Van de Werve studied canon law, and followed his father in a career of service to the city of Antwerp, serving numerous terms as an alderman between 1533 and 1570. During the Sack of Antwerp by Spanish mutineers from the Army of Flanders, Van de Werve tried to defend Antwerp City Hall form destruction. His was one of the 7,000 lives that were lost in the sack.