The Next Generation

Philip II was the son of Charles V. In 1556, he inherited only half of his father’s unwieldy empire, including Spain, Flanders, and the American colonies. However, he also inherited along with these territories, a threatening Protestant rebellion. Philip was a zealous Catholic who ruled a quarter of the population of western Europe, as well as, more recently, Peru, Mexico, and the Philipines. He married Mary Tudor, the Catholic queen of England, but he mostly ignored that smaller and seemingly less important country, and their union did not produce the hoped-for Catholic heir. By this time, there were many Protestants in the Netherlands. Philip II happened to believe that it was his duty as a king “appointed by God,” to fight for the Catholic Church (a bit like Louis XIV). Backed by the zeal of the Jesuits and the Spanish Inquisition, his savage repression of Protestants soon helped stir up discontent, eventually leading to a rebellion that disrupted the Spanish empire in the Netherlands.