Rollo the Viking

his origin among the Norwegians

of the Atlantic islands
by
Steven S. Green
assisted by
John R. Dungan, MD, DDS, Earl of Limerick

© 2018

Rollo the Viking

Preface
It is everywhere agreed that Rollo was a Northman, a viking, whose virulent attacks
on the realm of the Franks precipitated his rise to prominence in the early 10th century,
and from whom descend the Normandy Dukes. Scholars agree that circa 911, he was
awarded Rouen and surrounding lands by Charles Simplex, a late Carolingian ruler of
the Frankish kingdom, and that he lived through 927 but no later than 932. It is certain
that some early chroniclers who dealt with Rollo confused him with his (yet more
obscure) viking predecessors, producing stories which attribute to him many of their
deeds.
Scholars concur that the career of Rollo is exaggerated in legend and that he was
much more insignificant in his own lifetime than one would gather by cursory
examination of the record.
In the early 13th century the Norwegian Snorre Sturlason compiled and edited
collections of sagas such as the Heimskringla, some of which refer to a Göngu-Hrólfr as
the founder of Normandy. While agreement prevails among Norwegian academics on
the accuracy of this key identification, it has often been challenged elsewhere. Snorre
makes this Hrólfr the son of Rögnvaldr, Jarl of Møre, a figure who is generally accepted
as an historical ally of the tyrannical Haraldr hárfagri, King of Norway.
This “son of Rögnvaldr” aspect was so popularized that into modern times, it enjoys
virtually unanimous acceptance among casual observers.
In recent years, historians have attempted to bring Rollo into clearer focus. Stewart
Baldwin has addressed the issue, offering various reported genealogical alternatives but

1
not endorsing any. None of the alternative paternities for Rollo suggested in Baldwin’s
Henry Project page Rollo “of Normandy” were thoroughly examined, although he made
a strong case that the Rögnvaldr paternity was subject to grave doubt and likely false.
He refused, however, to accept the identification of Rollo with Göngu-Hrólfr, apparently
viewing the latter as purely legendary.

2
 Chapter I

Rollo of Normandy is known through works issuing from two distinct communities:
the writers of early France and England who wrote in Latin, and the skalds, storytellers
whose tales were transcribed as sagas in Norse, and sometimes altered, by Ari
Thorgilsson and Snorre Sturlason (spellings variable). The Frankish and Norman
sources have been interpreted to good advantage by others. These include works of
Orderic Vitalis, Flodoard, Dudo of Saint Quentin and Richer of Reims. William of
Malmesbury provides a measured, clear-minded assessment if not definitive chronology.
All of the following names from Latin chronicle are believed by scholars to represent
Rollo: Rotlo 1; Rodulfus2; Rolphus3, etc., and many have speculated on the evolution of
the dominant “Rollo” form without success. Discussion of this problem has no bearing
on the identification of the leader of the Normans of Rouen as of a.d. 911; it is simply a
name, convenient, widely and permanently applied.
The narrow focus will be to re-examine statements from selected sources, to
accentuate the need to distinguish Rollo from his viking predecessors in Gaul also
named “Rodulf”, and offer a more fully developed theory reconciling the sagas, as a
body of evidence, with the best available analyses of historical reality. That the sagas do
contain some serious distortions is to be understood, however, it may be noted that
serious efforts to specifically identify such errors have continually fallen short.
Many Norse names contain a descriptive element, often a single word prefix,
habitually associated with the person’s given name (e.g., “Torf-Einar”), sufficiently
exclusive that, in a population of finite number, an absolute, unmistakable and
permanent identity is affixed, associated with a time and place(s). In this instance, a
certain Einar was reputed to have been the first to utilize turf as fuel on his island and
this was viewed by the writers of later days as a memorable and significant aspect of a
unique career. This empowers the argument that the present example, “Torf-Einar”,
constitutes an historically attested individual.
That “Göngu-Hrólfr” was a similarly unique and historical person will be established
to a moral certitude. It will follow that the debate revolving around Rollo may be
understood as the scholastic peregrinations of a world divided into two camps: those
who, benefitting from the Nordic Weltanschauung, perceive that this Viking founded
Normandy, and others, lacking it, unaware of a systemic failure, who either believe that
Göngu-Hrólfr does not exist, or, evidently, believe that a DIFFERENT Viking founded
Normandy, a case for which no evidence whatsoever, in any language, can be recovered.
The Norse “Hrólfr” is the contraction of “Hrod-wulf”, is extremely widespread, and
1 Chronicon de Gestis Normannorum in Francia
2 Inger Ekrem and Lars Boje Mortensen, ed., Historia Norwegie, trans. Peter Fisher, Museum Tusculanum Press, U. of
Copenhagen, 2006, p. 66.
3 Jean-François Pommeraye, Histoire de l'Abbaye Royale de S. Ouen, Lallement et Mesnil, Rouen, 1662, p. 3.

3
is endemic in northern Europe and into Francia. Its many variations include Rodulf,
Rudolf, Rolf, Hrolf, and it is frequently seen as Raoul among the Franks. A prime
example of a Danish “Rodulfus” who might have been conflated with Rollo by Frankish
chroniclers is seen in a passage of the Annales Bertiniani, “Rodulfo Normanno, Herioldo
filio”4 in reference to the son, deceased c. 870, of Harald “Klak” king of Denmark.
Chaos surrounds the career of Rollo of Normandy, stemming from Dudo’s history of
the Normans, which reports the exploits of two brothers, “major natu ROLLO , alter vero
junior GURIM”5. These suspiciously resemble the mid-ninth century sons of Harald
“Klak”, King of Denmark, Rolf / Rodulfus and his brother Guthorm / Godurm /
Gudurm, who fought their uncle Rörik for control of Denmark, killing him in 854,
Guthorm perishing simultaneously,6 which mirrors Dudo’s claim that the King of
Denmark killed Gurim. Had Dudo supposed Rodulfus, son of Harald to have been
Rollo, and Guillaume de Jumièges followed him over the cliff, it might suggest that
Rodulfus had preceded Rollo into Neustria, making later distinction difficult. This alone
would prove that Rollo of Normandy has neither an origin in Denmark nor a brother
Gurim, and resolve various chronological discrepancies, as many chapters in the works
of early chroniclers roll on and on, merging the two, oblivious to this debacle.
An alternative possibility, that Rodulfus, son of Harald “Klak” was also known as
“Rollo” seems almost too remote for consideration; but in either eventuality, the blurring
of this figure with Rollo of Normandy in the Gesta Normannorum Ducum is a severe
hindrance to accurate dating of the latter, upon which attention ought soon fall. More
likely, once codified, the name “Rollon” was retro-fitted during the 10th century, to be
anachronistically and indiscriminately applied to one or more 9th century vikings also
named Rodulfus who preceded Rollo in the devastation of Francia. Special caution
should then be taken in the attribution of deeds to Rollo, who arrived on the scene later
than has often been suggested.
A re-examination of brief comments found in the work of William of Malmesbury
and in the anonymous Historia Norwegie will restore proper context to the debate over
identification of Rollo and remove obstacles to accurate assessment of the sagas. The
surprising result will be a totally revamped interpretation of Snorre’s work which will
open the door to acceptance of the correct solution, one which has been quietly in
evidence from the very beginning.

4 Recensuit G. Waitz, Annales Bertiniani, Impensis Bibliopolii Hahniani, Hannover, 1883, p. 67.
5 Dudone Sancti Quintini, De moribus et actis primorum Normanniæ ducum, Jules Lair, ed., LeBlanc-Hardel, Caen, 1865,
p. 141.
6 Charles Cawley, ed., Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, Denmark Kings, 1. Kings of the Danes, 9th Century, 2015.

4
 Chapter II
The early history of Norway is obscure. According to Snorre, one king, Haraldr,
became supreme over the others, and this corresponds to the historical takeover of
Norway by Harald “finehair” (or “fairhair”). Historia Norwegie reports that Harald
succeeded his father Halvdan the Black (Halfdanus Niger, the Hálfdan svarti
Guðrøðarson of Snorre7):

XI IPost istum filius suus Haraldus Comatus, ob decoram cesariem

sic cognominatus, totius maritime zone regnum nactus est primus;
mediterranee quidem zone adhuc reguli presidebant; sic tamen quasi
sub eius dominio. 2De hoc memorantur multa et mirabilia, que nunc
longum est narrare per singula. 3Hic regnabat LXXIII annos et genuit
XVI filios. 4Primogenitus Ericus, qui cognominatus est Blothex, id
est Sanguinea Securis.8

The reserved tenor here tends to free the reader from any deep-seated fear of duplicity
even if the length of Harald’s reign and fecundity sound exaggerated. Perhaps the
description of Erik “bloodaxe” as his firstborn is a red flag, as it contrasts sharply with
Snorre’s report that Harald “put away nine wives” when he married Ragnhild9; but then,
Snorre does not play the great confidence builder with his comment that Erik’s wife
(Gunhild) was the daughter of Ozur “Tote”, a Finn who lived in Halogaland10, whilst
Historia Norwegie calls her a daughter of Gorm “the old”, whom it labels “the stupid”11
(a far more prestigious lineage). Snorre could be sniping at Erik or his descendants with
unknown motivation.
All the period sources unite in describing an exodus from the tyranny of the late 9th
century King Harald. This is well characterized in the second chapter of the Laxdæla
Saga, “Ketill and his Sons prepare to leave Norway”:

In the latter days of Ketill arose the power of King Harald the Fairhaired, in
such a way that no folkland king or other great men could thrive in the land
unless he alone ruled what title should be theirs. When Ketill heard that
King Harald was minded to put to him the same choice as to other men of
might - namely, not only to put up with his kinsmen being left unatoned, but
to be made himself a hireling to boot - he calls together a meeting of his
7 Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla Vol. II, trans. Alison Finlay, Anthony Faulkes, Viking Society for Northern Research,
University College London, 2014, p. 321.
8 Ekrem and Mortensen, Op. cit., p. 80.
9 Cawley, Op. cit., Norway Kings, B. Kings of Norway [872]-1028 Doubtful Lineage, 2014, note 56.
10 ibid., Norway Kings, B. Kings of Norway [872]-1028 Doubtful Lineage, 2014, note 136.
11 Ekrem and Mortensen, Op. cit., p. 83.

5
 kinsmen, and began his speech in this wise: “You all know what dealings
there have been between me and King Harald, the which there is no need of
setting forth; for a greater need besets us, to wit, to take counsel as to the
troubles that now are in store for us. I have true news of King Harald’s
enmity towards us, and to me it seems that we may abide no trust from that
quarter. It seems to me that there are two choices left us, either to fly the
land or to be slaughtered each in his own seat. Now, as for me, my will is
rather to abide the same death that my kinsmen suffer, but I would not lead
you by my wilfulness into so great a trouble, for I know the temper of my
kinsmen and friends, that ye would not desert me, even though it would be
some trial of manhood to follow me.” Bjorn, the son of Ketill, answered: “I
will make known my wishes at once. I will follow the example of noble
men, and fly this land. For I deem myself no greater a man by abiding at
home the thralls of King Harald, that they may chase me away from my
own possessions, or that else I may have to come by utter death at their
hands.” At this there was made a good cheer, and they all thought it was
spoken bravely.12

It is a chronological inevitability that the future leader of the Normans, Rollo, was
swept up in these events. Perhaps Ketill had already been established in the islands for a
time13 when Harald’s supremacy drove Hrólfr/Rollo to the islands: “It is ... likely that
Ketill’s floruit in the Hebrides was at a period that pre-dates Harald’s victory at
Hafrsfjord”14 (whereby the latter consolidated rule over Norway.) More specific
information on this is gathered as William of Malmesbury, apparently following Orderic
Vitalis, recounts deeds of a successor to the viking Hasting who raided Gaul:

...First Hasten, and then Rollo: who, born of noble lineage among the
Norwegians, though obsolete from its extreme antiquity, was banished,
by the king’s command, from his own country, and brought over with him
multitudes, who were in danger, either from debt or consciousness of
guilt, and whom he had allured by great expectations of advantage.
Betaking himself therefore to piracy, after his cruelty had raged on every
side at pleasure.....15

This establishes with certainty that Rollo is not from Denmark and ties the career of
Rollo to the late 9th century flight of the Norwegians from King Haraldr. Any legitimate
12 Muriel A. C. Press, trans., Laxdæla Saga; translation into English by Muriel A. C. Press from the original Icelandic
‘Laxdæla saga’, 1880.
13 William P. L. Thomson, The New History of Orkney, Birlinn, Edinburgh, 2008, p. 25.
14 Wikipedia, Ketill Flatnose, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketill_Flatnose, 2018, note 19.
15 J. A. Giles, William of Malmesbury’s Chronicle of the Kings of England, Henry G. Bohn, London, 1847, p. 125.

6
reference in the early chronicles to an origin in “Dacia” must be interpreted in the
understanding that to the Franks, all of Scandinavia was generically Denmark or
“Dacia”, as indeed, the region was then largely undifferentiated. Modern historians find
no evidence that Rollo was present at the battle of Chartres16 as William goes on to
record, and Rollo certainly was not active in Francia in 876, but there should be little
doubt that Malmesbury’s intentions were consistently honorable. Most importantly,
William does not connect Rollo to Rögnvaldr, whose lineage at the time in question was
anything but “obsolete”.
Rollo was forced from Norway by Haraldr hárfagri; this will explain the claim in
Richer of Reims that he was the son of a man named “Catillus”17 whose name
coincidentally appears in the same work as a predecessor of Rollo in Gallic brigandage.
The vacuum of information concerning Rollo’s ancestry in the Norman and Frankish
annals is thus dealt no more than a pinprick by Richer, who appears to report the story
which any self-respecting viking from the islands off northern Britain would tell, that
Ketill “flatnose” was his father, for surely the Franks would fear a man as famous and
the consequences of harming his son. But if this were so, it would also help prove that
Rollo fled Norway in similar circumstances as those the sagas describe for Ketill, and
was somehow associated with, or related to, that viking.
Nowhere in any chronicle of the Franks, though composed by authors well informed
and wise, is Rögnvaldr, Jarl of Møre named, where Rollo is concerned. The suspicion
that the story is an illusion, therefore, is one toward which attention must eventually
gravitate.
The opportunity to rewrite history was certainly available to Snorre. Every reader is
on his own recognizance; a few clues slip through the cracks. On one hand, the great
champion, founder of the line of Normandy Dukes and Kings of England, Göngu-Hrólfr,
is warmly congratulated, his illustrious descendants singled out, and this seems normal
enough, for after all, it is only fitting; but then to transfer some of that glory to
Rögnvaldr? As narrative, this procedure fails, lacking substance. Very many stories
were written by so many different skalds; herein lies the proof, because it would never
have been possible to infect them all; nor could Snorre ever accomplish that.
On one hand: one is expected to believe that a son of the key ally of King Haraldr
was banished, a scenario contrary to intuition. Was treason the charge? Did Hrólfr not
support his “father”, Rögnvaldr? The next issue is the behavior of the real Hrólfr, son of
Rögnvaldr, who did exist (and is the tool whereby Snorre was able to splice his tangled
web). Of this less-than-lordly denizen of historical oblivion, his full brother Thorir (“the
silent”) or a skald channelling him writes, concerning his failure to help him avenge
their slain father,

16 Robert Helmerichs, Rollo as Historical Figure, History of Rollo, Hrólfr.com, ©2002.

17 Stewart Baldwin, Rollo “of Normandy”, Henry Project, file:///F:/Rollo%20of%20Normandy.html, 2001, 2004.

7
 Why are not the spear-shafts flying,
From the hands of Hrólf and Hrollaug,
Thickly ’gainst the press of warriors ?
Now, my father ! I avenge thee.
While we here are closed in battle,
Sits Earl Thorir all the evening,
Silent o’er his cheerless drink.18

This Hrólfr, son of Rögnvaldr, is not out launching fierce piratical raids from the
Hebrides, or Orkneys, he is not out conquering Normandy, visiting Iceland, or founding
a dynasty of any kind, much less that of the kings of England!! Here is the real ‘Hrólfr,
son of Rögnavaldr’, to whom no honor is attached, on whose account an erroneous
genealogy has flourished for the past 800 years!! Why, Snorre? All other scholarly
issues aside, it is readily apparent that Hrólfr, son of Rögnvaldr, is not Göngu-Hrólfr.
They are two separate, but real, persons, and this is certain too, because Hrólfr, son of
Rögnvaldr, consistently lacks the “Göngu-” descriptive through which the founder of
Normandy is known to the Norwegians down through the ages.
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark, and politically motivated. It may be an
attack of some kind on the descendants of Haraldr hárfagri. If Snorre also tried to
diminish in nobility the wife of his son Erik bloodaxe, it might start to look like a
pattern.
The final nail in the coffin of the Rögnvaldr paternity claim comes from the orderly
and clearly composed pages of the Historia Norwegie. The following passage provides
perspective on the mysterious politics of late 9th century Norway:
8
Istas itaque naciones in diebus Haraldi Comati, regis uidelicet Norwegie,
quidam pirate, prosapia robustissimi principis Rogwaldi progressi, cum
magna classe Solundicum Mare transfretantes de diuturnis sedibus exutas
ex toto deleuerunt, ac insulas sibi subdiderunt. 9Vbi securius hiemalibus
sedibus muniti, estiuo tempore tum in Anglos, tum in Scotos, quandoque in
Hibernios suam excercentes tyrannidem ierunt, ut de Anglia Northimbriam,
de Scotia Kathansiam, de Hybernia Diflinniam ceterasque maritimas urbes
suo imperio subiugarent. 10De quorum collegio quidam Rodulfus – a sociis
Gongurolfr cognominatus quia ob enormem corporis quantitatem equitare
nequiens semper incessit – Rodam ciuitatem Normandie cum paucis
mirabili ingenio deuicit....19

18 Joseph Anderson, ed., The Orkneyinga Saga, trans. J. Hjaltalin and G. Goudie, Edmonston and Douglas, Edinburgh,
1873, p. 206.
19 Ekrem and Mortensen, Op. cit., p. 66.

8
 8
In the days of Harald Fairhair, king of Norway, certain vikings, descended
from the stock of that sturdiest of men, Ragnvald jarl, crossing the Solund
sea with a large fleet, totally destroyed these peoples after stripping them of
their long-established dwellings and made the islands subject to themselves.
9
When they had gained safety and security by building winter residences,
they went off in summer on pirating expeditions against the English and the
Scots, and occasionally on the Irish; the result was that in England they
brought Northumbria, in Scotland Caithness, and in Ireland Dublin and all
the other coastal towns under their domination. 10One of this band, Rolf –
known to his comrades as Gongu-Rolf, because he was unable to ride on
horseback owing to his enormous physical size and therefore always
walked – captured the city of Rouen in Normandy, aided by a few
followers, with a wonderful device.....20

So explicit and clear is the tale, so hypnotic, so far in advance of anything else
previously divulged regarding the historical Rollo, that, initially, one might imagine the
“mother lode” of all knowledge concerning him had been found. There are some
anachronisms, and a sense that long-standing traditions have influenced the work, which
dates from the second half of the 12th century. It would be inadvisable to write “the city
of Rouen in Normandy”, for example, until “Normandy” itself came into being, but this
is no greater a sin than if one were to say the Romans invaded England; it is comical,
and ultimately justifiable. The enormem corporis anecdote is deserving of healthy
skepticism, as the Norman sources report nothing similar. Humor notwithstanding, the
explicit, categorical (and unabashed) statement that “Gongurolfr” captured Rouen lays a
royal flush on the table against the deuce pairs of the unbelievers, coming just 250 years
after the event, and antedating Snorre by at least decades. The Franks, it is apparent, had
not known who had invaded their land; the Norwegians, on the other hand, again: knew
exactly who had done it.
The delicate aspect of the “revelations” of the Historia Norwegie is the “Rögnvaldr
connection”. There seems to be one. No, Gongu-Rolf is not the son of Rögnvaldr, but
could indeed be a cousin or nephew, according to the drift of the conversation. It is a
monastic composition, subject to rigorous scrutiny, and this must be stated with
conviction: the author of any similarly prepared document could never, ever have
brought the student this far only to omit, at the last possible moment, a previous
generation, known to him, of the Norman kings of England. There is too much at stake,
and he has far too much expertise in genealogy to suddenly collapse, and fail, if this
were the case, in the middle of a very intelligently written essay of this quality. Gongu-
Rolf sacked Rouen and is the ancestor of the Normandy Dukes; he is found among men
descended from “the stock” of the Jarl, “Rogwaldus”; but his relationship is no closer
20 ibid., p. 67.

9
than that, and it would appear from the context and the overarching thematic
presentation that the author has shared everything he knows on the subject. Another
way of saying this is that there can have been no motivation of the part of this chronicler
to deny a Rögnvaldr paternity, which, without any question, would have been known to
him, especially since he offers no alternative, for he has access to the same or perhaps
even less corrupt versions of the traditions available to Snorre. This writer seems to
know the real story of Rögnvaldr better than any other.
Snorre is not vindicated in any meaningful way by these findings. From the
somewhat cryptic yet smooth, authoritative language in which the origin of Göngu-
Hrólfr is couched in Historia Norwegie, it sounds more than likely that he is related to
the Jarl of Møre on his mother’s side.

10
 Chapter III
The codification of the sagas is at once a blessing and a curse. Whenever one author
copies or revises another, there is risk of loss, and hope of preservation. The grandiose
task of tracing individual stories back to their skaldic origins belongs to others; the focus
of this study remains Rollo of Normandy. Yet reflection on some broader issues may
help keep this matter in perspective, on those compelling themes driving the Norsemen
and their storytellers. Firstly, the flight from the tyrannical king Haraldr is a journey of
desperation for many, an exodus, and in the end, a diaspora. Secondly, although it is
often a story of pain and death, it is also one of throwing off of bondage, settlement, and
the building of a new life. Thirdly and most importantly for those in North America, it
is a story of high adventure and exploration. The vikings not only conquered and
dominated, they also crossed a raging sea and discovered a new world. For a very, very
long time, even into very recent times, in very wide circles, this was not believed.
It is, then, fulfilling to learn of documents discovered in the Vatican library whereby
the Roman church sought to direct her faithful in America a thousand years ago, few
though they may have been.21
The vikings are, by definition, a seafaring race. Their sagas unveil a collective
consciousness. The Norwegians obviously fought each other at times, but also
undertook Herculean challenges which defy understanding. Their survival in a hostile
world is also a story of how paganism lived on in a culturally advanced Europe deep into
the Christian era, to be ever so slowly extinguished. The age of vikings is a final
absorption of the barbarians.
With texts widely shunned, as if literary, among conservative scholars, it is not
always possible to detect inaccuracy, and doubts may always remain. Until the last day,
the historical analyst will strive to extract from documents every hint of awareness
conveyed at the time of composition. The humanity of these actors and their skalds is
flesh and blood. The sagas draw the curtain from a window into the past, one streaked
with rain, or covered with frost, yet admitting light. They are the story of a great nation,
a story which has lost none of its vigor, judging from the performance of the Norwegian
team at the winter Olympics in South Korea in 2018.
An interlocking framework preserving records of families, with a generally factual
basis, came out of the dark ages and early medieval period, because every early teller of
stories had his style, his connections, his own life’s journey. He knew the history of his
own kin to be true. We have concrete proof that that Göngu-Hrólfr was the founder of
Normandy because the idea that he is fictional, that this explanation was fabricated,
supposes a vast conspiracy then impossible, as the skalds all operated independently,
travelling their own routes, trading their own skins, carrying their own secrets. Their
21 T. H. Smart ©, The Flatey Book and Recently Discovered Vatican Manuscripts Concerning America as Early as the
Tenth Century, The Norrœna Society, London, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Berlin, New York, 1906, p. 8.

11
stories lived on or died as they might. They remembered the viking who did the deed,
and not for the sake of anyone in particular. The sagas are entirely joie-de-vivre, songs
of northern troubadours, altogether happenstance in nature, arising not out of
fraudulence, but from courage and experience of life.
Walking-Hrólfr is far from a ghost; in fact, he is exceptionally destructive. He is
reported hither, and yonder, and carries great fame among the vikings, in the Hebrides,
the Orkneys, Britain, Ireland, and in the north of Gaul:

In 911, Hrólfr, … who had already gained reputation as a great leader

of Norsemen in Scotland and Ireland, came to the Seine.22

The Franks knew him not; but he carries undying fame among the Norwegians as
founder of the line of the kings of England. Interestingly, Rögnvaldr seems much less a
part of this conversation.
Whether by design or by fault, there is in Snorre an error found; one tale slipped
through his net, one fish he could not catch. One record endured, one salmon of
knowledge escaped, to swim against the stream, telling a wholesome and very different
truth.
Radzin states that Iceland was discovered in the mid 9th century and settled in 874 by
Ingólfr Arnarson of Firðir, in Norway. Over 60 years, she relates, settlers arrived from
Norway and Norse settlements in “the Shetlands, the Orkneys, the western shores of
England and Scotland, and the east coast of Ireland”, adding that “chieftains and
farmers” left Norway for Iceland as Haraldr rose to power.23 Here then, is the sandbox
of Hrólfr, pirate and viking invader. It is the Kingdom of the Isles, of which Ketill
Björnsson “flatnose” was the one-time ruler. According to the Laxdæla Saga, Ketill
came from Raumsdale. Rögnvaldr Jarl of Møre controlled that district.

22 Hilda Radzin, The name “Gongu-Hrolf” in the Old Norse “Gongu-Hrolfs Saga”, Literary Onomastice Studies, Vol. 1,
Article 8, 1974, p. 49.
23 ibid., p. 48.

12
 Chapter IV

Rollo did not “burst” upon the stage of world history by raiding in Gaul. He had
been successful for a long time before that, operating out of the Orkneys, and maybe the
Hebrides, plundering the British isles at will. If the historian chooses to analyze in
quarantine from whatever wisdom the sagas might impart, that is his or her human right.
The insights of Historia Norwegie must not be overlooked, however, merely because it
comes from without the royaume de France, or because its unique MS came to light and
into conflict with Snorre so recently. Its unknown but well educated author was
influenced by Germanic schools of learning,24 and knew the line of the kings of England
perfectly well. His discourse stops short of coverage for King Stephen or Henry II.
Do the naysayers not ask, if Göngu-Hrólfr was not Rollo, who, then, was? Perhaps
the risk of a harrowing experience stands before the anti-Hrólfr faction, because proof is
difficult, denial very easy; but despite 800 years of study since Snorre lived, no
alternative theory has ever been offered. Göngu-Hrólfr is Rollo; without him, the quest
implodes, devoid of fact. In an unprecedented challenge, the genuine Rollo will now be
authenticated by process of elimination. All the candidates ever suggested as the father
of Rollo are eliminated in turn, the legendary, the literary, the false, until only one man is
left standing. He himself will then be subjected to the ordeal by fire, that he may be
accepted or rejected at the whim of the final judge, the student of history.
For the sake of argument, a party of historians is now supposed, dedicated to a
primary ideal that Göngu-Hrólfr is fictional, and agreed, if by chance he should be
historically vindicated, to fall back on championing a secondary ideal, that this Hrólfr
nevertheless cannot be Rollo, the founder of Normandy. Could they produce the “real”
viking who founded Normandy? Whom would they suggest? Where is his story, his
legend? Where does he originate, who are his kin? Did this hypothetical viking harry in
Scotland, or raid from the Orkneys, did he flee the wrath of King Haraldr hárfagri, or did
he stand and fight, only to be driven out? Did he marry, or take mistresses, did he have a
daughter? How many men did he command? How many ships? How did he die? Now,
surely, this would result in a comedy worthy of the name, for in whatever manner of
analysis one may choose, it is this imaginary, undocumented and nameless anti-viking,
who, on the last day, does not exist.
Many vikings invaded and ravaged Carolingian Gaul, tragic by its chaos; King Raoul
fought the vikings; God save us, for they invaded Burgundy. The Capetians fought
vikings. They (thought they) knew the name of every viking leader, that they came out
of the north, and little more. The Franks had difficulty identifying them very precisely,
but word of their exploits reverberated throughout the Nordic world, carried by ship.
Once upon a time there was a king, who happened to be in Scotia. His name was
24 Ekrem and Mortensen, Op. cit., p. 17.

13
Biolan or Bjolan, or Béollán, and although there were many other kings, nevertheless he
was considered one, and he was neither a fictional king, nor a figment, he was perfectly
real, as will be seen.
Reality begins, and fiction ends, when one legitimately real human being of history is
resolved. The people around king Béollán are real as well. This man died in 969 as may
be found in the annals of Inisfallen: “969 3. Beolán Lítil ‫ ך‬a macc do marbad la Ímar
Luimnich (Beólán Litil and his son were killed by Ímar of Luimnech [sic; Limerick])”25
The relevance of this figure to the study of Rollo will quickly become apparent.
It has been demonstrated above that the historical Rögnvaldr, Jarl of Møre, is not the
father of Rollo; peace be with the many who will disagree. The possibility that the
“Catillus”, or Ketill found in Richer could be the father of Rollo has been examined and
rejected, a plausible explanation offered. The next victim of the purge will be Sturlaugr,
King of Hringeríki, father of the literary Göngu-Hrólfr who becomes King of Russia.
The Göngu-Hrólfs Saga in which Sturlaugr is the father is a work of pure and
unadulterated fiction which borrows the name of the founder of Normandy as
entertainment.26 While there may have been persons in Norway by the name Sturlaugr,
this particular one is a non-existent storybook character, and is thus eliminated as a
possible father of the Norman Rollo. The search continues in the islands around
northern Britain, where vikings then ruled.
Evidently, an island located where Iceland should be was known in the time of the
Venerable Bede, called Tili. The earliest Norse seamen known to journey there are
recorded in the Landnámabók:

So it has been said that once men set out from Norway bound for the Faroe
Islands; and some say that it was Naddod the Viking; but they drifted west
into the main and found there a great land.....27

This explorer, Naddoðr, belongs to a noted historical family. In part II, chapter xiv,
“Thorvald, the son of Asvald, the son of Ulf, the son of Ox-Thorir, and Eirek the Red,
his son, went from Jadar for the sake of manslaughters...”28 and this agrees perfectly
with the genealogy recorded in Þorfinns Saga Karlsefnis as preserved in the Hauksbók:

12. Þorvaldr hét maðr; hann var son Eiríkr rauði fann Grœnland. með fǫður sínum.
13. Ásvalds Úlfssonar, Øxna-Þórissonar5. Eiríkr hét son hans.29

25 Seán Mac Airt, ed., trans., The Annals of Inisfallen (MS. Rawlinson B. 503), Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies,
1988.
26 Radzin, Op. cit., p. 51.
27 Ari “Froði” (“the learned”) [Thorgilsson], The Book of the Settlement of Iceland, trans. T. Ellwood, T. Wilson, Kendal,
1898, p. 3.
28 ibid., pp. 58-9.
29 Arthur Middleton Reeves, ed., trans., The Finding of Wineland the Good – The History of the Icelandic Discovery of

14
Hence we have the ancestry of Leif Erikson going back five generations in differing Old
Norse documents which confirm each other in minute detail.
Few were capable of navigating the north Atlantic in those days.
A little after Naddoðr was finding Iceland, if the skalds are to be believed, other
stories were being told, some providing details on the now ignominious but historical
Göngu-Hrólfr. Should one then boldly and fearlessly chart the given genealogies,
unencumbered by doubts concerning their scientific accuracy but leaving that to the test
of time, the resulting intersection shows for the Dukes of Normandy a common ancestry
with Erik the Red and Leif Erikson, upon consideration of the following episodes:

Annarr son Óttars vas Helge; hann herjaðe á Skottland, ok feck þar
at herfange Niðbiorgo, dóttor Beolans konungs ok Caðlinar, dóttor
Gongo-Hrólfs;30

Another son of Oht-here was Helge. He harried in Scotland, and

won there as his booty Nidh-beorg, daughter of king Beolan and
Cadh-lina [Cathleen], daughter of Walking-Rolf.31

[Early Genealogies B. FROM OTHER SAGAS. FROM LAXDOLA

SAGA. 3. [Ch. 32.]

Osvifr hét maðr, ok vas Helga son, Óttars sonar, Biarnar sonar
ens Aust-rna, Ketils sonar Flatnefs, Biarnar sonar Bunu: móðer
Osvifrs hét Niðbiorg; hennar móðer Caðlín, dótter Gaungu-Hrólfs,
Œxna-Þóres sonar; hann vas herser ágætr austr í Vík – Því var
hann Oxna-Þórir kallaðr, at hann átte eyjar þriár, ok átta tige yxna
í hverre;32

Osvif was the name of a man. He was the son of Helgi, who was the son of
Ottar, the son of Bjorn the Eastman, who was the son of Ketill Flatnose, the
son of Bjorn Buna. The mother of Osvif was named Nidbiorg. Her mother
was Kadlin, the daughter of Ganging-Hrolf, the son of Ox-Thorir, who was
a most renowned "Hersir" (war-lord) east in Wick. Why he was so called,
was that he owned three islands with eighty oxen on each.33

America, Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press Warehouse, 1890, p. 105.

30 Gudbrand Vigfussen and F. York Powell, ed., trans., Origines Islandicae, (Landnáma-Bóc II.9.3.) Vol. I, Oxford at the
Clarendon Press, 1905, p. 66.
31 ibid., pp. 66-67.
32 ibid., p. 246.
33 Press, trans., Laxdæla Saga, Op. cit., ch. 32.

15
 [see genealogical table, Rolleston’s Quest for Rollo of Normandy]

https://www.scribd.com/document/375118401/Rolleston-s-Quest-for-Rollo-of-
Normandy

At what point in the medieval period, and why, the rational mind must inquire, did
the skalds, in their cruelty, conspire to deceive later generations into an erroneous belief
that the Dukes of Normandy and Kings of England were close cousins to the discoverers
of North America, if there were no reality to it? Did Ari, or Snorre, or any prankster in
Rome, Oslo, London, Paris, Constantinople or Alexandria, Egypt, have the resources, or
motive, to perpetrate such a fraud? Or, is it that the skalds, in their pathetic ignorance,
are merely wrong? Or, might this casual walk down the path of least resistance expose
an innocent truth? Those are the options.

16
 Chapter V
It is not Rollo who poses a major historical problem. It is Rögnvaldr, therefore, it is
Snorre. Remove the alleged descent from the Jarl, and all the other pieces of the puzzle
fit together. Exactly why this master of legends devised a descent of the kings of
England from the Jarl is not yet clear, but the reason may be guessed. Rögnvaldr was
loyal to Haraldr hárfagri, but was slain by two of his sons. Göngu-Hrólfr, whose
descendants rose to greatness, was related to the Jarl. The inklings of political
motivation step out of the shadows. It may be possible to explain the machinations of
Snorre as a rebuke against the tyranny of Haraldr, an attempted leveling of the playing
field on behalf of the descendants of those oppressed or victimized.
Has Snorre merely adapted old rumors to his own ends?
A fictional “Göngu-Hrólfr” King of Russia does not preclude, or diminish in any way,
the real man from whom his name is derived. Instead, his fable teaches of the Varangian
Danes who controlled the trade routes to the Black sea and beyond, ruled Kievan Rus’ in
the 9th to 11th centuries and intermarried with the slavic nobility. The rare, resilient,
carbon-additive steel Ulfberht swords of the viking warlords, forged using the most
advanced technology of the times in high temperature metallurgy, are now thought to
have been fashioned from low-impurity iron ingots imported from Persia.34 This was a
military advantage of a high order.
The main barrier to recognition of Rollo’s origin and genealogical identity is
linguistic. The legitimacy of Göngu-Hrólfr has been stymied purely on the basis that a
literary accretion about inability to ride a horse is utterly ludicrous. This myth is to be
exploded as follows.
Rollo’s literary size is probably a metaphor for the achievements of his descendants.
The word for ‘walk’, “ganga”, becomes ‘encroach upon’ as “ganga á”, and ‘attack’ as
“ganga at”, and when seen as “atganga” it connotes ‘assault, attack; violence’.35
Therefore, the absurd non-horse-riding accretion is an entertaining trick, whereby the
Norwegians, for whom Rollo was never “Walking-Hrólfr”, but always “Assaulting-
Hrólfr”, enshrined his identity in legend to the exclusion of the Franks. All of this would
make perfect sense if Rollo had but historically distinguished himself through a
preference for leading his vikings into battle on foot rather than on horseback.
Truth will touch the doubtful. Rollo, son of Øxna-Þórir, will resume a modest
historical status. Genealogies of the vikings will forever fascinate, and the Kings in the
College of Arms will sip tea (or gin).

34 Peter Yost, Producer; Frauke Levin, Associate Producer; Anna Auster, editor, Secrets of the Viking Sword,
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/secrets-viking-sword.html, 2012.
35 Jack Garrett, spokesman, The Vikings of Bjornstad Old Norse Dictionary, file:///E:/Vikings%20of%20Bjornstad%20-
%20English%20to%20Old%20Norse%20Dictionary.html © 2018.

17
 Epilogue
Göngu-Hrólfr was a viking of the “Kingdom of the Isles” in the final decades of the
th
9 century, having fled the tyranny of King Haraldr. His patron was Ketill flatnefr,
whose original mission as tax enforcer in the islands (Orkneys, Hebrides, Shetlands) for
Haraldr may have resulted in his parting company from the Norwegian King for a
separate principality. Hrólfr was a pirate whose adventures in Britain and Ireland
brought him renown among the vikings. It is not clear exactly when he turned his
attention to the land of the Franks but the region known as “Valland” to the Norwegians
(Gaul) had been invaded by prior vikings, perhaps including “Rodolphus” (son of
Harald Klak), certainly Hasting, and probably the shadowy Hundeus. The name
“Hrólfr” (Hroðwulfr) becomes Rodolphus in Latin, and the erroneous attribution by
Dudo of Saint-Quentin of the name “Rollo” to the son of Harald Klak, as it may have
been, or the conflation of this Rodolphus with Hrólfr / Rollo as seems the more likely
scenario, dragged later historians of good reputation into confusion, namely Guillaume
de Jumièges and Robert de Torigny. GURIM, the putative brother of Rollo, is Guthorm,
brother of Rodolphus and son of Harald Klak. Rollo is not from Denmark.
The rumor, recorded by Richer but of unclear origin, that Hrólfr was Ketill’s son, was
a logical one. Their descendants intermarried. Snorre’s tale of Hrólfr as a son of
Rögnvaldr seems to have gained currency at an even earlier stage of the storytelling.
Snorre was too well versed to have believed this claim but had political motives for
buying into it, probably to enhance the legitimacy of Rögnvaldr’s descendants and
diminish those of Haraldr hárfagri. It has recently been learned that Hrólfr probably did
have some form of kinship with Rögnvaldr.
Vikings habitually prevaricated when identifying themselves to their enemies, as they
could ill afford anyone tracking them down. One set of rumors presented Hrólfr as the
son of Ketill (who would have been impervious to reprisal), and a yet more widespread
story gained traction, that he was Hrollaugr, son of Rögnvaldr. The truth of this matter
is that Hrollaugr had left Norway to settle in Iceland, opening the door for Hrólfr to
impersonate. Unable to fully pronounce this, the Franks simply called him “Rollo”, the
name by which he is now known to the world.
Hroðlaugr36, the Norse original of the name ‘Hrollaugr’, phonetically produces the
rarely seen Frankish transcription ROTLO, the form of Rollo’s name with which later
scribes replaced the ‘Hundeus’ of the Annales Bertiniani37 and Annales Vedastini.38
Snorre doctored up most of the sagas, all he could lay his hands, to reflect the
Rögnvaldr descent, but a few slipped through his fingers. It is not difficult to tell which
of the sagas retain their original character, as the whole point of the process was to splice
36 Vigfussen and Powell, Op. cit., p. 666.
37 Helmerichs, Op. cit., note 26.
38 C. Dehaisnes (L'Abbé), Les Annales de Saint-Bertin et de Saint-Vaast, Jules Renouard, Paris, 1871, pp. 353-54.

18
the tree of Rollo’s descendants onto that of the Jarl. The survival of tales dealing with
the real Hrólfr son of Rögnvaldr finalizes this analysis, because he bears no similarity to
the Göngu-Hrólfr who would become “Rollo”. Snorre may be responsible for the
transfer of Rollo’s identity from Hrollaugr to his half-brother Hrólfr, Rögnvaldr’s
legitimate son, whereby the Norman’s true name was restored, fictitious paternity intact.
Proof of any theorem begins with particular postulates. The position here is that the
Øxna-Þórir paternity record is the only one which cannot be eliminated from
consideration by scholastic means. Once believed, this begins in subtle ways, especially
in linguistic and onomastic ways, to usher in a sudden de-confliction of the evidence.
It is found that the only extant sagas detailing an unretouched family origin of Göngu-
Hrólfr are agreed in naming Øxna-Þórir as his father. These alone are to be trusted. In
the supreme irony, this hersir and supplier of beef to the King is also the ancestor of Leif
Erikson, discoverer of North America, the coincidence of which has seemingly escaped
previous notice. It may have simply been taken for granted and ignored as a non-issue
by the Norwegians. That two historically significant races of seafaring colonists sprang
from a common viking forebear, in retrospect, is not astonishing.
The density of preconceived notion on this subject is impenetrable. Proving the
Øxna-Þórir paternity to the satisfaction of a majority in under a century would probably
be a lost cause. The objective, however, cannot be to overturn the misconceptions of the
masses, but to awaken an infinitessimal fraction of that number to the sublime logical
reconciliation ushered in by a very broad spectrum of evidence.
One must first grasp the viking age to be able to allocate the pre-Norman Rollo.
Once the other major players are attributed historically, a “Norse” approach reveals
itself. Specifically, this means that the student equipped with working knowledge of the
families of Ragnar Loðbrok, Harald Klak, Rögnvaldr Eysteinsson and Ketill flatnefr has
a great advantage in comprehending the way Göngu-Hrólfr carved out his niche. This
pertains especially to the assumed identities which largely defined the legendary Rollo.
Freedom from the Rögnvaldr problem is prerequisite; Snorre must be unmasked for
the amplitude of the thesis to be unlocked, his motives examined. The right haystack
must be searched.
Rare documents, perhaps already well studied, might yet yield factual evidence to
support these views. Perhaps these secrets are already known to their guardians. Until
they are shared, for the right to perceive Göngu-Hrólfr the viking, and for declaration of
the self-evident truth that he alone is Rollo, let freedom ring; as any suggestion that the
vikings and skalds in their collective wisdom knew not, out of their own small number,
which man had conquered Rouen, would be preposterous in the extreme.

19