Rollo is a fascinating historical viking chieftain and best known for being the first ruler of Normandy. However, when he became ruler, it was initially a smaller area called Rouen. It was given to him by the West Frankish king Charles, known as Charles the Simple. The gift of the land was basically a pay-off so that he would stop attacking West Francia.
Being the first of the rulers of what would rise as a local power called Normandy, both Danish and Norwegian historians have laid claim to him being from Denmark, alternatively Norway. Being Norwegian myself I can’t claim to be impartial in question if Rollo was Norwegian or Danish. However, I see this as more of a settled issue today, with him most likely being from Møre, on the Norwegian north-west coast.
So these are my two caveats as I am laying out the story of Rollo, or Hrolf the Wanderer, (Old Norse Göngu-Hrólfr) which he was called. Rollo was from Norway, and the Göngu-Hrólfr found in old texts and Rollo of Normandy are one and the same. However, contrary to popular myth, he was not a brother of Ragnar Lothbrok, instead lived a couple of generations later.
Rollo is interesting both in his own right, as well as for being the founder of the Norman-dynasty of Normandy. Growing into an important power in the European north-west, his great-great-great-grandson was William the Conqueror, the would-be king of England. He not only invaded England and took the crown in the Battle of Hastings. His actions also led to the unsuccessful invasion by Harald Hardrada, and his death at the Battle of Stamford Bridge.
Early Life and Background
Rollo was born Hrolf Ragnvaldsson around AD 850-860, his mother was named Hild, and his father was Earl Ragnvald Eysteinsson. He grew up on the island Vigra, off the north-west coast of Norway. Vigra is a low-lying island right on the North Atlantic. The ocean would likely have been both the livelihood as well as the death of many of his contemporaries.
His father, Earl Eysteinsson was the first of a noble family who would become known as the Earls of Møre. Being a close friend of king Harald I, aka Harald Fairhair, he was named Earl by king Harald after he succeeded in taking all of Norway. Legend holds that it was Earl Eysteinsson who cut Harald I’s hair after uniting Norway, giving him the nickname Fairhair.
Earl Eysteinsson had several children, both with his wife Hild and a few outside of wedlock. Hrolf and his brother Tore were possibly the only legitimate children he had. In addition to the two brothers, he had at least three other boys by various women, Einar, Hallad and Rollaug.
Einar would later become one of the first true Earl’s of the Orkney islands, and marry into the Scottish royal family.
How Hrolfr got the names Gange-Hrolfr and Rollo
Today, especially in the English-speaking world, Hrolfr Ragnvaldsson is mostly known just as Rollo. In Norway he is usually mentioned as Gange-Rolf, from his Old Norse name Göngu-Hrólfr, which means Hrolfr the Wanderer.
Legend has it Hrolfr was such a large man that a horse could hardly carry him, which meant he walked. He was also said to be in great physical shape, so the proto-type large blonde vikingr.
Much later in life, Hrolfr established himself in West Francia (the Atlantic coast of France), and raided extensively there. For the Franks, Hrolfr likely didn’t roll off the tongue, so he became known as Roulo, later just Rollo.
Early Years Raiding to the East and the British Isles
As Hrolfr grew up, his father was a powerful chieftain and close friend with the then-king. With this family and position, it is no surprise that Hrolfr likely came along on, and later led raiding parties heading for the British Isles.
Today it is easy to think of Vikings as one people, living across Scandinavia, and behaving much the same during the Viking Age. However, this is far from true. People living in modern day Sweden, if going raiding, were likely to go east, into the Baltics and deep into Eastern Europe. Whereas people living in Denmark would go on raids into the neighboring parts of continental Northern Europe, in today’s Germany, Belgium, Holland and France. The Danes might also cross the channel, a day’s sail at the most, and attack the south of Britain.
The marauding, raiding Vikings who attacked northern Britain, Scotland and Ireland however, were for the most part from Norway. When Hrolfr, or Rollo, grew up the Vikings had been raiding all across the north of Great Britain for almost a century. Popularly said to have started with the sacking of the monastery on the holy island of Lindisfarne in 793.
Different sources have him raiding both the British Isles, as well as going “to the East”, without much specific information. In the end, at least according to one source, it was his raiding that eventually landed him in hot water with king Harald Fairhair.
Hrolfr Is Banished from Norway
According to Snorri Sturluson’s Heimskringla, which focuses on the line of Norwegian kings, king Harald banished Hrolfr from Norway. The story is found in chapter 24 of Harald Harfager’s Saga, telling the story of Hrolfr and his banishment.
“He plundered much in the East sea. One summer, as he was coming from the eastward on a viking’s expedition to the coast of Viken, he landed there and made a cattle foray. As King Harald happened, just at that time, to be in Viken, he heard of it, and was in a great rage; for he had forbid, by the greatest punishment, the plundering within the bounds of the country. The king assembled a Thing, and had Rolf declared an outlaw over all Norway.”
Based on this, it seems Hrolfr raided someone’s cattle, despite king Harald having outlawed it, and was swiftly punished accordingly. It might seem like a harsh punishment, all the while Hrolfr’s father was among king Harald’s closest friends and allies. However, Hrolfr did get to live, even though he did go raiding, basically stealing someone else’s cattle. Maybe the punishment actually was less severe than one might have expected, because he was indeed his father’s son.
Leaving Norway behind, Hrolfr landed in the Suðreyjar, the Old Norse name for the Hebrides. A group of small islands west of Scotland which Vikings controlled from the middle of the 9th century.
Hrolfr Lands on the Shores of West Francia
It is not really known exactly when Hrolfr was banished from Norway. However there are some sources and dates that help. King Harald Fairhair became king in AD 872, so it must’ve been some time after this. Different Frankish and Saxon sources have Rollo starting raiding West Francia in the late AD 870s or AD 880s. The earliest mention is found in Asser’s Life of King Alfred, for the year 876. This was most likely in reference to Hrolfr sacking the city of Rouen.
“In the same year, Rollo with his followers penetrated into Normandy.”
Based on this short mention, I am assuming that this refers to an early attack, maybe the first by Rollo. Interestingly, the area wouldn’t have been known as Normandy at the time of this attack, but was apparently known as such in AD 893 when Asser wrote the book. The area only later became known as Normandy, ie. the land of the Normans. This was after it had been taken over by Hrolfr and the Norsemen, and they were assimilated as part of the local population.
The Sacking of Rouen
The town of Rouen was a rich and important city in the kingdom of West Frankia. It was here that Hrolfr maybe first became known to the Franks as Rollo. In AD 876, he led a small group of Vikings in an attack on the town. Remarkably, the story of the attack, and an apparently ingenious trick they used, is retold in an old Norwegian manuscript.
Written sometime in the 12th century, the Historia Norwegie is written in Latin. However, it is believed to have been written by a Norwegian scholar of the time.
Rolf — known to his comrades as Gongu-Rolf, because he was unable to ride on horseback owing to his enormous physical size and therefore always walked — captured the city of Rouen in Normandy, aided by a few followers, with a wonderful device.
While their fifteen ships lurked on a river, each individual sailor dug out a ditch in advance and with a thin layer of turves made it look exactly level with the plain; afterwards they prepared for battle by drawing up their line beyond the hollowed-out strips and then marched forward.
As soon as they perceived this, the inhabitants pressed upon their enemy in ordered ranks. But the latter, feigning flight, pretended to rush back to the ships; the horsemen, pursuing them more rapidly than the rest, crashed in droves with their armored steeds down into the concealed drops, and these men, I mean the Norwegian vikings, butchered them with deadly hands. And so, once the townsfolk had been routed, their foes entered the city without resistance and along with it gained that entire region, which took from them its name of Normandy.
It would actually be another twenty to thirty years before Rollo was made ruler over all of Normandy.
Early raids in West Francia
From the Old Norse sagas, there are mostly only short mentions about Hrolfr, or Gange-Rolf, and his exploits in Valland, the Old Norse name for the kingdom of the West Franks. However, viking raids up and down the coast of modern day France, Belgium and Holland was a common occurrence.
The once mighty kingdom of the Franks had been the major power on the European continent for centuries. However, in AD 840-843, the kingdom broke apart after a civil war and was divided into three separate kingdoms. The western most of which bore the brunt of the viking attacks. In the internal power struggles among the later rulers of the different Frankish kingdoms, the Vikings would sometimes be aligned with one of the parties.
Into the AD 860s and later, several smaller, and a few larger, viking settlements were founded along the coast. In a bid to end hostilities, successive kings of West Francia would acknowledge them, and instead enlist the Vikings to their side. Granting them the land they had occupied, they would be legitimate rulers and thus aligned with the Frankish king they swore fealty to.
It was in this fragmented, violent time Hrolf established himself somewhere on the coast of West Francia. Leading a large group of battle hardened men who followed him. Literally setting up camp in a more or less hostile territory, going on opportunistic raids along the coast was apparently what he did for a number of years.
The Siege of Paris in AD 885-886
Being right on the river Seine, the city of Paris was attacked several times by the Vikings. They could simply sail their ships right up to it. In the spring of AD 845, a large group of Vikings, led by the legendary Ragnar Lothbrok, successfully sacked Paris.
After having endured several attacks by marauding Vikings, Paris was fortified. Protected by both walls, and towers on the outside of the city, as well as bridges which hindered boats passing, it became a harder target to hit.
This didn’t completely discourage the Vikings though, and in late AD 885, a large number of Vikings came in their ships, laying siege to the city. Among the leaders of the several thousand man strong group of Vikings was the one known to the Franks as Rollo.
With such a large group of Vikings, there were bound to have been several chieftains collaborating. After they had besieged the city for a couple of months, one of the bridges was destroyed. However, the Vikings had been unable to breach the city’s defenses. Growing restless, some of the Vikings decided to move further up the river, basically giving up on Paris.
The siege having lasted for more than half a year, the king of West Francia, known as Charles the Fat, showed up with an army. However, instead of battling it out with the many thousand Vikings, he agreed to pay them 700 lbs of silver for them to lift the siege and leave.
It is possible that by this time, Rollo would have been the senior chieftain negotiating on behalf of the Vikings. I haven’t been able to establish just who led the vikings, but it seems a fair guess.
The Siege of Paris Described by Contemporary Sources
Obviously the great siege of Paris was well documented and discussed among the largely Christian Europeans. One such recounting is found in Asser’s Life of King Alfred. However, it’s worth noting that the year given is wrong. This may be caused by a later translation or his own recollection of events. Either way, chapter 82 reads as follows:
82. The Siege of Paris. In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 886, which was the thirty-eighth of King Alfred’s life, the army so often mentioned again fled the country, and went into that of the West Franks. Entering the river Seine with their vessels, they sailed up it as far as the city of Paris; there they wintered, pitching their camp on both sides of the river almost to the bridge, in order that they might prevent the citizens from crossing the bridge—since the city occupies a small island in the middle of the stream. They besieged the city for a whole year, but, by the merciful favor of God, and by reason of the brave defense of the citizens, they could not force their way inside the walls.
Based on this, it seems Asser assumes, rightly or wrongly, that most of the Vikings who attacked Paris in fact came from Britain. This was in part likely true, but they would have been a mix of Vikings banding together, some already on the European mainland.
Siege of Chartres AD 911
The old Norsemen are not exactly known for keeping meticulous records. As such we don’t know much about what Hrolfr, or Rollo as the Franks called him, did in the years following the siege of Paris. However, the next event that would really transform his path came in AD 911.
In the spring of AD 911, Rollo led an attack on the town of Chartres, south of Paris. The Vikings had rowed their boats up the small Eure river, a tributary to the Seine. Estimates made by contemporary sources state that there were around twenty thousand men in the Vikings’ group.
The siege of the town proved unsuccessful even after burning down most of the surrounding area, isolating the town completely. This was likely because previously successful viking raids had led to the town building out ramparts and fortifications making it really hard to breach.
With time on their side, the people of Chartres were able to wait out the Vikings. Finally help arrived in July. On July 20th AD 911 a West Frankish army beat Rollo and his men in a great battle. Even though the Vikings were numerically stronger, the Frankish forces were supported by a great number of heavy cavalry which tipped the balance in their favor.
The Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte
Even though the Frankish forces won the battle, the parties stopped the fight rather than battling to the bitter end. Rollo had successfully escaped the battle before a large group of the Vikings were surrounded and yielded. Knowing full well that there were even more Vikings not far away. The Frankish king Charles III sought to resolve the issue in a different way.
Following the battle for Chartres, the Frankish king negotiated a peace treaty with Rollo and the Vikings. The negotiations led to the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, where Rollo was made princeps (leader/ruler) of the area covered in the treaty. I have seen both Count and Duke being used about him, but I don’t believe any contemporary Frankish sources recognized him as such.
Either way he was left ruling over a large area of land and in return. In return Rollo swore fealty to king Charles III. Rollo also agreed to convert to Christianity, was baptized, and finally, possibly also agreed to marry Gisela, presumably a daughter of king Charles III.
Why was king Charles III so generous, just giving land away to his enemies? For all intents and purposes Rollo became a bulwark against other viking raiders. Providing king Charles with a large force of battle hardened men protecting his west flank.
With the treaty in place, the area which would become known as Normandy was over time established as an independent Duchy. As seen in the map below, it’s a large area, covering much of the coast along the English Channel.
Rollo Duke of Normandy – Lasting Legacy
Whether or not Rollo was ever called Duke of Normandy during his lifetime, he was the first Norseman ruling over what would become the Duchy of Normandy. The vikings who settled there seem to have assimilated into the local population quite well. Relatively soon after, the people of Normandy, and the descendants of inter-marrying Norsemen and Franks came to be known as the Normans.
Rollo himself didn’t venture out on many great exploits after that. At least not that have made it into the annals of the time. That isn’t to say that he didn’t leave a great mark on history. Having established Normandy as a local power, the Normans’ power and influence would grow during the next couple of centuries. The Normans would for example go on to conquer all of Southern Italy. Holding it from AD 999 to AD 1194. Fighting several larger battles with the Byzantine Empire, likely meeting the Varangian guard, and their leader Harald Hardrada.
Maybe most interestingly from a historical perspective was what Rollo’s great-great-great-grandson would go on to do. In AD 1066, William the Conqueror invaded Britain. He successfully fought and won at the Battle of Hastings and took the British crown.
