Knowledge of Guillaume de Machaut's literary and musical works is attested since 1380 in the Francophile court of Aragon, where his art exerted an influence that endured well into the fifteenth century. Catalan poets such as Andreu Febrer and Pere Torroella were greatly influenced by Machaut's poetry. This can be seen in the way they adapted the lay and ballade forms, and in the French section of chansonnier Vega-Aguiló (Barcelona, Biblioteca de Catalunya, MSS 7-8), an important witness to the poetry that originated with the troubadours and was fashionable in the Crown of Aragon until the end of the fifteenth century. This article approaches the role of Machaut's poetry and music in the construction of a literary canon in the Crown of Aragon.On 18 November 1388, Queen Yolande of Bar (1365-1431) wrote to Gaston Febus, Count of Foix (1343-1391), in order to ask him to lend her "un bon libre apellat Guillaume de Meixaut," ("a fine book called Guillaume de Machaut") which as we learn in her letter, had arrived in Foix as a gift from the Duke of Berry, Jean de France (1340-1416). 1 The relevant extract from this letter, which has been recently discovered, reads:Part açò, com hajam entès que vós havets un bon libre apellat Guillaume de Mexaut, lo qual vos donà nostre molt car oncle lo duc de Berrí, pregam-vos, car cosí, que•l nos tramettats encontinent. This aside, as we understand that you have a fine book called Guillaume de Machaut, which our very dear uncle the Duke of Berry gave you, we beseech you, beloved cousin, that you send it to us without delay. 2
