General Notes

[from Ancestry.com 139798.GED]
The son of Ragnvald, he was so stout and strong that no horse could carry him. Thus he was known as Gange-Rolf, or Rolf the Walker. One summer on the return from one of his viking expeditions, he made a strand-hug (a foray for cattle and provisions for his ships) in Viken. Hing Harald had Rolf tried by a special session of the Norwegian Thing, which declared him an outlaw in all Norway. He then sailed westward to the Sudreys, the present Hebrides and joined vikings there who then plundered Paris and the province of Bourgogne in 885. King Charles the Simple of France gave him and his successors the area that became Normandy by the Peace of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. In 912 he became a Christian and married Gizela the daughter of Louis I.

Rolf was declared an outlaw by King Harald the Fairhaired when he apparently stole cattle in Viken to provision his ships.  He then sailed off to raid England, Flanders, and France. In 911, he established a base on the Seine.  Charles the Simple of France held off his seige of Paris, battled him near Chartres, and negotiated the treaty of St. Clair-sur-Epte, which gave him and his successors the part of Neustria that became Normandy.  Normandy was renamed after the large number of Normans, also known as Norsemen or Northmen.

Rollo First duke of Normandy c. 860-932

Viking leader. He left Norway about 875 and marauded, sailing up the Seine to Rouen. He besieged Paris 886, and in 912 was baptized and granted the province of Normandy by Charles III of France. He was its duke until his retirement to a monastery 927. He was an ancestor of William the Conqueror.