Guillem de Cabestany

Who was Guillem de Cabestany?

Guillem de Cabestany was a Catalan troubadour from Cabestany in the County of Roussillon. He is often known by his Old Occitan name, Guilhem de Cabestaing, Cabestang, Cabestan, or Cabestanh.

According to his legendary vida, he was the lover of Seremonda, 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's Decameron and in the Cantos of Ezra Pound. It also inspired the opera Written on Skin by George Benjamin and Martin Crimp, created in 2012. With reference to regional historian Jules Canonge, Cabestany is presented as the archetypal troubador in Ford Madox Ford's book Provence.