KISSING A KING’S FOOT
By Laurel Fechner, Historian Clan Sinclair USA
(Dedicated to the memory of Henry S. "Pete" Cummings, Jr.)

As the grizzled and aging Norsemen in 911 AD returned from an unsuccessful siege of Chartes, France, their prospects for further pillaging looked dim. Fifty years of Norse raids into France had decimated everything worth looting. But their long and bitter struggle had gained them much land in western France. The large and powerful leader of this band of mostly Danes was the Norwegian, Gangerolv (Hrolf, Gongu-Hrolfr, Hrolf the Walker-so called because his feet dragged when on horseback- Rollon, and Rollo. I suspect that in France, he was usually known as Rollon or Robert and the Latin form of Rollo did not appear until later when the English wrote about him.

Suddenly King Charles III, the Simple, also weary of fighting and being urged by Pope John X to Christianize the Norse, offered to sign a treaty at the town of St. Clair on the Ept River. This began his association with this name and veneration of the Saint, however it was from his later descendants living at St. Clair-sur-Elle that the St. Clair/Sinclair took their name. 

But Charles was not dealing with just a super crafty pirate that had risen from obscurity to regional fame. No, Rollo’s father was Rognvald, The Wise, jarl (Earl) of Møre, Norway, the first jarl of Orkney, and a near relative of King Harold Fairhair. Rollo’s mother was Countess Ragnhilda, daughter of the sea King Rolf Nefia.  Rollo's brother, Thorir, succeeded Rognvald to the jarldom of Møre and married King Harold's daughter, Arbota .  Harold bestowed the Shetlands and Orkneys on jarl Rognvald’s family. The jarl’s brother, Sigurd, the sea King Einar, and  one-eyed, ruthless and middling poet added, Caithness to their holdings and was the second jarl of Orkney. The house of Rognvald was one of the oldest lines of rulers in Norway with Rollo's brothers, Hallard and Einar also becoming the 4th and 5th Earls of Orkney. Einar’s descendant, Isobel, married William Sinclair, 11th  Baron of Rossyln, a descendant of Einar’s brother Gangerolv/Rollo. This connected the Norse lines of Einar and Rollo back to Rognvald again.

About 860, when Rollo was born on the island of Giske near Ålesund in Romsdahl of Møre, Harold began his efforts to control all of Norway. In 872 he was crowned King of Norway at the Earl of Møre’s court. Young Rollo did not like the loss of freedom and the King’s taxes. He angered King Harald by stealing his cattle and was banished upon pain of death. Other Norwegian nobility were dispossessed as Harold continued to consolidate his hold on the smaller kingdoms.  Many of them went into commerce or to "Viking".  Rollo, using the ship his father gave him, soon drew others discontents and retaliated with raids against his homeland. He then moved on to Scotland and France. He probably accompanied the Danish Viking chief, Siegfried in an ill fated siege of Paris in 886 or 888. He may have also joined with Guthran, a Dane, in fighting King Alfred the Great in England. These Viking armadas were made up of several nationalities.

The Normans were camped on the right bank and the French on the left bank of the Epte River in preparation for the signing of  the 911 treaty which would make Rollo the Count/Duke of Rouen and secure the lands he had already gained.  (The title of Duke wasn’t used much until after 1006 AD. In return Rollo promised to defend the land against other Norsemen and be baptized.) Custom then required that Rollo pledge his loyalty and service by kissing King Charles’ foot. But, Rollo thought it beneath himself to kneel and kiss the King’s foot. Consequently, he told one of his men,  to do it instead. His man obeyed reluctantly but as he did so, he raised Charles’ foot so high that the King tipped over backwards.  Instead he pledged his fidelity by giving a bowl of water, a clod of earth and a stick and pressing the King's hands between his, gave Charles his pledge of obedience.*

In 912 AD, Rollo and his followers using more political wisdom than inner conviction, were baptized and  his name was changed this time to Robert. Rollo quickly set down principals and regulations protecting each man’s person and possessions. He strengthened the towns’ defenses, gave the countryside peace and devoted himself to the interests of his fief, soon called Normandy after the Norsemen. From the beginning Norman society had an aristocratic and feudal character lacking in Denmark and the Danish settlements in England. In 1066 AD, Rollo’s great-great-great grandson, William the Conqueror, imposed this finely-tuned feudal system upon the Saxons of England.

Back in 886 AD, Rollo’s group attacked Bayeaux, Brittany and killed their Count Berenger. He then took the Count’s daughter, Poppa, as his "Danish Wife". This common practice was accepted by laymen. The two contracting parties knew that if better social or political prospects appeared, such a marriage could be ended without a complex church divorce.  Rollo possibly had about fourteen children but the four known to us today  were probably  Poppa’s, the aristocrat's, children: Gerlotte m. Wm. Earl of Pointiers; Adele b. 897 d. 962 m. Duke Guillaune III of Aquitaine; William 2nd Duke of Normandy b.c. 915 m. d/o Count Robert de Vermandon; and Robert m. daughter of Earl of Corbuell.  As part of the 911 treaty, Charles gave Rollo his daughter, Giselle, but there were no children from this marriage.  Since there is no official records of this marriage, it is possible that Giselle was the 'Natural Daughter' of the King.  Now he was the son-in-law of the King of France.

Rollo’s great-granddaughter, Emma married two Kings of England, Æhelred the Unready and Knut who was also King of Norway and Denmark. Her son, Edward the Confessor, from the first marriage, was King of England from 1042-1066. Rollo’s descendants have ruled England almost continually from that time unto today. Most European rulers by the thirteenth century could trace their ancestry to Rollo also.

Rollo’s enemies probably considered him cruel and arrogant, but history also indicates Rollo’s intelligence, with exceptional skills in navigation, warfare, leadership, and administration. He deepend and narrowed the Seine at Rouen.  His work lasted almost 1000 years.  After WWII the US Army Corps of Engineers had few improvements to make.  Among his people, he was for hundreds of years, the personification of justice and good government under law. He was responsible for deepening the Seine at Rouen. Some of this project is still working today.  He abdicated to his son, William I in 927 then died in Bec Hallouin Monastary in 933 and buried at Notre Dame, Rouen, France.

In 1911, on the 1000th anniversary of the 911 treaty, the world acknowledged Rollo’s impact upon history. Statues of him were placed in Rouen, France; in Ålesund, Norway; and a year later, in Fargo, ND. In 2011, just 11 years from now, we, his millions of descendants, can celebrate Rollo’s eleven-hundredth anniversary.
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http://www.rollo.com./familinks.htm & http://www.mimer.no/kamera/   (live camera at Ålesund, Nor.) & World Book Encyclopedia; Genealogy of Prince Henry Sinclair by Pete Cummings; The History of the Vikings by Gwyn Jones; A Child’s History of the World by V. M. Hillyer; Harold by Ian W. Walker; Historical Atlas of the Vikings by John Haywood; Sons of Norway Pamphlet-Fargo, ND.
See References

BBC's "Blood of the Vikings" documentary. There is a fascinating section on the BBC's website at :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/index.shtml

Also see very interesting 1991 Yours Aye article on Dedication of Rollo statue in Fargo, ND 1912
*  Apparently  the incident of Kissing the King's foot is fiction.  The usual manner of giving a pledge was for he who made the pledge was  to take both the hands of the King into his hands as he knelt before the King to give his pledge of obedience.  Another story is that Rollo made his pledge by giving the King a bowl of water, a clod of earth and a stick with the promise that 'Bi Got' he could collect them in Rouen".  According Robert Helmerichs of the Haskins Society, that specialize in Norman History, this story was made up Dudo.  The foot kissing actually took place between Emperor Lothar and the Viking Godfried who was settled in Frisia.  As part of the deal, Godfried married Lothar's daughter, Gisla.  King Charles the Simple had no daughter named Gisla.  Much of Dudo's biography of Rollo is lifted from the adventures of Godfried and other Vikings; what is clear is that Dudo knew almost nothing about the actual Rollo.   We know of only two children; William Longsword, and Gerlach, who married William of Aquitaine.  There is no hint in the sources of other offspring of Rollo.

1. Rollo’s birth date of 860 comes from the Fargo, ND Pamphlet about Rollo’s statue there. A death date of 931, at about the age of 72, comes from French records. The people of Ålesund believe that "Gangerolv" came from the island of Giske nearby.—Kristin A. Hussein.
   
2. It is believed that there were other men named Rollo just as there were several Halfdans (Half Danes) which was the name of Rollo’s great-great grandfather. This could indicate a nickname rather than a given name. Nine different Halfdans are listed in the index of "A History of the Vikings." The World Book Encyclopedia says "Rollo, a Viking chieftain, attacked Paris in 845 AD." If that were our Rollo, and assuming that this chieftain were at least 25 years old in 845, then he would have been born in 820, 40 years before the 860 birth date. This Rollo would have been about 91 years old when he signed the 911 treaty and 112 when he died. Also the Saxon Chronicles indicate that Rolf/Rollo had overrun Normandy in 876 but he would have been only 16 years old then which makes it appear that it was another Rollo. The other Rollo could even have been an uncle of Rollo’s who taught him his seamanship, and craft as a pirate and provided a leadership example, to which Rollo added his personal style of viciousness, political astuteness, and foresightedness in his administration in Normandy.
   
3. After his 855 victory in Norway, Harold took possession of the Orkneys at which time Rollo’s uncle Sigurd became jarl there. Those who had been driven out of Norway by King Harold Fairhair set up a permanent center of Norse power in the Orkneys and the Scottish islands and in Caithness making jarl Rognvald  the 1st Earl of Orkney in about 870 and his brother Sigurd the Mighty following him. It was from there the renegade Norwegians  were able to launch raids against Harold that helped his enemies. This forced these raiders to move on to the Faroes and Iceland, which had not yet been explored. From this remarkable Norse colony they pushed on to Greenland to found another colony a hundred years later and from there it was a short way to Vineland in what is now Newfoundland. A Danish fleet appeared off Frisia in 810 and ten years later another reached the mouth of the Loire but the systematic and persevering assault did not begin until about 835. About 850 they began to establish island strongholds near the mouths of the rivers, where they could winter and store their booty and where they could retreat to safety. The Catholic Encyclopedia
   
4. In 886, Rollo would have been about 26 years old. It is very likely that he already had had at least one "Danish Wife" (not married in recognized church ceremony which made the marriage easily dissolvable if other opportunities came along) before he met Poppa and maybe some of his children are not Poppa’s.  It might be hard to prove just who the father of the children was because they passed the women around.    But since she was the daughter of a Count, and maybe very desirable.  In 911, if she were still living, they would have been married about 25 years. Probably bothl the children were married by then and he had grandchildren. But please recognize, Rollo, oldest son of a Norwegian Earl and of Dutchess Ragnhilda, who could have been related as closely as the younger sister or niece to King Harold of Norway. Rollo's brother married the King Harold's son.  So Giselle didn’t marry too far below herself except Rollo, after years as a bandit, might have been a bit rough around the edges by French court standards and now he was the brother-in-law of the King of France. Pretty good for an old pirate!! Genealogy of Prince Henry Sinclair by Pete Cummings, History of the Vikings by Gwyn Jones,  Laurel Fechner 
5. William Longsword is first mentioned as the second Duke in 927 when Rollo abdicated. Whether that was a forceful event, or one dictated by health, we may never know. However, the story is that Rollo lived at Le Bec-Hellouin Monastery after his abdication until his death in 933. Niven Sinclair, Harold-The Last Anglo-Saxon King by Ian W. Walker

Comment from Robert Helmerichs:  This is a late story; we know from earlier sources that Rollo died a pagan, and some sources suggest that he was a particularly nasty one.  Of course, there were no monasteries in Normandy in the early 11th century.  Rollo is last mentioned in 927, William is first mentioned as ruler in 933.  The "monastery story" was created to fill the gap.  Truth is, we only know that he died somewhere during that period.  At the time, nobody really cared, at least not enough to write it down.

•  Charles was nicknamed "the Simple". This did not mean that he was mentally deficient. It meant that he lived simply, lacking luxury. So without distractions, he may have developed some complex intrigues of state. In 910, Pope John X promoted the conversion of the Normans. If Charles carried out this directive, he might receive more aid from the Pope with affairs of court and of state. Lives of the Popes by Richard P. McBrien, 
• Charles realized that if those with claims to the throne united with certain powerful Counts, they could overthrow him. He needed a powerful ally like this Norse invader who perhaps had not become too entangled in the power struggle, yet already had formed some alliances through the marriages of his children to powerful French families. Charles could tie Rollo to himself with certain pledges and with the marriage of his daughter, Giselle, could tip the scale of power more in Charles’ favor. Laurel Fechner
• Hugh Capet, the Great, Count of Paris, probably was Charles’ ally at first because both men were married to sisters of King Ælfwerd of England. Other sisters were married to Otto I and to Conrad of Burgundy and their half-sister to Louis of Aquitaine. The position of   The  Count of Paris actually was more powerful than that of King of France who only controlled a small territory, Ill de Paris and by 996-7 the Capet dynasty would replace the Carolingian. At this time These marriages were part of the fabric of treaty and land ownership. They represented important alliances to insure the continuance of Ducal rights and relationships between a vassal and his fief Lord

7. Following the murder of William, 2^nd Duke of Normandy in 942, his grown son, Duke Richard I, 3^rd Duke of Normandy, b.c. 930 , was taken (kidnapped?) King Louis IV's court. Richard married first, King Hugh Capet’s (s/o Hugh the Great) sister, Emma, who died childless. Queen Emma & Queen Edith by Pauline Stafford

Comment from Robert Helmerichs:  This is a late story; we know from earlier sources that Rollo died a pagan, and some sources suggest that he was a particularly nasty one.  Of course, there were no monasteries in Normandy in the early 11th century. 

• Long before in 877 when Rollo was about 17 years old, he may have accompanied Guthrum in his battles with King Alfred the Great. When a semi-peace was established through a treaty between Alfred and Guthran, the Norsemen found themselves in possession of a large part of northern England. They spent several years subduing the Anglo-Saxons and dividing up the land. After that, they settled down to farm and run their estates. It may be that Rollo spent many years there in England and thus would have learned much more about Christianity. A History of the Vikings by Gwyn Jones
• In the early days of the Norsemen, they returned home to the North as winter approached and the seas became more treacherous. Then the time came when they realized that it was nicer to stay in the warmer regions permanently or perhaps events back home were not desirable for them any longer. For several years prior to the 911 treaty Rollo, his family, Viking band and possibly other bands had been living near the mouth of the Seine River. As they grew stronger, they took over more of the mainland Neustria and wed the local Catholic girls. Thus, they received yet more exposure to these new beliefs. Rollo’s wife, Poppa, was more than likely also a Catholic and would have tried very hard to convert him and the children. Perhaps his children had been converted long before him and he was the last holdout. Laurel Fechner
• Another possibility is that he would not allow them to convert until he did. This could be a reflection of trying to hold on to his Norse identity as long as he could until it became tied to the 911 treaty and thus politically expedient to convert. But it wasn’t until 912 in Rouen, that he was actually baptized. This date of his baptism is on the stained glass window, erected by the inhabitants at the end of WWI, showing his baptism and meeting with King Charles III in the chapel at St. Clair-sur-Epte. Why the delay? Probably the French feel that he needed instruction to genuinely understand his conversion? But probably they knew by now that he was a confirmed pagan.
• 
  Not all the Ducal strength came from the rising secular aristocracy. The years of Viking raids had destroyed all the ecclesiastical infrastructure. Not a single Norman monastery survived and the clerics fled to safety in Flanders or neighboring areas. First of all there was a monastic revival aided by the Counts/Dukes Rollo and William I. Also the Norman church was reorganized by a group of strong bishops working closely with them. Following his abdication Rollo resided at Bec Hallouin monastery. His son William Longsword took an active interest in reviving the monastice life in Normandy. Perhaps it was his patronage of Jumièges monastery that enraged the de Hauteville family for it is reported they were probably responsible for his murder in 1042 as he himself was on his way to a monastery to spend his last years. William the Conqueror by David C. Douglas   Jumieges IS a Norman monastery...at least, it was refounded in the Rollonid territory by the Normans.  There's no such thing as a "Norman" monastery as opposed to a "Frankish" one;  The Normans were pagans and, of course, had no monasteries of their own.  As they converted, they began to refound old Frankish monasteries.  from Robert Helmerichs

Baldwin's marriage with Judith is important to the Norman story because it shows how the Flemish dynasty, founded at about the same time as the Rollonids, were from the beginning Frankish insiders; the Normans were not.   from Robert Helmerichs

10. The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings by John Haywood says: Rollo was made Count of Rouen as the rulers of Normandy did not use the title "duke" before 1006. This title was comparable to an English Earl. Rollo was granted further lands around Bayeaux in 924 and his successor William Longsword acquired the Cotentin peninsula in 933, but attempts to expand eastwards were defeated." It seems like Rollo didn't help Charles with this problem very well. Their activity continued through 1016. They were aided by the Flemish and the Normans where they found safe and friendly ports and markets for the spoils of their raids. Duke Richard II was considered the Viking chief by some.  So maybe Charles was more worried about internal problems than Vikings and wanted to keep Rollo closer to him. Queen Emma & Queen Edith by Pauline Stafford, Laurel Fechner

11.  Rollo had sworn his fidelity to the King, and the Vikings had a fierce code of honor to their chiefs. So Rollo might have placed himself as close as he could to protect his liege Lord. Examples of this Viking fidelity to their chief can be found among the Varanagian guards in Constantinople. Byzantium-The Decline and Fall by John Julius Norwich, and the treatment of the loyal Earl Godwine by King Knut in Harold-The Last Anglo-Saxon King by Ian W. Walker.

12. If some of Rollo’s family or Viking band visited St. Clair’s well to cure an eye ailment, they would have seen his vine covered decaying hermitage and walked among his fruit trees and abandoned gardens. Probably they worshiped at the chapel and touched the stone where St. Clair was decapitated. The 39-year-old hermit, who was martyred there, died in 884 when Rollo was about 24 years old. Rollo’s family lived among the Franks so long that when his grandchildren were growing up, it was necessary to send them to Bayeaux to learn their native language again. His grandson, Duke Richard I, resisted the loss of his ancestral identity. Richard’s second marriage to Gunnora, daughter of Danish settlers, probably reflected his useless struggle with the inevitable. The History of the Sinclair Family in Europe and America by Leonard A. Morrison.  

The story that Richard himself was sent to Bayeaux to learn Norse was a creation of Dudo, to explain how somebody nobody had ever heard of suddenly, on William's death, became the beloved son of William;  Dudo came up with a strange series of events showing why it is perfectly logical that William and Richard were never known to have met, or even lived in the same town.  My theory is that Richard was the product of a casual fling; that Richard never met his father; and that after William unexpectedly died, Richard was "drafted" into the family by William's supporters in a desperate attempt to save the Rollonid dynasty.  from Robert Helmerichs of the Haskins Society that studies Norman history.  

13.  A g.g. grandson of Rollo’s, William the Warling (Ct. of Mortain perhaps born around 1006 s/o Mauger and brother to our Walderne), was exiled by William the Conqueror in 1055-56 to Apulia. By this time the Tancred de Hauteville, a somewhat dim knight in the service of the Duke of Normandy became the supreme Norman chief in central Italy. Of his 12 sons, 8 had settled in Italy, five were to become leaders of the front rank and Robert, nicknamed Guiscard (crafty) possessed something like genius. After Civitate papal policy changed in 1059, Robert was invested by Pope Nicholas II with the previously non-existent Dukedom of Apulia, Calbria and Sicily. The first 2 were controlled by Byzantium and Sicily by the Saracens. Descendants of the de Hautevilles went on to become the Counts of Apulia and Kings of Sicily and to come within a hair’s breath of capturing Constantinople in 1082. It was during this time the Normans again fought against the dispossess Anglo-Saxons who had fled England following the 1066 Norman Invasion. They were now in the mercenary army of Emperor Alexius. Oh how they wanted to defeat the Normans! Finally after most of the Saxons were dead, it was the treachery of Guiscard’s relatives paid off by Alexius that defeated the Normans. From their territory in Apulia, Crusaders found a friendly and easy access to the Holy Land by ships operated after the first Crusade by the Knights Templars. Niven Sinclair, William the Conqueror by David C. Douglas, Crusades by Terry Jones & Alan Ereira, Byzantium-The Decline and Fall by John Julius Norwich

15. Westward across the valley from St. Clair-sur-Epte the Seine River loops suddenly northward. There on the great heights of Les Andelys, the gateway to Normandy, is the ruins of the fortress of Chateau-Gaillard which was built in 1196 by Richard the Lion Hearted, King of England and Duke of Normandy two years after his return from captivity following the third Crusade. This was strategically placed to challenge King Philip of France but Richard was killed during the siege of Chalus in 1199.  Richard's mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was probably a descendant of Rollo’s, was once Queen of France, and then of England. Now at 77 years of age, Eleanor had outlived all but 2 of her 11 children, King John of England and Queen Eleanor of Castile. It was time to patch up the relations between England and France. So this wiry old lady journeyed down to Castile where she picked granddaughter, Princess Blanche, to marry King Phillip’s son, Louis VIII. On the way back Blanche stayed at Chateau-Gaillard, entertained by Uncle King John, until her marriage took place. In 1203 Phillip II laid siege to Gaillard which in 1204 ended the almost 300 year possession of Normandy by the English. During the 100 years war it exchanged hands but in 1450 the French fully recovered it. Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings by Amy Kelly

16. But Eleanor craftily made sure that Rollo’s line lived on in Normandy through Louis VIII’s marriage with Blanche of Castle. I wonder, did Eleanor, Richard or John ever remember as they look out over the ramparts eastward towards St. Clair-sur-Epte their ancestor, Rollo, 1^st Duke of Normandy? Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings by Amy Kelly; Laurel Fechner