Philip II summary

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Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Philip II.

Titian: detail of Philip II — Titian: detail of *Philip IIPhilip II*, detail of an oil painting by Titian; in the Corsini Gallery, Rome.

Philip II, Spanish Felipe, (born May 21, 1527, Valladolid, Spain—died Sept. 13, 1598, El Escorial), King of Spain (1556–98) and of Portugal (as Philip I, 1580–98). The son of Emperor Charles V, Philip received from his father the duchy of Milan (1540), the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily (1554), the Netherlands (1555), and Spain and its overseas empire (1556). He ruled from the Netherlands from 1555 and waged a successful war against France in 1557. From 1559 he ruled from Spain, where he built the palace of El Escorial and encouraged Spain’s literary golden age. He was a champion of the Counter-Reformation but failed to put down rebellions in the Netherlands (from 1568) and to conquer England, suffering the defeat of the Spanish Armada (1588). He gained a victory in the Mediterranean with the defeat of the Ottoman offensive at the Battle of Lepanto (1571) and unified the Iberian Peninsula as king of Portugal from 1580. During his reign the Spanish empire attained its greatest power, extent, and influence.

Mary I Summary

Mary I was the first queen to rule England (1553–58) in her own right. She was known as Bloody Mary for her persecution of Protestants in a vain attempt to restore Roman Catholicism in England. The daughter of King Henry VIII and the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon, Mary as a child was a pawn

Charles V Summary

Charles V was the Holy Roman emperor (1519–56), king of Spain (as Charles I; 1516–56), and archduke of Austria (as Charles I; 1519–21), who inherited a Spanish and Habsburg empire extending across Europe from Spain and the Netherlands to Austria and the Kingdom of Naples and reaching overseas to

Habsburg castle, Aargau canton, Switzerland

house of Habsburg Summary

House of Habsburg, royal German family, one of the principal sovereign dynasties of Europe from the 15th to the 20th century. The name Habsburg is derived from the castle of Habsburg, or Habichtsburg (“Hawk’s Castle”), built in 1020 by Werner, bishop of Strasbourg, and his brother-in-law, Count

Spanish Armada Summary

Spanish Armada, the great fleet sent by King Philip II of Spain in 1588 to invade England in conjunction with a Spanish army from Flanders. England’s attempts to repel this fleet involved the first naval battles to be fought entirely with heavy guns, and the failure of Spain’s enterprise saved