Talk:Raoul IV de Conches

House of Tosny numbering conventions

Comparison of the information in this article with that in Raoul III of Tosny shows that the two pages are describing the same person (with perhaps some small variance in some details). Raoul III of Tosny follows the numbering conventions shown in House of Tosny, but this article and Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester give the next higher number to the same individual, i.e. House of Tosny has Margaret de Beaumont's husband as Raoul IV, while Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester has it as Raoul V. How should this be handled, as it's rather confusing to have both systems in use at the same time to say the least?Koumz (talk) 21:41, 13 September 2009 (UTC)

We could follow the numbering in the French article on the House of Tosny, which I presume to be the same as in House of Tosny. On the other hand one of the best sources known to me is at http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/NORMAN%20NOBILITY.htm#RaoulTosnydied1102, which gives "RAOUL [IV] de Tosny (-[1126]" in agreement with the numbering on this page. The trouble would be that Raoul I under that numbering is far enough back to be one of those shadowy Norman/vikings about whom little can really be known. I'm not quite sure right now: perhaps the article on the House of Tosny needs to address the issue. Charles Matthews (talk) 08:00, 14 September 2009 (UTC)

Sorry I have been so long in getting back to you. I have found that defining medieval lords by numbers is at best confusing and often wrong. The best method I have found is to use their death date as a descriptor, ie. Ralph Tosny, d.1126. This at least eliminates confusing one persons II with anothers III. I have an article on this at http://www.castles99.ukprint.com/Essays/earlymort.html Hope that is of some help.