Arnaut was a
troubadour and the first
poet laureate of the
Consistori del Gay Saber. Arnaut's poem in praise of the
Virgin Mary was adjudged the best by the Consistori at a contest held on
Holy Cross Day 1324 at
Toulouse and the troubadour was awarded the violeta d'or (golden violet). He received the flor de gaug d'argen fi (fine marigold in silver) as the first prize for a dansa at the festa de Santa Crotz on 3 May 1324.
He was also the author of the
chivalric romanceGuilhem de la Barra (1318), of which
Paul Meyer produced the editio princeps (first modern critical edition). A new (French) edition has since been produced.
Sources
Aubrey, Elizabeth. "References to Music in Old Occitan Literature." Acta Musicologica, 61:2 (May–Aug., 1989), pp. 110–149.
Gouiran, Gérard. Arnaut Vidal de Castelnaudary: Le Livre des aventures de Monseigneur Guilhem de la Barra. Paris: Champion, 1997.
Harris, M. Roy. "The Occitan Translations of John XII and XIII–XVII from a Fourteenth-Century Franciscan Codex (Assisi, Chiesa Nuova MS. 9)." Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series, 75:4 (1985), pp. 1–149.
Jeanroy, Alfred. La poésie lyrique des troubadours. Toulouse: Privat. 1934.
Meyer, Paul. Guillaume de la Barre, roman d'aventures par Arnaut Vidal de Castelnaudari, publie pour la premiere fois d'apres le manuscrit unique. Paris, 1895.