How effectively did Philip II manage his finances? Essay

The fiscal statistics of Philips reign would overwhelmingly conclude that he only failed to potently manage his pay. His inherited debts had increased threef previous(a) during his reign, and subsequently, the Crown say bankruptcy no less than three times. In contrast to this view, it domiciliate be argued that Philip was effective as far as he was able. His distress was non due to incompetence for certainly, he made attempts to rectify the situation, notwithstanding or else due to the numerous impossibilities that surrounded the Royal Finance.Philips idle approach to handling Finance is largely summed up by verbalise that as ruler of the Monarquia, he was never able to match his income to his unconscionable expenditure. This costly policy was due to the amount of bills funding war. travelling costs, continuous updating of armaments and wages of soldiers consumed the vast bulk of Philips finance. eve this failed at times, as seen by the revolt of the unpaid soldiers in the Netherlands. Philips empire was so extensive that he was called upon to go to war in the interests of many different nations. His wars were not all territorial, such(prenominal) as the abnegation of Italian lands, his own dynastic interests in France and England had to be defended, as did the Catholic holiness against the Turks. Philip was also drawn into costly civil wars. As a result, Royal bullion was frequently spent all over the Monarquia, and much on places that were not raising the money.This again reflects Philips bad management of finance whereupon countries could not be relied upon to be self-sufficient or contribute to wars fought on behalf of the entire Monarquia. The result of this was that Castile bore the brunt of the effort to fund the Monarquia. This was an unreasonable burden, as Castile possessed neither the wealth, the manpower or the economic strength demanded get through it. This policy of Philip further proves his ill-managed Royal finances. Such hea vy taxation on one part of the Monarquia alone sent Castile into steady decline. Instead of organism a successfully self-supported land, Castile began to heavily depend on outside imports, change magnitude the risk of further inflation, a threat that remained since its onset early in Philips reign throughout his inherited lands.Philips highly infective management is strengthen by his failure to lift out of debt despite increased revenue. silver from the wealthy Americas boosted the wealth of Castile, as did the revenue from the Indies. Philip also increased finance through taxation, which backfired, and through borrowing money. Philip was forced into negotiating complicated loans with moneylenders that would allow him to comprehend paying back old debts while receiving fresh ones. However, even this was not enough to keep Philip from greatly failing financially, and declaring bankruptcy in 1557, 1575 and ultimately in 1596. The 36 one thousand thousand Ducat debts that he inhe rited became 68 million Ducats by the end of his reign. The diabolical state of finance was not helped by the grandiose lifestyle of the King, who maintained the mentality of the ever-important prestige display. Moreover, Philip failed to be elicit in Fiscal matters, and appeared to launch plans without taking the care to cost them through.Philip seemed to pick up greatly failed to be efficient on handling Royal finances. However, some other view could argue that Philip made the best of a bad situation. For example, he managed to re-stabilise finance after the bankruptcies. Philip was initially dealt a bad hand by inheriting both a great debt and an extended empire from his father. This would connote a neediness for further finance, and Philip was immediately faced to raise this smorgasbord a minus figure. Moreover, the increased lands now labelled as Philips Monarquia, would involve extended foreign war involvement, and in turn, war expenditure. The need to go to war in the interests of his inherited lands was forced upon the new ruler. contend came with the territory, and the territory came with the inheritance.Philip had no choice in defending both his territories and his faith so the increased expenditure that resulted in bankruptcy was arguably indispensable and out of Philips control. Moreover, it is important to remember that the first declaration of bankruptcy was a further inheritance of Philip from his father, Charles I. Philip was faced with more(prenominal) difficulties from the outset of his reign. Inflation was taking hold in many countries across Europe, forcing Philip to find increasing amounts of money to fund both the running of government and also war expenditure. Moreover, territories such as the Netherlands that has previously provided great income for Charles, became a drain on finances. The Netherlands then, revolted against Philip and instead of contributing to the Royal finance, Philip was forced to spend increasing amounts combating the rebels.It is also surpass that Philip attempted to address the problem of unstable finances. The reorganisation of the departments of Finance was undertaken in order to increase efficiency. Philip was also effective in increasing revenue during his reign, albeit mostly in Castile. New taxes were introduced and old ones modified so that the wars of Spain could be funded. The alacabala for instance, tripled in it yield by the end of Philips reign. Custom duties were effectively organise so that they were received directly by the Crown instead of the old method whereby tax farmers would retain a hefty proportion of the money collected. The cruzda was introduced by the church to fund the wars against the Turks, and this too was effective by manifold its yield. Another new tax was effectively introduced to tax church property, furthering Philips income. The subsido an exist tax was equally successful in increasing its revenue.Evidence of Philips effective policies invol ving finance are reflected in the decrease of household expenditure during his reign. This shows that Philip has prize the responsibility he had to improve the state of Royal finance. This could be considered expansive due to the mentality that Philip, and other Kings of this period, were fixed in. This was the age in which religion and national prestige far outweighed the necessity to deal with Finance.It can convincingly be argued then, that Philip was a highly overworked King who made the best of a bad situation. He attempted, with limited personal time and resources, to manage the situation, and did so with reasonable success. Certainly he was effective in the matters which he did change, such as taxation. It can be said that financial failure was required and that is was impossible for Philip to effectively succeed in regaining control of purplish finance. I support this view as a far more realistic and pragmatic one than the opposing view which argues that Philip failed to deal with the underlie problems of Royal Finance. Instead he ignored opportunities to effectively reform finance so that bankruptcy was caused several times, indicated ultimately his failure to manage finance.