In the Salic law, of the Franks, there is no trace of any recognized order of nobility. "We meet, however, with {118} several titles denoting temporary rank, derived from offices political and judicial, or from a position about the person of the king. Among these the Antrustiones, who were in constant attendance upon the king, played a conspicuous part. ... Antrustiones and Convivæ Regis [Romans who held the same position] are the predecessors of the Vassi Dominici of later times, and like these were bound to the king by an especial oath of personal and perpetual service. They formed part, as it were, of the king's family, and were expected to reside in the palace, where they superintended the various departments of the royal household." _W. C. Perry, The Franks, chapter 10._ ANTWERP: The name of the City. Its commercial greatness in the 16th century.--"The city was so ancient that its genealogists, with ridiculous gravity, ascended to a period two centuries before the Trojan war, and discovered a giant, rejoicing in the classic name of Antigonus, established on the Scheld. This patriarch exacted one half the merchandise of all navigators who passed his castle, and was accustomed to amputate and cast into the river the right hands of those who infringed this simple tariff. Thus 'Hand-werpen,' hand-throwing, became Antwerp, and hence, two hands, in the escutcheon of the city, were ever held 'up in heraldic attestation of the truth. The giant was, in his turn, thrown into the Scheld by a hero, named Brabo, from whose exploits Brabant derived its name. ... But for these antiquarian researches, a simpler derivation of the name would seem 'an t' werf,' 'on the wharf.' It had now [in the first half of the 16th century] become the principal entrepôt and exchange of Europe. ... the commercial capital of the world. ... Venice, Nuremburg, Augsburg, Bruges, were sinking, but Antwerp, with its deep and convenient river, stretched its arm to the ocean and caught the golden prize, as it fell from its sister cities' grasp. ... No city, except Paris, surpassed it in population, none approached it in commercial splendor." _J. L. Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic, Hist. Introduction, section 13._ ANTWERP: A. D. 1313. Made the Staple for English trade. See STAPLE. ANTWERP: A. D. 1566. Riot of the Image-breakers in the Churches. See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1566-1568. ANTWERP: A. D. 1576.--The Spanish Fury. See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1575-1577. ANTWERP: A. D. 1577. Deliverance of the city from its Spanish garrison. Demolition of the Citadel. See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1577-1581. ANTWERP: A. D. 1583. Treacherous attempt of the Duke of Anjou. The French Fury. See NETHERLANDS: A. D. 1581-1584.