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Y308: The Catholic Reformation 1492–1610

Depth study: Philip II of Spain — humanism, illuminism and Philip’s religious policy

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 3

Overview

Recall questions on Carranza, illuminism, the climate for humanists, Philip’s motives and support for the Inquisition, executions, the Escorial, the most Catholic monarch, the Black Legend and interpretations of Philip.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Who and when

How did the climate in Spain change for humanists?

Key term

Give Philip's motives for religious reform.

Key term

What do modern estimates suggest about the scale of executions by the Spanish Inquisition?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What does the case of Carranza show?

    Model answer

    The Archbishop of Toledo was arrested by the Inquisition in 1559 over suspected heresy in his catechism and spent seventeen years in custody, demonstrating that no rank was beyond its reach.

  2. 2

    What was illuminism, and why was it feared?

    Model answer

    The alumbrados claimed direct interior illumination by God, and their apparent indifference to the outward Church made all mystical religion suspect, so that even Teresa of Ávila was investigated.

  3. 3

    How did the climate in Spain change for humanists?

    Model answer

    Erasmian scholarship, once fashionable at court, became dangerous, and biblical scholars such as Luis de León were imprisoned for years on suspicion of undermining the Vulgate.

  4. 4

    Give Philip's motives for religious reform.

    Model answer

    Personal conviction, the belief that his monarchy existed to serve God, and the political value of a single faith in binding together kingdoms that shared little else.

  5. 5

    Describe the nature and extent of Philip's support for the Inquisition.

    Model answer

    He appointed its Inquisitor General, defended its jurisdiction against Rome and used it as an instrument of royal authority, although most of its everyday work was the discipline of ordinary Spaniards rather than the execution of heretics.

  6. 6

    What do modern estimates suggest about the scale of executions by the Spanish Inquisition?

    Model answer

    Research puts the total across its entire history in the low thousands, far below the figures claimed by early Protestant propaganda.

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