Philip II of Spain
1527 – 1598 Spanish King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, and Sicily
The Catholic king whose Armada failed to conquer Protestant England.
- Religion
- Devout Catholic; champion of the Counter-Reformation who saw himself as the defender of the faith.
- Affiliations
- The House of Habsburg.
Philip II ruled the largest empire of his day, on which the sun famously never set, funded by American silver. A zealous Catholic, he launched the Armada of 1588 to overthrow Elizabeth and return England to Rome. Its defeat, and the long war it began, drained his treasury and marked the limit of Spanish power.
Connections
- rival of Elizabeth I — Philip, once married to Elizabeth's sister Mary I, became her great Catholic adversary and sent the Armada against her.
In the timeline
- 1580 Iberian Union joins Spain and Portugal mentioned
- 1580 The Iberian Union joins Portugal to Spain mentioned
- 1581 Independence of the Netherlands mentioned
- 1584 Treaty of Joinville mentioned
- 1588 Defeat of the Spanish Armada sent the Armada