ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the strategic and global religious context that confronted Catholic Spain in Europe and beyond, especially in relation to major rivals France and the Ottoman Empire. The ongoing challenge to the Habsburg state posed by these two powers, at times allied with or supporting Protestantism, complicated the ability of both Emperor Charles V and later King Philip II to wage successful efforts against the followers of Luther and Calvin. Ongoing challenges posed by French Protestants in the Americas and on Spain’s northern border with the independent kingdom of Navarre occurred in parallel with potential encroachments of the Ottomans in the Mediterranean.
