Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/751

 The Wars of Religio7i 645 the French monarchs showed no inclination to tolerate the heret- ical Calvinists. Moreover, the new and enthusiastic order of the Jesuits promised to be a powerful agency in inducing the Protestants to accept once more the supremacy of the Pope and the doctrines of the Catholic Church as formulated by the Council of Trent. The tremendous power and apparently boundless resources of Spain itself, which were viewed by the rest of Europe with terror, Philip was prepared to dedicate to the destruction of Protestantism throughout western Europe. But when Philip II died in 1598 all was changed. England Outcome of was hopelessly Protestant : the '' Invincible Armada " had been policy'^ miserably wrecked and Philip's plan for bringing England once more within the fold of the Roman Catholic Church was for- ever frustrated. In France the terrible wars of religion were over, and a powerful king, lately a Protestant himself, was on the throne, who not only tolerated the Protestants but chose one of them for his chief minister and would brook no more meddling of Spain in French affairs. A new Protestant state, the United Netherlands, had actually appeared within the bounds of the realm bequeathed to Philip by his father. In spite of its small size this state was destined to play, from that time on, quite as important a part in European affairs as the harsh Spanish stepmother from whose control it had escaped. Spain itself had suffered most of all from Philip's reign. His Decline of domestic policy and his expensive wars had sadly weakened the fhTSxteemh country. The income from across the sea was bound to decrease ^^i^tury as the mines were exhausted. The final expulsion of the in- dustrious Moors, shortly after Philip's death (see above, p. 566), left the indolent Spaniards to till their own fields, which rapidly declined in fertility under their careless cultivation. Some one once ventured to tell a Spanish king that " not gold and silver but sweat is the most precious metal, a coin which is always current and never depreciates " ; but it was a rare form of cur- rency in the Spanish peninsula. After Philip II's death Spain sank to the rank of a secondary European power.