Philip II became regent of Spain when he was twelve years old and never again left the forefront of European politics until his death in 1598. ... Philip had a long reign and in that time he aimed to keep these territories Catholic and to act as an effective enough ruler to maintain a mostly stable government. His actions and efforts during his reign prove a certain degree of success, that is, he did not fail to take measurers in regards to his aims, however his measures were not always undeniably successful. His sent his armies through the Mediterranean to fight against the Moslems, he spent tedious hours at his desk as an administrator and prosecuted heretics, but as we will see, these aspects of his reign did not always necessarily provide for a totally efficient government or entirely Catholic territories3.
Philip II, unlike his father Charles V, was far more interested in staying in Spain to administrate with ink and paper than to personally oversee diplomatic exploits and wage war4. Philip made himself the central administrator, operating through regional rulers. ... Philip’s general intention was to keep a lid on the potential powers of the greater nobles and prevent their own vast ambition from corrupting the empire by taking even the minutest details of administration into his own hands6. ... The character of Philip II, D. ... T, ‘Philip as a man and statesman’, The character of Philip II, Boston, 1963, p. ...
Philip’s form of administration did indeed provide him with an absolute form of authority8. ... Philip made genuine attempts at keeping good government, such as his development of a national archival system, however in this he was also overall unsuccessful in his attempt as he created it near Valladolid, too far away from Philip’s capital to be technically efficient10. So despite Philip’s great efforts, his attempt at a confidential, and therefore, uncorrupted government, often failed, as often damaging documents (such as the records of his secretary Antonio Perez) were leaked outside of his administration due to Philip’s own independent ideals of government11. ... Spain lacked a proficient central body of administration and it was not until the last year of Philip’s reign that he made amendments to state councils in order to rectify the confusion created by his often weak form of government12. ... As a result of Philip’s ideas, high posts could not be bought and bribery was minimal, but posts were still not fitted with suitable candidates and bribery managed to slip through the cracks at times14.
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