It was an arduous task, but William, at the cost of his own popularity, succeeded in getting the duke acknowledged in July as Lord of Friesland and Duke of Gelderland, and in August Anjou was solemnly installed at Bruges, as Count of Flanders.
Meanwhile he was planning, with the help of the large French force which Anjou had undertaken to bring into the Netherlands, to take the offensive against Parma.

The truth is that he and Anjou were really playing at cross-purposes.

Orange wished Anjou to be the _roi-faineant_ of a United Netherland state of which he himself should be the real ruler, but Anjou had no intention of being treated as a second Matthias.

He secretly determined to make himself master of Antwerp by a sudden attack and, this achieved, to proceed to seize by force of arms some of the other principal cities and to make himself sovereign in reality as well as in name.

He resented his dependence upon Orange and was resolved to rid himself of it.