Continuation of the last post:

Written on the same day. There was so much stuff there that the whole programme was pretty overloaded and slow so I decided to publish it and write a new post here:

This happened just after the period of the Religious Wars of France between the Protestants and the Catholics. (I guess the world has not changed too much since then--"Axis of Evil", are you getting me?)

Farnese was Philip's nephew through his mother, Margaret of Austria, the illegitimate daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V--Philip's father. He grew up in the Spanish court as a hostage of Philip's to ensure the loyalty of his father, Duke Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma.

He was a brilliant military and statesman and, in my opinion, a very complex character.