At this time, the widowed duchess of Bourbon came to visit the noble duke of Burgundy, accompanied by three or four of her sons and two of her daughters,--for she had had by her late husband six boys and five girls. The eldest son, John, succeeded his father in the dukedom; the second was married to a daughter of the king of Cyprus, but died of leprosy before he went thither; the third, Charles, was archbishop of Lyons, on the Rhône, and abbot of St Vaast at Arras; the fourth, named Louis, was bishop of Liege; the fifth was lord of Beaujeu, and married to a daughter of the duke of Orleans; the sixth, James, died when young. Of the daughters, one was married to the duke of Calabria, by whom she had a fair son, but died shortly after: the second married her cousin-german, the count de Charolois, and had only a daughter, when the good lady died: the third espoused the duke of Gueldres, nephew to the duke of Burgundy: another was afterward married to the lord d'Arquel,--and another was then to be married; for the duke of Burgundy, their uncle, had always very earnestly promoted the advancement of his friends and relatives. About this period, the king of France sent two thousand combatants to England, to the aid of queen Margaret, under the command of the lord de Varennes, high seneschal of Normandy, who, under the late king's reign, had governed every thing, and it was reported that king Louis had given him this command for the chance of his being slain: nevertheless, he bore himself well, and conquered several places, in the expectation of being joined by the duke of Somerset, who had promised to come to him with a large body of Scots and others; but he failed,--for he had found means to make his peace with king Edward, who had restored to him his estates and honours. The French were now besieged in the places they had won by the earl of Warwick, and were glad to return to France with their lives spared.--All were not so fortunate, for many were slain or captured in the different skirmishes that had passed between them.[25] The duke of Burgundy now sent one hundred men at arms and four hundred archers to the aid of the bishop of Mentz, who was engaged in a destructive warfare with one of the princes of Germany, insomuch that the extent of three or four days journey of the flat country was burnt and totally ruined. On the 21st day of November, in this year, was an eclipse of the sun; and shortly after there were tiltings and other entertainments at Brussels, in honour of the arrival of the duchess of Bourbon, and of her children, whom she had brought with her. To these feasts the duke of Burgundy came with great pomp, and most superbly dressed.