Monument to William I

During the Dutch struggle for independence, William of Orange became the leader of this struggle. In 1580, King Philip II of Spain outlawed William of Orange. The Spaniards, who did not want to lose power over the Netherlands, tried their best to destroy the Silent.

Since this could not be done on the battlefields of war, a secret war – conspiracies and assassinations – was launched. One of these attempts for a tidy sum of 80,000 ducats promised by the Spanish Jesuits was organized by the merchant Caspar Anastro. Through his cashier, a Venero, he found a performer, Jean Hauregvi. As in many other cases, he was a young fanatic of the Catholic faith who was easily indoctrinated that the Lord was blessing him to destroy the heretic who had corrected the holy faith by his Protestantism.