Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/426

 412 PHILIP II. (SPAIN) ral ally of the pope, one of the first events of his reign was a war with Paul IV., who then occupied the papal throne. The pope had formed an alliance with Henry II. of France and with Solyman the Turkish sultan, the lat- ter of whom agreed to make a descent on the Italian dominions of Philip, while a powerful French army led by the duke of Guise entered Italy for the conquest of Milan and Naples. Philip had intrusted the government of the latter kingdom to the duke of Alva, and that able soldier in one campaign carried his arms to the walls of Rome, and in another drove the French out of Naples and compelled the pope to sue for peace, which was concluded Sept. 14, 1557. Meantime Philip in person was vig- orously prosecuting hostilities in the northern provinces of France, having by his influence with Mary induced England to declare war against that country. Under his direction a powerful army, the actual commander of which was Emanuel Philibert, duke of Savoy, assisted by William of Orange, Egmont, and other offi- cers of distinction, entered Picardy and laid siege to St. Quentin. A French army, attempt- ing to relieve the place, was defeated, chiefly by the brilliant valor of Egmont, in a battle fought Aug. 10, 1557, the day of St. Law- rence ; and in honor of that martyr, to whose interposition he ascribed the viatory, Philip subsequently built the convent and palace of the Escurial. The town of St. Quentin was taken by storm soon after the battle. Other victories over the French rapidly succeeded, but the jealousies of his English and German allies prevented Philip from prosecuting his con- quests by marching on Paris. In the following year the French invaded Flanders, and were signally defeated in the battle of Gravelines by a Spanish and Flemish army commanded by Egmont, who much enhanced by this achieve- ment the reputation he had gained in the cam- paign before St. Quentin. These victories led to the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis (April 2, 1559), which was highly favorable to Philip, and greatly raised his reputation in Europe as a sovereign and a diplomatist. While negotia- tions were going on his wife Mary of England died, Nov. 17, 1558. Philip soon made offers of marriage to her successor Elizabeth, which were rejected. He did not take the refusal greatly to heart, and speedily obtained the hand of the princess Elizabeth, or. Isabella, daughter of Henry II. of France, who at the late treaty had been promised to Philip's son Carlos, the prince and the princess being at that time both about 14. The marriage was celebrated at Paris, June 24, 1559, the duke of Alva acting as his sovereign's proxy. A few weeks later Philip sailed from the Netherlands to Spain, where he afterward always resided, and where he was joined by his bride early in the following year. He left the government of the Netherlands in the hands of his half sister Margaret, duchess of Parma, as regent, assisted by a council composed in part of Wil- liam of Orange, Count Egmont, and Antoine Perrenot, bishop of Arras, subsequently better known as Cardinal Granvelle. Philip had not been many days in Valladolid, where the court then resided, before he signalized his devotion to the church by attending an auto da fe, at which 14 Protestants were burned at the stake, two of them men of high rank and distin- guished talents. Soon after his return to Spain he began to tsfke measures for extirpating her- esy in the Netherlands. For this purpose he had in conjunction with the pope added 13 new bishoprics to the four already existing in these provinces, and made Mechlin the seat of an archbishop with the dignity of primate. The popular opposition to this and other mea- sures of the Spanish court was led by Orange, Egmont, Horn, Montigny, and other eminent and influential nobles, some of whom were Catholics. Their energetic protests compelled Philip in 1564 to withdraw Granvelle from the country, the odium of these proceedings be- ing popularly fixed on that prelate. But the persecution of the Protestants was continued, and 17 persons were publicly burned at the stake in 1564. The people at length rose in insurrection, and in 1567 the duke of Alva was sent with a powerful army to repress the rebellion and extirpate the heretics. Under his rule the most terrible barbarities were inflict- ed on the Protestants. Egmont and Horn and several other great nobles were beheaded, and during his administration of six years 18,000 persons perished on the scaffold, besides im- mense numbers killed in battles, sieges, and massacres. This ferocity failed to subdue the insurgents, who under the wise leadership of William of Orange maintained a heroic and generally successful struggle against Alva and his successors, Requesens, Don John of Aus- tria, and the duke of Parma. In 1579 the seven United Provinces formed the union of Utrecht, and during the rest of Philip's reign maintained their independence and carried on a vigorous war with the Spaniards by land and sea. Among the remarkable incidents of this long contest was the assassination of William of Orange, the great leader of the revolt of the Netherlands, at Delft in 1584. The deed was incited by a proclamation of Philip offering inducements for its commission ; and although the assassin, Balthasar Gerard, was taken and put to death, Philip rewarded his heirs with estates of great value and with patents of no- bility. During the earlier part of the war with the Netherlands, Philip carried on al- most constant hostilities against the Moham- medans. The famous siege of Malta by the Turks in 1565 was raised by his forces sent from Sicily. His persecution drove the Moors of Granada to a revolt in 1568, which was sup- pressed with rigor. It was followed in 1571 by a war with the Turks, the principal event of which was the great naval victory of Lepanto, won by Philip's half brother Don John of Austria, in which the Ottoman fleet was near-