Other Events and Attributes:

• Nickname: The Good
• FSID: KDQW-JTJ
• Appointments / Titles: Between 1 Jan 996 and 28 Aug 1026, Normandy, France; 3rd Duke of Normandie

Notes:

Richard II, Duke of Normandy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Richard II "the Good"
Richard the Good as part of the "Six Dukes of Normandy" statue in the town square of Falaise.
Duke of Normandy
Reign 996–1026
Predecessor Richard I
Successor Richard III
Born 23 August 963
Normandy
Died 28 August 1026 (aged 63)
Normandy
Spouse Judith of Brittany
(unsure if married) Poppa of Envermeu
Issue Richard III of Normandy
Robert I of Normandy
and more.
House House of Normandy
Father Richard I, Duke of Normandy
Mother Gunnora, Duchess of Normandy
Richard II (23 August 963 – 28 August 1026), called the Good (French: Le Bon), was the eldest son and heir of Richard I the Fearless and Gunnora. He was a Norman nobleman of the House of Normandy.

Contents

[hide]
1 Life
2 Marriages and children
3 Genealogy
4 Notes
5 References
Life

Richard succeeded his father as Duke of Normandy in 996. During his minority, the first five years of his reign, his regent was Count Rodulf of Ivry, his uncle, who wielded the power and put down a peasant insurrection at the beginning of Richard's reign.

Richard had deep religious interests and found he had much in common with Robert II of France, who he helped militarily against the duchy of Burgundy. He forged a marriage alliance with Brittany by marrying his sister Hawise to Geoffrey I, Duke of Brittany and by his own marriage to Geoffrey's sister, Judith of Brittany.

In 1000-1001, Richard repelled an English attack on the Cotentin Peninsula that was led by Ethelred II of England. Ethelred had given orders that Richard be captured, bound and brought to England. But the English had not been prepared for the rapid response of the Norman cavalry and were utterly defeated.

Richard attempted to improve relations with England through his sister Emma of Normandy's marriage to King Ethelred. This marriage was significant in that it later gave his grandson, William the Conqueror, the basis of his claim to the throne of England. The improved relations proved to be beneficial to Ethelred when in 1013 Sweyn Forkbeard invaded England. Emma with her two sons Edward and Alfred fled to Normandy followed shortly thereafter by her husband king Ethelred. Soon after the death of Ethelred, Cnut, King of England forced Emma to marry him while Richard was forced to recognize the new regime as his sister was again Queen. Richard had contacts with Scandinavian Vikings throughout his reign. He employed Viking mercenaries and concluded a treaty with Sweyn Forkbeard who was en route to England.

Richard II commissioned his clerk and confessor, Dudo of Saint-Quentin, to portray his ducal ancestors as morally upright Christian leaders who built Normandy despite the treachery of their overlords and neighboring principalities. It was clearly a work of propaganda designed to legitimize the Norman settlement, and while it contains numerous historically unreliable legends, as respects the reigns of his father and grandfather, Richard I and William I it is basically reliable.

In 1025 and 1026 Richard confirmed gifts of his great-grandfather Rollo to Saint-Ouen at Rouen. His other numerous grants to monastic houses tends to indicate the areas over which Richard had ducal control, namely Caen, the Éverecin, the Cotentin, the Pays de Caux and Rouen.

Richard II died 28 Aug 1026. his eldest son, Richard becoming the new Duke.

Richard II (right), with the Abbot of Mont Saint-Michel (middle) and Lothair of France (left)
Marriages and children

He married firstly, c.1000, Judith (982–1017), daughter of Conan I of Brittany, by whom he had the following issue:

Richard (c. 1002/4), duke of Normandy
Alice of Normandy (c. 1003/5), married Renaud I, Count of Burgundy
Robert (c. 1005/7), duke of Normandy
William (c. 1007/9), monk at Fécamp, d. 1025, buried at Fécamp Abbey
Eleanor (c. 1011/3), married to Baldwin IV, Count of Flanders
Matilda (c. 1013/5), nun at Fecamp, d. 1033. She died young and unmarried.[16]
Secondly he married Poppa of Envermeu, by whom he had the following issue:

Mauger (c. 1019), Archbishop of Rouen
William (c. 1020/5), count of Arques

Richard married de Bretagne, Lady Judith in 1000 in Normandy, France. Judith (daughter of of Berenger, Sir Conan I and d'Anjou, Lady Ermangarde) was born on 21 Mar 982 in Rennes, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France; was christened after 22 Mar 982 in Rennes, Ille-et-Vilaine, Bretagne, France; died on 16 Jun 1017 in Bernay, Eure, Haute-Normandie, France; was buried on 16 Jun 1017 in Bernay, Eure, Haute-Normandie, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. de Normandie, Lord Duke Robert was born on 22 Jun 1000 in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France; was christened in France; died on 2 Jul 1035 in Nicaea, Iznik, Bursa, Turkey; was buried after 2 Jul 1035 in Nicaea Cathedral, Iznik, Bursa, Turkey.
2. de Normandie, Sir Richard III was born on 28 Aug 1001 in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France; died on 6 Aug 1027 in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France; was buried before 6 Aug 1027 in Cathédral Notre-Dame de Rouen, Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France.
3. de Normandie, Adélaïde I was born in 1002 in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France; died on 27 Jul 1037 in Bourgogne, Marne, Champagne-Ardenne, France; was buried on 5 Jun 1063 in Auxerre, Yonne, Bourgogne, France.

Other Events and Attributes:

• House: House of Normandy
• Nickname: The Fearless
• FSID: 9HTX-2CD
• Occupation: Peerage of Normandy
• Appointments / Titles: Between 17 Dec 942 and 20 Nov 996, Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France; Count of Rouen
• Appointments / Titles: Between 943 and 996, Normandy, France; 3rd Duke of Normandie

Notes:

Richard I of Normandy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Richard I "the Fearless"
Richard FitzWilliam
Count of Rouen
Reign 17 December 942 – 20 November 996
Predecessor William Longsword
Successor Richard II
Born 28 August 933
Fécamp Normandy, France
Died 20 November 996 (aged 63)
Fécamp Normandy, France
Spouse Emma of Paris
Gunnor
Issue Richard II of Normandy
Robert II (Archbishop of Rouen)
Mauger, Count of Corbeil
Robert Danus
Willam?
Emma of Normandy
Maud of Normandy
Hawise of Normandy
Geoffrey, Count of Eu (illegitimate)
William, Count of Eu (illegitimate)
Beatrice of Normandy (illegitimate)
Robert (illegitimate)
Papia (illegitimate)
House House of Normandy
Father William I Longsword
Mother Sprota
Richard I (28 August 933 – 20 November 996), also known as Richard the Fearless (French, Richard Sans-Peur)(Old Norse,"Jarl Richart) was the Count of Rouen or Jarl of Rouen from 942 to 996. Dudo of Saint-Quentin, whom Richard commissioned to write the "De moribus et actis primorum Normanniae ducum" (Latin, "On the Customs and Deeds of the First Dukes of Normandy"), called him a Dux. However, this use of the word may have been in the context of Richard's renowned leadership in war, and not as a reference to a title of nobility. Richard either introduced feudalism into Normandy or he greatly expanded it. By the end of his reign, most important Norman landholders held their lands in feudal tenure.

Contents

[hide]
1 Birth
2 Life
2.1 Relationships with France, England and the Church
3 Marriages
4 Illegitimate children
4.1 Possible children
5 Death
6 Depictions in fiction
7 Genealogy
8 Notes
9 References
10 External links
Birth

Richard was born to William Longsword, princeps (chieftain or ruler) of Normandy, and Sprota. His mother was a Breton concubine captured in war and bound to William by a more danico marriage. He was also the grandson of the famous Rollo. William was told of the birth of a son after the battle with Riouf and other Viking rebels, but his existence was kept secret until a few years later when William Longsword first met his son Richard. After kissing the boy and declaring him his heir, William sent Richard to be raised in Bayeux. Richard was about ten years old when his father was killed on 17 December 942. After William was killed, Sprota became the wife of Esperleng, a wealthy miller. Rodulf of Ivry was their son and Richard's half-brother.

Life

With the death of Richard's father in 942, King Louis IV of France installed the boy, Richard, in his father's office. Under the influence of Arnulf I, Count of Flanders the King took him into Frankish territory:32–4 and placing him in the custody of the count of Ponthieu before the King reneged and seized the lands of the Duchy of Normandy. He then split up the Duchy, giving its lands in lower Normandy to Hugh the Great. Louis IV thereafter kept Richard in close confinement at Lâon, but the youth escaped from imprisonment:36–7 with assistance of Osmond de Centville, Bernard de Senlis (who had been a companion of Rollo of Normandy), Ivo de Bellèsme, and Bernard the Dane (ancestor to the families of Harcourt and Beaumont).[a]

In 946, at the age of 14, Richard allied himself with the Norman and Viking leaders in France and with men sent by King Harold of Denmark. A battle was fought after which Louis IV was captured. Hostages were taken and held until King Louis recognised Richard as Duke, returning Normandy to him.:37–41 Richard agreed to "commend" himself to Hugh, the Count of Paris, Hugh resolved to form a permanent alliance with Richard and promised his daughter Emma, who was just a child, as a bride, the marriage would take place in 960.:41–2

Louis IV working with Arnulf I, Count of Flanders persuaded Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor to attack Richard and Hugh. The combined armies of Otto, Arnulf and Louis IV were driven from the gates of Rouen, fleeing to Amiens and being decisively defeated in 947.:41–2 A period of peace ensued, Louis IV dying in 954, 13 year old Lothair becoming King. The middle aged Hugh appointed Richard as guardian of his 15-year-old son, Hugh Capet in 955.:44

In 962, Theobald I, Count of Blois, attempted a renewed invasion of Rouen, Richard's stronghold, but his troops were summarily routed by Normans under Richard's command, and forced to retreat before ever having crossed the Seine river. Lothair, the king of the West Franks, was fearful that Richard's retaliation could destabilize a large part of West Francia so he stepped in to prevent any further war between the two.[16] In 987 Hugh Capet became King of the Franks.

For the last 30 years until his death in 996 in Fécamp, Richard concentrated on Normandy itself, and participated less in Frankish politics and its petty wars. In lieu of building up the Norman Empire by expansion, he stabilized the realm and reunited the Normans, forging the reclaimed Duchy of his father and grandfather into West Francia's most cohesive and formidable principality.[17]

Richard was succeeded in November 996 by his 33-year-old son, Richard II, Duke of Normandy.

Relationships with France, England and the Church

Richard used marriage to build strong alliances. His marriage to Emma of Paris connected him directly to the House of Capet. His second wife, Gunnora, from a rival Viking group in the Cotentin, formed an alliance to that group, while her sisters formed the core group that were to provide loyal followers to him and his successors.[18]

His daughters forged valuable marriage alliances with powerful neighboring counts as well as to the king of England.[18] Emma marrying firstly Æthelred the Unready and after his death in 1016, the invader, Cnut the Great. Her children included three English kings, Edward the Confessor, Alfred Aetheling and with Cnut, Harthacnut so completing a major link between the Duke of Normandy and the Crown of England that would add validity to the claim by the future William the Conqueror to the throne of England.

Richard also built on his relationship with the church, undertaking acts of piety,[19]:lv restoring their lands and ensuring the great monasteries flourished in Normandy. His further reign was marked by an extended period of peace and tranquility.[18][20]

Marriages

Richard & his children
His first marriage in 960 was to Emma, daughter of Hugh "The Great" of France,[21] and Hedwig von Sachsen.[21] They were betrothed when both were very young. She died after 19 March 968, with no issue.

According to Robert of Torigni, not long after Emma's death, Duke Richard went out hunting and stopped at the house of a local forester. He became enamored with the forester's wife, Seinfreda, but she was a virtuous woman and suggested he court her unmarried sister, Gunnor, instead. Gunnor became his mistress and her family rose to prominence. Her brother, Herefast de Crepon, may have been involved in a controversial heresy trial. Gunnor was, like Richard, of Viking descent, being a Dane by blood. Richard finally married her to legitimize their children:[b]

Richard II "the Good", Duke of Normandy
Robert, Archbishop of Rouen, Count of Evreux
Mauger, Count of Corbeil
Emma of Normandy, wife of two kings of England
Maud of Normandy, wife of Odo II of Blois, Count of Blois, Champagne and Chartres
Hawise of Normandy m. Geoffrey I, Duke of Brittany
Papia of Normandy
Orielda (963-1031) wife of Fulk Seigneur de Guernanville, Dean of Evreax [22][23]
Illegitimate children

Richard was known to have had several other mistresses and had children with many of them. Known children are:

Geoffrey, Count of Eu[24]
William, Count of Eu (ca. 972-26 January 1057/58),[24] m. Lasceline de Turqueville (d. 26 January 1057/58).
Beatrice of Normandy, Abbess of Montvilliers d.1034 m. Ebles of Turenne (d.1030 (divorced)
Possible children

Muriella, married Tancred de Hauteville[25][26]
Fressenda or Fredesenda (ca. 995-ca. 1057), second wife of Tancred de Hauteville.[26][27]
Guimara (Wimarc(a)) (b. circa 986), Wife of Ansfred (Ansfroi) II "le Dane" le Goz, vicomte d'Exmes et de Falaise, Mother of Robert FitzWimarc, Death:Abbey of Montivilliers, Seine-Inferieure, Normandy[28]
Death

Richard died of natural causes in Fecamp, France, on 20 November 996.[29]

Depictions in fiction

The Little Duke, a Victorian Juvenile novel by Charlotte Mary Yonge is a fictionalized account of Richard's boyhood and early struggles.

Richard married de Crepon, Gunnora in 964 in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France. Gunnora (daughter of de Crepon, Herfast) was born on 26 Nov 936 in La Bataille, Deux-Sèvres, Poitou-Charentes, France; died on 29 Sep 1031 in Fécamp, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France; was buried in 1031 in Normandy, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Appointments / Titles: Duchess
• Appointments / Titles: Duchess of Normandy
• Alternate Birth: 936, Fécamp, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France

Notes:

Gunnora
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gunnora

Duchess consort of Normandy
Tenure 989–996
Born c.  936.[a]
Rouen, Haute-Normandy, France
Died 5 Jan 1031 (not verified)
Normandy, France
Spouse Richard I, Duke of Normandy
Issue Richard II
Robert II, Archbishop of Rouen, Count of Evreux
Mauger, Count of Corbeil
Emma, Queen consort of England
Hawise, Duchess consort of Brittany
Maud, Countess of Blois
House House of Normandy (by marriage)
Gunnora (or Gunnor) (circa 936 – 5 Jan 1031) was a Duchess of Normandy and the wife of Richard I of Normandy.

Life
The names of Gunnora's parents are unknown, but Robert of Torigni wrote that her father was a forester from the Pays de Caux and according to Dudo of Saint-Quentin she was of noble Danish origin. Gunnora was probably born c.  950. Her family held sway in western Normandy and Gunnora herself was said to be very wealthy. Her marriage to Richard I was of great political importance, both to her husband[b] and her progeny. Her brother, Herfast de Crepon, was progenitor of a great Norman family. Her sisters and nieces[c] married some of the most important nobles in Normandy.

Robert of Torigni recounts a story of how Richard met Gunnora. She was living with her sister Seinfreda, the wife of a local forester, when Richard, hunting nearby, heard of the beauty of the forester's wife. He is said to have ordered Seinfreda to come to his bed, but the lady substituted her unmarried sister, Gunnora. Richard, it is said, was pleased that by this subterfuge he had been saved from committing adultery and together they had three sons and three daughters.[d] Unlike other territorial rulers, the Normans recognized marriage by cohabitation or more danico. But when Richard was prevented from nominating their son Robert to be Archbishop of Rouen, the two were married, "according to the Christian custom", making their children legitimate in the eyes of the church.

Gunnora attested ducal charters up into the 1020s, was skilled in languages and was said to have had an excellent memory. She was one of the most important sources of information on Norman history for Dudo of St. Quentin. As Richard's widow she is mentioned accompanying her sons on numerous occasions. That her husband depended on her is shown in the couple's charters where she is variously regent of Normandy, a mediator and judge, and in the typical role of a medieval aristocratic mother, an arbitrator between her husband and their oldest son Richard II.

Gunnora was a founder and supporter of Coutances Cathedral and laid its first stone. In one of her own charters after Richard's death she gave two alods to the abbey of Mont Saint-Michel, namely Britavilla and Domjean, given to her by her husband in dower, which she gave for the soul of her husband, and the weal of her own soul and that of her sons "count Richard, archbishop Robert, and others..." She also attested a charter, c. 1024–26, to that same abbey by her son, Richard II, shown as Gonnor matris comitis (mother of the count). Gunnora, both as wife and countess,[e] was able to use her influence to see her kin favored, and several of the most prominent Anglo-Norman families on both sides of the English Channel are descended from her, her sisters and nieces. Gunnora died c. 1031.

Family
Richard and Gunnora were parents to several children:

Richard II "the Good", Duke of Normandy
Robert, Archbishop of Rouen, Count of Evreux, died 1037
Mauger, Count of Corbeil
Emma of Normandy (c. 985–1052), married first to Æthelred, King of England and secondly Cnut the Great, King of England.
Hawise of Normandy, wife of Geoffrey I, Duke of Brittany
Maud of Normandy, wife of Odo II of Blois, Count of Blois, Champagne and Chartres
Notes
Jump up ^ According to "Burke's Peerage,#102173"
Jump up ^ Richard's marriage to Gunnora seems to have been a deliberate political move to consolidate his position by allying himself with a powerful rival family in the Cotentin. See: D. Crouch, The Normans (2007), pp. 26 & 42;A companion to the Anglo-Norman world, eds. C. Harper-Bill; E. van Houts (2007), p. 27.
Jump up ^ Her sisters, Senfrie, Aveline and Wevie as well as their daughters are discussed in detail in G.H. White, 'The Sisters and Nieces of Gunnor, Duchess of Normandy, The Genealogist, New Series, vol. 37 (1920-21), pp. 57-65 & 128-132. Also see: Elisabeth van Houts, 'Robert of Torigni as Genealogist', Studies in Medieval History Presented to R. Allen Brown, ed. Christopher Harper-Bill, Christopher J. Holdsworth, Janet L. Nelson (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, 1989), pp. 215-233; K.S.B. Keats-Rohan, 'Aspects of Torigny's Genealogy Revisited', Nottingham Medieval Studies, Vol. 37 (1993), pp. 21-28.
Jump up ^ Geoffrey H. White is among those historians who question the authenticity of this story. See: G.H. White, 'The Sisters and Nieces of Gunnor, Duchess of Normandy, The Genealogist, New Series, vol. 37 (1920-21), p. 58.
Jump up ^ At the time Gunnora lived, there were no dukes or duchesses of Normandy. Her husband Richard I, used the title of count of Rouen, to which Richard added the style of "count and consul", and after 960, marquis (count over other counts). Gunnora would have never used the title of duchess, her title was countess and she is so styled in an original deed to the abbey of St. Ouen, Rouen (1057–17) given by her son Richard II. For the present, despite being historically incorrect, duchess remains her title of convenience. See: Bates, Normandy before 1066 (Longman, 1982), pp. 148–50; Douglas, 'The Earliest Norman Counts', The English Historical Review, Vol. 61, No. 240 (May, 1946), pp. 130–31; David Crouch, The Normans: The History of a Dynasty (London: Hambledon Continuum, 2007), pp. 18-19 and Dudo of Saint-Quentin; Eric Christiansen, History of the Normans (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1998). p. xxiv.

From Life Sketch:

According to Robert of Torigni, not long after Emma's death, Duke Richard went out hunting and stopped at the house of a local forester. He became enamored with the forester's wife, Seinfreda, but she was a virtuous woman and suggested he court her unmarried sister, Gunnor, instead. Gunnor became his mistress and her family rose to prominence. Her brother, Herefast de Crepon, may have been involved in a controversial heresy trial. Gunnor was, like Richard, of Viking descent, being a Dane by blood. Richard finally married her to legitimize their children:[b]
Richard II "the Good", Duke of Normandy
Robert, Archbishop of Rouen, Count of Evreux
Mauger, Count of Corbeil
Emma of Normandy, wife of two kings of England
Maud of Normandy, wife of Odo II of Blois, Count of Blois, Champagne and Chartres
Hawise of Normandy m. Geoffrey I, Duke of Brittany
Papia of Normandy
William, Count of Eu
Orielda (963-1031) wife of Fulk Seigneur de Guernanville, Dean of Evreax

Other Events and Attributes:

• Nickname: Longsword
• Occupation: Peerage of Normandy

Notes:

William I Longsword
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William I "Longsword"
William longsword statue in falaise.JPG
Statue of William Longsword, part of the "Six Dukes of Normandy" series in Falaise
Count of Rouen
Reign 927–942
Predecessor Rollo
Successor Richard I
Born c. 893
Bayeux or Rouen
Died 17 December 942
Picquigny on the Somme
Burial Rouen Cathedral
Spouse Luitgarde of Vermandois
Issue Richard I of Normandy
House House of Normandy
Father Rollo
Mother Poppa
William Longsword (French: Guillaume Longue-Épée, Latin: Willermus Longa Spata, Old Norse: Vilhjálmr Langaspjót), (c. 893 – 17 December 942) was the second ruler of Normandy, from 927 until his assassination in 942.

He is sometimes anachronistically dubbed "Duke of Normandy", even though the title duke (dux) did not come into common usage until the 11th century. Longsword was known at the time by the title Count (Latin comes) of Rouen. Flodoard—always detailed about titles—consistently referred to both Rollo and his son William as principes (chieftains) of the Norse.

Contents

[hide]
1 Birth
2 Life
3 Family
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links
Birth

William Longsword was born "overseas"[a] to the Viking Rollo (while he was still a pagan) and his Christian wife Poppa of Bayeux. Dudo of Saint-Quentin in his panegyric of the Norman dukes describes Poppa as the daughter of a Count Beranger, the dominant prince of that region. In the 11th century Annales Rouennaises (Annals of Rouen), she is called the daughter of Guy, Count of Senlis, otherwise unknown to history.[b] Despite the uncertainty of her parentage she was undoubtedly a member of the Frankish aristocracy. According to the Longsword's planctus, he was baptized a Christian probably at the same time as his father, which Orderic Vitalis stated was in 912, by Franco, Archbishop of Rouen.

Life

Longsword succeeded Rollo (who would continue to live for about another 5 years) in 927 and, early in his reign, faced a rebellion from Normans who felt he had become too Gallicised and too soft.[16] According to Orderic Vitalis, the leader was Riouf of Evreux,[16][17][18] who was besieging Longsword in Rouen. Sallying forth, Longsword won a decisive battle, proving his authority to be Duke.[19]:25-6 At the time of this 933 rebellion Longsword sent his pregnant wife by custom, Sprota, to Fécamp where their son Richard was born.[20]

In 933 Longsword recognized Raoul as King of Western Francia, who was struggling to assert his authority in Northern France. In turn Raoul gave him lordship over much of the lands of the Bretons including Avranches, the Cotentin Peninsula and the Channel Islands.[21][22][23]:lii The Bretons did not agree to these changes and resistance to the Normans was led by Alan Wrybeard, Duke of Brittany and Count Berenger of Rennes but ended shortly with great slaughter and Breton castles being razed to the ground.[19]:24 Alan fleeing to England and Beranger seeking reconciliation.[24]

In 935, Longsword married Luitgarde, daughter of Count Herbert II of Vermandois whose dowry gave him the lands of Longueville, Coudres and Illiers l'Eveque.[18] Longsword also contracted a marriage between his sister Adela (Gerloc was her Norse name) and William, Count of Poitou with the approval of Hugh the Great.[25] In addition to supporting King Raoul, he was now a loyal ally of his father-in-law, Herbert II, both of whom his father Rollo had opposed.[26] In January 936 King Raoul died and the 16 year old Louis IV, who was living in exile in England, was persuaded by a promise of loyalty by Longsword, to return and became King. The Bretons returned to recover the lands taken by the Normans, resulting in fighting in the expanded Norman lands.[23]:lii

The funerary monument of William Longsword in the cathedral of Rouen, France. The monument is from the 14th century.
The new King was not capable of controlling his Barons and after Longsword's brother in law, Herluin II, Count of Montreuil, was attacked by Flanders, Longsword went to their assistance in 939,[19]:28-9 Arnulf I, Count of Flanders retaliated by attacking Normandy. Arnulf captured the castle of Montreuil-sur-Mer expelling Herluin. Herluin and Longsword cooperated to retake the castle.[27][28] Longsword was excommunicated for his actions in attacking and destroying several estates belonging to Arnulf.[29]

Longsword pledged his loyalty to King Louis IV when they met in 940 and, in return, he was confirmed in lands that had been given to his father, Rollo.[30] [23]:liii In 941 a peace treaty was signed between the Bretons and Normans, brokered in Rouen by King Louis IV which limited the Norman expansion into Breton lands.[23]:liii The following year, on 17 December 942 at Picquigny on an island on the Somme, Longsword was ambushed and killed by followers of Arnulf while at a peace conference to settle their differences.[18][28] Longsword's son, Richard becoming the next Duke of Normandy.

Family

Longsword had no children with his wife Luitgarde.[31] He fathered his son, Richard the Fearless, with Sprota [c] who was a Breton captive and his concubine.[32] Richard, then aged 10, succeeded him as Duke of Normandy in December 942.[31]

Notes

Neveux and other authorities believe this may have been in England, as Rollo left Neustria for several years, probably for England. See: Neveux, P. 62; Complainte sur l'assassinat de Guillaume Longue-Ėpée, duc de Normandie, poème inédit du Xe siècle, Gaston Paris; Jules Lair, Bibliothèque de l'école des chartes (1870), Volume 31, Issue 31, p. 397; Complainte de la mort de Guillaume Longue Ėpėe; and Prentout, Etude critique sur Dudon de Saint-Quentin, 178-9 [ns].
See Commentary: The origin of Poppa at: Stewart Baldwin, The Henry Project: "Poppa" for more detailed discussion and opinions.
Sprota married Esperling, a rich miller in the Pont-de-l’Arche-Louviers region. By her, he had a son, Count Rodulf of Ivry, who was one of the most trusted advisers of his half-brother, Richard I of Normandy. See Searle, p. 108 and The Normans in Europe, p. 57

William married N.N., Sprota. Sprota was born in UNKNOWN in France; died in 985 in France; was buried in France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Breton captive and concubine

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: LVXY-YMZ

Other Events and Attributes:

• Military: One of the Vikings who besieged Paris in the late 800s. The King of France eventually granted them lands, which became Normandy.
• FSID: LZDH-NFR
• Name: Rollo Rognvaldsson
• Religion: Norse paganism, later Roman Catholicism
• Appointments / Titles: 911, Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France; Count of Rouen

Notes:

Rollo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Duke of Normandy
Count of Rouen
Reign 911–927
Predecessor None
Successor William Longsword
Born c. 846
Died c. 930
Normandy
Burial Rouen Cathedral
Spouse Poppa of Bayeux
Gisela of France (intended, but unconfirmed)
Issue
more William Longsword
Gerloc
House House of Normandy
Religion Norse Paganism
later Roman Catholicism

Rollo (Norman: Rou; Old Norse: Hrólfr; French: Rollon; c. 846 – c. 930 AD) was a Viking who became the first ruler of Normandy, a region of France. He is sometimes called the 1st Duke of Normandy. Rollo emerged as the outstanding personality among the Norsemen who had secured a permanent foothold on Frankish soil in the valley of the lower Seine. Charles the Simple, the king of West Francia, ceded them lands between the mouth of the Seine and what is now the city of Rouen in exchange for Rollo agreeing to end his brigandage, and provide the Franks with protection against future Viking raids.

Rollo is first recorded as the leader of these Viking settlers in a charter of 918, and he continued to reign over the region of Normandy until at least 928. He was succeeded by his son, William Longsword in the Duchy of Normandy that he had founded. The offspring of Rollo and his followers became known as the Normans. After the Norman conquest of England and their conquest of southern Italy and Sicily over the following two centuries, their descendants came to rule Norman England (the House of Normandy), the Kingdom of Sicily (the Kings of Sicily) as well as the Principality of Antioch from the 10th to 12th century, leaving behind an enduring legacy in the historical developments of Europe and the Near East.

Name

The name Rollo is generally presumed to be a latinisation of the Old Norse name Hrólfr – a theory that is supported by the rendition of Hrólfr as Roluo in the Gesta Danorum. It is also sometimes suggested that Rollo may be a latinised version of another Norse name, Hrollaugr.

Rollo is generally identified with one Viking in particular – a man of high social status mentioned in Icelandic sagas, which refer to him by the Old Norse name Göngu-Hrólfr, meaning "Hrólfr the Walker". (Göngu-Hrólfr is also widely known by an Old Danish variant, Ganger-Hrolf.) The byname "Walker" is usually understood to suggest that Rollo was so physically imposing that he could not be carried by a horse and was obliged to travel on foot. Norman and other French sources do not use the name Hrólfr and the identification of Rollo with Göngu-Hrólfr is based upon similarities between circumstances and actions ascribed to both figures.

The 10th century Norman historian Dudo records that Rollo took the baptismal name Robert. A variant spelling, Roul, is used in the 12th-century Norman French Roman de la Rou, which was compiled by Wace and commissioned by King Henry II of England (a descendant of Rollo).

Origins & historiography

Rollo was born in the latter half of the 9th century; his place of birth is unknown.

The earliest well-attested historical event associated with Rollo is his leadership of Vikings who besieged Paris in 885–886.

Perhaps the earliest known source to mention Rollo's early life is the French chronicler Richer of Reims, who claims (in the 10th Century) that Rollo was the son of a Viking named Ketill. In terms of onomastics, it is interesting that Richer also names – without explicitly linking him to Rollo – a man named Ketill as being the leader of subsequent Viking raids (in 888), against areas on the coast of West Francia, between the Seine and the Loire.

Medieval sources contradict each other regarding whether Rollo's family was Norwegian or Danish in origin. In part, this disparity may result from the indifferent and interchangeable usage in Europe, at the time, of terms such as "Vikings", "Northmen", "Danes", "Norwegians" and so on (in the Medieval Latin texts Dani vel Nortmanni means "Danes or Northmen").

A biography of Rollo, written by the cleric Dudo of Saint-Quentin in the late 10th Century, claimed that Rollo was from Denmark. One of Rollo's great-grandsons and a contemporary of Dudo was known as Robert the Dane. However, Dudo's Historia Normannorum (or Libri III de moribus et actis primorum Normanniae ducum) was commissioned by Rollo's grandson, Richard I of Normandy and – while Dudo likely had access to family members and/or other people with a living memory of Rollo – this fact must be weighed against the text's potential biases, as an official biography. According to Dudo, an unnamed king of Denmark was antagonistic to Rollo's family, including his father – an unnamed Danish nobleman – and Rollo's brother Gurim. Following the death of Rollo and Gurim's father, Gurim was killed and Rollo was forced to leave Denmark. Dudo appears to have been the main source for William of Jumièges (after 1066) and Orderic Vitalis (early 12th century), although both include additional details.

A Norwegian background for Rollo was first explicitly claimed by Goffredo Malaterra (Geoffrey Malaterra), an 11th-century Benedictine monk and historian, who wrote: "Rollo sailed boldly from Norway with his fleet to the Christian coast." Likewise, the 12th-century English historian William of Malmesbury stated that Rollo was "born of noble lineage among the Norwegians".

A chronicler named Benoît (probably Benoît de Sainte-More) wrote in the mid-12th Century Chronique des ducs de Normandie that Rollo had been born in a town named "Fasge". This has since been variously interpreted as referring to Faxe, in Sjælland (Denmark), Fauske, in Hålogaland (Norway), or perhaps a more obscure settlement that has since been abandoned or renamed. Benoît also repeated the claim that Rollo had been persecuted by a local ruler and had fled from there to "Scanza island", by which Benoît probably means Scania (Swedish Skåne). While Faxe was physically much closer to Scania, the mountainous scenery of "Fasge", described by Benoît, would seem to be more like Fauske.

The claim that Rollo was the brother of a King of Norway, Harald Finehair was made by an anonymous 12th-century Welsh author, in The Life of Gruffudd ap Cynan.

Rollo was first explicitly identified with Hrólf the Walker (Norse Göngu-Hrólfr; Danish Ganger-Hrólf) by the 13th-century Icelandic sagas, Heimskringla and Orkneyinga Saga. Hrólf the Walker was so named because he "was so big that no horse could carry him". The Icelandic sources claim that Hrólfr was born in Møre, western Norway, in the late 9th century and that his parents were the Norwegian jarl Rognvald Eysteinsson ("Rognvald the Wise") and a noblewoman from Møre named Hildr Hrólfsdóttir. However, these claims were made three centuries after the history commissioned by Rollo's own grandson.

There may be circumstantial evidence for kinship between Rollo and his historical contemporary, Ketill Flatnose, King of the Isles – a Norse realm centred on the Western Isles of Scotland. If, as Richer suggested, Rollo's father was also named Ketill and as Dudo suggested, Rollo had a brother named Gurim, such names are onomastic evidence for a family connection: Icelandic sources name Ketill Flatnose's father as Björn Grímsson, and "Grim" – the implied name of Ketill Flatnose's paternal grandfather – was likely cognate with Gurim. In addition, both Irish and Icelandic sources suggest that Rollo, as a young man, visited or lived in Scotland, where he had a daughter named Cadlinar (Kaðlín; Kathleen). Moreover, Ketill Flatnose's ancestors were said to have come from Møre – Rollo's ancestral home in the Icelandic sources. However, Ketill was a common name in Norse societies, as were names like Gurim and Grim. It is also possible that the later sources were attempting to suggest an otherwise undocumented link between the historical figures of Rollo and Ketill Flatnose, by way of little-known, possibly apocryphal figures like Grim, Gurim and the Ketill said to be Rollo's father.
Biography

Statue of Rollo in Rouen. There are two bronze replicas of this statue: one at Ålesund (Norway) and the other one at Fargo, North Dakota (United States)
Dudo tells us that Rollo seized Rouen in 876. He is supported by the contemporary chronicler Flodoard, who records that Robert of the Breton March waged a campaign against the Vikings, who nearly levelled Rouen and other settlements; eventually, he conceded "certain coastal provinces" to them.

According to Dudo, Rollo struck up a friendship in England with a king that Dudo calls Alstem. This has puzzled many historians, but recently the puzzle has been resolved by recognition that this refers to Guthrum, the Danish leader whom Alfred the Great baptised with the baptismal name Athelstan, and then recognised as king of the East Angles in 880.[16]

Dudo records that when Rollo took Bayeux by force, he carried off with him the beautiful Popa or Poppa, a daughter of Berenger, Count of Rennes, took her in marriage and with her had their son and Rollo's heir, William Longsword.[17]

Rollo's grave at the Cathedral of Rouen
There are few contemporary mentions of Rollo. The earliest record is from 918, in a charter of Charles III to an abbey, which referred to an earlier grant to "the Normans of the Seine", namely "Rollo and his associates" for "the protection of the kingdom." [18] Dudo retrospectively stated that this pact took place in 911 at Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. In return for formal recognition of the lands he possessed, Rollo agreed to be baptised and assist the king in the defence of the realm. Rollo took the baptismal name Robert. The seal of agreement was to be marriage between Rollo and Gisla, daughter of Charles. Dudo claims that Gisla was a legitimate daughter of Charles.[19] Since Charles first married in 907, that would mean that Gisla was at most 5 years old at the time of the treaty of 911 which offered her in marriage.[20] It has therefore been speculated that she could have been an illegitimate daughter.[21] However a diplomatic child betrothal need not be doubted.[22]

After pledging his fealty to Charles III as part of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, Rollo divided the lands between the rivers Epte and Risle among his chieftains, and settled with a de facto capital in Rouen.[23]

Charles was overthrown by a revolt in 923, and his successor, Robert of Neustria, was killed by the Vikings in 923. His successor, Ralph, conceded the Bessin and Maine to Rollo shortly afterwards, the chronicler Flodoard tells us.[24]

Rollo died sometime between a final mention of him by Flodoard in 928, and 933, the year in which a third grant of land, usually identified as being the Cotentin and Avranchin areas, was made to his son and successor William.[25]

Descendants

A genealogical chart of the Norman dynasty
Rollo's son and heir, William Longsword, and grandchild, Richard the Fearless, forged the Duchy of Normandy into West Francia's most cohesive and formidable principality.[26] The descendants of Rollo and his men assimilated with their maternal Frankish-Catholic culture and became known as the Normans, lending their name to the region of Normandy.

Rollo is the great-great-great-grandfather of William the Conqueror, or William I of England. Through William, he is one of the ancestors of the present-day British royal family, as well as an ancestor of all current European monarchs and a great many claimants to abolished European thrones.

One daughter of Rollo, Gerloc (also known as Adele), who married William III, Duke of Aquitaine, was mentioned by Dudo. According to William of Jumièges, writing in the latter-half of the 11th century, Gerloc's mother was named Poppa.[27]

According to the medieval Irish text An Banshenchas and Icelandic sources, another daughter, Cadlinar (Kaðlín; Kathleen) was born in Scotland (probably to a Scots mother) and married an Irish prince named Beollán mac Ciarmaic, later King of South Brega (Lagore). A daughter of Cadlinar and Beollán named Nithbeorg was abducted by an Icelandic Viking named Helgi Ottarsson,[28][29] and became the mother of the poet Einarr Helgason and grandmother of Guðrún Ósvífrsdóttir (protagonist of the Laxdœla saga).

A genetic investigation into the remains of Rollo's grandson, Richard the Fearless, and his great-grandson, Richard the Good, was announced in 2011 with the intention of discerning the origins of the historic Viking leader.[30] On February 29, 2016, Norwegian researchers opened Richard the Good's tomb and found his lower jaw with eight teeth in it.[31] Unfortunately, the skeletal remains in both graves turned out to significantly predate Rollo and therefore are not related to him.[32]

Depictions in fiction

Rollo is the subject of the seventeenth-century play Rollo Duke of Normandy written by John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, Ben Jonson, and George Chapman.

A character, broadly inspired by the historical Rollo but including many events before the real Rollo was born, played by Clive Standen, is Ragnar Lothbrok's brother in the History Channel television series Vikings.[33]

Rollo (c. 846 – c. 932), baptised Robert and so sometimes numbered Robert I to distinguish him from his descendants, was a Norse Viking who was founder and first ruler of the Viking principality which soon became known as Normandy. His descendants were the Dukes of Normandy, and following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, kings of England.

The name "Rollo" is a Latin translation from the Old Norse name Hrólfr, modern Icelandic name Hrólfur and Scandinavian name Rolf (cf. the latinization of Hrólfr into the similar Roluo in the Gesta Danorum), but Norman people called him by his popular name Rou(f) (see Wace's Roman de Rou). Sometimes his name is turned into the Frankish name Rodolf(us) or Radulf(us) or the French Raoul, that are derived from it.

Started in the late 9th century, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is the earliest record of Rollo. However, it does not mention his origins.

A.D. 876. This year Rolla penetrated Normandy with his army; and he reigned fifty winters.
Rollo was a powerful Viking leader of contested origin. Dudo of Saint-Quentin, in his De moribus et actis primorum Normannorum ducum, tells of a powerful Danish nobleman at loggerheads with the king of Denmark, who had two sons, Gurim and Rollo; upon his death, Rollo was expelled and Gurim killed. Dudo's chronicle, commissioned for Richard I, was finished, sometime after 1015, for Richard II, whose sister, Emma, married the Danish King Cnut, in 1017. William of Jumièges also mentions Rollo's prehistory in his continuation of Dudo's work, Gesta Normannorum Ducum, but states that he came from the Danish town of Fakse.

Norwegian and Icelandic historians, basing their research on medieval Norwegian and Icelandic sagas, identified Rollo instead with Ganger Hrolf (Hrolf, the Walker), a son of Rognvald Eysteinsson (fl. 865), Earl of Møre in Western Norway. The Latin Historia Norvegiae, written in Norway at the end of the 12th century, offers the oldest source of this version. This Hrolf fell foul of the Norwegian king Harald Fairhair (c. 850 – c. 932, reigned c. 872 – 930), and became a Jarl in Normandy. The nickname "the Walker", "Ganger" in Norse, came from being so big that no horse could carry him.

Geoffrey of Malaterra, in his The Deeds of Count Roger of Calabria & Sicily & of Duke Robert Guiscard his brother claims Rollo "sailed boldly from Norway".

The question of Rollo's origins became a matter of heated dispute between Norwegian and Danish historians of the 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in the run-up to Normandy's millennium anniversary in 1911. Today, the debate continues.

The Yngling "Fairhair dynasty" lineage introduced in Hversu Noregr byggðist ("How Norway was settled") and the Orkneyinga and Heimskringla sagas suggests a line of Rollo going back to Fornjót, the primeval "king" who "reigned over" Finland and Kvenland. The claimed line leading to Rollo includes Rognvald Eysteinsson, the founder of the Earldom of Orkney.

In 885, Rollo was one of the lesser leaders of the Viking fleet which besieged Paris under Sigfred. Legend has it that an emissary was sent by the king to find the chieftain and negotiate terms. When he asked for this information, the Vikings replied that they were all chieftains in their own right. In 886, when Sigfred retreated in return for tribute, Rollo stayed behind and was eventually bought off and sent to harry Burgundy.

Later, he returned to the Seine with his followers (known as Danes, or Norsemen). He invaded the area of northern France now known as Normandy. In 911 the Vikings under Rollo again launched an attack on Paris before laying siege to Chartres. The Bishop of Chartres, Joseaume, made an appeal for help which was answered by Robert, Marquis of Neustria, Richard, Duke of Burgundy and Manasses, Count of Dijon. On 20 July 911, at the Battle of Chartres, Frankish forces defeated Rollo despite the absence of many French barons and also the absence of the French King Charles the Simple.

In the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte (911) with King Charles, Rollo pledged feudal allegiance to the king, changed his name to the Frankish version, and converted to Christianity, probably with the baptismal name Robert. In return, King Charles granted Rollo land between the Epte and the sea as well as parts of Brittany and according to Dudo of St. Quentin, the hand of the King's daughter, Gisela, although this marriage and Gisela herself are unknown to Frankish sources. He was also the titular ruler of Normandy, centered around the city of Rouen. There exists some argument among historians as to whether Rollo was a "duke" (dux) or whether his position was equivalent to that of a "count" under Charles.

According to legend, when required to kiss the foot of King Charles, as a condition of the treaty, he refused to perform so great a humiliation, and when Charles extended his foot to Rollo, Rollo ordered one of his warriors to do so in his place. His warrior then lifted Charles' foot up to his mouth causing the king to fall to the ground.

After 911, Rollo stayed true to his word of defending the shores of the Seine river in accordance to the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. However, he also continued attacks on Flanders.

After Charles was deposed by Robert I in 922, Rollo considered his oath to the King of France at an end. It started a period of expansion westwards. Negotiations with French barons ended with Rollo being given Le Mans and Bayeux and continued with the seizure of Bessin in 924. The following year the Normans attacked Picardy.

Rollo began to divide the land between the Epte and Risle rivers among his chieftains and settled there with a de facto capital in Rouen. Over time, Rollo's men intermarried with the local women, and became more settled into French Catholic culture as Normans.

Two spouses are reported for Rollo:

1. Poppa, said by chronicler Dudo of Saint-Quentin to have been a daughter of Count Berenger, captured during a raid at Bayeux. She was his concubine or wife, perhaps by more danico. They had issue:
William Longsword, born "overseas".
Gerloc, wife of William III, Duke of Aquitaine. Dudo fails to identify her mother, but later chronicler William of Jumieges makes this explicit.
(perhaps) Kadlin, said by Ari the Historian to have been daughter of Ganger Hrolf, traditionally identified with Rollo. She married a Scottish King called Bjolan, and had at least a daughter called Midbjorg, she was taken captive by and married Helgi Ottarson.

2. (traditionally) Gisela of France (d. 919), the daughter of Charles III of France

Sometime around 927, Rollo passed the fief in Normandy to his son, William Longsword. Rollo may have lived for a few years after that, but certainly died before 933. Even though Rollo had converted to Christianity, some of his prior religious roots surfaced at the end.

Rollo is the great-great-great-grandfather of William the Conqueror. Through William, he is an ancestor of the present-day British royal family, as well as an ancestor of all current European monarchs and a great many pretenders to abolished European thrones. A genetic investigation into the remains of Rollo's grandson Richard I and great-grandson Richard II has been announced, with the intention of discerning the origins of the famous Viking warrior.

The "Clameur de Haro" in the Channel Islands is, supposedly, an appeal to Rollo.

Parents of Rollo (not Duc, not King )

[Sure, he has parents but WE DO NOT know who they were at this time. The first information tells us he is from Denmark and has Danish parents. Later we have a source that he is from Norway and had Norwegian parents. Most is speaking for Denmark.

His army consisted mostly of Danes.

Some of his descendants are called 'Danes' but never Norwegians.]

Theoretically Danish - Swedish - Norwegan people carry the same DNA and have had tribal migration patters over thousands of years.

______________________________________________

Rollo of Normandy (circa 860 - circa 932) was a Viking, who became ruler of Normandy was born in (Scandinavia) and died circa 932 in France of unspecified causes. He married Poppa de Bayeux (c 870-c 910) .

Contents:

Rollo of Normandy was the founder and first ruler of the Viking principality in what soon became known as Normandy in modern-day western France.

Disputed origins:

The question of Rollo's Danish or Norwegian origins was a matter of heated dispute between Norwegian and Danish historians of the 19th and early 20th century, particularly in the run-up to Normandy's 1000-year-anniversary in 1911. Today, historians still disagree on this question, but most would now agree that a certain conclusion can never be reached.

Danish theory

Dudo of St. Quentin, in his De moribus et actis primorum Normannorum ducum (Latin), tells of a powerful Danish nobleman at loggerheads with the king of Denmark, who then died and left his two sons, Gurim and Rollo, leaving Rollo to be expelled and Gurim killed. William of Jumièges also mentions Rollo's prehistory in his Gesta Normannorum Ducum however he states that he was from the Danish town of Fakse. Wace, writing some 300 years after the event in his Roman de Rou, also mentions the two brothers (as Rou and Garin), as does the Orkneyinga Saga.

Norwegian theory

Norwegian and Icelandic historians identified this Rollo with a son of Rognvald Eysteinsson, Earl of Møre, in Western Norway, based on medieval Norwegian and Icelandic sagas that mention a Ganger Hrolf (Hrolf, the Walker). The oldest source of this version is the Latin Historia Norvegiae, written in Norway at the end of the 12th century. This Hrolf fell foul of the Norwegian king Harald Fairhair, and became a Jarl in Normandy. The nickname of that character came from being so big that no horse could carry him.

Names and major achievements:

Also known as Hrolf the Ganger or Rollon, 1st Duke of Normandy, from 911 to 927, called also Rolf the Walker, because, being so tall, he preferred to go afoot rather than ride the little horses. Also shown as Rollon, Row, or Robert. Originally a Norse Viking, he was noted for strength and martial prowess. In the reign of Charles II the Bald, he sailed up the Seine River and took Rouen, which he kept as a base of operations. He gained a number of victories over the Franks, and extorted the cession of the province since called Normandy. By the famous treaty which Charles the Bald and Rollo signed the latter agreed to adopt Christianity.

Biography details:

885 Siege of Paris

In 885, Rollo was one of the lesser leaders of the Viking fleet which besieged Paris under Sigfred. Legend has it that an emissary was sent by the king to find the chieftain and negotiate terms. When he asked for this information, the Vikings replied that they were all chieftains in their own right. In 886, when Sigfred retreated in return for tribute, Rollo stayed behind and was eventually bought off and sent to harry Burgundy.

911 Invasion of Western France

Later, he returned to the Seine with his followers (known as Danes, or Norsemen). He invaded the area of northern France now known as Normandy.

In 911 Rollo's forces were defeated at the Battle of Chartres by the troops of King Charles the Simple.[1] In the aftermath of the battle, rather than pay Rollo to leave, as was customary, Charles the Simple understood that he could no longer hold back their onslaught, and decided to give Rollo the coastal lands they occupied under the condition that he defend against other raiding Vikings. In the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte (911) with King Charles, Rollo pledged feudal allegiance to the king, changed his name to the Frankish version, and converted to Christianity, probably with the baptismal name Robert.[2] In return, King Charles granted Rollo the lower Seine area (today's upper Normandy) and the titular rulership of Normandy, centred around the city of Rouen. There exists some argument among historians as to whether Rollo was a "duke" (dux) or whether his position was equivalent to that of a "count" under Charlemagne. According to legend, when required to kiss the foot of King Charles, as a condition of the treaty, he refused to perform so great a humiliation, and when Charles extended his foot to Rollo, Rollo ordered one of his warriors to do so in his place. His warrior then lifted Charles' foot up to his mouth causing him to fall to the ground.

Settlement of Normandy:

Initially, Rollo stayed true to his word of defending the shores of the Seine river in accordance to the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, but in time he and his followers had very different ideas. Rollo began to divide the land between the Epte and Risle rivers among his chieftains and settled there with a de facto capital in Rouen. With these settlements, Rollo began to further raid other Frankish lands, now from the security of a settled homeland, rather than a mobile fleet. Eventually, however, Rollo's men intermarried with the local women, and became more settled as Frenchmen. At the time of his death, Rollo's expansion of his territory had extended as far west as the Vire River.

Death of Rollo:

Sometime around 927, Rollo passed the fief in Normandy to his son, William Longsword. Rollo may have lived for a few years after that, but certainly died before 933. According to the historian Adhemar, 'As Rollo's death drew near, he went mad and had a hundred Christian prisoners beheaded in front of him in honour of the gods whom he had worshipped, and in the end distributed a hundred pounds of gold around the churches in honour of the true God in whose name he had accepted baptism.' Even though Rollo had converted to Christianity, some of his pagan roots surfaced at the end.

.Rollo Son of Rognvald

*His army consisted mostly of Danes.
Some of his descendants are called 'Danes'
_________________________
Rollo of Normandy (circa 860 - circa 932) was a Viking, who became ruler of Normandy was born in (Scandinavia) and died circa 932 in France of unspecified causes. He married Poppa de Bayeux (c 870-c 910) .

Contents:
Rollo of Normandy was the founder and first ruler of the Viking principality in what soon became known as Normandy in modern-day western France.

Disputed origins:
The question of Rollo's Danish or Norwegian origins was a matter of heated dispute between Norwegian and Danish historians of the 19th and early 20th century, particularly in the run-up to Normandy's 1000-year-anniversary in 1911. Today, historians still disagree on this question, but most would now agree that a certain conclusion can never be reached.

Danish theory
Dudo of St. Quentin, in his De moribus et actis primorum Normannorum ducum (Latin), tells of a powerful Danish nobleman at loggerheads with the king of Denmark, who then died and left his two sons, Gurim and Rollo, leaving Rollo to be expelled and Gurim killed. William of Jumièges also mentions Rollo's prehistory in his Gesta Normannorum Ducum however he states that he was from the Danish town of Fakse. Wace, writing some 300 years after the event in his Roman de Rou, also mentions the two brothers (as Rou and Garin), as does the Orkneyinga Saga.

Norwegian theory
Norwegian and Icelandic historians identified this Rollo with a son of Rognvald Eysteinsson, Earl of Møre, in Western Norway, based on medieval Norwegian and Icelandic sagas that mention a Ganger Hrolf (Hrolf, the Walker). The oldest source of this version is the Latin Historia Norvegiae, written in Norway at the end of the 12th century. This Hrolf fell foul of the Norwegian king Harald Fairhair, and became a Jarl in Normandy. The nickname of that character came from being so big that no horse could carry him.

Major achievements:
In the reign of Charles II the Bald, Rollo sailed up the Seine River and took Rouen, which he kept as a base of operations. He gained a number of victories over the Franks, and extorted the cession of the province since called Normandy. By the famous treaty which Charles the Bald and Rollo signed the latter agreed to adopt Christianity.

Biography details:
885 Siege of Paris
In 885, Rollo was one of the lesser leaders of the Viking fleet which besieged Paris under Sigfred. Legend has it that an emissary was sent by the king to find the chieftain and negotiate terms. When he asked for this information, the Vikings replied that they were all chieftains in their own right. In 886, when Sigfred retreated in return for tribute, Rollo stayed behind and was eventually bought off and sent to harry Burgundy.

911 Invasion of Western France
Later, he returned to the Seine with his followers (known as Danes, or Norsemen). He invaded the area of northern France now known as Normandy.
In 911 Rollo's forces were defeated at the Battle of Chartres by the troops of King Charles the Simple.[1] In the aftermath of the battle, rather than pay Rollo to leave, as was customary, Charles the Simple understood that he could no longer hold back their onslaught, and decided to give Rollo the coastal lands they occupied under the condition that he defend against other raiding Vikings. In the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte (911) with King Charles, Rollo pledged feudal allegiance to the king, and converted to Christianity, probably taking the baptismal name Robert.[2] In return, King Charles granted Rollo the lower Seine area (today's upper Normandy) and the titular rulership of Normandy, centered around the city of Rouen.

There exists some argument among historians as to whether Rollo was a "duke" (dux) or whether his position was equivalent to that of a "count" under Charlemagne. According to legend, when required to kiss the foot of King Charles, as a condition of the treaty, he refused to perform so great a humiliation, and when Charles extended his foot to Rollo, Rollo ordered one of his warriors to do so in his place. His warrior then lifted Charles' foot up to his mouth causing him to fall to the ground.

Settlement of Normandy:
Initially, Rollo stayed true to his word of defending the shores of the Seine river in accordance to the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, but in time he and his followers had very different ideas. Rollo began to divide the land between the Epte and Risle rivers among his chieftains and settled there with a de facto capital in Rouen. With these settlements, Rollo began to further raid other Frankish lands, now from the security of a settled homeland, rather than a mobile fleet. Eventually, however, Rollo's men intermarried with the local women, and became more settled as Frenchmen. At the time of his death, Rollo's expansion of his territory had extended as far west as the Vire River.

Death of Rollo:
Sometime around 927, Rollo passed the fief in Normandy to his son, William Longsword. Rollo may have lived for a few years after that, but certainly died before 933. According to the historian Adhemar, 'As Rollo's death drew near, he went mad and had a hundred Christian prisoners beheaded in front of him in honour of the gods whom he had worshipped, and in the end distributed a hundred pounds of gold around the churches in honour of the true God in whose name he had accepted baptism.' Even though Rollo had converted to Christianity, some of his pagan roots surfaced at the end.

Residence at Falaise:
In Falaise, France, is a series of statues that pays tribute to the six Norman Dukes from Rollo to William the Conqueror. The castle here was the principal residence of the Norman Knights.

Children
Offspring of Rollo of Normandy and Poppa van Bayeux (c870-c910)
Name Birth Death Joined with
William Longsword, (893-942) 893 17 December 942 Sprota

Gerloc de Normandie (c912-962) 912 14 October 962 William III of Aquitaine (c900-963)

Dudo ii, 16 (p. 39) makes Poppa the mother of William, but does not give the mother of Gerloc/Adele. Guillaume de Jumièges (GND ii, 6 (v. 1, pp. 64-5)) makes Poppa the mother of both Guillaume and Gerloc.

Christened:
Baptized with the name of Robert

Rollo married of Bayeux, Poppa in 886 in France. Poppa was born in 872 in Bayeux, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France; died on 11 Aug 930 in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France; was buried on 11 Aug 930 in Cathédral Notre-Dame de Rouen, Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Haute-Normandie, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FSID: LD9C-ZGZ

Notes:

Parents not known - see English text below:

Poppa of Bayeux (born circa 880), was the Christian wife or mistress (perhaps more danico) of the Viking conqueror Rollo. She was the mother of William I Longsword, Gerloc and grandmother of Richard the Fearless, who forged the Duchy of Normandy into a great fief of medieval France. Dudo of Saint-Quentin, in his panegyric of the Norman dukes, describes her as the daughter of a "Count Berengar", the dominant prince of that region, who was captured at Bayeux by Rollo in 885 or 889, shortly after the siege of Paris. This has led to speculation that she was the daughter of Berengar II of Neustria.

There are different opinions among medieval genealogy experts about Poppa's family. Christian Settipani says her parents were Guy de Senlis and Cunegundis, the daughter of Pepin, Count of Vermandois, and sister of Herbert I, Count of Vermandois. Katherine Keats-Rohan states she was the daughter of Berengar II of Neustria by Adelind, whose father was Henry, Margrave of the Franks, or Adela of Vermandois. Despite the uncertainty of her parentage, she undoubtedly was a member of the Frankish aristocracy. A statue of Poppa stands at the Place de Gaulle in Bayeux.

Translated and written a.o. from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poppa_of_Bayeux
Cited 16 January 2012 (Article Creation Date.)
Cited 20 January 2012 (English Version Creation Date.)

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Poppa of Bayeux (born c. 880 AD), was the daughter of Berenger, Count of Bayeau.

She was captured in a raid, and ended up in a common law marriage with the Viking Rollo.
She was the Christian wife or mistress of the Viking conqueror Rollo, who became the first ruler of the fiefdom of Normandy.

She was the mother of William I Longsword, Gerloc and grandmother of Richard the Fearless, who forged the Duchy of Normandy

In 911, the fiefdom of Normandy was created, confirmed by treaty between King Charles III of France and the Viking jarl (that is, prince) Rollo.

According to Luc De Boever, who authored the book “The Montgomerys from the Vikings to Our Present Day” (pg 11):
“The King of France, Charles the Simple, thought it easier to give to Viking Chief Rollo a part of Nuestria which in fact the latter had already conquered. The Archbishop of Rouen organized a meeting between Rollo and the King of France, Charles the Simple, at the Saint-Clair-sur-Epte in the autumn of 911. The two leaders drew up a treaty which satisfied both. Rollo could at last stop the fighting and start organizing his lands. Charles the Simple hoped thus to no longer have anything to fear from the one who is going to stop any new Vikings arriving through the Seine valley. Moreover, Rollo had agreed to support the King of France when in need.

“Rollo agreed to be baptized and to marry Gisele, the King’s daughter; for this to be possible Rollo had to give up his mistress Poppa. Gisele was very young and died before the marriage was consummated. Rollo could thus return to Poppa, and marry her.

“Once baptized, Rollo gained the support of the Church. He became subdued and ruled his territory from Rouen.”

"In a few years, from 911 to 930. Rollo established the foundations of his territory on a solid and lasting footing in Upper Normandy. His marriage with Poppa, daughter of Berenger, Count of Bayeau, underlined both his willingness to integrate into a noble French lineage and his decision to settle indefinitely in the conquered land and, undoubtedly, his intentions to to expand his territory over the whole of Lower Normandy."
by wendylouiserussell1