 The date of these events is exactly ascertainable.Flodoard ("Annales", Anno 943) states that Count Herbert died in that year, and was buried by his sons at St. Quentin, that when they learnt that Raoul, son of Raoul de Gouy, was about to invade their father's territory, they attacked him and put him to death.The identity of the other personages of the story has also been fixed from historical sources.