Phillip III (sep 14, 1598 – mar 31, 1621)

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on of Philip II and his fourth wife and niece Anna, the daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II and Maria of Spain. Philip III later married his cousin Margaret of Austria, sister of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor.
Although also known in Spain as Philip the Pious, Philip's political reputation abroad has been largely negative – an 'undistinguished and insignificant man,' a 'miserable monarch,' whose 'only virtue appeared to reside in a total absence of vice.' In particular, Philip's reliance on his corrupt chief minister, the Duke of Lerma, drew much criticism at the time and afterwards. For many, the decline of Spain can be dated to the economic difficulties that set in during the early years of his reign. Nonetheless, as the ruler of the Spanish Empire at its height and as the king who achieved a temporary peace with the Dutch (1609–1621) and brought Spain into the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) through an (initially) extremely successful campaign, Philip's reign remains a critical period in Spanish history.
Phillip and Margaret's daughter Anne of Austria married the French King Louis XIII, and their daughter Maria Anna married Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III (though she had been considered as a match for Charles, the English Prince of Wales--the "Spanish Match").
Phillip IV succeeded his father in 1621.

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