Guillem de Cabestany (1162–1212) was a Catalan

Catalan people

The Catalans or Catalonians are the people from, or with origins in, Catalonia that form a historical nationality in Spain. The inhabitants of the adjacent portion of southern France are sometimes included in this definition...

 troubadour

Troubadour

A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....

 from Cabestany

Cabestany

Cabestany is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.The Master of Cabestany was from this area, and there is a museum dedicated to his work in the town.-References:*...

 in the County of Roussillon

County of Roussillon

The County of Roussillon was one of the Catalan counties in the Marca Hispanica during the Middle Ages. The rulers of the county were the Counts of Roussillon, whose interests lay both north and south of the Pyrenees.-Visigothic county:...

. His name in Occitan is Guilhem de Cabestaing, Cabestang, Cabestan, or Cabestanh; in modern Occitan it is spelled Guilhèm.

According to his legendary vida

Vida (Occitan literary form)

Vida is the usual term for a brief prose biography, written in Old Occitan, of a troubadour or trobairitz.The word vida means "life" in Occitan languages. In the chansonniers, the manuscript collections of medieval troubadour poetry, the works of a particular author are often accompanied by a...

, he was the lover of Seremonda (or Soremonda), wife of Raimon of Castel Rossillon. On discovering this, Raimon fed Cabestanh's heart to Seremonda. When he told her what she had eaten, she threw herself from the window to her death. This legend appears later in Giovanni Boccaccio

Giovanni Boccaccio

Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular...

's Decameron and in the Cantos of Ezra Pound

Ezra Pound

Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...

. With reference to regional historian Jules Canonge, Cabestany is presented as the archetypal troubador in Ford Madox Ford

Ford Madox Ford

Ford Madox Ford was an English novelist, poet, critic and editor whose journals, The English Review and The Transatlantic Review, were instrumental in the development of early 20th-century English literature...

's book Provence

Provence

Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...

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