On August 16 and 17 the cathedral of Antwerp was entered by infuriated and sacrilegious bands armed with axes and hammers, who made havoc and ruin of the interior of the beautiful church.  In Holland and Zeeland similar excesses were committed.  Such conduct aroused a feeling of the deepest indignation and reprobation in the minds of all right-thinking men, and alienated utterly those more moderate Catholics who up till now had been in favour of moderation.  Of the great nobles, who had hitherto upheld the cause of the national liberties and privileges against the encroachments of a foreign despotism, many now fell away.  Among these were Aremberg, Meghem and Mansfeld.  Egmont hesitated.  As might have been expected, the news of the outrages, when it reached Philip’s ears, filled him with rage and grief; and he is reported to have exclaimed, “It shall cost them dear.  I swear it by the soul of my father.”  From this time forward he was determined to visit with exemplary punishment not only the rioters and the Protestant sectaries, but more especially the great nobles on whose shoulders he laid the whole blame for the troubles that had arisen.

He was in no hurry to act, and announced that it was his intention to go to the Netherlands in person and enquire into the alleged grievances.  So he told his councillors and wrote to Margaret.  No one seems to have suspected his deep-laid scheme for allaying the suspicions of his intended victims until the right moment came for laying his hands upon them and crushing all opposition by overwhelming force.  Orange alone, who had his paid spies at Madrid, had a presage of what was coming and took measures of precaution betimes.  An intercepted letter from the Spanish ambassador at Paris to the Regent Margaret, specifically mentioned Orange, Egmont and Hoorn as deserving of exemplary punishment; and on October 3 the prince arranged a meeting at Dendermonde to consider what should be their course of action.  In addition to Egmont and Hoorn, Hoogstraeten and Lewis of Nassau were present.  William and Lewis urged that steps should be taken for preparing armed resistance should the necessity arise.  But neither Egmont nor Hoorn would consent; they would not be guilty of any act of disloyalty to their sovereign.  The result of the meeting was a great disappointment to Orange, and this date marked a turning-point in his life.  In concert with his brothers, John and Lewis, he began to enter into negotiations with several of the German Protestant princes for the formation of a league for the protection of the adherents of the reformed faith in the Netherlands.  Now for the first time he severed his nominal allegiance to the Roman Church, and in a letter to Philip of Hesse avowed himself a Lutheran.