Raymond, Peter, Bernard and William

I know I've posted before about the importance of objective integrity in historical analysis.  A good historian must take the facts as they are and not try to rearrange them to suit himself.  But if I could change just one thing about the Albigensian Crusade ... I'd introduce a tad more variety in the names of the people involved.  Honestly, just four given names seem to cover just about everybody.  Historians, realizing how confusing this is likely to be for their readers, try to get around this by giving some of these names in their English versions, some in French, some in Occitan, some in Catalan, but fundamentally the problem is the sheer number of people named Raymond, Peter, Bernard and William.  Just for clarification, here are the linguistic variations on the same names:

English	Raymond	Peter	Bernard	William
Occitan	Ramon	Peire	Bernart	Guilhem
French	Raimon	Pierre	Bernard	Guillaume

Just how many notables of the Albigensian Crusade share these names?  Here's a very partial list, drawn from Zoe Oldenbourg's index at the back of "Massacre at Montsegur":

The Raymonds
Raymond Aguilher, a good man who debated against the Church's representatives
Raymond d'Alfaro, a knight at Avignonet
Raymond Barthe, a knight
Raymond de Belvis, a knight
Raymond Carbonier, assessor to the tribunal
Raymond-Roger Trencavel, Viscount of Beziers, Carcassonne, Albi and the Razes
Raymond-Roger Trencavel, his son
Raymond de Caussa, an alleged perfectus
Pierre-Raymond de Corneilhan, a seigneur
Raymond Costiran, a scrivener
Raymond de Fauga, bishop of Toulouse
Raymond-Roger, Count of Foix
Raymond de Marciliano, a knight at Montsegur
Raymond Marty, resident at Montsegur
Raymond Maurand, brother of Pierre
Raymond Mercier (or of Mirepoix), an alleged "Cathar" deacon
Raymond de Miraval, a troubadour
Raymond de Perella, seigneur of Montsegur
Raymond-Berenger, Count of Provence
Raymond de Rabastens, bishop of Toulouse
Raymond V, Count of Toulouse
Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse
Raymond VII, Count of Toulouse
Raymond de Roquefeuil, a seigneur
Raymond de Saint-Martin, an alleged "Cathar" deacon
Raymond de Termes, a castellan
Raymond-Guillaume de Tornabois, a man-at-arms at Montsegur
Raymond, Archbishop of Vielmores

The Peters
Peter Amiel, Archbishop of Narbonne
Peter Bonnet, an alleged "Cathar" deacon
Pierre Isarn, bishop of Carcassonne
Peter of Castelnau, papal legate
Peter de Cissey, one of Simon's knights
Peter of Chrysogonus, a cardinal legate
Pierre de Colmieu, Gallic vice-legate
Pierre-Raymond de Corneilhan, a seigneur
Pierre de Courtenay, a crusading baron
Peter Damian, a saint
Peter des Vaux de Cernay, a chronicler
Peter Ferrier, a Catalan at Montsegur
Peter William of Fogart, died on the way to Montsegur
Peter Mauclerc, duke of Brittany
Peter Mauran, a burgher of Toulouse
Pierre Maurand, brother of Raymond
Pierre de Mazerolles, at Avignonet
Pierre-Roger de Mirepoix, the Old
Pierre-Roger de Mirepoix, his father
Peter II, king of Aragon
Peter of Beneventum, a Cardinal-legate
Peter of Verona, a Dominican
Peter Peytavi, an accuser
Peter Seilha, a merchant turned Dominican
Pierre de Villeneuve, a seigneur
Pierre Bermond de Sauve, an in-law of Count Raymond
Peter Waldo, founder of the Waldensians

The Bernards
Bernard d'Alion, a seigneur near Montsegur
Bernard, Count of Armagnac
Bernard of Clairvaux, a saint
Bernard of Carcassonne, a man-at-arms
Bernard, Count of Comminges
Bernard of Fontcaude, author of a tract against Waldensians
Bernard de la Mothe, bishop of Toulouse
Bernard de Portella, a Catalan knight
Bernard de Roquefort, a Dominican
Bernard de Servian, leader of the Beziers garrison
Bernard de Simorre, bishop of Carcassonne
Bernard de Solaro, a buckle-maker and alleged heretic
Bernard de Villeneuve, part of Count Raymond's delegation
Bernard-Otho de Laurac, a seigneur
Bernard-Otho de Niort, a lord of Niort, brother of William
Bernard de Roquefort, a Dominican
Bernard-Raymond de Roquefort, bishop of Carcassonne
Roger-Bernard, Count of Foix
Bernard Gui, an Inquisitor

The Williams
Guillaume Adhémar, a knight at Montsegur
Guillaume de Rocher, seneschal of Anjou
William Arnald, an Inquisitor
William of Ayros, an alleged "Cathar" preacher
William des Barres, Simon's stepfather
William the Breton, a chronicler
William of Roquessels, Bishop of Beziers
William Cat, a knight from Montreal
William de Contres, one of Simon's knights
William Dumier, a knight
Peter William of Fogart, died on the way to Montsegur 
Guillaume de l'Isle, a knight at Montsegur
Guillaume de Plaigne, a knight at Montsegur
Guillaume-Jean de Lordat, a man-at-arms at Montsegur
Guillaume Mechin, a seigneur
William, Viscount of Minerve
Guilhem Montanhagol, a troubadour
William of Narbonne, man-at-arms at Montsegur
William of Nevers, a debater
William de Niort, a lord of Niort, brother of Bernard-Otho
William of Ormes, seneschal of Carcassonne
William, Archdeacon of Paris
William Pelhisson, an alleged perfectus
William de Solier, an alleged perfectus
William de Poissy, one of Simon's knights
William of Puy, a man-at-arms at Montsegur
William de Puylaurens, a chronicler
William Salomon, an alleged "Cathar" deacon
Raymond-Guillaume de Tornabois, a man-at-arms at Montsegur
William Tournier, an alleged "Cathar" deacon
William Ricard, an alleged "Cathar" deacon
William of Tudela, a chronicler and geomancer
William Vidal, a "Cathar" preacher
William Viguier, an alleged "Cathar"
William, an alleged "Cathar" pope


The mind rebels at the sheer lack of imagination of medieval parents!