Philip II was born in Valladolid, the son of Isabella of Portugal and Emperor Charles V, who on his abdication, left Philip II the crowns of Spain and the Netherlands.
He had his father's great advisers at his side, like the Duke of Alba for matters of war, Francisco de los Cobos for matters of finance, Cardinal Tavera and Juan de Zúñiga, among others.
Philip II entered into four politically beneficial marriages. First, with Maria of Portugal, to unify the peninsular territory. Then with Mary Tudor, making him king consort of England and Ireland. His third wife was Elisabeth of Valois, a marriage that put an end to a period of confrontations with France. Widowed again and without a male heir, he married his niece, Anne of Austria, who would be the mother of the future Philip III.
He was an authoritarian king who ruled a vast empire, although he maintained the system of permanent councils for the administration of the different territories. He built an impressive administrative machinery that reached throughout the Empire and centred the capital of the kingdom in the then small town of Madrid. In literature, El Lazarillo de Tormes reflected the difficulties of the time.
The Monastery of El Escorial was built to commemorate the victory against France at the Battle of St. Quentin on Saint Lawrence's Day, marking the peace of Le Cateau-Cambrésis.
Philip II faced some internal problems.
The issues with his firstborn son, Charles, with whom he had numerous confrontations due to the prince's mental health, would lead him to be confined until his death.
The Alpujarras Rebellion in Granada, an uprising by the Moors, which was put down militarily by Don Juan of Austria.
And the betrayal by his chamber secretary Antonio Pérez who, by revealing state secrets, provoked a serious conflict with Aragon and its lords, resulting in the murder of Juan of Escobedo, Don Juan of Austria’s secretary.
During his reign, the Battle of Lepanto took place against the Ottoman army, resulting in a great victory for Spain in which Miguel de Cervantes, the one-armed man of Lepanto, took part.
The monarch also suffered some defeats. Like that of the Invincible Navy, on its way to invade England. And the religious conflict in the Netherlands during the Eighty Years’ War, which brought successive bankruptcies to the Spanish crown.
Under Philip II there was a period of great cultural splendour. In architecture, Juan Bautista de Toledo and Juan de Herrera, architects of El Escorial, stand out.
In painting, El Greco, Titian and Alonso Sánchez Coello.
It is the time of Miguel de Cervantes, of mystical poets such as Saint Teresa de Jesús and Saint Juan de la Cruz, of the theologian and humanist Fray Luis de León, and the inventor Jerónimo de Ayanz, who invented the forerunner of the steam engine, among other geniuses.
