Raimon Vidal de Bezaudun

Raimon Vidal de Bezaudu(n) (Catalan: "Ramon Vidal de Besalú", French: "Raymond Vidal de Besaudun"; c. 1196 – c. 1252) was a Catalan troubadour from Besalú. He is famous for authoring the first poetical tract in a Romance language (Occitan), the "Razos de trobar" (c. 1210). [The similar "Donatz proensals" of Uc Faidit was also published around this time.] 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 "Razos", Raimon distinguishes the "parladura francesca" (French) from the "cella de Lemosin" (Occitan). [Paden, 37.] He also discusses the art of the listener ("li auzidor") and his responsibility to understand the troubadour works.Page, 644.] 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 Western music. [Page, 648.] 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. [Ewert, 357.] [Weiss, 160 n1.] The "Razos" ends with an Occitan-Italian glossary. Late in the 13th century, Terramagnino of Pisa wrote a condensed verse form of the "Razos". Jofre de Foixà wrote an expanded version, the "Regles de trobar", for James II of Sicily.

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 el temps qu'om era gais", which is fawning in its treatment of Raimon de Miraval, an earlier troubadour. [Topsfield, 33–34.] In the "roman", Raimon presents two ladies as "judici d'amor" (judge of love) undecided over one knight, but settling on another (Hug de Mataplana), who resolves their doubts. The "roman" called "Abril issi'e mays intrava", which also refers to Miraval (and to the three sons of Henry II of England: "Enricx", "Richartz", and "Jofres" [Lewent, 165.] ), is an assessment of contemporary literature and one of the best descriptions of the joglar that we possess. [Taylor, 55.] Finally, the "Castiagilos" is a fable, probably written at the court of Alfonso VIII of Castile and Eleanor of England, which narrates the story of a jealous husband who is eventually convinced that his suspicions are baseless. Raimon's treatment of love and his opinion of Miraval place him squarely within the tradition of courtly love.

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." [Smythe, 265.]

ources

*Ewert, A. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-7937%28194007%2935%3A3%3C355%3ADTOL%3E2.0.CO%3B2-G "Dante's Theory of Language."] "The Modern Language Review", Vol. 35, No. 3. (Jul., 1940), pp 355–366.
*Franck, A. " [http://books.google.com/books?id=JIoSAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22raimon+vidal%22 Grammaires provençales de Hugues Faidit et de Raymond Vidal de Besaudun (XIIIe siècle)] ". 2nd ed. Paris: 1858.
*Lewent, Kurt. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-8232%28194602%2943%3A3%3C153%3ATTATRO%3E2.0.CO%3B2-B "The Troubadours and the Romance of 'Jaufre'."] "Modern Philology", Vol. 43, No. 3. (Feb., 1946), pp 153–169.
*Paden, William D. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0038-7134%28199301%2968%3A1%3C36%3AOOAALL%3E2.0.CO%3B2-7 "Old Occitan as a Lyric Language: The Insertions from Occitan in Three Thirteenth-Century French Romances."] "Speculum", Vol. 68, No. 1. (Jan., 1993), pp 36–53.
*Page, Christopher. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0306-1078%28199711%2925%3A4%3C638%3ALTTT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-G "Listening to the Trouvères."] "Early Music", Vol. 25, No. 4, 25th Anniversary Issue; Listening Practice. (Nov., 1997), pp 638–650, 653–656, and 659.
*Smythe, Barbara. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0027-4224%28192107%292%3A3%3C263%3ATS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-C "Troubadour Songs."] "Music & Letters", Vol. 2, No. 3. (Jul., 1921), pp 263–273.
*Taylor, Andrew. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0306-2473%281992%2922%3C38%3AFCAMNT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-H "Fragmentation, Corruption, and Minstrel Narration: The Question of the Middle English Romances."] "The Yearbook of English Studies", Vol. 22, Medieval Narrative Special Number. (1992), pp 38–62.
*Topsfield, L. T. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-7937%28195601%2951%3A1%3C33%3ARDMATA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-J "Raimon de Miraval and the Art of Courtly Love."] "The Modern Language Review", Vol. 51, No. 1. (Jan., 1956), pp 33–41.
*Weiss, R. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-7937%28194204%2937%3A2%3C156%3ALBT%22AT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-T "Links between the "Convivio" and the 'De Vulgari Eloquentia'."] "The Modern Language Review", Vol. 37, No. 2. (Apr., 1942), pp 156–168.

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