Montferrat

[alex lockton]

Isn't Montferrat simply Montserrat written with a stylised s is the middle? Can we merge the various forms of Mantua and Montserrat into one collector?

[Tom Humphrey]

I've merged the erroneous Montferrat name entries under Montserrat. There are probably still remaining problems with a split between M&M and Charles Groom-Napier, but it may be best to leave that merge until after the bulk of the BON sheets are done.

regards,

Tom

[oldnick]

The name is clearly spelt Montferrat with an F. It's on his familiar red-printed labels (I've never seen it hand-written) and I'm sure in the various wikis etc about him. I don't know where all the M & Ms are in the world and what geographic or other relationship they have, but maybe somebody knows a reason for this 'title'. I can advise there are a Montferrat and a Mantua in Northern Italy, in Piedmont and Lombardy respectively (and Montserrats in Spain and the Caribbean). Ludicrous as his aliases are, or seem to us, there's no point inventing a new version - I assumed some people were just entering 'Montserrat' because the Caribbean island with its recent well-known volcanic eruption was the name most obviously coming to mind. It is confusing however that entering C O G N (as per labels) produces no match, whereas C O G (not on labels) produces Groom-Napier. The subsequent screen with its references to aliases is very helpful however.

[Tom Humphrey]

Hi Nick,

Thanks for clarifying that. I thought it might not be straightforward - his name's been edited to different variants many times. The think the confusion of Montserrat and Montferrat appears to be quite widespread, e.g. lots on online copies of the Treaty of Westphallia which use the form Montserrat.

There's a wikipedia article about the Montferrat ducal line - which dies out in 1708 - presumably leaving the title available for aquisition by Groom-Napier.

I'll edit back the name correction.

regards,
Tom