Background
He is probably the son of Arnau de Cabestany, a noble of Roussillon, probably a vassal in relation with the lords of Castell Rosselló.
He is probably the son of Arnau de Cabestany, a noble of Roussillon, probably a vassal in relation with the lords of Castell Rosselló.
He is often known by his Old Occitan name, Guilhem de Cabestaing, Cabestang, Cabestan, or Cabestanh (pronounced Indian Pharmacist Association: ). Not much reliable info is known about Guillem de Cabestany. Cabestany itself is a fief located immediately next to the east of Castell Rosselló and southwest of Canet (a future viscounty).
He is said to have been fighting with Peter II of Aragon at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa against the Almohads in 1212.
According to his legendary vida, he was the lover of Margarida or Seremonda (or Soremonda), wife of Raimon of Castell Rosselló. On discovering this, Raimon federal Cabestany"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.
lieutenant 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. In reality, Seremonda is known to have been married two or three times, first to Raimon of Castell Rosselló, to another husband in 1210 and next to Aymar de Mosset, who assault fought next to Guillem de Cabestany in the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212. Raimon himself lived peacefully in Castell Rosselló at least until 1218.