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Philip III, King of Spain

Philip III
Velázquez (Felipe III).jpg
Philip III by Diego Velázquez (1627)
King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia; Duke of Milan (more...)
Reign 13 September 1598 – 31 March 1621
Predecessor Philip II
Successor Philip IV
Born (1578-04-12)12 April 1578
Madrid, Spain
Died 31 March 1621(1621-03-31) (aged 42)
Madrid, Spain
Burial El Escorial
Spouse Margaret of Austria (m. 1599; d. 1611)
Issue
House Habsburg
Father Philip II of Spain
Mother Anna of Austria
Religion Roman Catholicism
Signature Philip III's signature

Philip III (Spanish: Felipe; 14 April 1578 – 31 March 1621) was King of Spain. He was also, as Philip II, King of Portugal, Naples, Sicily and Sardinia and Duke of Milan.

A member of the House of Habsburg, Philip III was born in Madrid to King Philip II of Spain and his fourth wife and niece Anna, the daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II and Maria of Spain. Philip III later married his cousin Margaret of Austria, sister of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor.

Although also known in Spain as Philip the Pious, Philip's political reputation abroad has been largely negative – an 'undistinguished and insignificant man,' a 'miserable monarch,' whose 'only virtue appeared to reside in a total absence of vice,' to quote historians C. V. Wedgwood, R. Stradling and J. H. Elliott. In particular, Philip's reliance on his corrupt chief minister, the Duke of Lerma, drew much criticism at the time and afterwards. For many, the decline of Spain can be dated to the economic difficulties that set in during the early years of his reign. Nonetheless, as the ruler of the Spanish Empire at its height and as the king who achieved a temporary peace with the Dutch (1609–1621) and brought Spain into the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) through an (initially) extremely successful campaign, Philip's reign remains a critical period in Spanish history.


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