Despite his young age, Philip quickly proved himself an effective ruler beloved by his people in the Low Countries, pursuing policies that favored peace and economic development, while maintaining a steady course of the government building.

Joanna's father, Ferdinand II of Aragon, and her own son, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, were quick to seize power, confining the queen for the rest of her life on account of her alleged insanity.

Philip became caught up in events and his custody was taken away by a council appointed by the Netherlandish Estates[7] as part of the larger Flemish campaign to support their claims of greater autonomy, which they had wrested from Mary of Burgundy in an agreement known as the Great Privilege of 1477.

Since 1489 (after his departure), the government under Albert III, Duke of Saxony, had made more efforts in consulting representative institutions and showed more restraint in subjugating recalcitrant territories.

[17] The news was welcomed by Burgundian lands, as the new ruler was native-born, spoke the language, was peace-loving and trusted his advisors, while Maximilian was warlike and did not respect the Great Privilege.

Philip reconciled the regionalism represented by the Great Privilege with the harsh centralization the country had experienced under Charles the Bold, softening the rigorous demands of both sides while giving in to neither.

The chancellor of Burgundy became responsible for the government's practical work in the absence of the emperor while the Great Council (Hoge Raad) acted as the country's highest body of judicial power.

[25][26] At the same time, while he often carefully avoided direct confrontation with the French king, in promoting his Great Council, he slowly eroded the capacity of intervention of the Parlement of Paris in Flanders and Artois, lands under the sovereignty of France.

In August 1505, this resulted in written protests from King Louis XII of France, who accused him of usurpation of the rights of the sovereign and threatened Philip with sanctions.

[35] Philip's sister Margaret married John, Prince of Asturias, the only son of Ferdinand and Isabella and heir apparent to the unified crowns of Castile and Aragon.

[citation needed] In 1500, shortly after the birth of Joanna and Philip's second child (the future Emperor Charles V), in Flanders, the succession to the Castilian and Aragonese crowns was thrown into turmoil.

At this point, the issue of Joanna's supposed mental incompetence moved from courtly annoyance to the center of the political stage, since it was clear that Philip and his Burgundian entourage would be the real power-holders in Castile.

Philip and the majority of the court returned to the Low Countries in the following year, leaving a pregnant Joanna behind in Madrid, where she gave birth to Ferdinand, later Holy Roman Emperor.

[citation needed] Although Joanna was deeply in love with Philip, their married life was rendered extremely unhappy by his infidelity and political insecurity, during which time he constantly attempted to usurp her legal birthright of power.

This led in great part to the rumours of her insanity from reports of depressive or neurotic acts committed while she was being imprisoned or coerced by her husband, rumors that benefited Philip politically.

Isabella I's widower and former co-monarch, King Ferdinand II, endeavored to lay hands on the regency of Castile, but the nobles, who disliked and feared him, forced him to withdraw.

Father- and son-in-law mediated under Cardinal Cisneros at Remesal, near Puebla de Sanabria, and at Renedo, the only result of which was an indecent family quarrel, in which Ferdinand professed to defend the interests of his daughter, who he said was imprisoned by her husband.

In meetings between 20 and 27 June, mediated by Cardinal Cisneros, the senior churchman in Spain, Ferdinand accepted that his 'most beloved children' (Joanna and Philip) should take over control of Castile.

[39] The two kings then agreed that Joanna was neither fit nor inclined to rule 'considering her infirmities and sufferings, which for the sake of honour are not expressed' and further that if 'the said most serene Queen, either from her own choice or from being persuaded by other persons should attempt to meddle in the government both would prevent it'.

Yet on the same day Ferdinand drew up secret documents repudiating all the agreements on the grounds of coercion, claiming that he would never otherwise have signed treaties that did 'such enormous damage to the said most serene Queen, my daughter, and me'.

[44][45] Shortly after becoming King of Castile, as he realized that his bureaucrats were unable to govern the postal system, he made an agreement (later renewed by Charles of Burgundy) with the Taxis that allowed them to operate unhampered by interference from the state, as long as they maintained standards in accordance with the Habsburgs' interests.

[47] His arrival introduced the Burgundian household model into Spain, but his early death forced it to wait until Charles V's reign to become a firmly-established element of the Spanish court.

He granted the Castle of Segovia and some other important fortresses to Don Juan Manuel (who was ironically Ferdinand's former servant, and had become Philip's favourite after the archbishop of Besançon died.

[62] Philip was a patron to Desiderius Erasmus, who praised him for making peace with France and advised him that after God, a prince's duty was owed first to patria (the nation) and not to pater (father, in this case Maximilian).

[77] A 1611 dictionary explains thus: jinete [rider] might come from cinete, which is Cinetum in Arabic, and means ornament, from the word ceyene, to beautify or make beautiful ["hermosear o ser hermoso"], from the gallantry of riders when they rally to festivities with their turbans and feathers, fitted Moorish dresses and boots and the harnesses of their rich horses.Philip also had the nickname "Croit-Conseil" (Believer of Counsel or Believer of Council), chosen for him by Olivier de La Marche.

It corresponds to the ruling style of a prince who, out of the desire to attain peace and economic recovery for a country that had recently experienced too much turbulence, tried to balance his government between the rights of the prince, the nobles and the provinces, gave his Estates a say in the matters of war and peace, and relied upon confidants whose families had served his ancestors for generations (the conseil ducal had 14 members, including Engelbert II of Nassau, William de Croÿ, John III of Bergen).

Surrounded by ambitious ministers with very divergent views, facing his father (the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire), his parents-in-law (the Catholic monarchs), and the king of France, his choices as a leader presented him as the "enfant terrible" of international European politics.

[83] Belgian historian Jonathan Dumont, while reviewing Le Royaume inachevé des ducs de Bourgogne (XIVe–XVe siècles) (translated into English as The Illusion of the Burgundian State) Élodie Lecuppre-Desjardin, notes that historiography dealing with the Burgundian state building project should not end with Charles the Bold, as attempts to build a monarchical and state-ideal became particularly visible under Philip the Handsome and extended into the early years of Charles of Habsburg.

[86] Some criticize him for being a sadist in private life though, regarding his treatment of Joanna, that he "held Juana in a vicious cycle of affection, abuse, and intimidation from which she was constitutionally unable to escape.

When they said goodbye to each other in 1497, Margaret told her brother these prophetic words, with a taste of gallows humour, "Don't make me cry, I will need to swallow enough salt water.