Arnaud Vital was a cobbler

Shoemaking

Shoemaking is the process of making footwear. Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand. Traditional handicraft shoemaking has now been largely superseded in volume of shoes produced by industrial mass production of footwear, but not necessarily in quality, attention to detail, or...

 in the Comté de Foix in the early fourteenth century. He is notable for appearing in Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie

Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie is a French historian whose work is mainly focused upon Languedoc in the ancien regime, particularly the history of the peasantry.-Early life and career:...

's Montaillou

Montaillou

Montaillou is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France.-History:The town is best known for being the subject of Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's pioneering work of microhistory, Montaillou, village occitan. It analyzes the town in great detail over a thirty-year period from 1294 to 1324...

. Originally from a peasant family in Prades d'Aillon, he moved to Montaillou living as a boarder in the house of the Belot family. He was later joined by his sister Raymonde

Raymonde Arsen

Raymonde Arsen née Vital was a servant in the Comté de Foix in the early fourteenth century. She was made notable by appearing in Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's Montaillou. Born in Prades d'Aillon to a poor peasant family in 1306 she left to work in the home of Bonet de la Coste in town Pamiers.Whilst...

 who came to work as a servant in the Belot home.

Arnaud was a committed Albigensian and spent much time guiding parfaits through the mountains. He was also a great womanizer, the lover of Alazaïs Fauré who he converted to Catharism. At one point he tried to force himself upon Raymonde Testanière

Raymonde Testanière

Raymonde Testanière, known as Vuissane, was a servant in the Comté de Foix in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. She is known to us through her testimony recorded on the Fournier Register and examined in Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's Montaillou. Vuissane was a servant in the Belot...

, mistress to Bernard Belot, but she resisted him. Arnaud later married another servant in the Belot household named Raymonde

Raymonde Vital

Raymonde Vital was a woman who lived in the Comté de Foix in the early fourteenth century, she was made notable by appearing in Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's Montaillou. Working as a servant in the home the Belots, one of the wealthier families of Montaillou, she met Arnaud Vital, a cobbler who was...

. The couple lived with the Belots another two months before leaving and setting up their own home.

Vital was one of only two artisans in town the other being Raymond Maury

Raymond Maury

Raymond Maury was a weaver in the Comté de Foix in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century, made notable by appearing in Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's Montaillou. While most in the town of Montaillou did some weaving, Maury was the only one to sell his wool rather than use it in the home...

 the weaver. While his business was somewhat limited by the lack of money in the village he was successful enough to become only the third villager to add a solier to his home. He also became assistant bayle

Bayle

Bayle can refer to:*A position in medieval France similar to that of a bailiff*François Bayle, a French composer of acousmatic music*George A. Bayle Jr., first to market peanut butter*Jean-Michel Bayle, a French motorcycle racer*Pierre Bayle, a philosopher...

 in the town to Bernard Clergue

Bernard Clergue

Bernard Clergue was the town bayle of Montaillou in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. A great deal about his life is recorded in the Fournier Register and has been studied by historians, most notably Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie....

. His marriage was unhappy, however, he ignored his wife and continued to philander with women such as Raymonde Rives and Alazaïs Gavela.