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History and Genealogy of the Pearsall Family in England and America:

 

Volume I

 

Front Cover

Inside Front Cover

The Motive

Thanks

Illustrations

Contents

 

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Appendix I

 

Volume II

 

Volume III

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER THREE

 

ROLLO, CONQUEROR AND DUKE OF NORMANDY

Twenty-fifth in Ancestry

 

Section 1, Rollo, His Family and History also of Rolf Thurstain and of Malehuc – Section 2, Genealogy of Einar, Earl of the Orkneys.

 

 

SECTION 1.

 

*25. ROLLO, conqueror of Normandy, Duke of Normandy, son of Rognvald, Earl of Mere, Chapter 2, Section 1.

The genuine name is Hrolfr, i.e. Rolf, in various spellings. The French form is Rou, sometimes Rous (whence an odd Latin form Rosus) ; the Latin is Rollo, like Cnuto, Sveno, &c. The strangest form is Rodla which occurs in a late manuscript of the English Chronicles (a. 876. Thorp's ed.). This was clearly meant to be an English form of Rollo. The English masculine ending `a' was substituted for the Latin `o', just as Giso, and Odo are in English Gisa and Oda. The writer also clearly thought that Rollo was a name of the same type as Robert and others, and he fancied that by putting in a `d' he was restoring it to its genuine Teutonic shape. On account of his great stature, which prevented any horse from carrying him, he was known as Gaungo Hrolf, or "the walking Rollo." He was one of the most famous vikings of his age. He married first, More Danico, Poppa, daughter of Count Berenger, count de Senlis. He married second; Gisela, Gesilda, or Oegidia, daughter of Charles the Simple, King of France, although his first wife was living and he was not divorced from her. [The Norman Conquest, by Edward A. Freeman, vol. 1, page 110-111.]

It will be well to keep in mind that the historians of the time were all members of the established Christian Church, and being intensely partisan, they could not see current events, except from the standpoint of the church. They were dogmatic in their opinions, and therefore they could not understand the sanctity of marriage unless celebrated according to the sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church. Hence, the priest was perfectly willing to marry Rollo to the king's daughter, although he had a living wife obtained by a pagan ceremony, as thereby he accomplished the condemnation by Rollo of the old alliance, and at the same time bound to France, this strong soldier by ties stronger than those of the treaty by which he had acquired his domain. The Sea-king had so little faith in the new religion that perhaps he felt the new ceremony could do him no harm, and yet please his new friends. It is to his everlasting credit that he nevertheless respected the old marital alliance with Poppa.

These clerical historians assert that Rollo was converted to Christianity in 912. While Prof. A. W. Kerkaldy, after a most careful research, says it is doubtful if the conversion of Rollo ever took place. In this connection he says it is important to note that no Christian name was mentioned for Rollo in the refer-

 

 

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