Everything about Philip Iii Of Spain totally explained
Philip III (
Spanish:
Felipe III;
April 14,
1578 –
March 31,
1621) was the
King of
Spain and King of
Portugal and the Algarves, where he ruled as
Philip II (
Portuguese:
Filipe II), from
1598 until his
death. His
chief minister was the
Duke of Lerma. Philip III married
Margaret of Styria, sister of
Emperor Ferdinand II.
Born in
Madrid, the son of
Philip II of Spain and his fourth wife (and niece)
Anna, daughter of the Emperor
Maximilian II and
Maria of Spain. He shared the viewpoints and beliefs of his father, but didn't inherit his industry. The hardworking and diligent old king had sorrowfully confessed that God hadn't given him a son capable of governing his vast dominions, and that he'd foreseen that Philip III would be led by his servants. This assessment of his son ultimately proved correct.
The new king put the direction of his government entirely into the hands of his favourite, the
Duke of Lerma, Francisco Goméz de Sandoval y Rojas, and when he fell under the influence of Lerma's son, Cristóbal de Sandoval, the
Duke of Uceda in 1618, he trusted himself and his states to the new favourite.
The king's own life was passed amid court festivities, on which enormous sums of money were wasted, or in the practice of piety. It was said that he was so virtuous as hardly to have committed a
venial sin.
He died at Madrid on
March 31, 1621. The story told in the memoirs of the French ambassador
Bassompierre, that he was killed by the heat of a
brasero (a pan of hot charcoal), because the proper official to take it away wasn't at hand, is a humorous exaggeration of the formal etiquette of the court.
Domestic Policy
The policies of the Duke of Lerma were aimed towards the maintenance of international peace, the expulsion of the Moors and personal enrichment, as much economic as political.
Throughout his reign, institutional reforms followed one after another to solve the problems of corruption and inefficiency that plagued the administration of the
Monarchy: apart from the changes introduced in the traditional system of Counselors, resources were extended to the Juntas, bodies responsible for decreasing the power of royal favorites, in order to create a more agile and coherent government, but they didn't produce the desired result. The financial problems that Philip II had left behind made the king dependent on the Courts, who had to meet more frequently than their predecessors in order to grant the resources to run the empire.
The most significant domestic policy acts during the reign of Philip III were the expulsion of the Moors from the Iberian Peninsula and the adoption of the coins of a copper and silver alloy for domestic money transactions.
Expulsion of the Moors (1609–1610)
In 1609 a decree for the expulsion of the
Moors from Spain was declared for the following reasons:
- A possible alliance between the Berbers to attack the coast of Levant
- Their unpopularity among the people
- The necessity of the State to control its riches and values
Between 1609 and 1610 they began to leave the peninsula. To accomplish this, the Navy and 30,000 soldiers were mobilized with the mission of transporting the Muslims to
Tunis or
Morroco. Approximately 300,000 Moors were expelled.
This measure considerably affected the
Kingdom of Valencia, the valleys of
Aragon and the markets of
Murcia. The cheap labor and the number of rent paying owners in these areas decreased considerably. The cultivation of sugar and rice had to be substituted for
white mulberry,
vineyards, and
wheat.
The Dismissal of the Duke of Lerma (1618)
In 1618 the corruption grew to an intolerable level in the Court of Madrid. The King dismissed the
Duke of Lerma and named the duke's son as his successor, the
Duke of Uceda, whom he sent to detain
Rodrigo Calderón, a figure emblematic of the administration of his father.
International Policy
England
With the ascension to the throne of
James I of England, succeeding his cousin
Elizabeth, it became possible to end the
Anglo–Spanish War which had been dragging on since 1585 and was far too costly for both countries. In August of 1604 the
Treaty of London was signed.
Netherlands
Philip II of Spain had bequeathed this remaining territory in the
Southern Netherlands to his daughter
Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain and her husband, Archduke Albert, under the condition that if she died without any heirs, the land would return to the Spanish Crown. The equality of forces between the rebellious provinces of the north - Calvinist Protestants - and the southern provinces - allied with Spain - led to war exhaustion and in 1609 to a truce that was to last for twelve years, also known as Pax Hispanica. The truce did enable the Southern Netherlands to recover, but it was a de facto recognition of the independence of the
Dutch Republic and didn't stop its commercial and colonial expansion into the Caribbean and the East-Indies, although Spain had tried to impose the liquidation of the
Dutch East India Company as a treaty condition. Minor concessions of the Dutch Republic were the scrapping of the plan to create a West India Company and to stop the harassment of the Portuguese in Asia. Both concessions would appear to be temporal.
France
With the death of
Henry IV of France - a supporter of the war against Spain - a period of instability commenced in the Kingdom of France. The Queen Regent,
Marie de' Medici, asked Spain for help in the fight against the
Huguenots. And so the peace with France that Philip II of Spain had arranged in his last moment with the
Peace of Vervins was consolidated in 1615, by means of the marriage of the King of France with a Spanish infant and the crown prince of Spain (future Philip IV) with
Elisabeth of Bourbon.
Italy
The Duke of Osuna, viceroy of Naples, the Marquess of Villafranca, and the Governor of Milan directed the Spanish policy in Italy that encountered resistance from the Kingdom of Savoy and the Republic of Venice. To secure the connection between Milan and the Netherlands a new route was opened through
Valtelina,
Switzerland and in 1618 the plot of Venice occurred in which the authorities engaged in the persecution of pro-Spanish agents.
Thirty Years' War
Confrontation between the Catholics and Protestants in
Bohemia.
Intervention of Philip III of Spain (1618–1621)
Emperor Ferdinand II Habsburg asked the Spanish branch of his family for help to put down the rebellion of the Protestant Czechs.
Spain, allied with Austria and Bavaria confronted the Bohemian Protestants supported by the
Electoral Palatinate. The Spanish troops headed by
Ambrosio Spinola in the Palatinate and by
Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly in Bohemia, achieved victory against the Czechs in the
Battle of White Mountain.
Ancestors
Family
Philip married
Margaret of Austria. They had the following children:
| Name |
irth |
eath |
otes |
| Anne of Austria |
September 22, 1601 |
January 20, 1666 |
Married Louis XIII, King of France (1601 - 1643) in 1615. |
| Philip IV, King of Spain |
April 8, 1605 |
September 17, 1665 |
Married (1) Elisabeth of Bourbon (1603 - 1644) in 1615. Had issue. Married (2) Mariana of Austria (1634 - 1696) in 1649. Had issue. |
| Maria Anna of Spain |
August 18, 1606 |
May 13, 1646 |
Married Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (1608 - 1657) in 1631. Had issue. |
| Carlos, Prince of Spain |
September 14, 1607 |
July 30, 1632 |
Died unmarried. |
| Ferdinand, Prince of Spain |
May 16, 1609 |
November 9, 1641 |
Had illegitimate daughter (nun). |
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