ABSTRACT
Machaut maintained his associations with the high aristocracy after the glorious death of John of Luxembourg at the battle of Crécy, 26 August 1346.89 By then Machaut had probably, already for some time, been in the service of the duchess of Normandy, Bonne of Luxembourg (1315-1349), daughter of the king of Bohemia, who had married John, duke of Normandy (the future King John II "the Good," b. 1319, r. 1350-1364) at Melun (dept. Seine-et-Marne) on 28 July 1332.90
Obscure circumstances surround her death, probably of the plague, on 11 September 1349 at the abbey of Maubuisson near Pontoise (dept. Vald'Oise).91 Rumors were afoot that John, duke of Normandy, notorious for his hot temper, had had Bonne murdered for a liaison with Raoul de Brienne, count of Eu and constable of France.92 This would explain King John's quick anger, which led to the summary decapitation without trial of the count of Eu on 19 November 1350, soon after the count had returned from England, where he had been a prisoner since July 1346. The Liégeois chronicler Jean Le Bel (writing 1352-61) speaks explicitly of John's revenge for an affair between Bonne and the constable, but other chroniclers are more reticent. The most authoritative recent historian of the period notes that Bonne's alleged adultery is "far from being proven" (R. Cazelles 1982, 45).93
