ABSTRACT
The artistic patronage of the rather mysterious Bonne of Luxembourg would seem to provide an interesting direction for further research, in particular, the question of a possible connection between Bonne's patronage and Machaut's development of the polyphonic fixed forms, as well as his early cultivation of the monophonie virelai as a dance song. It is also interesting to consider Lyon and Aierion as works possibly written for Bonne.9 8 In the Voir Dit, in his response to the first rondel sent by the Lady, supposedly an event of the year 1362, the Narrator says that it has been ten, no, rather, more than twelve years since he had loved and served a lady (11. 229-41, ed. P. Paris 1875, 9-10). Might we interpret this figuratively to mean that Machaut had not served and drawn inspiration from a female patron since the death of Bonne of Luxembourg in 1349?
