Raimon Vidal
Illustration — Raimon Vidal in chansonnier N Raimon Vidal de Bezaudu(n) (Catalan: Ramon Vidal de Besalú) (flourished early 13th century) was a Catalan troubadour from Besalú. He is notable for authoring the first tract in a Romance language (Occitan) on the subject of grammar and poetry, the Razós de trobar (c. 1210), a title which translates as "Reasons (or Guidelines) of troubadour composition".
Raimon Vidal
- Born
- 1196
- Died
- 1252
- Nationality
- Crown of Aragon · Spain
- Occupation
- troubadour · poet · composer
- Known for
- Las razos de trobar · So fo el temps c'om era jays · Castia gilos · Abrils issi'e mays intrava · Lyrical poems
- Languages
- Old Catalan · Old Occitan
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Illustration — Raimon Vidal in chansonnier N Raimon Vidal de Bezaudu(n) (Catalan: Ramon Vidal de Besalú) (flourished early 13th century) was a Catalan troubadour from Besalú. He is notable for authoring the first tract in a Romance language (Occitan) on the subject of grammar and poetry, the Razós de trobar (c. 1210), a title which translates as "Reasons (or Guidelines) of troubadour composition".
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
No house-authored Note is published until its assertions and sources pass the VALÉORINE evidence contract. The documentary article remains available in full while that enrichment is being consolidated.
Documentary enrichment in progress · no unsupported statement published
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Raimon Vidal. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
not yet certified
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
wikidata · Q577742
In this article
Biography
Biography
He began his career as a joglar and he spent his formative years at the court of Hug de Mataplana, which he often recalls fondly in his poems and songs. In the Razós, Raimon distinguishes the "parladura francesa" (French) from the "cella de Lemosin" (Occitan). He also discusses the art of the listener (li auzidor) and his responsibility to understand the troubadour works. Raimon's insistence that the audience understand what is sung and that they keep silent during its singing has been regarded as seminal in the history of classical music. To him, listeners have a responsibility to enquire about what they do not understand (which is "one of the wisest things in the world") and to be true to the quality of the work, praising greatness and condemning poor form. Vidal also took pains to argue for the superiority of lemosí (or Lemozi, i.e, Occitan) over other vernaculars, prompting the Florentine poet Dante Alighieri to write a De Vulgari Eloquentia justifying the use of the Tuscan vernacular as opposed to the Occitan. The Razós ends with an Occitan-Italian glossary. Late in the 13th century, Terramagnino of Pisa wrote a condensed verse form of the Razós. Jofre de Foixà wrote an expanded version, the Regles de trobar, for James II of Sicily. • Illustration — The Razos de trobar in a Catalan manuscript In addition to the aforementioned tract, there are preserved several fragments of song lyrics and three narrative romans. Among his most famous is So fo e·l temps qu'om era gais, which is fawning in its treatment of Raimon de Miraval, an earlier troubadour. In the nova, Raimon presents two ladies as fighting over one knight. The nova or ensenhamen called Abril issi'e mays intrava, which also refers to Miraval (and to the three sons of Henry II of England: Enricx, Richartz, and Jofrés), is an assessment of contemporary literature and one of the best descriptions of the joglar that we possess. Finally, the Castiagilós is much like a fable, which narrates the story of a jealous husband who is eventually convinced that his suspicions are baseless. Vidal wrote at the height of the troubadours' popularity and as he himself said: "all people wish to listen to troubadour songs and to compose (trobar) them, including Christians, Saracens, Jews, emperors, princes, kings, dukes, counts, viscounts, vavassours, knights, clerics, townsmen, and villeins." Tota gens Crestiana, Juzeus e Sarazís, emperador, princeps, rei, duc, conte, vesconte, contor, valvasor e tuit autre cavailler e clergues borgés e vilanz.
The recorded working language is Old Catalan and Old Occitan. Works named in the authority record are Las razos de trobar, So fo el temps c'om era jays, Castia gilos, Abrils issi'e mays intrava and Lyrical poems.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1196
Raimon Vidal born.
1252
Raimon Vidal died.
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
authority record
Unverified
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
38,661 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Raija SiekkinenAuthor
- Raimon ArolaAuthor
- Raimon de CornetAuthor
- Raimon PanikkarAuthor
- Raimond KolkAuthor
- Raimundo CorreiaAuthor
- Rainald GoetzAuthor
- Rainer ErlerAuthor
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Raimon Vidal?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.