Arnaut de Tintinhac or Tintignac was a 12th-century Gascon

Gascony

Gascony is an area of southwest France that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution. The region is vaguely defined and the distinction between Guyenne and Gascony is unclear; sometimes they are considered to overlap, and sometimes Gascony is considered a...

 nobleman and troubadour

Troubadour

A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....

 from Naves

Naves, Corrèze

Naves is a commune in the Corrèze department in the Limousin region in central France.- Geography :Naves's territory is crossed by the Corrèze, Solane, Vigne, Vimbelle, and Céronne rivers.- History :...

, near Tulle

Tulle

Tulle is a commune and capital of the Corrèze department in the Limousin region in central France. It is also the episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulle...

. He was the lord of Tintinhac, probably a feudatory of the viscount of Turrenne, and very proud of his heritage, as indicated when he refers to himself anonymously as sel de Tintinhac: "he of Tintinhac".

Four of his poems have survived, with one—Bel m'es quan l'erba reverdis—being ascribed in one manuscript to Raimon Vidal. In his expressions he is reminiscent of Marcabru

Marcabru

Marcabru is one of the earliest troubadours whose poems are known. There is no certain information about him; the two vidas attached to his poems tell different stories, and both are evidently built on hints in the poems, not on independent information.According to the brief life in MS...

 and Bernart Marti

Bernart Marti

Bernart Marti was a troubadour, composing poems and satires in Occitan, in the mid twelfth century. Nine or ten of his poems survive; they show that he was influenced by his contemporaries Marcabru and knew Peire d'Alvernha, whom, in one poem, he accused of abandoning holy orders...

 and in his aggressive attitude towards encouraging courtly love

Courtly love

Courtly love was a medieval European conception of nobly and chivalrously expressing love and admiration. Generally, courtly love was secret and between members of the nobility. It was also generally not practiced between husband and wife....

 he also resembles the early troubadours. Like other early Gascon troubadours, such as Peire de Valeira

Peire de Valeira

Peire de Valeira, Valeria, or Valera was a Gascon troubadour. Since troubadour poetry probably originated in northwest Aquitaine and first spread—within a generation—south into Gascony, Peire was one of the earliest troubadours...

, he employed nature metaphors, as at the beginning of this song:

Molt dezis l'aura doussana lanquan vei los albros floritz et aug d'auzels grans e petitz lur chans per vergiers e per plais;    e, qui d'amor ha enveja,    si.n aquel temps no se pleja, no vueill son lonc respeit mi do.

I much desire the sweet aura when I see the trees in flower and I hear the birds great and small, their songs, by the orchards and the fences;    and, who for love has yearned,    if this time I do not submit to it, I do not wish it to concede me respite.

The vida

Vida (Occitan literary form)

Vida is the usual term for a brief prose biography, written in Old Occitan, of a troubadour or trobairitz.The word vida means "life" in Occitan languages. In the chansonniers, the manuscript collections of medieval troubadour poetry, the works of a particular author are often accompanied by a...

 of Peire de Valeira seems to confuse its intended subject with Arnaut (at least at some points). It goes like this:

Peire de Valeira was from Gascony, from the land of Lord Arnaut Guillem de Marsan. He was a minstrel

Minstrel

A minstrel was a medieval European bard who performed songs whose lyrics told stories of distant places or of existing or imaginary historical events. Although minstrels created their own tales, often they would memorize and embellish the works of others. Frequently they were retained by royalty...

at the very same time in which Marcabru lived, and he composed poems such as were made at the time, of slight worth, about leaves and flowers and songs and birds. His songs had no great value, nor did he.