Flanders alone was taxed for one-third of the general burdens of the state.

Brabant paid only one-seventh less than Flanders.

So that these two rich provinces contributed thirteen out of twenty-one parts of the general contribution; and all the rest combined but eight.

A search for further or minuter proofs of the comparative state of the various divisions of the country would be superfluous.
The perpetual quarrels of Charles V.with Francis I.and Charles of Guelders led, as may be supposed, to a repeated state of exhaustion, which forced the princes to pause, till the people recovered strength and resources for each fresh encounter.

Charles rarely appeared in the Netherlands; fixing his residence chiefly in Spain, and leaving to his sister the regulation of those distant provinces.