I I 



A SMALI, FORT, WITH TWO TOWERS GUARDING THi; PASSAGE DU RABOT, GHENT 



Ghent, during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, was the emponum of the trade 

 of Germany and the low countries and was one of the wealthiest cities in all pi Europe. 

 It was then the center of a great cloth industry, and could put 20,000 armed citizens into 

 the field. It is doubtful if any city in western Europe has had a more turbulent history, as 

 it has been the center of repeated Roman, Prankish, Medieval, and Spanish campaigns in 

 the low countries. 



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