Philip had always been a pious man, but never before had he referred grave difficulties and dangers to the will of God, as if executing that will relieved him of the need for human precautions. He had never been a ruthless egotist or shown a taste for illimitable power; he had never claimed a special destiny, only a special responsibility; but now he walked forward on the path he thought appointed for him as confidently, as unswervingly, as blindly as any saint or world-conqueror in history.

Garrett Mattingly, The Defeat of the Spanish A…, loc. 461