Over at GFT; a brief discursion on Philip II's cunning plan to distract the Spanish voters with a brilliantly conceived war of choice that would easily accomplish regime change in England and let religious freedom reign, thereby silencing the liberal critics and ensuring a permanent royalist majority.
Well, for Catholics, anyway.
Feel free to let me have it in the comments section; Domine, non sum dignus ut intres sub tectum meum, sed tantum dic verbo....
Nice post Chief. I do think Phillip a product of his time and doubt whether he thought that God was supporting his actions, but rather that he as a good Catholic was supporting God's . . . which is what religion is all about.
ReplyDeleteHe is hated in Portugal btw, but not for his religion, but rather for the supposed betrayal of his nephew King Sebastian I of Portugal, who disappeared leading a charge while on crusade in Morocco in August 1578. Phillip took advantage of the resulting succession crisis (Sebastian had no heir) and became King of both Spain and Portugal in 1580. Don Sebastião retains a mythical place for the Portuguese, much like Frederick Barbarossa used to for the Germans. He is "the hidden one" who will return at Portugal's time of need to lead the country to greatness. We've been hearing a lot about Don Sebastião over the last few years . . .
Probably because of the recent lack of form in the perennially troubled A Selecção, no doubt.
ReplyDeleteRe: Philip's attitudes...the way that certain religious people seem to take for granted that God just happens to want/like what they want/like never fails to make me grin.
They seem to assume, as you say, that they are making God's plan happen, and yet, the fact their enemies also have "Gott mit uns" never makes them pause for a moment...
Chief,
ReplyDeleteNot sure that's limited to just the religious. I can think of more than one officer I served with/under who saw the 'needs of the Army' and his own personal gain/glory as identical even when they clearly are not.
I'd venture to say that as soon as you put someone in charge of an organization or body of people, they begin to meddle their interests with the interests of that group until you get a situation where 'God/The Army/ACLU wants you to do x' when really its just 'I want you to do x'