Editing Philip II of Spain (section)

===France===
{{main|French Wars of Religion}}
The French Wars of Religion (1562–1598) were primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants (Huguenots). The conflict involved the factional disputes between the aristocratic houses of France, such as the [[House of Bourbon]] and [[House of Guise]], and both sides received assistance from foreign sources. Philip claimed descent from [[Constantine I]] and [[Charlemagne]], justifying his intervention in French Wars of Religion and his continuing efforts to depose [[Henry IV of France]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lV9Xdn3c6IoC&pg=PA135|page=135|title=Clio and the Crown: The Politics of History in Medieval and Early Modern Spain|author=Richard L. Kagan|date=2009|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=978-1421401652 }}</ref>{{page needed|date=March 2025}}

Philip signed the [[Treaty of Vaucelles]] with Henry II of France in 1556. Based on the terms of the treaty, the territory of [[County of Burgundy|Franche-Comté]] in [[Burgundy]] was to be relinquished to Philip. However, the treaty was broken shortly afterwards. France and the Spanish kingdoms waged war in northern France and Italy over the following years. Spanish victories at St. Quentin and Gravelines led to the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis, in which France recognised Spanish sovereignty over Franche-Comté.

During the [[War of the Portuguese Succession]], the pretender [[António, Prior of Crato|António]] fled to France following his defeats and, as Philip's armies had not yet occupied the [[Azores]], he sailed there with a large Anglo-French fleet under [[Filippo di Piero Strozzi|Filippo Strozzi]], a [[Florence|Florentine]] exile in the service of France. The naval [[Battle of Terceira]] took place on 26 July 1582, in the sea near the Azores, off [[São Miguel Island]], as part of the War of the Portuguese Succession and the [[Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)]]. The Spanish navy defeated the combined Anglo-French fleet that had sailed to preserve control of the Azores under António. The French naval contingent was the largest French force sent overseas before the age of [[Louis XIV]].<ref>Jan Glete p. 156</ref>

[[File:PhilipIIbust.JPG|thumb|A [[marble]] [[Bust (sculpture)|bust]] of Philip II of Spain by [[Pompeo Leoni]], [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]]]

The Spanish victory at Terceira was followed by the [[Conquest of the Azores|Battle of the Azores]] between the Portuguese loyal to the claimant António, supported by French and English troops, and the Spanish-Portuguese forces loyal to Philip commanded by the admiral Don [[Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz|Álvaro de Bazán]]. Victory in Azores completed the incorporation of [[Iberian Union|Portugal into the Spanish Empire]].<ref>Nascimiento Rodrigues/Tessaleno Devezas p. 122</ref>

Philip financed the [[Catholic League (French)|Catholic League]] during the French Wars of Religion. He directly intervened in the final phases of the wars (1589–1598), ordering [[Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma]] into France in an effort to unseat [[Henry IV of France|Henry IV]], and perhaps dreaming of placing his favourite daughter, [[Isabella Clara Eugenia]], on the French throne. [[Elisabeth of Valois]], Philip's third wife and Isabella's mother, had already ceded any claim to the French Crown with her marriage to Philip and in France the [[Salic law]] remained in effect. However, the [[Parlement of Paris]], in power of the Catholic party, gave verdict that Isabella Clara Eugenia was "the legitimate sovereign" of France. Philip's interventions in the fighting—sending the Duke of Parma to end Henry IV's [[Siege of Paris, 1590|siege of Paris]] in 1590 and the [[Siege of Rouen (1591)|siege of Rouen]] in 1592—contributed in saving the French Catholic Leagues's cause against a Protestant monarchy.

In 1593, Henry agreed to convert to Catholicism; weary of war, most French Catholics switched to his side against the hardline core of the Catholic League, who were portrayed by Henry's propagandists as puppets of a foreign monarch, Philip. By the end of 1594 certain League members were still working against Henry across the country, but all relied on the support of the Spanish Crown. In January 1595, therefore, Henry officially declared war on the Spanish Crown, to show Catholics that Philip was using religion as a cover for an attack on the French state, and Protestants that he had not become a puppet of the Spanish Crown through his conversion, while hoping to reconquer large parts of northern France from the Franco-Spanish Catholic forces.<ref>Knecht, ''French Civil Wars'' p. 272</ref>

French victory at the [[Battle of Fontaine-Française]] in Burgundy, 5 June 1595, marked an end to the Catholic League in France. The French also made some progress during an invasion of the [[Spanish Netherlands]]. They captured [[Ham, Belgium|Ham]] and massacred the small Spanish garrison, provoking anger among the Spanish ranks.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}} The Spanish launched a concerted offensive that year, taking [[Siege of Doullens|Doullens]], [[Cambrai]], and [[Siege of Le Catelet (1595)|Le Catelet]]; at Doullens, they massacred 4,000 of its citizens.<ref>{{cite book |last=Goubert |first=Pierre |title=The Course of French History |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |page=103}}</ref> On 24 April 1596, the Spanish also [[Siege of Calais (1596)|conquered Calais]]. Following the Spanish capture of [[Amiens]] in March 1597, the French Crown laid siege to it until it managed to [[Siege of Amiens (1597)|reconquer Amiens]] from the overstretched Spanish forces in September 1597. Henry then negotiated a peace with the Spanish Crown. The war was only drawn to an official close, however, with the [[Peace of Vervins]] in May 1598.

The 1598 Treaty of Vervins was largely a restatement of the 1559 Peace of Câteau-Cambrésis and Spanish forces and subsidies were withdrawn; meanwhile, Henry issued the [[Edict of Nantes]], which offered a high degree of religious toleration for French Protestants. The military interventions in France thus failed to oust Henry from the throne or suppress Protestantism in France, and yet they had played a decisive part in helping the French Catholic cause gain the conversion of Henry, ensuring that Catholicism would remain France's official and majority faith—matters of paramount importance for the devoutly Catholic Spanish king.