On the Count of Flanders devolved the duty of bearing the King's sword, but although he was present, with four-score knights, when the royal heralds called on him to perform his duty, he made no sign. Thrice they summoned him, and still he was silent. All men were filled with wonder, and the King demanded an explanation. 'Sire,' he replied, 'they 'summoned the Count of Flanders; I am Louis of Nevers.' 'What,' said Philippe, in feigned astonishment, 'art thou not also Count of Flanders?' 'Such men call me,' was the reply, 'but I hold not this office in fact. In no Flemish city save Ghent do I dare show my face.' 'Fair cousin,' replied the King, 'by the Holy Unction which hath this day flowed on our head, we will not go back to Paris until we have established thee in the peaceful possession of thy realm.' Some of his counsellors would have persuaded him to defer the expedition. France, they said, was unprepared, and to invade Flanders in the autumn was to risk disaster; but the King, who saw the importance of himself beginning the campaign, refused to hear them. He consulted Gauthier de Châtillon, who had served seven kings in their wars in the Netherlands. 'For the man who has a stout heart,' he answered, 'this is no inopportune season for battle.' 'Good,' replied the delighted King, as he embraced the old soldier. 'Let those who love me follow.' With all speed he set about his preparations, and the great army which two months later (August 1328) assembled at Arras, collected from all parts of Europe, was such that the like of it had been never seen there before, and Arras had beheld the armies of Philippe IV. and Louis X. Nicholas Zannekin, with ten thousand Karls, occupied Cassel, a fortified town some six miles inland from Dunkirk, perched on the top of a hill which rises well-nigh a thousand feet above the level of the sea, and stands solitary in the midst of the low land which surrounds it. Sohier Jansonne had brought him reinforcements to the number of six thousand men, and though messengers had been despatched to Bruges, to warn them of the French invasion, these men believed themselves strong enough to alone save Flanders.