Warfare was, in one way or another, a part of daily life in Brabant in the later fourteenth century. Fortunately for the inhabitants of the duchy, conflicts were often of limited scope in both space and time and their repercussions were mostly of a political and economic nature. This is easily explained. The duchy of Brabant was a far smaller geographical entity than the neighbouring kingdoms. It was therefore far easier for its ruler to establish and maintain his authority. From the thirteenth century onwards the dukes, unlike the kings of France, for example, did not have to undertake long and costly wars against certain of their own recalcitrant vassals. On the other hand, independently of the size of a ruler's domains, the need to secure one's frontiers and the natural desire to increase one's holdings were both causes of conflict. Unfortunately for the duke, the other rulers of the Low Countries were in the same situation. In these conditions, it was very difficult for them to undertake a genuine war of conquest (Proprietal War), and the majority of the conflicts of the era served only to strengthen their positions (Consolidation War). Wars of conquest, if they can be so called, only concerned the seizure of small or middling seigniories, often enclaved within foreign or hostile territory. This situation had an enormous influence on both the strategic decisions and the methods employed by a ruler.