ROLLO (ROBERT) HROLF RAGNVALDSSON
Viking King


BIRTH: Abt 846 - Maer, Nord-Trondelag, Norway
DEATH: 932 - Notre Dame, Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Normandy, France
BURIED: Notre Dame, Rouen, Seine-Maritime, Normandy, France
FATHER: Rognvald EYSTEINSSON I 'The Wise' - Nord-Trondelag, Norway
MOTHER: Ragnhild or Hilda HROLFSSON - Countess of More, Norway

FIRST MARRIAGE: 886 - Poppa De Bayeux verch GUI SENLIS DE VALOIS,
Duchess of Normandy
BIRTH: Abt 872 - Evreux, Normandy, France

CHILDREN:

1. RAGNVALDSSON, Guillaume I or William I - 886 - Maer, Normandy, France
DEATH: 17 Dec 943 - Assassinated in France

2. Robert Corbeill RAGNVALDSSON De Normandy - Abt 895 - Normandy, France

3. Adele 'Gerloc' RAGNVALDSSON - Abt 897 - Aquitane, Gironde, France
DEATH: Aft 14 Oct 962 - France

4. Crespina RAGNVALDSSON De Normandy - 901 - Normandy, France

5. Gerletta RAGNVALDSSON - 906 - Aquitane, Gironde, France

6. Kathin RAGNVALDSSON - 911 - Aquitane, Gironde, France

SECOND MARRIAGE: 912 - Giselle De Normandy - Princess of France
BIRTH: 888 - Maer, Nord-Trondelag, Norway

CHILDREN:

7. Anslec Rolfsdatter ROGNVALDSSON De Bertrand - Abt 937 - Normandy, France

8. Walter Rolfsson ROGNVALDSSON De Normandy - Abt 922 - Caen, Calvados, Normandy, France

9. Gisela Rolfsdatter ROGNVALDSSON - Abt 927 - Normandy, France


Rollo was also known as Hrolf the Ganger, Rollon, Row, Gange-Rolf,
Rolf the Walke or Robert. He was a Norse Viking and noted for his
strength and martial prowess. He was so stout and strong that
no horse could carry him.

He was a Viking Pirate who was banished from Norway by his father
and captured Bayeux in 890. He was given the name of Robert I
at his baptism, and was styled as the "Partician of Normandy".
He acquired his nickname "the Ganger", because he was to big for
a horse to carry and had to walk.

This Norwegian Viking settled at the mouth of the Seine.
After fighting many battles he made an agreement with
King Charles The Simple - Received land in Normandy and became
the 1st Duke of Normandy. He had to become a Christian,
but at his death he ordered the sacrifice of 100 slaves
(Showing that he still held to his Pagan beliefs).

Rollo, also called Rolf, claimed by the Gray family to be the
proginator of the family, was a Viking. Born in Norway c860,
he grew to be a Norse chieftain. He is referred to as Rollo the Ganger
(goer or walker) because he was too tall to ride the little
Northland ponies. He was chief of the Northmen. True to Viking
tradition, he engaged in raiding and plundering along the coasts
of the North countries. Even though he was of high rank in Norway,
he was exiled because he refused to confine his piracies to
foreign lands.

He came to France not as a mere destroying barbarian,
but with ideas of permanent conquest and settlement. In 884 he sailed
up the Seine with perhaps ten thousand followers and captured Rouen.
It became the Northmens capital for over three hundred years.
He then went on to attack Paris. He started a seige in November 885 and
continued it for over a year. Finally, king Charles the Fat paid Rollo
huge sums of tribute money and persuaded him to go attack Bergundy,
then in revolt against the king. Rolf (Rollo), based at Rouen,
was extending his influence over all the surrounding country.
The poor liked Rolf because, though stern, he was fair,
and gave them protection.

The next French king, Charles the Simple (it was Charles le
more accurately translated means fool), in 911 gave Rollo not onl
the lands he had won, but the rest of the northern French coast.
The region was called Northmens land, or Normandy. Rollo was made
its Duke, accepted Christianity, was baptised in 912 and
promised not to plunder other lands, except Brittany.

Rollo died in 931 but had given his son, William "Longsword"
governance of Normandy in 927. The tomb of Rollo is in the
Chapel of St. Romanus at Rouen. William died Dec. 17, 942,
assassinated by the Count of Flanders.

SOURCES: Robby Robinson ([email protected])

Rolla of Normandy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollo_of_Normandy

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Ancestral File (R) - Copyright (c) 1987, June 1998,
data as of 5 January 1998


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