HISTORICAL FICTION

Rollo Takes a Wife

Vikings 11 — The first Duke of Normandy

The sack and pillage of Bayeux — image created by author using Fotor AI

Rollo did win concessions of land from the King of Francia, not as much land as he had asked for, but a good beginning none-the-less. The victory was bittersweet as it hadn’t been long before he heard of the massacres in Long and Longpré. Derelie and his son and daughter had perished at the hands of Haraldsson and his men.

The news hardened him. He knew he didn’t have the men to mount an attack on Haraldsson in Norway. There was little he could do, at least until he had consolidated his hold on this new land in Francia. He needed to gather all the enemies of Haraldsson to him, and secure the support of the French King for that future confrontation.

Rollo spent the next two years solidifying his new holdings in Francia, a task that involved battles between those currently holding the towns along the Atlantic coast between Harfleur and Saint Valery en Caux. With each port secured, he opened the door to Francia a little wider for his own countrymen and other Norsemen from Iceland and Greenland, who had targeted by the Norwegian King. The Norse and Danes began to settle in the communities along the coast and along the rivers flowing inland.