PHILIP'S DOMAINS.—With the abdication of Charles V. the Imperial crown passed out of the Spanish line of the House of Hapsburg. [Footnote: The Imperial crown went to Charles' brother, Ferdinand, of Austria.] Yet the dominions of Philip were scarcely less extensive than those over which his father had ruled. All the hereditary possessions of the Spanish crown were of course his. Then just before his father's abdication gave him these domains, he had become king-consort of England by marriage with Mary Tudor. And about the middle of his reign he conquered Portugal and added to his empire that kingdom and its rich dependencies in Africa and the East Indies,—an acquisition which more than made good to the Spanish crown the loss of the Imperial dignity. After this accession of territory, Philip's sovereignty was acknowledged by more than 100,000,000 persons- probably as large a number as was embraced within the limits of the Roman empire at the time of its greatest extension.
But notwithstanding that Philip's dominions were so extensive, his resources enormous, and many of the outward circumstances of his reign striking and brilliant, there were throughout the period causes at work which were rapidly undermining the greatness of Spain and preparing her fall. By wasteful wars and extravagant buildings Philip managed to dissipate the royal treasures; and by his tyrannical course in respect of his Moorish, Jewish, and Protestant subjects, he ruined the industries of the most flourishing of the provinces of Spain, and drove the Netherlands into a desperate revolt, which ended in the separation of the most valuable of those provinces from the Spanish crown.
As the most important matters of Philip's reign—namely, his war against the revolted Netherlands, and his attempt upon England with his "Invincible Armada"—belong more properly to the respective histories of England and the Netherlands, and will be treated of in connection with the affairs of those countries (see pp. 558, 564), we shall give here only a very little space to the history of the period.
PHILIP'S WAR WITH FRANCE.—Philip took up his father's quarrel with France. He was aided by the English, who were persuaded to this step by their queen, Mary Tudor, now the wife of the Spanish sovereign. Fortune favored Philip. The French were defeated in two great battles, and were forced to agree to the terms of a treaty (Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis, 1559) so advantageous to Spain as to give Philip great distinction in the eyes of all Europe.
PHILIP'S CRUSADE AGAINST THE MOORS.—It will be recalled that after the conquest of Granada the Moors were still allowed the exercise of their religion (see p. 499). Philip conceived it to be his duty to impose upon them conditions that should thoroughly obliterate all traces of their ancient faith and manners. So he issued a decree that the Moors should no longer use their native tongue; and that they should give their children Christian names, and send them to Christian schools. A determined revolt followed. Philip repressed the uprising with terrible severity (1571). The fairest provinces of Spain were almost depopulated, and large districts relapsed into primeval wilderness.
DEFEAT OF THE TURKISH FLEET AT LEPANTO (1571).—Philip rendered an eminent service to civilization in helping to stay the progress of the Turks in the Mediterranean. They had captured the important island of Cyprus, and had assaulted the Hospitallers at Malta, [Footnote: After the knights had been driven from the island of Rhodes by the Turks (see p. 532), Charles gave the survivors of the Order the island of Malta (1530).] which island had been saved from falling into the hands of the infidels only by the splendid conduct of the knights. All Christendom was becoming alarmed. Pope Pius V. called upon the princes of Europe to rally to the defence of the Church. An alliance was formed, embracing the Pope, the Venetians, and Philip II. An immense fleet was equipped, and put under the command of Don John of Austria, Philip's half-brother, a young general whose consummate ability had been recently displayed in the crusade against the Moors.
The Christian fleet met the Turkish squadron in the Gulf of Lepanto, on
the western coast of Greece. The battle was unequalled by anything the
Mediterranean had seen since the naval encounters of the Romans and
Carthaginians in the First Punic War. More than 600 ships and 200,000 men
mingled in the struggle. The Ottoman fleet was almost totally destroyed.
Thousands of Christian captives, who were found chained to the oars of the
Turkish galleys, were liberated. All Christendom rejoiced as when
Jerusalem was captured by the first crusaders.
The battle of Lepanto holds an important place in history, because it marks the turning-point of the long struggle between the Mohammedans and the Christians, which had now been going on for nearly one thousand years. The Ottoman Turks, though they afterwards made progress in some quarters, never recovered the prestige they lost in that disaster, and their authority and power thenceforward steadily declined. [Footnote: After the battle of Lepanto the next most critical moment in the history of the Turkish conquests was in 1683. In that year the Turks besieged Vienna, and had all but secured the prize, when the city was relieved by the distinguished Polish general Sobieski.]
THE DEATH OF PHILIP: LATER EVENTS.—In the year 1588 Philip made his memorable attempt with the so-called "Invincible Armada" upon England, at this time the stronghold of Protestantism. As we shall see a little later, he failed utterly in the undertaking (see p. 558). Ten years after this he died in the palace of the Escurial. With his death closed that splendid era of Spanish history which began with the discovery of the New World by Columbus. From this time forward the nation steadily declined in power, reputation, and influence.
Thus, under Philip III. (1598-1621), a severe loss, and one from which they never recovered, was inflicted upon the manufactures and various other industries of Spain, by the expulsion of the Moors, or Moriscoes. More than half a million of the most intelligent, skilful, and industrious inhabitants of the Peninsula were driven into exile. And then in 1609, the Protestant Netherlands, whose revolt against the tyranny of Philip II. has been mentioned, virtually achieved their independence (see p. 570). In the secession of these provinces the Spanish crown lost her most valuable possessions, and she now sank rapidly to the position of a third or fourth rate power. [Footnote: The loss of the Netherlands was followed in 1639 by the loss of Portugal. During the latter part of the seventeenth century Spain was involved in disastrous wars with France, and suffered a decline of 8,000,000 in her population. After the revolt of her American colonies, in the early part of the present century, and her cession to the United States of Florida (in 1819), Spain was almost shorn—she still held Cuba and a few other patches of territory scattered about the world—of those rich and magnificent colonial possessions which had been her pride in the time of her ascendency.]