“Rollo’s great fleet sailed up this river further inland, and seeing how fertile this area was, more so than the other regions which they had crossed, he conceived a desire to seize it and take it for his own. For it is a land with rivers full of fish and woods full of wild animals, fertile and suitable for corn and other crops, with rich meadows to feed cattle. […] For this reason they landed on each bank and began to make the inhabitants of the province subject to his rule.”
Rollo (d. around 925/32) was not the first Scandinavian to settle permanently in northern France. However, he was the founding father of the Norman ducal line and remains a popular figure to this day. Much of his life, though, remains in the dark and rather belongs to the realm of myths. We know neither his descent nor reliable facts about his life. Yet it is certain that he had occupied a leadership role and was a counterpart to the king of West Francia. Even if the “treaty” of Saint-Claire-sur-Epte, concluded in 911, is fictitious as a written document, there were undoubted agreements between Norsemen and West Franks. The Norsemen became Christians, integrated into the West Francian empire, becoming part of its social structure.
Production: eichfelder artworks
Graphic template: Rollo-Tapestry, Association
„La Tapisserie de Rollon“
Length: 03:39 min
The development of Normandy and the arrival of its “founder” Rollo in northern France is shrouded in legend. What happened exactly cannot be ascertained. This stop-motion film retells the events that could have led to the creation of Normandy (with a wink). The so-called “Rollo tapestry”, which was created in the style of the famous Bayeux carpet in 2011, retells the story of Rollo (over a length of 22 metres) and served as the basis for this film.
Normandy, around 920 (1); Melle (central western France), 9th/10th c. (2)
Silver
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Inv. Prou 1041 (MER 1116) (1);
Stuttgart, Landesmuseum Württemberg, Inv. MK 1952–392 (2)
The obol (2) shows a cross, the name of King Charles and the place of minting: MET ALO (Melle). There are no coins known that were minted in the name of Rollo, but the dinar shown here (1) was probably made during his reign. It is an imitation of a coin type of Louis the Pious (d. 840), which was also in circulation in Scandinavia. This could explain the choice of an old prototype. The temple depiction on the reverse became a characteristic feature of Norman coinage.
Abbey Saint-Germain-des-Prés, 14th May 918
Parchment
Pierrefitte-sur-Seine, Archives Nationales, Inv. K16, Nr. 9
This charter is the oldest document that mentions the Viking leader Rollo and the “Normans on the Seine”. In it, King Charles “the Simple” transfers the northern French monastery of Croix Saint-Ouen to the important Parisian abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. He explicitly excludes from the donation the territories he had already transferred to Rollo and his men. In return, he instructs the monks to pray for his salvation and that of his deceased wife.