| 8. | Rolf (Rollo) Wend-A-Foot Duke Of Normandy was born in 854 in Maer, Nord-Trondelag, Norway (son of Ragnvald I Eysteinsson The Wise Jarl Of Maer and Ragnhild (Hildr) Hrolfsdottir); died in 931 in Notre Dame, Rouen, France. Other Events and Attributes:
- Fact 1: 1st Duke Of Normandy. Rec'd. Normandy Under Treaty Of St. Claire, 911.; Fact 1
- Fact 10: Founder Of Normandy.; Fact 10
- Fact 2: Aka Rolf (Rollo) The Ganger Ragnvaldsson Of Norway.; Fact 2
- Fact 3: Acknowledged Vassal By Charles The Simple & Baptised (Abt 911), Per The Treaty.; Fact 3
- Fact 4: Left Norway For Reaving And Conquest On Continent (870).; Fact 4
- Fact 5: Known As "The Old Pirate". Count Of Rouen By Conquest 876.; Fact 5
- Fact 6: Banished From Norway By King Harald To The Hebrides Abt 876.; Fact 6
- Fact 7: Called The "Ganger" As He Was So Large No Horse Could Carry Him & He Had To Walk; Fact 7
- Fact 8: Interred: Notre Dame, Rouen, France.; Fact 8
- Fact 9: Ferocious Disposition. Charles The Simple Could Not Beat Him.; Fact 9
- Name: Rolf (Rollo) The Ganger Ragnvaldsson Of Norway
- Acceded: 911
Notes:
[large-G675.FTW]
Later sources identify this Hrolf with Rollo of Normandy, an extremely doubtful identification. It is unlikely that there was any close relationship between the early dukes of Normandy and the Orkney Jarls, and Rollo's parentage is unknown.
Here are my notes on ROLLO, which I send in connection with a message sent
by Stewart Baldwin in which he says he suspects I took my data from the
"ridiculously unreliable Ancestral File" of the LDS. As you can see, this
isn't quite right.
Gordon Fisher gfisher@shentel.net
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27th ggf of Gordon Fisher
Or: HROLFR the GANGER (walker), GANGE-ROLV, ROLF, ROLLO OF NORMANDY;
andlater in life, ROBERT; also HRO'LFR
"The central fact of Norman history ... is ... the grant of Normandy and his
northern followers in the year 911. ... For the actual occurences of that
year, we have only the account of a romancing historian of a hundred years
later, reenforced here and there by the exceedingly scanty records of the
time. The main fact is clear, namely that the Frankish king, Charles the
Simple, granted Rollo as a fief a considerable part, the eastern part, of
later Normandy. Apparently Rollo did homage for his fied in feudal fashion
by placing his hands between the hands of the king, something, we are told,
which "neither his father, nor his grandfather, nor his great-grandfather
before him had ever done for any man." Legend goes on to relate, however,
that Rollo refused to kneel and kiss the king's foot, crying out in his own
speech, "No, by God!" and that the companion to whom he delegated the
unwelcome obligation performed it so clumsily that he overturned the king,
to the great merriment of the assembled Northmen. ... As to Rollo's
personality, we have only the evidence of later Norman historians of
doubtful authority and the Norse saga of HArold Fairhair. If, as seems
likely, their accounts relate to the same person, he was known in the north
as Hrolf the Ganger, because he was so huge that no horse could carry him
and he must needs gang afoot. A pirate at home, he was driven into exile by
the anger of King Harold, whereupon he followed his trade in the Western
Isles and in Gaul, and rose to be a great Jarl among his people. The saga
makes him a Norwegian, but Danish scholars have sought to prove him a Dane,
and more recently the cudgels have been taken up for his Swedish origin. To
me the NOrwegian theory seems on the whole the most probable, being based on
a trustworthy saga and corroborated by other incidental evidence. ... The
important fact is that Norway, Denmark, and even more distant Sweden, all
contributed to the colonists who settled in Normandy under Rollo and his
successors, and the achievements of the Normans thus become the common
heritage of the Scandinavian race. (P) The colonization of Normandy was, of
course, only a small part of the work of this heroic age of Scandinavian
expansion. The great emigration from the North in the ninth and tenth
centuries has been explained in part by the growth of centralized government
and the consequent departure of the independent, the turbulent, and the
untamed for new fields of adventure; but its chief cause was doubtless that
which lies back of colonizing movements in all ages, the growth of
population and the need of more room. Five centuries earlier this
land-hunger had pushed the Germanic tribes across the Rhine and Danube and
produced the great wandering of the peoples which destroyed the Roman
empire; and the Viking raids were simply a later aspect of this same
*Vo"lkerwanderung*, retarded by the outlying position of the Scandinavian
lands and by the greater difficulty of migration by sea. For, unlike the
Goths who swept across the map of Europe in vast curves of marching men, or
the Franks who moved forward by slow stages of gradual settlement in their
occupation of Roman Gaul, the Scandinavian invaders were men of the sea and
migrated in ships."
--- Charles Homer Haskins, *The Normans in European History*, Boston &
NY, 1915, p 26-30 passim. From p 48 & 50: "At this point the fundamental
question forces itself upon us, how far was Normandy affected by
Scandinavian influences? What in race and language, in law and custom, was
the contribution of the north to Normandy? And the answer must be that in
most respects the tangible contribution was slight. Whatever may have been
the state of affairs in the age of colonization and settlement, by the
century which followed the Normans had become to a surprising degree
absorbed by their environment. ..... What, then, was the Scandinavian
contribution to the making of Normandy if it was neither law nor speech nor
race? First and foremost, it was Normandy itself, created as a distinct
entity by the Norman occupation and the grant to Rollo and his followers,
without whom it would have remained an undifferentiated part of northern
France. Next, a new element in the population, numerically small in
proportion to the ass, but a leaven to the whole --- quick to absorb
Frankish law and Christian culture but retaining its northern qualities of
enterprise, of daring, and of leadership. It is no accident that the names
of the leaders in early Norman movements are largely Norse. And finally a
race of princes, high-handed and masteful but with a talent for political
organization, state-builders at home and abroad, who made Normandy the
strongest and most centralized principality in France and joined to it a
kingdom beyond the seas which became the strongest state in western Europe."
"GANGER ROLF, "the Viking" (or ROLLO), banished from Norway to the Hebrides
ca. 876, 890 participated in Viking attack on Bayeux, where Count Berenger
of Bayeux was killed, and dau. Poppa captured and taken, 886, by Rollo (now
called Count of Rouen) as his "Danish" wife. Under Treaty of St. Claire,
911, rec'd the Duchy of Normandy from CHARLES III, "the Simple"; d. ca. 927
(Isenburg says 931), bur. Notre Dame, Rouen. ... Note: Isenburg inserts a
Robert between Rollo and William I, and makes Robert the conqueror of
Bayeux, husb. of Poppa, and 1st Duke. Chronology favors the descent given
by Moriarty and Onslow. It seems probable that Robert was another name for
Rollo. If there really was a Robert as 1st Duke, then [ROBERT I] would be
ROBERT II, which is not the case. For additional data on William II of
Normandy and I of England the reader may consult David C. Douglas, *William
the Conqueror* (1964). Besides a dau. Gerloc (or Adela) who m. 935 WILLIAM
I ... Count of Poitou, Ganger Rolf had [WILLIAM I, "Longsword"]."
--- Weis & Sheppard, *Ancestral Roots ... *, 7th Edition, 1992, p 110
"Rollo (Rollon, Ranger Rolf [sic, instead of Ganger], 1st Duke of Normandy,
Count of Rouen; conquered Normandy; b. c870, Maer, Norway, d. 927-932; md
(2) 891 Poppa de Bayeux, Duchess of Norway; b. c872, Bayeux, France; dau
Berenger de Bayeux, Count of Bayeux; d. bef. 930; and N.N. of Rennes."
--- Roderick W Stuart, *Royalty for Commoners*, 2nd edn, 1992, p 123-124
The definitive establishment of the Normans, to whom the country owes
its name, took place in 911, when by the treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte,
concluded between King Charles the Simple of France and Rolf or Rollo, chief
of the Normans, the territory comprising the town of Rouen and a few 'pagi'
situated on the sea-coast was ceded to the latter; but the terms of the
treaty are ill-defined, and it is consequently almost impossible to find out
the exact extent of this territory or to know whether Brittany was at this
time made a feudal dependency of Normandy. But the chronicler Dudo of
Saint-Quentin's statement that Rollo married Gisela, daughter of Charles the
Simple, must be considered to be legendary work of Dudo of Saint-Quentin
[who?] is practically our only authority.
Rollo died in 927 and was succeeded by his son William ...
--- (Source ???)
"Charles [the Simple], the son-in-law of eEward, constrained thereto by
Rollo, through a succession of calamities, conceded to him that part of Gaul
which at present is called Normandy. It would be tedious to relate for how
many years, and with what audacity, the Normans disquieted every place from
the British ocean, as I have said, to the Tuscan sea. First Hasten, and
then Rollo; who, born of noble lineage among the Norwegians, though obsolete
from its extreme antiquity, was banished, by the king's command, from his
own country, and brought over with multitudes, who were in danger, either
from debt or consciousness of guilt, and whom he had allured by great
expectations of advantage. Betaking himself therefore to piracy, after his
cruelty had raged on every side at pleasure, he experienced a check at
Chartres. For the townspeople, relying neither on arms nor fortifications,
piously impoored the assistance of the blessed Virgin Mary. The shift too
of the virgin, which Charles the Bald displayed to the winds on the
samparts, thronged by the garrison, after the fashion of a banner. The
enemy on seeing it began to laught, and to direct their arrows at it. This,
however, was not done with impunity; for presently their eyes became dim,
and they could neither retreat nor advance. The townsmen, with joy
perceiving this, indulged themselves in a plentiful slaughter of them, as
far as fortune permitted. Rollo, however, whom God reserved for the true
faith, escaped, and soon after gained Rouen and the neighboring cities by
force of arms, in the year of our Lord 876, and one year before the death of
Charles the Bald, whose grandson Lewis, as is before mentioned, vanquished
the Normans, but did not expel them; but Charles, the brother of that Lewis,
grandson of Charles the Bald, by his son Lewis, as I have said aboce,
repeatedly experiencing, from unsuccessful conflicts, that fortune gave him
nothing which she took from others, resolved, after consulting his nobility,
that it was advisable to make a show of royal munificence, when he was
unable to repel injury; and, in a friendly manner, sent for Rollo. He was
at this time far advanced in years; and, consequently, easily inclined to
pacific measures. It was therefore determined by treaty, that he should be
baptized, and hold that country of the king as his lord. The inbred and
untameable ferocity of the man may well be imagined, for, on receiving this
gift, as the by standers suggested to him, that he ought to kiss the foot of
his benefactor, disdaining to kneel down, he seized the king's foot and
dragged it to his mouth as he stood erect. The king falling on his back,
the Normans began to laugh, and the Franks to be indignant; but Rollo
apologized for his shameful conduct, by saying that it was the custom of his
country. Thus the affair being settled, Rollo returned to Rouen, and there
died."
--- William of Malmesbury, *Chronicle of the Kings of England*, c 1135,
tr John Allen Giles, London (Henry G Bohn) 1847, p 125-126
"It is not known when Rollo arrived in the Viking kingdom [in Normandy].
Dudo says that he took Rouen in 877, but most historians are agreed that
Rollo probably did not appear in Francia until the early tenth century. The
possibility exists however, that Dudo is preserving a belief that Vikings
had been established in the Rouen area from about this time. Rollo is
thought to have been Norwegian rather than Danish, and later Icelandic
sources identify him with Hrolf the Ganger (walker), son of Ragnvald earl of
Moer, who had a career as a Viking before settling in Francia. He married a
Christian woman and his son William, according to the Lament of William
Longsword, was born overseas. (P) Nothing more in known about the 'Treaty
of St Clair-sur-Epte' concluded in a personal interview between Charles the
Simple and Rollo than Dudo tells us, and he has been accused of inventing
the meeting. That a cession of territory in the Seine, extending as far
west as the mouth of the Seine on the coast and near the source of the Eure
inland is affirmed by a charter of Charles the Simple dated 14 March 918.
..... Flodoard adds the information that Rollo received baptism and the
Frankish name Robert with the cession of this territory. (P) Rollo seems to
have been made a count in 911, with the traditional duties assigned to a
Carolingian count, namely, protection and the administration of justice. He
was certainly subordinate to the Frankish king. With the proliferation of
titles accorded the leader of the Normandy Vikings in later sources, some
historians hace suggested that Rollo was made a duke, but Werner has argued
that there was no Norman *marchio* before 950-6, and no duke before
987-1006, that is, after Hugh Capet had gained the throne of France. .....
(P) Rollo appears to have received his territory on similar terms as the
Bretons had received the Cotentin, except that the bishoprics were also
ceded. ..... In exchange, Rollo was to defend the Seine from other Vikings,
accept baptism and become the *fidelis* of the Frankish king. That there
were other groups of Vikings in the region, particularly in the western part
of Normandy, is clear. The west stayed pagan longer; it was a century
before a bishop was appointed to the Cotnetin. ..... (P) The arrangement
made in 911 proved successful ..... The area of Normandy by 933 corresponded
to the area of the archdiocese of Rouen, with the seven *civitates* of
Rouen, Bayeux, Avranches, Evreux, See's, Lisieux and Coutances. The
fortunes of the bishops of Rouen and of the (principes* of Normandy were in
fact closely associated from the very beginning."
--- Rosamond McKitterick, *The Frankish Kingdom under the Carolingians,
751-987*, London & NY (Longman) 1983, p 237-238
"A.D. 917. ..... Rollo, first duke of Normandy, died, and was succeeded by
his son William."
--- Florence of Worcester (died c 1117), *A History of the Kings of
England* (OR: *The Chronicle of Florence of Worcester*), trans Joseph
Stephenson, 1853 (reprinted by Llanerch Enterprises, Felinfach, Lampeter,
Dyfed, Wales SA48 8PJ, 1980s (?)), p 76
Rolf married Poppa De Valois De Normandy Dss Of Normandy in 891. Poppa (daughter of Pepin De Senlis De Valois Ct De Bayeux) was born in 872 in Of Evreux, Normandy, France; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]
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Abt 977 - 1034 (56 years)
