Plantin’s Catholic affiliations, and his old-time official connection with the Spanish Government do not appear to have caused any difficulty in his work in Leyden or to have aroused any serious antagonism on the part of the sturdy Protestants of the University. If there was any theological opposition, it was probably offset by the belief that the settling in Leyden of the man who ranked as perhaps the greatest printer-publisher in Europe, must bring prestige and advantage to both city and University. It was doubtless on this ground that, in 1584, Plantin received the appointment of Printer to the University. He was the second to hold the position, his predecessor, Silvius, having died in office. The annual stipend was fixed at two hundred florins. Notwithstanding this honourable reception, Plantin could not make up his mind to remain in Leyden. He was now an old man, and exile from the city with which were connected nearly all the associations of his long years of active life, was probably felt as a hardship. In November, 1585, he transferred the Leyden printing to his son-in-law, Raphelengius (who also succeeded him as Printer to the University) and returned to Antwerp. There he met with criticism from his Catholic friends, who had heard that he had become a heretic. He was able, however, to make a successful defence of his orthodoxy, and there seems, in fact, to have been no ground for the accusation that for the sake of business advantage in Leyden, he had abjured the faith of his fathers. One may gather, however, from his experience both in Leyden and in Antwerp, that Plantin held his Catholic doctrine with no very great strenuousness, and it was quite natural that his long association with critical scholars, many of them Protestants, should have prevented him from being in any way a fierce Romanist, and should have furthered the development in him of a spirit of toleration. It is possible also that his personal grievance against the King had strengthened the indignation that any good citizen of Antwerp may well have felt at the dogmatic and relentless policy which had brought such disasters upon the city. Great as had been her misfortunes, however, the spirit and energy of the Flemish capital had by no means been destroyed, and by the time of Plantin’s return, a decided revival of the trade and industries of the city had taken shape. In 1586, the printing and publishing offices were reconstructed, and a year later the business was fairly re-established, no less than forty works being issued within the twelve months.