Places in France Associated with Rollo the Viking

[SusanG1400@aol.com]

Dear Mr. Quarterman,

       I am sending you this article again because apparently it did not go 
through when I sent it the first time.

Sincerely,

Susan M. Grady



Places in France Associated with Rollo the Viking, the ancestor of William 
the Conqueror and the Sinclairs

Ms. Susan M. Sinclair Green Grady and her husband, Dr. A. Dane Bowen, Jr., 
visited all of these places in June 2002.  Mr. Philippe Sinclair told me 
where to find them.

St. Clair-sur-Epte - This small village is just west of the town of Gisors 
(Gisors is forty miles southeast of Rouen), France.  It was here in 911 A.D. 
that Rollo (Hrolf the Viking from Norway or Rollon in French) signed a peace 
treaty with King Charles III, Charles the Simple, of France.  Rollo was 
baptized a Christian in 912 A.D. in Rouen.  On the main square, Place Rollon, 
in St. Clair-sur-Epte there is a church that was begun in the 9th Century 
A.D.  At the front of the church to the left of the altar there is a 
beautiful stained glass window on the side wall depicting the signing of the 
treaty.  This window was installed after World War I.  On the wall in front 
of the church that faces the Place Rollon there is a plaque written in French 
commemorating the treaty.

Rouen - In the cathedral Notre Dame de Rouen you will find the graves of 
Rollo the Viking, his son, William Longsword, and King Richard I, Richard 
Lionheart of England.  King Richard's heart was formerly buried there, but it 
was thrown out at the time of the French Revolution.  If you enter the south 
side of the cathedral, to the right side you will see a shrine to Joan of Arc 
(Jeanne d'Arc), who was burned at the stake in Rouen by the English in 1431 
A.D.  If you keep walking straight, you will come to the first main aisle in 
the church.  Turn right and you will see the graves of Rollo and King 
Richard.  The grave of William Longsword is about opposite to the grave of 
King Richard, but on the other side of the cathedral.  There is a statue of 
Rollo the Viking in Rouen.  You should go to the St. Ouen Cathedral.  You 
should stand facing the front of the cathedral.  Just to the right of it, 
there is a small park.  It contains a reproduction of a large stone from 
Scandinavia in the Viking era with runic writing on it.  The statue of Rollo 
the Viking is also there.

Falaise - There is a large castle there.  It was built in the twelfth century 
on the foundations of the castle where William the Conqueror was born in 1027 
A.D.  On the square in front of the castle there is a huge statue of William 
the Conqueror carrying a pennant and riding a rearing horse.  Around the base 
of the statue are smaller statues of the first Dukes of Normandy (Norseman's 
land).  One of these statues is of Rollo the Viking.