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Neustria (within the Kingdom of Siagrius, outlined in orange), in the context of the Franks

The territory of Neustria or Neustrasia, meaning "new [western] land", originated in 511, made up of the regions from Aquitaine to the English Channel, approximating most of the north of present-day France, with Paris and Soissons as its main cities (which is roughly the current size of England and Wales). Thus Neustria formed the western part of the kingdom of the Franks^[1] under the rule of the Merovingian dynasty during the sixth to eighth centuries.

The distinct area originated at the time of the death of Clovis I (as well as the conquered territories over Syagrius), when his sons divided his lands between them. It later became a term for the region between the Seine and the Loire rivers known as the regnum Neustriae, a constituent subkingdom of the Carolingian Empire and then West Francia. The Carolingian kings also created a March of Neustria which was a frontier duchy against the Bretons and Vikings that lasted until the Capetian monarchy in the late tenth century.

Neustria was also employed as a term for northwestern Italy during the period of Lombard domination. It was contrasted with the northeast, which was likewise called Austrasia, the same term as given to eastern Francia.

Merovingian kingdom[link]

Constant re-divisions of territories by Clovis's descendants resulted in many rivalries that, for more than two hundred years, kept Neustria in almost constant warfare with Austrasia, the eastern portion of the Frankish kingdom.

Despite the wars, Neustria and Austrasia re-united briefly on a few occasions, the first time under Clotaire I during his reign from 558 to 562. The struggle for power continued with Queen Fredegund of Neustria (the widow of King Chilperic I (reigned 566-584) and the mother of the new king Clotaire II (reigned 584-628)) unleashing a bitter war.

After his mother's death and burial in Saint Denis Basilica in Paris (597), Clotaire II continued the struggle against Queen Brunhilda of Austrasia, and finally triumphed in 613 when Brunhilda's own followers betrayed the old queen into his hands. Clotaire had Brunhilda put to the rack and stretched for three days, then chained between four horses and eventually ripped limb from limb. Clotaire now ruled a united realm, but only for a short time.

Under Dagobert I (reigned 628-637) the ongoing generational war resulted in another temporary unification. When in Austrasia the Arnulfing mayor Grimoald the Elder attempted a coup against his liege, Clovis II had him removed and again reunited the kingdom from Neustria, but again temporarily. During or soon after the reign of Clovis's son Chlothar III, the dynasty of Neustria, like that of Austrasia before it, ceded authority to its own mayor of the palace.

In 678, Neustria under mayor Ebroin subdued the Austrasians for the last time. Ebroin was murdered in 681, and the Bishop in Poitiers in his own lands commissioned a life of his worst enemy Leodegar in 684. In 687 Pippin of Herstal, mayor of the palace of the king of Austrasia, defeated the Neustrians at Tertry, uniting Austrasia and Neustria from the other side. The writers who lived in Austrasia proved more loyal to their mayor.

Pippin's descendants, the Carolingians, continued to rule the two realms as mayors. With Pope Stephen II's blessing, after 751 the Carolingian Pippin the Short, formally deposed the Merovingians and took control of the empire, he and his descendants ruling as kings.

Neustria, Austrasia, and Burgundy then became united under one authority and the names "Neustria" and "Austrasia" gradually disappeared.

Carolingian subkingdom[link]

In 748, the brothers Pepin the Short and Carloman gave their younger brother Grifo twelve counties in Neustria centred on that of Le Mans. This polity was termed the ducatus Cenomannicus, or Duchy of Maine, and this was an alternative name for the regnum of Neustria well into the ninth century.

The term "Neustria" took on the meaning of "land between the Seine and Loire" when it was given as a regnum (kingdom) by Charlemagne to his eldest son, Charles the Younger, in 790. At this time, the chief city of the kingdom appears to be Le Mans where the royal court of Charles was established. Under the Carolingian dynasty, the chief duty of the Neustrian king was to defend the sovereignty of the Franks over the Bretons.

In 817, Louis the Pious granted Neustria to his eldest son Lothair I, but following his rebellion in 831, he gave it to Pepin I of Aquitaine, and following the latter's death in 838, to Charles the Bald. Neustria, along with Aquitaine, formed the major part of Charles West Frankish kingdom carved out of the Empire by the Treaty of Verdun (843). Charles continued the tradition of appointing an elder son to reign in Neustria with his own court at Le Mans when he made Louis the Stammerer king in 856. Louis married the daughter of the King of Brittany, Erispoe, and received the regnum from the Breton monarch with the consent of the Frankish magnates. This unique relationship for Neustria stressed how it had shrunk in size to definitely exclude the Île de France and Paris by this time, as it was distanced from the central authority of Charles the Bald and closer to that of Erispoe. Louis was the last Frankish monarch to be appointed to Neustria by his father and the practice of creating subkingdoms for sons waned among the later Carolings.

Carolingian march[link]

Main article: March of Neustria

The march of Neustria was a creation of the Carolingian king Charles the Bald in 861. Originally, there were two marches, one against the Bretons and one against the Norsemen. These two marches are often called the Breton March and Norman March respectively. They were ruled by officials appointed by the crown, known as wardens, prefects, or margraves.

In 911, Robert I of France became margrave of both marches and took the title demarchus. His family, the later Capetians, ruled the whole of Neustria until 987, when Hugh Capet was elected to the kingship. The subsidiary counts of Neustria had exceeded the margrave in power by that point and the peak of Viking and Breton raiding had passed. After the Capetian Miracle, no further margraves were appointed and "Neustria" disappeared as a European political term.

Rulers[link]

Merovingian kings[link]

The precise division of Francia into a Neustrian, Austrasian, and Burgundian kingdom dates only from the late sixth century, so earlier kings who ruled from Soissons or Paris are here excluded.

• Chlothar II, 584–629
• Dagobert I, 629–639
• Clovis II, 639–657
• Chlothar III, 657–673
• Theuderic III, 673
• Childeric II, 673–675
• Theuderic III, 675–691
• Clovis IV, 691–695
• Childebert III, 695–711
• Dagobert III, 711–715
• Chilperic II, 715–721
• Theuderic IV, 721–737
• Childeric III, 743–751

Mayors of the palace[link]

These were the chief officers of the kings and gradually became the de facto rulers in the name of the kings.

• Landric, until 613
• Gundoland, 613–639
• Aega, 639–641
• Erchinoald, 641–658
• Ebroin, 658–673
• Wulfoald, 673–675
• Leudesius, 675
• Ebroin, 675–680 (again)
• Waratton, 680–682
• Gistemar, 682
• Waratton, 682–686 (again)
• Berthar, 686–688
• Pepin of Heristal, 688–695
• Grimoald II, 695–714
• Theudoald, 714–715
• Ragenfrid, 715–718
• Charles Martel, 718–741
• Pepin the Short, 741–751

Carolingian sub-kings[link]

• Charles the Younger, 790–811
• Lothair I, 817–831
• Pepin, 831–838
• Charles the Bald, 838–856
• Louis the Stammerer, 856–879

Louis was chased from Le Mans in 858 following the assassination of Erispoe in November 857.

Capetian margraves[link]

Only those who ruled a united Neustrian march are included, though the title "of Neustria" was carried by the earlier margraves of the Breton and Norman marches, the most notable by Robert the Strong, ancestor of these later Capetians.

• Robert, 911–922
• Hugh the Great, 922–956
• Hugh Capet, 956–987

Historiography[link]

The chief contemporary chronicle written from a Neustrian perspective is the Liber Historiae Francorum.^[2]

Notes[link]

Sources[link]

• Oman, Charles. The Dark Ages 476–918. Rivingtons: London, 1914.
• Hodgkin, Thomas. Italy and her Invaders. Clarendon Press: 1895.

Rollo
Rollo on the Six Dukes statue in Falaise town square.
Duke of Normandy
Reign	911–927
Predecessor	New creation
Successor	William I
Born	c. 846
Died	c. 931 Normandy
Burial	Rouen Cathedral

Rollo (c. 846 – c. 931), baptised Robert^[1] and so sometimes numbered Robert I to distinguish him from his descendants, was a Norse nobleman of Norwegian or Danish descent and founder and first ruler of the Viking principality in what soon became known as Normandy. His descendants were the Dukes of Normandy.

The name "Rollo" is a Latin translation from the Old Norse name Hrólfr, modern Scandinavian name Rolf (cf. the latinization of Hrólfr into the similar Roluo in the Gesta Danorum), but Norman people called him by his popular name Rou(f) (see Wace's Roman de Rou).^[2] Sometimes his name is turned into the Frankish name Rodolf(us) or Radulf(us) or the French Raoul, that are derived from it.^{[Note 1]}

Historical evidence[link]

Rollo was a powerful Viking leader of contested origin. Dudo of Saint-Quentin, in his De moribus et actis primorum Normannorum ducum,^[3] tells of a powerful Danish nobleman at loggerheads with the king of Denmark, who had two sons, Gurim and Rollo; upon his death, Rollo was expelled and Gurim killed. William of Jumièges also mentions Rollo's prehistory in his Gesta Normannorum Ducum, but states that he was from the Danish town of Fakse. Wace, writing some 300 years after the event in his Roman de Rou, also mentions the two brothers (as Rou and Garin), as does the Orkneyinga Saga.

Norwegian and Icelandic historians identified Rollo instead with Ganger Hrolf (Hrolf, the Walker), a son of Rognvald Eysteinsson, Earl of Møre, in Western Norway, based on medieval Norwegian and Icelandic sagas. The oldest source of this version is the Latin Historia Norvegiae, written in Norway at the end of the 12th century. This Hrolf fell foul of the Norwegian king Harald Fairhair, and became a Jarl in Normandy. The nickname "the Walker", "Ganger" in Norse, came from being so big that no horse could carry him.

The question of Rollo's origins was a matter of heated dispute between Norwegian and Danish historians of the 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly in the run-up to Normandy's millennium anniversary in 1911. Today, the debate continues.

Latin Wikisource has original text related to this article: De moribus et actis primorum Normannorum ducum

Claimed Yngling lineage leading to Rollo[link]

The Yngling "Fairhair dynasty" lineage introduced in Hversu Noregr byggðist ("How Norway was settled") and the Orkneyinga and Heimskringla sagas suggests a line of Rollo going back to Fornjót, the primeval "king" who "reigned over" Finland and Kvenland.^{[citation needed]} The claimed line leading to Rollo includes Rognvald Eysteinsson, the founder of the Earldom of Orkney.^{[citation needed]}

Raids along the Seine[link]

In 885, Rollo was one of the lesser leaders of the Viking fleet which besieged Paris under Sigfred. Legend has it that an emissary was sent by the king to find the chieftain and negotiate terms. When he asked for this information, the Vikings replied that they were all chieftains in their own right. In 886, when Sigfred retreated in return for tribute, Rollo stayed behind and was eventually bought off and sent to harry Burgundy.

Later, he returned to the Seine with his followers (known as Danes, or Norsemen). He invaded the area of northern France now known as Normandy.

In 911 Rollo's forces launched a failed attack on Paris before laying siege to Chartres. The appeals for help of the Bishop of Chartres, Joseaume, were answered by Robert, Marquis of Neustria, Richard, Duke of Burgundy and Manasses, Count of Dijon. On 20 July 911, at the Battle of Chartres, they defeated Rollo despite the absence of many French barons and also the absence of the French King Charles the Simple.^[4]

The Principality of Normandy[link]

In the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte (911) with King Charles, Rollo pledged feudal allegiance to the king, changed his name to the Frankish version, and converted to Christianity, probably with the baptismal name Robert.^[5] In return, King Charles granted Rollo land between the Epte and the sea as well as Brittany and according to Dudo of St. Quentin, the hand of the King's daughter, Gisela, although this marriage and Gisela herself are unknown to Frankish sources. He was also the titular ruler of Normandy, centered around the city of Rouen. There exists some argument among historians as to whether Rollo was a "duke" (dux) or whether his position was equivalent to that of a "count" under Charlemagne.

According to legend, when required to kiss the foot of King Charles, as a condition of the treaty, he refused to perform so great a humiliation, and when Charles extended his foot to Rollo, Rollo ordered one of his warriors to do so in his place. His warrior then lifted Charles' foot up to his mouth causing the king to fall to the ground.^[6]

Statue of Rollo in Rouen. There are two bronze replicas of this statue : one at Ålesund (Norway) and the other one at Fargo, North Dakota

After 911, Rollo stayed true to his word of defending the shores of the Seine river in accordance to the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, however he also continued to act like a Viking chief with attacks on Flanders.

After Charles was deposed by Robert I, Rollo considered his oath to the King of France to be over. It started a period of expansion westwards. Negotiations with French barons ended with Rollo being given Le Mans and Bayeux and continued with the seizure of Bessin in 924. The following year saw the Normans attack Picardy.

Rollo began to divide the land between the Epte and Risle rivers among his chieftains and settled there with a de facto capital in Rouen. Eventually^[when?] Rollo's men intermarried with the local women, and became more settled as Normans.^{[clarification needed]}

Family[link]

14th century depiction of the marriage of Rollo and Gisela

Two spouses are reported for Rollo:

1. Poppa, said by chronicler Dudo of Saint-Quentin to have been a daughter of Count Berenger, captured during a raid at Bayeux. She was his mistress or wife^[7] perhaps by more danico^[8] They had issue:

• William Longsword, born "overseas".
• Gerloc, wife of William III, Duke of Aquitaine. Dudo fails to identify her mother, but later chronicler William of Jumieges makes this explicit.
• (perhaps) Kadlin, said by Ari the Historian to have been daughter of Ganger Hrolf, traditionally identified with Rollo. She married a Scottish King called Bjolan, and had at least a daughter called Midbjorg, she was taken captive by and married Helgi Ottarson.

2. (traditionally) Gisela of France (d. 919), the daughter of Charles III of France.

Death[link]

Rollo's grave at the cathedral of Rouen

Sometime around 927, Rollo passed the fief in Normandy to his son, William Longsword. Rollo may have lived for a few years after that, but certainly died before 933. According to the historian Adhemar, 'As Rollo's death drew near, he went mad and had a hundred Christian prisoners beheaded in front of him in honour of the gods whom he had worshipped,^{[citation needed]} and in the end distributed a hundred pounds of gold around the churches in honour of the true God in whose name he had accepted baptism.' Even though Rollo had converted to Christianity, some of his prior religious roots surfaced at the end.^{[citation needed]}

Legacy[link]

Rollo is the great-great-great-grandfather of William the Conqueror. Through William, he is an ancestor of the present-day British royal family, as well as an ancestor of all current European monarchs and a great many pretenders to abolished European thrones. A genetic investigation into the remains of Rollo's grandson Richard I and great-grandson Richard II has been announced, with the intention of discerning the origins of the famous Viking warrior.^[9]

The "Clameur de Haro" in the Channel Islands is, supposedly, an appeal to Rollo.

Genealogy[link]

Depictions in fiction[link]

Rollo is the subject of the 17th century play Rollo Duke of Normandy written by John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, Ben Jonson, and George Chapman. He is also a minor character in the romance novel, The Reluctant Viking by Sandra Hill. His wife Poppa and his son William are also minor characters.

See also[link]

Normandy portal

• Viking Age
• Rulers of Normandy
• Clan Rollo

External links[link]

• D.C. Douglas, "Rollo of Normandy", English Historical Review, Vol. 57 (1942), pp. 414–436
• Robert Helmerichs, [Rollo as Historical Figure]
• Rosamond McKitterick, The Frankish Kingdom under the Carolingians, 751-987, (Longman) 1983
• Dudonis gesta Normannorum - Dudo of St. Quentin Gesta Normannorum Latin version at Bibliotheca Augustana
• Dudo of St. Quentin's Gesta Normannorum - An English Translation
• Gwyn Jones. Second edition: A History of the Vikings. Oxford University Press. (1984).
• William W. Fitzhugh and Elizabeth Ward. Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga. Smithsonian Institution Press. (2000)
• Eric Christiansen. The Norsemen in the Viking Age. Blackwell Publishers Ltd. (2002)
• Agnus Konstam. Historical Atlas of the Viking World. Checkmark Books. (2002)
• Holgar Arbman. Ancient People and Places: The Vikings. Thames and Hudson. (1961)
• Eric Oxenstierna. The Norsemen, New York Graphics Society Publishers, Ltd. (1965)
• Medieval Lands on Ragnvald the Wise, the father of Ganger Hrolf, traditionally identified with Rollo, but see the following link below
• Stewart Baldwin Henry Project: "Rollo "of Normandy", on disputed parentage of Rollo
• Decendents of Rollo
• Sturluson, Snorri. Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway, translated Lee M. Hollander. Reprinted University of Texas Press, Austin, 1992. ISBN 0-292-73061-6
• handrit.is (previously Saganet): Orkneyinga saga
• English translation:
• Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney. Trans. Pálsson, Hermann and Edwards, Paul. Hogarth Press, London, 1978. ISBN 0-7012-0431-1. Republished 1981, Harmondsworth: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-044383-5.
• Orkneyinga Saga. Trans A.B. Taylor. London, 1937.
• The Orkneyingers Saga (Icelandic Sagas, and other historical documents relating to the settlements and descents of the Northmen on the British Isles, Volume III). Translated by George Dasent (1894). London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Reprinted 1964 by Kraus Reprint. Text available at Sacred Texts and Northvegr.
• "Fundinn Noregr" ('Discovery of Norway'), opening portion of The Orkneyingers' Saga. Trans. Chappell, Gavin (2004) Northvegr: The Discovery of Norway.
• Thaler, David (2008-12-08). "Section P: Descendants of Halfdan the Old". http://armidalesoftware.com/issue/full/Thaler_841_main.html. 
• "Frá Fornjóti ok hans ættmönnum" in the Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda, Old Norse text of Hversu Noregr byggdisk (including the Ættartolur) and Fundinn Noregr at Snerpa: Netúgáfan: Fornrit and University of Oregon: Norse: Fornaldarsögur norðurlanda.

Notes[link]

References[link]

v t e Dukes of Normandy House of Normandy 911–1135 Rollo William I Richard I Richard II Richard III Robert I William II Robert II Henry I William III House of Blois 1135–1144 Stephen House of Plantagenet 1144–1259 Geoffrey Henry II Henry the Young Richard IV John Henry III