The Wars of Religion 625 Section no. Philip II and the Revolt of THE Netherlands The chief ally of the Pope and the Jesuits in their efforts to Philip 11, the check Protestantism in the latter half of the sixteenth century of Protes"^^ was the son of Charles V, Philip 11. Like the Jesuits he enjoys a^o^Tthe a most unenviable reputation among Protestants. Certain it is ™iers of Europe that they had no more terrible enemy among the rulers of the day than he. He eagerly forwarded every plan to attack Eng- land's Protestant queen, Elizabeth, and finally manned a mighty fleet with the purpose of overthrowing her (see below, p. 644). He resorted, moreover, to great cruelty in his attempts to bring back his possessions in the Netherlands to what he believed to be the true faith. Charles V, crippled with the gout and old before his time. Division of laid down the cares of government in 1 555-1 556. To his JJjTssSions'^ brother Ferdinand, who had acquired by marriage the king- q^^J^^JJ ^^^^ doms of Bohemia and Hungary, Charles had earlier transferred Spanish the German possessions of the Hapsburgs. To his son, Philip II (i 556-1 598), he gave Spain with its great American colonies, Milan, the kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and the Netherlands.-^ CathoHcs. The king of Portugal was the first to banish the Jesuits from his kingdom, and then France, where they had long been very unpopular with an influential party of the Catholics, expelled them in 1764. Convinced that the order had outgrown its usefulness, the Pope abolished it in 1773. It was, however, restored in 18 14, and now again has thousands of members. 1 Division of the Hapsburg possessions between the Spanish and the German branches : Maximilian I (d. 15 19), m. Mary of Burgundy (d. 1482) I Philip (d. 1506), m. Joanna the Insane (d. 1555) Charles V (d. 1558) Ferdinand (d. 1564), m. Anna, heiress to kingdoms Emperor, 15 19-1556 Emperor, 1556-1564 I of Bohemia and Hungary Philip II (d. 1598) Maximilian II (d. 1576) inherits Spain, the Netherlands, Emperor, and inherits Bohemia, and the Italian possessions of Hungary, and the Austrian pos- the Hapsburgs sessions of the Hapsburgs The map of Europe in the sixteenth century (see above, p. 572) indicates the vast extent of the combined possessions of the Spanish and German Hapsburgs.
