The Count of Artois set out from Lille during the early days of July, and, leaving behind him a long red streak, for in order to terrorize the peasant folk he had spared neither women nor children, he presently pitched his silken tents on a knoll of rising ground about two leagues from Courtrai. Before that time this hill had been called _Mossenberg_ (the Mossy Mount), but on account of the revelry which then took place it has since been known as the _Berg van Weelden_, or the Mount of Feasting. It took two days for the French force to assemble, and meanwhile the scouts, whom Artois had sent out to ascertain the position of the Flemish, brought back word that they were spread out in a single phalanx in the plain before the Abbey of Groeninghe, to the east of the town on the road to Ghent; that the river Lys on the north covered their rear; that on the west they were protected by the entrenchments of Courtrai, and on the south and east by the river Groeninghe, and that their position was impregnable; that, so far from showing fear at the approach of the enemy, as Artois had confidently expected, 'they were drawn up man to man with their arms raised above their heads like valiant huntsmen awaiting the charge of the wild boar.' Those of the French knights who best knew Flanders besought their chief to put off the battle till the morrow. The Flemish, they urged, were not accustomed to remain long in camp, and want of supplies would soon disperse them; but Artois rejected the counsel with disdain. 'What!' he cried. 'We outnumber these men by half as many again; we are on horseback, they on foot; we are well armed and they are without weapons; shall we remain, before such a foe as this, rooted to the ground in terror?' The decisive contest took place on Wednesday the 11th of July. The Flemish began the day with fasting and prayer. 'Behold before ye,' cried that militant prelate William of Juliers, 'behold before ye men armed for your destruction! Our hope is in the name of the Lord, invoke His aid.' Then, when a priest had raised the Sacred Host high above the kneeling throng, William of Renesse made known the battle cry--'Flanders for the Lion,' and then each man took up a handful of earth and pressed it to his lips, by way perhaps of spiritual communion, perhaps to testify their love for the soil of Flanders and that they were sworn to defend it.