How tall was rollo the viking

Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Melissa Snell. History Expert. Melissa Snell is a historical researcher and writer specializing in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Updated February 06, Featured Video. Fans enjoyed watching Gisla, the Frankish princess, come to love Rollo after first being disgusted and dismayed at being forced to marry him.

But was this character actually based on a real historical person? While there are stories of a princess Gisla who was married to Rollo, many historians say that the evidence is murky as to whether this event occurred. They also aren't sure whether the individual, Gisla, was in fact a real person.

Rollo did marry a noblewoman named Poppa of Bayeux. With Rollo becoming the first Duke of Normandy , their children and grandchildren were born into the aristocracy. Rollo and Poppa's descendants continued to rule Normandy for the next several generations. This changed the English language, culture, and destiny forever. William, and therefore Rollo, is said to be the direct ancestor of all modern European monarchs. Rollo's descendant, William the Conquerer, went on to have many royal descendants, including Richard the Lionheart.

This King of England ruled about a hundred years after William did, and has been immortalized most famously through his connection with the legendary Robin Hood. According to legend, Robin of Loxley fought in Richard's army during the crusades. Upon his return, so the story goes, he finds that the local sheriff has taken over his lands and is getting away with all sorts of corrupt schemes with the King away.

Whether this legendary soldier turned outlaw actually existed is still unknown. From the 8th Century, the coastline of Normandy was repeatedly subjected to Viking raids.

Eventually, settlements began to pop up, and raids began to extend further into the heart of Frankia, or modern-day France. Charles offered to cede the land the Vikings already held and to give Rollo rulership of it. Many Scandinavians continued to arrive to settle their new land, adopting Frankia customs and language, and becoming known as the Normans.

The real Rollo did allow himself to be baptized into the Christian religion, just as the Rollo of Vikings did. This was part of his contract with Charles the Simple of Frankia in to cede the northern coastal lands to the Vikings, who frequently raided them. Rollo and his army were required to convert and eventually adopted many of Frankia's customs. Rollo and Ragnar are shocked when after his execution, Earl Haraldson curses Eric, thus making it so that he will not be able to enter Valhalla.

Rollo then accompanies Ragnar on the first raid to England , despite their ruler, Earl Haraldson, refusing to allow them to go. He makes no secret of his attraction to Lagertha , Ragnar's wife, and expresses his continuing sadness that she chose Ragnar over him. During the raid of Lindisfarne 's monastery in the Kingdom of Northumbria , Rollo walks in on Ragnar talking to a Christian named Athelstan.

Rollo insists on killing him but Ragnar forbids it, declaring the monk is worth more alive than dead. Surprised, Rollo reminds his brother they are equals and attempts to kill Athelstan anyway.

However, Ragnar pushes his brother back, causing Rollo to angrily chop the crucifix in the room to pieces, telling Athelstan that is how much he respects his God before storming off and leaving for the boats taking Athelstan, slaves, and treasures with them.

Unable to ignore the riches this unsanctioned journey has returned, Earl Haraldson has no choice but to agree to let these warriors undertake a second trip out.

Rollo, Ragnar, and their crew land on the Northumbrian shores again. This time they are welcomed by a few Anglo-Saxon warriors, however, Rollo doesn't trust them and suggests that they kill them, and they do just that. After the bloodshed on the beach, the Vikings choose the Sabbath to invade the town of Hexam and unleash a flood of violence and panic.

Rollo spares an old, sick man, and gives him a glass of water to drink before taking the iron jug and cup. When Lagertha later kills Knut for trying to rape a Saxon woman and her, Ragnar falsely claims that he killed Knut so as to protect his wife and is put on trial by Earl Haraldson. Despite the Earl's attempts to bribe Rollo to turn against Ragnar, he testifies in support of his brother, who is then acquitted.

Earl Haraldson attempts to kill Ragnar and his family by attacking their farm , but they escape and go into hiding. As a way of finding them, Haraldson has Rollo captured and tortured to try and make him reveal Ragnar's location, but Rollo refuses, remaining steadfast. When Ragnar learns that Haraldson has tortured his brother, he challenges the Earl to a trial by combat which the Earl accepts. When Ragnar wins the duel and kills Haraldson, the Earl's steward, Svein , yells for the other guards to kill Ragnar.

At this, Rollo quickly throws an axe into Svein, killing him with satisfaction after he had been tortured by him. That night, at the celebratory feast in the Great Hall, Ragnar tells him that he does not need to swear his loyalty because he has already paid a high price, meaning the torture Rollo suffered. Nevertheless, Rollo insists on swearing loyalty to Ragnar and his family.

He then quietly says to Ragnar, "How will we ever be equal now? Despite his treatment at the hands of Earl Haraldson's men, Rollo does not bear a grudge against the Earl's widow Siggy and daughter Thyri , and even vouches for them so that they do not have to leave Kattegat.

Rollo then enters into a relationship with Siggy. During the Battle of the Tyne in Northumbria, the Vikings are invited into the castle of King Aelle in order to negotiate. Ragnar offers to return the King's captured brother Aethelwulf of Northumbria and leave Northumbria in return for a ransom payment. Aelle agrees to pay the ransom, but adds the condition that one of Ragnar's men must become Christian first, so he can only negotiate and make peace with a fellow Christian.

Although Ragnar and his men laugh and balk at this stipulation, Rollo agrees to do so, to the surprise of his companions. Rollo is baptized in the river by the Northumbrian bishop and given the Christian name Rolf. Although Rollo has little understanding of the ceremony and does not take it seriously, Floki takes considerable umbrage at Rollo's action and berates him for offending their Norse gods.

Though Rollo seems to remain as staunch a pagan as any of his comrades, Floki's rebuke still unsettles him. While helping fight off an ambush from the Northumbrian's, Rollo eagerly slays as many enemy soldiers as he can. He then yells at Floki "How many Christians have I killed! Rollo, Siggy, and her daughter join Ragnar and his family for the pilgrimage at Uppsala. During the festivities, Rollo engages in the customary riotous behavior, such as drinking, celebrating, and having sex with other women, much to Siggy's disapproval.

Rollo insists that he will be a great man someday and that Siggy would regret leaving him just because he sleeps with other women. Siggy tells him that his brother Ragnar is negotiating with King Horik.

She complains to Rollo that because of his feckless behavior, he was not invited to these negotiations and is missing out on an opportunity to raise himself and improve his position. Despite Rollo missing out on those discussions, Ragnar brings him along anyway on his mission to Jarl Borg , whom King Horik had asked Ragnar to negotiate with in order to settle a land dispute. Jarl Borg discerns that Rollo is jealous and resentful of Ragnar's success, and connives to divide the brothers against each other.

While Ragnar is away courting Princess Aslaug , Borg allows Rollo to stay at his hall and offers him lavish hospitality, such as food, wine, and the sexual use of any of his serving wenches. He flatters Rollo and suggests that he deserves to be greater than his brother. Borg promises that if Rollo fights with him against Ragnar and King Horik, then he will be a powerful and important person.

After quietly considering these offers, Rollo agrees to join Jarl Borg against King Horik and fight against his own brother. During the battle, Rollo critically injures Floki and kills Arne , impaling him with a spear and almost superhumanly lifting him skyward above the fray, although Arne's death struck Rollo with some guilt for striking down his former comrade.

When Rollo is confronted by Ragnar for face-to-face combat, Rollo can not bring himself to fight his brother and surrenders, thereby ending the battle between the two forces. Ragnar, King Horik and Borg then strike an uneasy alliance to go on raids together in the West, and Rollo is taken captive, to be judged for his betrayal of the men from Kattegat. Although the villagers want him to be sentenced to death, the Law-Giver, bribed by Ragnar with a piece of Saxon gold, announces that he has decided to spare Rollo, reasoning that if the Gods had wanted him dead, he would have died already in battle.

Rollo indirectly apologizes to Ragnar by explaining that he merely wanted to step out of his brother's shadow, yet found no sunlight when he did.

Humiliated, Rollo decides to leave Kattegat, although Siggy convinces him to stay. Four years later, Rollo has descended into self-destructive behavior. He is found by Siggy sleeping outside in the snow, apparently more the worse for wear from drinking.

She wakes him up by throwing cold water on his face. She tells Rollo that he has become a disgrace and that he should rot in Hel. She urges him to seek redemption of his honor by asking forgiveness from Ragnar and permission to be included in the next raid on England. Ragnar acknowledges that Rollo has suffered, but other people have suffered much more because of what he has done. During the conclave, Ragnar publicly acknowledges and accepts Rollo back as his brother, but forbids him to go raiding with them.

Rollo is grateful for Ragnar's forgiveness, but is disappointed at accepting his exclusion from the raid. Jarl Borg, having been told King Horik does not want to raid with him, tries to lure Rollo back to his side but is only met with a punch in his face.

As the Viking fleet sails down the fjord on its way to England, a frustrated Rollo watches from the clifftops, longing to be off raiding once more. In Ragnar's absence, however, his decision to exclude Rollo turns out to be as prophetic as it is wise. With Jarl Borg also excluded from the raid due to Horik's mistrust, Kattegat is regarded by the angry Borg as easy pickings while Ragnar's off raiding England with almost all of his most capable warriors.

With Borg's forces sailing up the fjord, Rollo quickly rouses himself from his frustration and self-pity to organize and mount a hurried but worthy defense of Kattegat. Jarl Borg ultimately captures Kattegat, but not as easily as he'd anticipated.

Rollo's resistance, meanwhile, has bought him the time and opportunity to evacuate Ragnar's wife, Princess Aslaug, and young sons, saving them from Jarl Borg's wrath. Rollo leads his brother's family and Siggy to the shelter of a remote farm where they await the return of Ragnar. During their exile, Rollo combs the area for warriors willing to fight Jarl Borg when Ragnar returns. Despite his futile efforts, Siggy is heartened to see Rollo finding purpose as a warrior and a man once more.

Word, meanwhile, has reached Ragnar of Jarl Borg's treachery and of the flight of his family. Sailing back home with all possible haste, Ragnar is brought by Helga , Floki's wife, to the farmhouse where his family has found refuge.

Reunited with his family, an angry Ragnar tells Rollo he wants to destroy Jarl Borg. Rollo, having in the past played the rash, impulsive warrior to his normally cautious and deliberate brother, reins his brother in, counseling him against the futility of an attack at present with so few warriors at their disposal. Rollo is surprised and genuinely happy to see Lagertha once more, and seemingly not on the basis of his past desire for her.

With an adequate force at his disposal, Ragnar can now properly plan to oust Jarl Borg from Kattegat. With the onset of winter around the corner, the lack of winter grain makes Jarl Borg's grasp on Kattegat untenable. Angered at Ragnar's efforts, Jarl Borg and his forces ride out of Kattegat in pursuit, predictably. Having drawn Jarl Borg out, Ragnar's forces spring a trap.

The ensuing battle is a victory for Ragnar, with Jarl Borg barely escaping with his life. Ragnar, however, is quick to criticize his son for his recklessness, telling him he has much to learn. Ragnar and his allies return to Kattegat in triumph.

Rollo seems surprised, but not chagrined. A messenger informs Ragnar that King Horik and his son barely escaped an attack from King Ecbert's forces. Ragnar and Rollo agree, but the earl wants to deal with Jarl Borg first. King Horik understands Ragnar's thirst for vengeance, but points out that they need Borg's men and ships if they are to go to Wessex again due to the losses they sustained during their last foray.

At his departure from Kattegat, Siggy, King Horik and even Torstein , the man who wished Rollo to be executed earlier, wishes him success on his journey. Before agreeing, Jarl Borg consults with the skull of his late first wife. His new second wife, in the room, looks away. Rollo returns to Kattegat along with Jarl Borg. Jarl Borg confers with Ragnar while Rollo observes from a distance. During the night, Rollo, Torstein, and Floki lead a party that locks Borg's men inside the barn in which they'd been quartered, sets it aflame, and burns them alive.

Bursting into Jarl Borg's sleeping chambers, they seize Borg and subject him to a brutal beating. When one of the men moves to attack Borg's pregnant wife Torvi , Rollo stops him. King Horik enters the Earl's hall to ask Ragnar what is going on. Rollo and the other men drag Jarl Borg inside and deposit him at Ragnar's feet. Ragnar says he cannot forgive Jarl Borg for what he has done to his family and will take revenge by carving a blood eagle on his back.

King Horik asks Ragnar to postpone the execution of Jarl Borg, as they still have no new ally to help them in their raids.

Rollo asks Horik if Ragnar should reprieve Jarl Borg after all he has done, to which the King replies the execution might discourage and deter any possible allies from joining them. Rollo resents Ragnar constantly doing King Horik's bidding, to which Ragnar replies that Horik is the king. A messenger from a possible new ally arrives. Later, Rollo tells Siggy that they've found a new ally, someone called Earl Ingstad. When they are having sex, Rollo starts to strangle Siggy, asking her why she has sex with King Horik.

She tells him she does it for him, as King Horik and Ragnar are allies now but eventually will fight each other, and Rollo will have to choose between them.

Jarl Borg is subjected to the blood eagle. Rollo watches along with the rest of the people of Kattegat. Rollo, now fully redeemed by his defense of Kattegat and by his protection of Ragnar's wife and sons, is once more included in his brother's westward endeavors. Ragnar seeks to first approach King Ecbert in a spirit of diplomacy and cooperation, while King Horik wants only revenge and plunder. Rollo also notices Floki gravitating toward Horik. When an envoy, among them King Ecbert's son Aethelwulf , arrives at the Viking camp, Rollo instructs the men to set up a shield wall and narrow the passage into the camp in case it is a ruse.

However, Ragnar accepts Aethelwulf's invitation to meet King Ecbert at his villa in a peaceful manner. King Horik, however, has no interest in diplomacy or negotiation, secretly sending a company of warriors under his son Erlendur into the forest to ambush Aethelwulf and his escort on their way back, intentionally sparing only Aethelwulf.

As a result, the battle is inevitable. A frustrated Ragnar wants to approach their enemy with deliberation, but King Horik, disdaining such caution, leads them into a trap.

When the Saxon forces are spotted, Horik insists on attacking head-on. King Ecbert, having studied the strategies of Caesar and the Roman legions of old, has drawn the Northmen onto a battlefield of his own choosing.

The Northmen find themselves between multiple bodies of the allied forces of King Ecbert and King Aella. Assailed by coordinated attacks by both mounted cavalry and infantry, The warriors of Ragnar, Lagertha, and Horik suffer heavy losses before fighting their way out of the trap and into headlong retreat.

During the fray, Rollo fights valiantly, killing many. Spotting Prince Aethelwulf, Rollo heads toward him with murderous intent, but ends up wounded, then trampled by horses.

In the battle's aftermath, the Saxon soldiers are finishing off wounded Viking warriors when Athelstan finds the gravely-wounded Rollo, saving him from a final spear-thrust. King Aella recognizes him as Ragnar's brother. King Ecbert, realizing Rollo's importance and potential use, orders him cared for. Later, back at Ecbert's villa, Athelstan goes to Rollo to look after him. Seeing Athelstan in his priestly attire, Rollo says King Horik was right about Athelstan betraying them, regretting his lack of adequate strength to kill him.

Rollo is later released by King Ecbert as part of an agreement with the Northmen that includes payment of gold and silver, 5, acres of good farming land in Wessex, as well as recruiting those Northmen willing to fight as mercenaries for Princess Kwenthrith in her efforts to rule Mercia.

Ragnar sails home to Kattegat with his injured brother, where Siggy and a servant woman take care of Rollo's injuries. During his lengthy recovery, an increasingly-frustrated Rollo has been bedridden and barely able to stand much less walk.