PHILIP II

   1) Philip-Augustus, king of France, shared the throne with his father, Louis VII., from 1179, and succeeded him as sole ruler in 1180; marrying Isabella of Hainault, he united the Capet and Carlovingian houses; his grand aim was to secure to himself some of the English possessions in France; his alliance with Richard of England in the third crusade ended in a quarrel; returning to France he broke his oath to Richard by bargaining with John for portions of the coveted territory; an exhausting war lasted till 1119; on Richard's death Philip supported Arthur against John in his claim to Anjou, Maine, and Touraine; after Arthur's murder, the capture of Château Gaillard in 1204 gave him possession of these three provinces with Normandy and part of Poitou; the victory of Bouvines 1214 secured his throne, and the rest of his reign was spent in internal reforms and the beautifying of Paris (1165-1223).

   2) king of Spain, only son of the Emperor Charles V.; married Mary Tudor in 1554, and spent over a year in England; in 1555 he succeeded his father in the sovereignty of Spain, Sicily, Milan, the Netherlands, Franche-Comté, Mexico, and Peru; a league between Henry II. of France and the Pope was overthrown, and on the death of Mary he married the French princess Isabella, and retired to live in Spain, 1559. Wedding himself now to the cause of the Church, he encouraged the Inquisition in Spain, and introduced it to the Netherlands; the latter revolted, and the Seven United Provinces achieved their independence after a long struggle in 1579; his great effort to overthrow Protestant England ended in the disaster of the Armada, 1588; his last years were embittered by the failure of his intrigues against Navarre, raids of English seamen on his American provinces, and by loathsome disease; he was a bigot in religion, a hard, unloved, and unloving man, and a foolish king; he fatally injured Spain by crushing her chivalrous spirit, by persecuting the industrious Moors, and by destroying her commerce by heavy taxation (1527-1598).