Düsseldorf Cow War also increasing the local garrisons to 4,100 men. In November 1646, Frederick William invaded Berg, but the invaders soon ran out of food and returned home, achieving only the return of Ravensberg. The Peace of Westphalia finally settled the Thirty Years' War in 1648. Three years later, the Holy Roman Empire found itself on the brink of war when Wolfgang Wilhelm claimed that the normative year imposed by the treaty took precedence over the Treaty of Xanten in regard to church properties. Since more parishes were in Catholic hands in 1624 than a decade before, Wolfgang Wilhelm hoped to stabilize
Seventeen Provinces during the Eighty Years' War (see Generality Lands), which ended with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. Artois and parts of Flanders and Hainaut (French Flanders and French Hainaut) were ceded to France in the course of the 17th and 18th centuries. By the mid-16th century, the Margraviate of Antwerp (Duchy of Brabant) had become the economic, political, and cultural center of the Netherlands after its capital had shifted from the nearby Lordship of Mechelen to the city of Brussels. Bruges (County of Flanders) had already lost its prominent position as economic powerhouse of northern Europe. And Holland was gradually