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 children.[431] [Footnote 431: S. Luce, _Jeanne d'Arc a Domremy_, p. cc, note.] The following story appears the most authentic. There were certain worthy persons at Nancy who wanted Duke Charles to take back his good wife. To persuade him to do so they had recourse to the exhortations of a saint, who had revelations from Heaven, and who called herself the Daughter of God. By these persons the damsel of Domremy was represented to the enfeebled old Duke as being a saint who worked miracles of healing. By their advice he had her summoned in the hope that she possessed secrets which should alleviate his sufferings and keep him alive.