We know that, toward the end of the fourteenth century, Flanders suffered a decline after the bloody civil war: the German merchants left Bruges, Ghent lost a part of its population, Ypres was half destroyed, Ostend became a sandy waste. The “polders” were inundated; wolves and wild boars infested the country. Fifty years later, during the reign of the Burgundian dukes, Belgium had again become the richest country in Europe. That revival was, of course, not attributable to the dukes alone. It must be remembered that the Belgians are an industrious people and that the geographical position of the country is highly favorable. But the political union of all the provinces, peace, and a good administration contributed largely to the revival of the nation. The political work of the Burgundian dukes brought about the unification of coinage, the free relations between the different principalities, the order and safety necessary for the development of trade and industry. From an economic point of view, the dukes endeavored to conserve and to enlarge the resources of the country. They took prohibitive measures against the English cloth industry in favor of the Flemish manufacture. Charles the Bold endeavored to dredge the sand out of the harbor of Bruges and to save that city from disaster. In the fifteenth century Antwerp, supported by the dukes, became the largest market of the north. In Luxemburg the gold and silver mines began to be operated, employing the mine-workers of the region of Liège. Although the economic policy of the dukes may be described as still somewhat incoherent, it may yet be said to have embraced excellent principles. A declaration is preserved to the effect that “one of the main points of all good policy, upon which the public welfare is based, is to get and to keep good and lasting money, as well golden as silver coin.” Notwithstanding these principles and the various measures taken for the protection of trade, a crisis in the cloth industry was soon apparent. This was due to the transformation in the wool trade. Bruges was the big wool market of the Continent, but, since the development of the English cloth industry, the English producers had kept the raw material at home, thereby diminishing the stock of wool in Flanders. The price had greatly increased, and Flemish manufacturers were obliged to use Spanish wool of inferior quality. This, of course, spelled the decline of the Belgian cloth industry. The decline of Louvain’s prosperity was somewhat mitigated by the foundation there of the University in 1425. Nothing, however, could save Ypres. Its craftsmen, threatened with starvation, migrated to England; houses were abandoned and fell into ruin; in 1456 a third of the population was begging for bread along the roads.