is considered a great king of his time as Spain saw many changes during his rule. Though, he faced many crisis situations and was confronted with many problems he is considered to be a great ruler of Spain. "Philip II is not only the king who gave this marvelous country its name, but he was also one of the more instrumental persons in the historical development of the archipelago." (Ramrez, 2008, p. 9) References Trueman, Chris, 2000, History Learning Site. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/Phillip_II_the_man.htm Maran, Gregorio 1954, "Spanish Traitor.": "Spanish traitor". Hollis and Carter. Williams, Raymond L., 1996. The Writings of Carlos Fuentes, University of Texas Press. Hume, Martin Andrew Sharp. Philip II of Spain. Adamant Media. Hilliam, David, 2005. Philip II: King of Spain and Leader of the Counter- Reformation. The Rosen publishing Group. Ramrez, Dmaso de Lario, 2008. Re-shaping the World: Philip II of Spain and His Time. Ateneo de Manila University Press. Read More