Three days after the Earl of Hainault had returned from before Mortagne, he made a request to his companions that they would come with him to St. Amand; for he had received many complaints of the soldiers of St. Amand having burnt the monastery of Hanon, and of their attempt to do the same at Vicoigne, as well as of many other troubles which they had wrought upon the borders of Hainault. The earl set out from the siege of Tournay with three thousand combatants, and came before St. Amand by the way of Mortagne, which town was only enclosed with a palisade. A knight from Languedoc, and seneschal of Carcassonne, was governor of it; and he had told the monks of the abbey, as well as the inhabitants, that it was not tenable against any body of men, not that he meant to give it up, but on the contrary to defend it as long as he could, and mentioned it merely as a piece of information. These words were not much attended to, or believed: however, he had some time before sent to Mortagne all the jewels of the monastery, and thither went also the abbot and his monks, who were not very well calculated to defend themselves. The Valenciennois, who had been ordered by the earl their lord to be before St. Amand on a certain day, came with twelve thousand combatants, and, posting themselves before the town, armed all the crossbow-men, and made them advance toward the bridge over the Scarpe. The conflict was here very sharp: it lasted all that day, without the Valenciennois being able to make any impression; but they had a great many of their men killed and wounded, and the besieged, mocking them, called out, “Go your ways, and drink your good ale.” Towards the evening they retired from before the town, much wearied, and surprised that they had not heard any tidings of their lord. They called a council, and resolved to return back to their own town. On the morrow after their departure, the Earl of Hainault arrived, as has been said, by the way of Mortagne, and he immediately began the attack: it was so violent that the barriers were instantly won, and they advanced to the gate which opens toward Mortagne. The earl and his uncle headed this attack: they fought most valiantly, and spared none. Each of them at this place received two such blows from stones thrown down upon them, that their helmets were split through, and themselves stunned. One present then said to the earl, “Sir, we shall never do any thing effectual in this place, for the gate is very strong, the passage narrow, and it will cost you too many of your people to gain it; but if you will order some large beams of wood to be brought, and shod with iron in the manner of piles, and strike with them against the walls of the monastery, I will promise you that you will make breaches in many places. If once we get into the monastery, the town is ours, for there is nothing to stop us between it and the town.” The earl ordered this advice to be followed; for he