Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Armour Plates" to "Arundel, Earls of"

part in public affairs during the first decades of the 14th century.

Jacob, who according to tradition was a brewer by trade, spent three years in amassing quietly a large fortune. He was twice married, the second time to Catherine de Coster, whose family was of considerable influence in Ghent. Not till 1337, when the outbreak of hostilities between France and England threatened to ...