When Charles the Bold received his deathblow on the field of Nancy, a new era was dawning. The arts that had been fostered by the splendid Dukes of Burgundy already felt the impetus of a new movement. It was a period of momentous changes. Printing had already been invented, and designs for title-pages alone were to have a tremendous effect on Decorative Art. America was shortly to be discovered, and before long exotic woods were to end the exclusive sway of walnut and oak. Above all, Italy was to be practically rediscovered by Western Europe. Although many courts benefited by the fall of Constantinople, in 1453, the luxurious Italian states received by far the greater number of skilled artisans who brought with them the traditions of Classic Art. The maritime republics were, moreover, no strangers to the art products of the gorgeous East; and Venice especially then held almost a monopoly of the Levant trade, and distributed Oriental wares to France, Germany, England and the Netherlands. The days of Feudalism had come to an end: Mediaevalism was dead. Wars of petty piracy and private spite ended almost simultaneously in Western Europe; wars of national competition in trade and bitter wars of religion were to succeed. In England, the Wars of the Roses were extinguished in 1485: the last private battle between the retainers of feudal lords was fought in 1483. In France, Louis XI, after the death of Charles the Bold, had reduced his other great vassals to order. In Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella had expelled the Moors and married their mad daughter, Joanna, to the heir of the Burgundian dominions, the issue of this marriage being Charles V, who was born at Ghent in 1500. In 1494, Charles VIII had crossed the Alps; and in Italy the French were as dazzled by the luxury and magnificence they saw as the Crusaders had been at Byzantium four centuries before. On their return, the Renaissance in France and the Netherlands may be said to have begun to bloom.