It must also be noticed that, while Bruges resisted as far as lay in its power the centralizing influence of the dukes and of the princes who succeeded them, Antwerp remained loyal to the new political regime which brought it so many advantages. The troubles which arose in Bruges under Maximilian may be considered as the death-blow to the prosperity of the old town. Illustration: THE TOWN HALL, OUDENARDE (FIFTEENTH CENTURY). _Ph. B._ The rule of the dukes was equally beneficial to the smaller towns and villages of the country-side. It put an end to the mediaeval regime and to feudal and ecclesiastical dues. The nobility had no longer the monopoly of landownership, and many bourgeois enriched by trade bought large estates. This change contributed, to a certain extent, to decrease the number of small landowners and to create a larger class of farmers and agricultural labourers. This was, however, partially compensated for by the reclamation of land from the sea (polders) through the building of dykes and by the impulse given to cattle breeding, which rendered more intensive cultivation possible. It was at that time that the old system of leaving a third of the land fallow was to a great extent abolished through a larger use of manure. With the exception of the famine of 1348, due to bad crops, the Burgundian regime was free from the terrible calamities which had never ceased to devastate the country during the previous centuries. [_POPULATION_] Through the census made for Brabant in 1435 and for Flanders in 1469, it is possible to estimate the total population of the Burgundian States in the Netherlands at two millions, to which 700,000 ought to be added if we include Liege. This, considering the size of these States and the economic conditions of the period, is a very high figure, and implies an economic activity at least equal to that of modern Belgium. How far such a rise in the population was due to the wise administration of Philip the Good is shown by a closer inspection of the facts. The years from 1435 to 1464 are marked by a steady increase, while the period from 1464 to 1472, when Charles the Bold imperilled the prosperity of the country by his foreign wars, shows a slow decrease, which becomes far more accentuated after the death of the duke and during the troubled period which succeeded the Burgundian rule. CHAPTER XI THE ADORATION OF THE LAMB