236. SPAIN UNDER PHILIP II, 1556-1598 A.D.
ABDICATION OF CHARLES V, 1555-1556 A.D.
In 1555 A.D., the year of the Peace of Augsburg, [25] Charles V determined to abdicate his many crowns and seek the repose of a monastery. The plan was duly carried into effect. His brother Ferdinand I succeeded to the title of Holy Roman Emperor and the Austrian territories, while his son, Philip II, [26] received the Spanish possessions in Italy, the Netherlands, and America. There were now two branches of the Hapsburg family—one in Austria and one in Spain.
PHILIP II
The new king of Spain was a man of unflagging energy, strong will, and deep attachment to the Roman Church. As a ruler he had two great ideals: to make Spain the foremost state in the world and to secure the triumph of the Roman Catholic faith over Protestantism. His efforts to realize these ideals largely determined European history during the second half of the sixteenth century.
[Illustration: PHILIP II
After the portrait by Titian.]
BATTLE OF LEPANTO, 1571 A.D.
The Spanish monarch won renown by becoming the champion of Christendom against the Ottoman Turks. At this time the Turks had a strong navy, by means of which they captured Cyprus from the Venetians and ravaged Sicily and southern Italy. Grave danger existed that they would soon control all the Mediterranean. To stay their further progress one of the popes preached what was really the last crusade. The fleets of Genoa and Venice united with those of Spain and under Don John of Austria, Philip's half- brother, totally defeated the Turkish squadron in the gulf of Lepanto, off the western coast of Greece. The battle gave a blow to the sea-power of the Turks from which they never recovered and ended their aggressive warfare in the Mediterranean. Lepanto is one of the proud names in the history of Spain.
ANNEXATION OF PORTUGAL, 1581 A.D.
Philip had inherited an extensive realm. He further widened it by the annexation of Portugal, thus completing the unification of the Spanish peninsula. The Portuguese colonies in Africa, Asia, and America also passed into Spanish hands. The union of Spain and Portugal under one crown never commanded any affection among the Portuguese, who were proud of their nationality and of their achievements as explorers and empire- builders. Portugal separated from Spain in 1640 A.D. and has since remained an independent state.
[Illustration: THE ESCORIAL This remarkable edifice, at once a convent, a church, a palace, and a royal mausoleum, is situated in a sterile and gloomy wilderness about twenty-seven miles from Madrid. It was begun by Philip II in 1563 A.D. and was completed twenty-one years later. The Escorial is dedicated to St. Lawrence, that saint's day (August 10, 1557) being the day when the Spanish king won a great victory over the French at the battle of St. Quentin. The huge dimensions of the Escorial may be inferred from the fact that it includes eighty-six staircases, eighty-nine fountains, fifteen cloisters, 1,200 doors, 2,600 windows, and miles of corridors. The building material is a granite-like stone obtained in the neighborhood. The Escorial contains a library of rare books and manuscripts and a collection of valuable paintings. In the royal mausoleum under the altar of the church lie the remains of Charles V, Philip II, and many of their successors.]
PHILIP'S FAILURES
But the successes of Philip were more than offset by his failures. Though he had vast possessions, enormous revenues, mighty fleets, and armies reputed the best of the age, he could not dominate western Europe. His attempt to conquer England, a stronghold of Protestantism under Elizabeth, resulted in disaster. Not less disastrous was his life-long struggle with the Netherlands.