NameROGNVALDSSON, Duke Gange-Hrólfr , 31G Grandfather
Birth Date870
Birth PlaceMaer, Steinkjer, Nord-Trøndelag, Norway
OccupationDuke of Normandy
Death Date927 Age: 57
Death PlaceRouen, Haute-Normandie, France
FlagsHistorical
Misc. Notes
Nicknamed "Rollo the Dane”. 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 too big for a horse to carry and had to walk.
Rollo the Dane, also known as Hrolf 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 Norwegian 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.
He was born in 846 and died in 932, and was buried in the Cathedral at Rouen. He married (1) Gisla, daughter of Charles the Simple, King of France, no issue; (2) Lady Poppa de Valois, (means puppet or little doll), daughter of Pepin de Senlis de Valois, Count Berenger (Berenarius) of Bretagne, Count of Bayeux, and sister of Bernard of St. Liz (Senlis), also recorded as Berenger, Count of Bayeux. Rollo lived with her for some time before the marriage.
Spouses
Birth Date846
Birth PlaceBayeux, Calvados, Normandy, France
Death Date932 Age: 86
Misc. Notes
Poppa of Bayeux was the Christian wife or mistress[ of the Viking conqueror Rollo.
She was the mother of William I Longsword 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. This has led to speculation that she was the daughter of Berengar II of Neustria.
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.