The duke of Anjou, intemperate, inconstant, and unprincipled, saw that his authority was but the shadow of power, compared to the deep-fixed practices of despotism which governed the other nations of Europe.  The French officers, who formed his suite and possessed all his confidence, had no difficulty in raising his discontent into treason against the people with whom he had made a solemn compact.  The result of their councils was a deep-laid plot against Flemish liberty; and its execution was ere-long attempted.  He sent secret orders to the governors of Dunkirk, Bruges, Termonde, and other towns, to seize on and hold them in his name; reserving for himself the infamy of the enterprise against Antwerp.  To prepare for its execution, he caused his numerous army of French and Swiss to approach the city; and they were encamped in the neighborhood, at a place called Borgerhout.

On the 17th of January, 1583, the duke dined somewhat earlier than usual, under the pretext of proceeding afterward to review his army in their camp.  He set out at noon, accompanied by his guard of two hundred horse; and when he reached the second drawbridge, one of his officers gave the preconcerted signal for an attack on the Flemish guard, by pretending that he had fallen and broken his leg.  The duke called out to his followers, “Courage, courage! the town is ours!” The guard at the gate was all soon despatched; and the French troops, which waited outside to the number of three thousand, rushed quickly in, furiously shouting the war-cry, “Town taken! town taken! kill! kill!” The astonished but intrepid citizens, recovering from their confusion, instantly flew to arms.  All differences in religion or politics were forgotten in the common danger to their freedom.  Catholics and Protestants, men and women, rushed alike to the conflict.  The ancient spirit of Flanders seemed to animate all.  Workmen, armed with the instruments of their various trades, started from their shops and flung themselves upon the enemy.  A baker sprang from the cellar where he was kneading his dough, and with his oven shovel struck a French dragoon to the ground.  Those who had firearms, after expending their bullets, took from their pouches and pockets pieces of money, which they bent between their teeth, and used for charging their arquebuses.  The French were driven successively from the streets and ramparts, and the cannons planted on the latter were immediately turned against the reinforcements which attempted to enter the town.  The French were everywhere beaten; the duke of Anjou saved himself by flight, and reached Termonde, after the perilous necessity of passing through a large tract of inundated country.  His loss in this base enterprise amounted to one thousand five hundred; while that of the citizens did not exceed eighty men.  The attempts simultaneously made on the other towns succeeded at Dunkirk and Termonde; but all the others failed.