Philip III of Spain

Philip III succeeded his father Philip II in 1598 as ruler of the Spanish Monarchy and, as Philip II of Portugal, of the Iberian Union. He inherited wars in the Netherlands and against England but delegated much of day-to-day government to his favourite, Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas, Duke of Lerma.

During the early years of his reign Spain continued military pressure on its enemies while also moving toward negotiated settlements. Peace with England was concluded in 1604, followed by the Twelve Years' Truce with the Dutch Republic in 1609. Philip's reign is therefore associated both with continued Habsburg warfare and with the period sometimes called the Pax Hispanica.

In John Pilkington’s The Spymaster, With the Anglo-Spanish War still unresolved, Robert Cecil calls on Martin Marbeck to identify a double agent who is passing English secrets to Spain.