the rule of the dukes of Brabant in the 12th century. To protect the area from the counts of Gelre, the dukes founded a new ring of cities. Hendrik I of Brabant granted city rights to 's-Hertogenbosch (), Oisterwijk (1213 or 1230), Sint-Oedenrode (1232) and Eindhoven (1232). However, despite these foundings, the Meierij often suffered from conflicts and wars between Brabant and Gelre. The bailiwick was prosperous in the 15th and first part of the 16th century. In these times many new monumental buildings were built (like the famous gothic style St. Jan's Cathedral of 's-Hertogenbosch), the activities of well-known painter Hieronymus Bosch (also called Jeroen Bosch) and the Latin school of 's-Hertogenbosch. In the Eighty Years' War, times turned bad for the Meierij. The area was literally a battlefield and was heavily plagued by continuous raids. Around 1590 the area was solidly in Spanish hands. Like the southern Dutch states of Flanders and Hainaut, the Duchy Brabant-Limburg had chosen the side of the Catholic Habsburg monarchs of Spain. The strong catholic Counter-Reformation had had much influence on the population's mentality and culture; the Bailiwick remained Catholic. Though it was thought impossible, the mighty city of 's-Hertogenbosch was captured by the Dutch Protestants in 1629. As 's-Hertogenbosch was the main capital of the Meierij, the Protestants considered the bailiwick as their possession. However the Spanish kings refused to give it up, and thus one of the most difficult times started, the so-called "retorsie tijd" in which the population suffered from both Spanish and Dutch oppression. Finally in 1648 the whole bailiwick was given to the Dutch republic at the Peace of Westphalia. From now the former Brabant and Limburg areas were placed under the reign of the generality as well as Zeelandic Flanders which had been taken from Flanders. Reign of the generality in fact meant nothing else than oppression and colonisation by the Protestants. There was no self-government and Catholicism was forbidden, which resulted in a flight of the Catholic clergy and occupation of the Catholic churches. Due to high taxes and oppression the bailiwick couldn't restore its old glory and became an intensely poor area without any importance. After the French war of 1795 and the proclamation of the Batavian Republic, the Meierij disappeared as s political unity and went up into Brabant. The people regained their old rights; self-government and Catholicism weren't forbidden any longer. Since 1810