Raymonde Vital was a woman who lived in the Comté de Foix in the early fourteenth century, she was made notable by appearing in Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie is a French historian whose work is mainly focused upon Languedoc in the ancien regime, particularly the history of the peasantry.-Early life and career:...

's Montaillou

Montaillou

Montaillou is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France.-History:The town is best known for being the subject of Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's pioneering work of microhistory, Montaillou, village occitan. It analyzes the town in great detail over a thirty-year period from 1294 to 1324...

. Working as a servant in the home the Belots, one of the wealthier families of Montaillou, she met Arnaud Vital

Arnaud Vital

Arnaud Vital was a cobbler in the Comté de Foix in the early fourteenth century. He is notable for appearing in Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's Montaillou. Originally from a peasant family in Prades d'Aillon, he moved to Montaillou living as a boarder in the house of the Belot family...

, a cobbler

Shoemaking

Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand. Traditional handicraft shoemaking has now been largely superseded in volume of shoes produced by industrial mass production of footwear, but not necessarily in quality, attention to detail, or...

 who was boarding there. She married him and the two set up house together, but the marriage was unhappy as Arnaud ignored her in favour of a series of mistresses. Upon the death of Arnaud Raymonde married Bernard Guilhou. For a time she also became the mistress to Pierre Clergue

Pierre Clergue

Pierre Clergue was a priest in the village of Montaillou, France in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century. He is the central figure in Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's book Montaillou, a pioneering work of microhistory...

.