|
|
|
Philip II, king of Spain, Naples, and Sicily, Spanish And Portuguese History, Biographies
Related Category: Spanish And Portuguese History, Biographies
|
|
Philip was not the bloodthirsty tyrant portrayed by his enemies and by later writers. The embodiment of the hard-working civil servant and bureaucrat, he sought to direct the destinies of a world empire from the seclusion of his cabinet, devoting infinite time and pains to the minutest administrative details. He did not trust even his ablest and most loyal servants, and partly as a result his court was riddled with faction. Philip's administration was generally just, but his bureaucratic absolutism, with its disregard for local conditions and privileges, inevitably caused discontent. This was true not only of the Netherlands but also of AragOn, which rose in revolt (1591) over the affair of Antonio PErez. Isolated from reality, Philip lived and died in his strange court at the Escorial.
Sections in this article:
|
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2009, Columbia
University Press.
Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
|
Topics
that might be of interest to you: |
• Alba, Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, duque de
• Armada, Spanish
• Carlos, prince of the Asturias
• Cateau-CambrEsis, Treaty of
• Charles V, Holy Roman emperor
• Elizabeth I, queen of England
• Elizabeth of Valois
• Escorial
• Alessandro Farnese
• Hapsburg
• Henry II, king of France
• Henry IV, king of France
• Italian Wars
• John of Austria, 1545–78, Spanish admiral and general
• League
• Lepanto, battle of
• Margaret of Parma
• Mary I, 1516–58, queen of England
• Mary I, 1516¢#150;58, queen of England
• Moriscos
• Netherlands, Austrian and Spanish
• Netherlands
• Antonio PErez
• Reformation
• Luis de ZUniga y Requesens
• Spain
• Toledo, city, Spain
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
