Philip II (16 gen 1556 anni – 13 sett 1598 anni)

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only surviving son of Charles V and Isabella of Portugal. Because of his widely scattered domains, Charles V was not often in Spain. Philip, however, felt himself to be culturally Spanish; he had been born in Castile and raised in the Castilian court, his native tongue was Spanish, and he preferred to live in the Spanish kingdoms.
In 1556 Charles abdicated from his positions, giving his Spanish empire to Philip II and the Holy Roman Empire to his brother, Ferdinand.
During his reign, the Spanish kingdoms reached the height of its influence and power. This is sometimes called the Spanish Golden Age. However, in spite of the great and increasing quantities of gold and silver flowing into his coffers from the American mines, the riches of the Portuguese spice trade, and the enthusiastic support of the Habsburg dominions for the Counter-Reformation, he would never succeed in suppressing Protestantism or defeating the Dutch rebellion led by William of Orange.
A devout Catholic, Philip saw himself as the defender of Catholic Europe against the Ottoman Empire and the Protestant Reformation. He sent a large armada to invade Protestant England in 1588, with the strategic aim of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England and establishing Catholicism in England. He hoped to stop both English interference in the Spanish Netherlands and the harm caused to Spanish interests by English and Dutch privateering.
Charles had arranged Philip's marriage to 37-year-old Queen Mary I of England, Charles' maternal first cousin, in 1554. Mary died in 1558. Besides Mary I, Philip was married three other times and widowed four times. His fourth and final wife was his niece, Anna of Austria, who gave birth to the heir Philip III in 1578.

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