 The Hida and others wrote that he was from Tolosa, Spain; while modern scholar Israel Netanel Rubin placed his origin at Toulouse.He lived in Villefranche-de-Conflent and later in Barcelona, where he met Nissim of Gerona and published "Maggid Mishneh".From Joseph Caro's preface to his "Kesef Mishneh" it appears that Vidal was a personal friend of Nissim of Gerona.