Rollo the Viking

Statue of Rollon in The Citypark of Aalesund, Norway

Rollo the Viking (855-931) brought his Normans (northmen, vikings) from Norway to the northwest of France. This is the Rollo, or Rollon in the French spelling, who in the year 911 at the church in St. Clair sur-Epte signed the treaty with King Charles III the Simple of France that created him hereditary Count of Rouen; his descendants would call themselves Dukes of the new Duchy of Normandy. He was descended from the Jarls of Orkney. There are statues of him in Alesund in his ancestral homeland of Moere in Norway, as well as in Rouen and Falaise, Normandy, France, and in Fargo, North Dakota, U.S.A.

Some pages in English, Rollo of Normandy homepage by Robert Helmerichs.

If you're looking for French materials about Rollo, try the French spelling, which is Rollon. Here are some other web pages about him, many of them found by Kristin Hussein krisawni@internet-zahav.net.

• Family tree of Ganger-Rolv.
• A genealogy.
• Another genealogy.
• Descendants of Rollo.
• Kristin says, `` It's a bit of norman history, which includes references to Rollo, normandy, William the Conqueror, etc.''
• An ORB article on 10th-century Normandy, which contains a page on the historical Rollo.
• A brief history of Normandy, in (sort of) English.
• See also Norway.

See also Rollo Clan for more about Rollo and his descendants.

Some say that Rollo was the same as Ganger-Hrolf, or Rollo the Ganger, who was called that because he was so gangly, to be specific, his legs were so long that when he rode a horse it looked like he was walking; Ganger means Walker. However, according to Peter Kurrild-Klitgaard, Ph.D., the early sources all distinguish the two men.