Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"From one study in the gloomy magnificence of the high-vaulted monastic mausoleum of El Escorial, this solitary, hunched figure issued decrees and read reports from across the globe that he ruled for forty years, controlling every action his agents and advisers undertook. . . His international legacy was mixed. He had tried and failed to subdue England with the ill-fated armada, whereas his religious bigotry had made him the 'demon of the south' for the people of the Netherlands, who revolted against his policies. Philip in turn had channeled the Spanish-Atlantic economy into financing his aggressive imperialism, leaving an empty treasury and an exhausted nation. However, the Battle of Lepanto had halted the Ottoman offensive in the Mediterranean, he had unified Spain, and the spread of heresy was prevented in southern Europe and the southern Netherlands." [Furtado: 1001 Days]