>>17835411Habsbourgs themselves presented as heirs of Catholic Kings. Given half of Germany was soil for rebel Protestant princes.
Philip II in an occassion stated he owed all of his empire to Ferdinand of Aragon.
And he was right, Machiavelli used him and Cesare Borgia as role models of Prince in Il Principe.
It was Ferdinand the one who married his daughters to Henry VIII and Philip of Habsbourgs. He himself unified Spanish territories. Put a Spanish pope in the seat who secured New World discoveries. Beat the shit of Moors and French in Navarra, Granada, North Africa and Italy. Etc.