Philip II of Spain ruled the largest empire the world had ever seen and tried to manage every detail of it personally. He spent his days alone in the Escorial, reading reports and writing margin notes, convinced that God had appointed him to defend Catholicism and that no subordinate could be trusted with the task.

This episode traces Philip from his education under Charles V through the Spanish Armada, the Dutch Revolt, and the slow exhaustion of an empire run by one man who refused to delegate.

• He ruled an empire spanning Spain, the Netherlands, parts of Italy, the Philippines, and the Americas
• He built the Escorial as a combined palace, monastery, and administrative center to govern from isolation
• His Spanish Armada was destroyed attempting to invade England in 1588
• He bankrupted the Spanish treasury four times despite receiving vast wealth from the Americas