PHILIP IV

born April 8, 1605, Valladolid, Spain died Sept. 17, 1665, Madrid king of Spain (1621-65) and of Portugal (1621-40), during the decline of Spain as a great world power. He succeeded his father, Philip III of Spain, in 1621, and, for the first 22 years of his reign, Philip's valido, or chief minister, was the Conde-Duque de Olivares, who took the spread of the Thirty Years' War as an opportunity not only for resuming hostilities against the Dutch at the end of the Twelve Years' Truce of 1609 (1621) but also for an ambitious attempt to restore Spanish hegemony in Europe, in close alliance with the imperial branch of the Habsburg dynasty. The Spanish armies won some conspicuous victories-for instance, the capture of Breda from the Dutch (1626) and the defeat of the Swedes and Weimarians at Nrdlingen (1634)-but France declared open war in 1635, and Spain's early successes were offset, from 1640, by the separatist rebellions of Catalonia and of Portugal (Portugal becoming independent in 1640 under John IV of the House of Bragana). Philip dismissed Olivares in 1643 and replaced him with Don Luis Mndez de Haro, who remained in office until his death in 1661. Thereafter the King had no valido, but frequently relied on the advice of a nun and mystic, Mara de greda, who corresponded with him on both spiritual matters and affairs of state. By the end of his reign Spain, weakened by military reverses and economic and social distress, had become a second-class power. Philip's first wife was Elizabeth (Spanish, Isabel), daughter of Henry IV of France; after her death in 1644, he married Maria Anna (Mariana), daughter of the Holy Roman emperor Ferdinand III. A poet and patron of the arts, Philip was the friend and patron of the painter Velzquez, many of whose works portray Philip and members of his court. born 1268, Fontainebleau, Fr. died Nov. 29, 1314, Fontainebleau byname Philip The Fair, French Philippe Le Bel king of France from 1285 to 1314 (and of Navarre, as Philip I, from 1284 to 1305, ruling jointly with his wife, Joan I of Navarre). His long struggle with the Roman papacy ended with the transfer of the Curia to Avignon, Fr. (beginning the so-called Babylonian Captivity, 1309-78). He also secured French royal power by wars on barons and neighbours and by restriction of feudal usages. His three sons were successively kings of France: Louis X, Philip V, and Charles IV. Additional reading Robert Fawtier, L'Europe occidentale de 1270 1380, pt. 1, De 1270 1328, vol. 6 of Gustave Glotz (ed.), Histoire gnrale, histoire du moyen ge (1940), a balanced, stimulating, comprehensive evaluation by a renowned scholar who devoted his life to studying the Capetian dynasty; Joseph R. Strayer, Medieval Statecraft and the Perspectives of History, pp. 107-122, 195-247, 291-314 (1971), essays illuminating different aspects of Philip's reign and providing excellent bibliographical information, written by a U.S. medievalist who has been a pathfinder in Capetian scholarship.