King Philip II of Spain Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

King Philip II of Spain - Essay Example Unlike his father Philip II was not interested in war and avoided wars and paid less attention to enhancing his own greatness than to deter that of others. King Philip II usually followed the opinion of others. King Philip II considered that Spaniards superior to the nation. He believed that he lived among the Spaniards and he should consult them and they should direct his policies. He considered the Spaniards above all the others that he ruled, that is, the Flemish, the Italians and the Germans. He would give them positions only in the military, in the hope that he could prevent his enemies from using them. Born in 1527 Phillip II became the king of Spain in 1556, he died in 1598. He governed Spain in her Golden Age. However during his rule Spain went through an economic crunch. Spain's bankruptcy continued for a decade from 1588 to 1598. Inclusive of the disaster of the Spanish Armada. Philip II had a good taste for music and art and considered him self a traditional Spanish man. He also loved collecting master pieces and his collection was at his palace outside Madrid which was called Escorial. Philip II was an educated man but however he was weak at languages but good at Politics and History. He also collected art works and rare books. He was a very religious man and his rooms at his palace were Spartan which contained very less furniture. Philip II was married four times to Maria Manuela of Portugal, Mary Tudor of England, Elizabeth of Valois and Anne of Austria respectively. Philip had a major problem of not trusting his own judgments and also relied on the advice of others. He al so mistrusted the advice of his advisors. Due to this any issues took a very long time to be decided upon. It is believed he had a persistent lack of self confidence. "Your majesty spends so long considering your undertakings that when the moment to perform them comes the occasion has passed and the money has been spent"(Maran, 1954, p. 17). Long term policies could be cultured to achieve long term results as a result of him taking time to make important decisions. He wanted to 'Castilise' Spain which resulted in the most important government positions going to Castilians. Philip strongly believed that the right of the kings was divine and believed that kings were appointed by god and he as a king was also appointed by god so he could never makes any mistakes as god could not make mistakes. King Philip II settled down in the Netherlands during the early years of his reign. In 1559 he returned to the peninsula and never left the peninsula again. King Philip II was a native Spanish speaker and he decided to rule from Spain rather than travel around to his different states. Though, King Philip II was sometimes described as a monarch, he faced many constitutional limitations on his power. Spain was considered a coalition of many separate territories. It wasn't a single monarchy with one legal system. Precedence was usually taken over King Philip's authority by the local assemblies. The word of the local Lords was considered more effective than the King's own word. He also struggled with the issue of the Morisco population in Spain, who were forced to convert to Christianity by his ancestors. When the Morico Revolt broke out in 1568 in response to the attempts to restrain Moorish customs, King Philip ordered the distribution of Moricos onto other states after their