In the first half of the sixteenth century Antwerp was the commercial capital of the world. The great historian of the Dutch Republic[156] says, "Venice, Nuremberg,[157] Augsburg,[158] 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 splendour." [Illustration] Close to the great and beautiful cathedral of Antwerp is the Grand' Place, in the middle of which there is a monument representing a running warrior flinging into the river a huge hand which he has just cut off from a prostrate giant's arm. This monument is intended to explain the fanciful origin of the city's name. Two centuries before the fall of Troy--so runs the story--a savage giant, named Antigonus, held sway over the river Scaldis--that is, the Scheldt. He built himself a castle on the river bank, and levied tribute on every vessel that passed up and down the broad stream. The tribute was very heavy--no less than half the merchandise in the passing ships. If the mariners refused to pay the tribute he seized them, cut off their hands, and flung them into the river. [Illustration: A Bird's-eye View of Antwerp. _Photo, Topical Press._ This photograph was taken from one of the towers of Antwerp's magnificent cathedral--the largest and most beautiful Gothic church in the Netherlands. Its north tower rises to a height of more than four hundred feet. On the south side of the cathedral is the Place Verte (Green Place), with a statue of Rubens, whose famous picture, "The Descent from the Cross," formerly hung in the south transept. In the north transept was another of his great paintings, "The Elevation of the Cross."] At length a deliverer arose, one Salvius Brabo, a man of such valorous renown that the province of Brabant received its name from him. Brabo challenged the giant to single combat, slew him, cut off both his hands, and flung them into the Scheldt. Thus _Hand-werpen_--that is, "hand-throwing"--became the name of the great city. In the coat-of-arms of Antwerp you still see two severed hands flying through the air over a castle. Probably the real origin of the city's name is found in the old Flemish words _'an t' werf_, which mean "on the wharf." The city began to decline during the reign of Philip II., who was King of Spain and master of the Netherlands. In 1576 Spanish soldiers whose pay was in arrears broke into mutiny, and stormed and sacked several of the richest towns of Flanders, including Antwerp. Early in November of that year they entered the city, burnt more than a thousand houses, slew more than eight thousand citizens, plundered right and left, and behaved with the utmost cruelty. Such was the "Spanish Fury," which still forms a landmark in Flemish history. With the help of William of Orange,[159] the Spaniards were driven out of Antwerp.