Philip II:

by William Thomas Walsh

Walsh's greatest book--about Europe's most powerful king ever. But more, it is a panorama of the entire 16th century. Covers the birth of Protestantism and the secret efforts to undermine Catholic unity, the Huguenot wars in France, the Sack of Rome, Great Siege, Battle of Lepanto, Spanish Armada, Council of Trent, etc.; and, Henry VIII, Mary Tudor, Elizabeth I, St. Pius V, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Ignatius of Loyola, etc. Reads fast; never bogs down. Beautiful hardbound gift edition! Individually shrink-wrapped for protection.

Genres: History, Biography, Catholic, Nonfiction, Royalty

770 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1937

About the author

A graduate of Yale University, William T. Walsh was a Catholic historian, educator, and author. He received international attention for his biographies Isabella of Spain and Philip II. In 1941, he was given the Laetare Medal by the University of Notre Dame. In 1944, he was given Spain's highest cultural honor, the Cross of Comendador of the Civil Order of Alfonso the Wise, and also the 1944 Catholic Literary Award of the Gallery of Living Catholic Authors.

Reviews

[Gregory Levine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best history book I've ever read.

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Very long but also very readable. It covers a part of European history that I only knew about in the periphery of English history and presents it from a very different perspective than everything else I've ever read. I recommend this book and suggest reading the same author's book on Isabella before this one.

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an exhaustive study of the life of Philip II and his times, with a lot of attention to his dealings with England, the Vatican, France, and Holland (which was then under Spanish rule). Walsh is a careful, excellent writer and historian. He makes the 770 pages, well, not exactly fly by, but not drag, either. He is thorough -- Walsh thoroughly documents his corrections of other authors' claims about Philip II.

For this general reader, there was really a bit too much correction (I don't know who these other historians are and I don't really care what they said about Philip), but Walsh wasn't writing this for me. Similarly, there are a lot of names and battles and things that just kind of flowed over my too-brief attention span. But this book gave me a respect for Philip as well as the sense that I understand him as a person to a good extent.

He was first and foremost a Catholic, and saw his role as the king of Spain as the guardian of the Catholic Faith. Walsh doesn't shy from showing how this sometimes caused him to clash with the Pope because Philip saw what was best for the Catholic realm of Spain as best for Europe (Kind of like a Spanish, Catholic version of L'État, c'est moi, Louis XIV is alleged to have said.) And it's not really clear that Philip was wrong -- the almost universally misunderstood Inquisition actually kept Spain in good spiritual health. Many history books overlook the appalling bloodshed caused by the Protestant revolution, often undertaken by its supporters (Jews, freemasons etc.) who were simply anti-Catholic and not themselves motivated by any faith. If Walsh were writing today he would probably be called anti-semitic (as Philip has been -- though Walsh gives plenty of examples to show that he wasn't against Jews, but against those who tried to tear down the Faith.

The last chapter is kind of an overview of Philip's life as monarch and his slow, agonizing approach to death. It is moving. He suffered much, yet his faith brought his much peace at the end.

There is so much else to discuss -- 770 pages covers a lot of ground! -- but this is some of what I appreciated about this biography.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was not only a biography of Philip II of Spain, but rather a major lesson of history - not only of Spain, but also England, France, Netherlands, Portugal and other parts of Europe.
The writer must have spend years and years of research to be able to present such a detailed description of European affairs during Charles V and Philip's life circumstances.
The writer is Catholic, I mean he is very Catholic and there are passages hard to understand in today's world. Everything not Catholic was in his opinion anti Christian and anti Christ. And the Jews in his opinion were leading a world wide anti Christian revolutionary organization and all the wrongs of the following era were based on this movement, including communism.
In Philip's opinion, everything non catholic deserved death. He has given an unlimited power to the order of Jesuits who carried out the inquisition not only in Spain, but in every other country he ruled, including Mexico and Peru. To kill a catholic was a crime, to kill a non catholic a privilege. Does it not sound familiar?
Interestingly though, by all of Philip's Catholicism he did not hesitate to go to war with Vatican, if the pope crossed his interest.
But he was a great king, a wise and just ruler of his people. Strangely already in his time the people were talking about him possibly having his son and his third wife poisoned to secure a succession of his kingdom, to get a healthy male heir. The writer of course denies it, but he quoted Philip's favorite saying that the end result justifies the action....
What ever the opinions of William Thomas Walsh, he is a great writer. He managed to write a book over 770 pages long, of a larger than A4 format and small printing and not boring the reader.

[Sam U · Rating 5 out of 5]

A journey of Europe in the 16th century

A journey through the 16th century Europe through the eyes of different significant historical figures and most importantly King Philip II, a God-fearing monarch.

[Joseph H · Rating 5 out of 5]

True life is stranger than fiction. It's a tough read, but the things you learn will blow your mind.

[Mary Horey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book, with an enormous amount of factual historical detail. The author has a gift for making history come alive, and the era he wrote about is full of the noble, the heroic, and the virtuous dealing--sometimes with the supernatural--in situations that are far stranger than fiction.
A "Catholic authors" site says:
"Through his research and writing, William Thomas Walsh established himself as a historian and absolute authority of 15th and 16th century Europe. He was awarded the Laetare Medale by the University of Notre Dame in 1941 (in recognition of distinguished accomplishment for Church or nation by an American Catholic), and was honored by the Spanish government in 1944 with the highest cultural honor of Spain: The Cross of Comendadore of the Civil Order of Alfonso the Wise. Walsh was the first North American writer to receive such an honor."
Mr. Walsh received this award from Spain because his factual histories did much to dispel the "Black Legend of Spain" that has still been propagandized in recent decades.
Philip II is a page-turner that is hard to put down.

[Susana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Good research but his catholic bias gets in the way.

[Santiago Vieto Rodríguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely the best history book. If you want to have a clear idea of how happened the "reform" and know with incredible depth the history of the thrilling XVI century, this is the book!

[Michael]

start reading at Philip wars against the pope, Chapter 10, Page 170, 1987 version