Philip, the grandson of Catherine of Aragon’s mad sister. Philip, the husband of Bloody Mary Tudor. Philip, earliest and one of the many suitors of Elizabeth I. Philip, the instigator of the Armada—these are the descriptions most often noted.

But Philip of Hapsburg was much more than the Anglo-centric prince most often portrayed by historians.

At the death of his father Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Philip became the ruler of the largest empire the world had known. Married four times (only his second wife Mary Tudor had no offspring), Philip has often been considered a bigoted fanatic, rejoicing in the excesses of the Inquisition begun under the rule of his great-grandparents, Ferdinand and Isabella. Instead, as Kamen’s meticulous research shows, Philip was a cultured prince whose conservative ideas did not always place him at odds with his Jewish and Protestant subjects. Nor was his support of the defenders of his Indian subjects out of character for an enlightened ruler of his—or any other—time.

As Philip himself mused near the mid-point of his reign, “I don’t think that human strength is capable of everything, least of all mine, which is very feeble.” This is hardly the speech of a religious zealot, determined to impose his will on all beneath him.

Henry Kamen had provided a rare glimpse of a troubled, doubting man who did the best that he was able against great obstacles.