Probably no city in Christendom could at that day vie with Antwerp in wealth and splendor.

Its merchants lived in regal pomp and luxury.

In its numerous, massive warehouses were the treasures of every clime.

Still serving as the main entrepot of the world's traffic, the Brabantine capital was the centre of that commercial system which was soon to be superseded by a larger international life.

In the midst of the miseries which had so long been raining upon the Netherlands, the stately and egotistical city seemed to have taken stronger root and to flourish more freshly than ever.