scheme of decoration. This usage reached its height in the 14th century, which was the
last in which arms played an important role on the field of battle.
D’A.Jonathan D.Boulton
[See also: LIVERY, BADGES, AND COLORS; MOTTO/DEVISE; SEALS AND
SIGILLOGRAPHY]
Brault, Gerard J. Early Blazon: Heraldic Terminology in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries.
Oxford: Oxford Univer-sity Press, 1972.
Galbreath, D.L., and Léon Jéquier. Manuel du blason. Lausanne: Spes, 1977.
Pastoureau, Michel. Traité d’héraldique. Paris: Picard, 1979.
——. L’hermine et le sinople: études d’héraldique médiévale. Paris: Leopard d’Or, 1982.
Pinoteau, Hervé, Michel Pastoureau, and Michel Popoff, eds. Les origines des armoiries. Paris:
Leopard d’Or, 1983.
ARNAUT DANIEL
(fl. 1180–1200). The troubadour Arnaut Daniel was admired by Dante, Petrarch, and
Pound as much for his technical virtuosity as for his notorious difficulty. Little can be
said for certain about his life, except that his literary reputation as a bold if hermetic poet
was well established by 1195, when he appears in the Monk of Montaudon’s satiric
gallery of troubadours. According to his vida, he was a noble from Ribérac in the
Dordogne, but this assertion, like that of the razo that links him to Richard the
Lionhearted, cannot be substantiated. Both the vida and the Monk of Montaudon’s
portrait rightly note that Arnaut Daniel delighted in composing difficult rhymes. His
nineteen surviving poems, all but one of which are love songs, attest this penchant for
caras rimas (difficult rhymes). Arnaut’s craft is emblazoned throughout by the daring
innovations of the trobar ric style. His word choices are unusual, his images unfamiliar,
his sound patterns harsh, his poetic rhythms broken. The global effect of his lyrics is
always striking, often jarring. No doubt, this originality earned him the respect of
subsequent writers, but it has also contributed to his reputation as an obscure poet. An
example of Arnaut’s brilliant creativity was his invention of the sestina.
Roy S.Rosenstein
[See also: SESTINA; TROUBADOUR POETRY]
Arnaut Daniel. Arnaut Daniel: il sirventese e le canzoni, ed. Mario Eusebi. Milan: Scheiwiller,
1984.
——. Le canzoni di Arnaut Daniel, ed. Maurizio Perugi. Milan: Ricciardi, 1978.
——. Arnaut Daniel: canzoni, ed. Gianluigi Toja. Florence: Sansoni, 1960.
——. The Poetry of Arnaut Daniel, ed. and trans. James J. Wilhelm. New York: Garland, 1981.
The Encyclopedia 129