tnote 425: _La guerre de la hottee de pommes._]

[Footnote 426: Dom Calmet, _Histoire de Lorraine_, vol. ii, col. 695,
703.]

Meanwhile Rene's mother was sending convoys of victuals from Blois to
the citizens of Orleans, besieged by the English.[427] Although she
was not then on good terms with the counsellors of her son-in-law,
King Charles, she was vigilant in opposing the enemies of the kingdom
when they threatened her own duchy of Anjou. Rene, Duke of Bar, had
therefore ties of kindred, friendship, and interest binding him at the
same time to the English and Burgundian party as well as to the party
of France. Such was the situation of most of the French nobles. Rene's
communications with the Commander of Vaucouleurs were friendly and
constant.[428] It is possible that Sire Robert may have told him that
he had a damsel at Vaucouleurs who was prophesying concerning the
realm of France. It is possible that the Duke of Bar, curious to see
her, may have had her sent to Nancy, where he was to be towards the
20th of February. But it is much more likely that Rene of Anjou
thought less about the Maid of Vaucouleurs, whom he had never seen,
than about the little Moor and the jester who enlivened the ducal
palace.[429] In this month of February, 1429, he was neither desirous
nor able to concern himself greatly with the affairs of France; and
although brother-in-law to King Charles, he was preparing not to
succour the town of Orleans, but to besiege the town of Metz.[430]

[Footnote 427: _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 93.]

[Footnote 428: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, pp. cxcvii,
clxxxvii, clxxxviii, and 236. The register of the Archives of La
Meuse, B. 1051, bears trace of a regular correspondence between the
Duke of Bar and Baudricourt.]

[Footnote 429: _Chronique du doyen de Saint-Thibaud_, in Dom Calmet,
_Histoire de Lorraine_, proofs and illustrations, vol. ii, col. cxcix.
S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, pp. cxcvii _et seq._]

[Footnote 430: Letter from Jean Desch, Secretary of the town of Metz,
in the _Trial_, vol. v, p. 355. Dom Calmet, _Histoire de Lorraine_,
vol. ii, proofs and illustrations, col. cxcix.]

Old and ill, Duke Charles dwelt in his palace with his paramour Alison
du Mai, a bastard and a priest's daughter, who had driven out the
lawful wife, Dame Marguerite of Bavaria. Dame Marguerite was pious and
high-born, but old and ugly, while Madame Alison was pretty. She had
borne Duke Charles several childre