Peire Vidal

Peire Vidal (his name is written at top) as portrayed in a 13th-century chansonnier. Peire Vidal (fl. 12th century) was an Old Occitan troubadour. Forty-five of his songs are extant. The twelve that still have melodies bear testament to the deserved nature of his musical reputation.

There is no contemporary reference to Peire outside of his works of poetry. His vida (a short Occitan biography)—composed about fifty years after his death—and two razos (short commentaries on specific poems) are probably fictionalised works built on episodes from his poems. Only the opening line of the vida is probably reliable. It says that he "was from Toulouse, the son of a furrier": si fo de Tolosa, fils d'un pelissier. The fur and leather industry was well established in Toulouse, near the church of Saint Pierre des Cuisines, in the twelfth century. The rest of the vida is mostly invention based on Peire's poems, but it does contain the only reference to Peire having a wife: