For a more comprehensive bibliography of Norman history, see Rob’s Norman Bibliography (not updated since 2001).

Sources

Recueil des actes de Charles III le Simple, edited by Ferdinand Lot and Philippe Lauer (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1949), no. 92 [918]. The earliest source to mention Rollo, although only in passing.

Flodoard of Reims, Les Annales de Flodoard, edited by Philippe Lauer, Collection des textes pour servir à l'étude et à l'enseignement de l'histoire, vol. 39 (Paris: Picard, 1905) [920s]; Flodoard of Reims, Historia Remensis ecclesiae, edited by Martina Stratmann, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores, vol. 36 (Hannover: Impensis Bibliopolii Hahniani, 1998) [c. 960s]. The first substantive mentions of Rollo; the Annales were written nearly contemporary to the events, while the Historia was composed later.

The Planctus for William Longsword [c. 942]. Mourning poem for Rollo's son, which mentions Rollo briefly.

Dudo of Saint-Quentin, De moribus et actis primorum Normanniæ ducum, edited by Jules Lair, Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie 23 (Caen: F. Le Blanc-Hardel, 1865) [c. 1015]. Partially translated into Danish: Dudo of Saint-Quentin, Normandiets Historie under de første Hertuger, translated by Erling Albrectsen (Odense: Odense Universitetsforlag, 1979). And wholly translated into English: Dudo of Saint-Quentin, History of the Normans, translated by Eric Christiansen (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1998). Another English translation on the Internet: ORB, translated by Felice Lifshitz. Contains the earliest biography of Rollo, although it is almost entirely fictional.

William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis, and Robert of Torigni, The Gesta Normannorum Ducum, 2 volumes, edited and translated by Elisabeth M. C. van Houts, Oxford Medieval Texts (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992-1995) [c. 1070s]. A rewriting of Dudo, but contains some different information.

Wace, Roman de Rou et des ducs de Normandie, 3 volumes, edited by A. J. Holden (Paris: Picard, 1970-1973) [12th century]. Translated as Wace, Roman de Rou, translated by Gwyn Burgess, edited by A. J. Holden (Jersey: La Société Jersiaise, 2002) [contains Holden’s edition on facing pages].

“De statu hujus ecclesiae ab anno 836 ad 1093,” in Gallia Christiana 11, ed. Paul Piolin, 2d ed. (Paris: Victor Palmé, 1874), Instrumenta, cols. 217-24. A.k.a. “Historia fundationis Ecclesiae Constantiensis sive Gesta Gaufridi.” Portions dealing with Rollo translated in van Houts, The Normans in Europe, 38-40. Has a little bit of information not found elsewhere.

Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla, edited by Bjarni Aðalbjarnarson, 3 volumes, Íslenzk fornit 1-3 (Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 1941-51) [13th century]. Translated as Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway, translated by Lee M. Hollander (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1964). Late; widely accepted as having some basis in fact, but not by me.

Studies

Achille Deville, “Dissertation sur l’étendue des terres concédées à Rollon par le traité de Saint-Clair-sur-Epte,” Mémoires de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie 7 (1833): 47-69. Achille Deville, Dissertation sur la mort de Rollon (Rouen: N. Periaux, 1841). Both primarily of historical interest.

Gustav Storm, Kritiske Bidrag til Vikingetidens Historie, I: Ragnar Lodbrak og Gange-Rolv (Kristiania: Den Norske Forlagsforening, 1878). Concentrating on Rollo the Viking; marred by the conflation of Rollo with the saga-hero Göngu-Hrolfr.

Henry Howorth, “A Criticism of the Life of Rollo as Told by Dudo of St Quentin,” Archaeologia 45 (1880): 235-50. The first dismantling of Dudo’s account, and still rewarding.

Walther Vogel, Die Normannen und das fränkische Reiche bis zur Gründung der Normandie (799-911), Heidelberger Ubhandlungen zur mitteren und neueren Geschichte 14 (Heidelberg: Carl Winters Universitätsbuchhandlung, 1906). On the Viking invasions in France; winds up with Rollo.

Henri Prentout, Étude critique sur Dudon de Saint-Quentin et son histoire des premiers ducs normands (Paris: Picard, 1916). A much-longer successor to Howorth; not only does he demolish Dudo, but he tries to reconstruct wie es eigentlich gewesen. Dated but still very useful.

Otto Vehse, “Rollo, ein wikingischer Staatengründer im Westen Europas,” Der Norden 16 (1939): 44-52.

David C. Douglas, “Rollo of Normandy,” English Historical Review 57 (1942): 417-36. The standard work, but very dated.

Louis de Saint-Pierre, Rollon devant l’histoire (les origines) (Paris: J. Peyronnet, 1949). Fanciful, as any book-length history of Rollo must be.

Gérard Denisse, Rollon, ou, La Saga normande de Rolf: Essai de biographie (Sainte-Geneviève-en-Caux: Gérard Denisse, 1976). Fanciful, as any etc.

Lucien Musset, “L’origine de Rollon,” in Nordica et Normannica: Recueil d’études sur la Scandinavie ancienne et médiévale, les expéditions des Vikings et la fondation de la Normandie, Studia nordica 1 (Paris: Société des études nordiques, 1997 [1982]), 383-87.

Elisabeth M. C. van Houts, “Rollo,” in A Dictionary of Medieval Heroes, ed. Willem P. Gerritsen and Anthony G. van Melle, translated by Tanis Guest (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1998), 238-39. Translation of Van Aiol tot de Zwaanridder: Personages uit de middeleeuwse verhaalkunst en hun voortleven in literatuur, theater en beeldende kunst (Nijmegen: SUN, 1993).

Helmut Schwager, “Das (spätere) Herzogtum Normandie unter Graf Rollo/Robert I (†928/31) und Graf Wilhelm I. Langschwert (†942),” in Graf Heribert II. von Soissons, Omois, Meaux, Madrie sowie Vermandois (900/06-943) und die Francia (Nord-Frankreich) in der 1. Halfte des 10. Jahrhunderts, Münchener historische Studien. Abteilung mittelalterliche Geschichte 6 (Kallmünz/Opf.: Michael Laßleben, 1994), 336-59. An overview of Normandy during the reigns of Rollo and William Longsword.

Isabelle Richard, “Rollon, premier duc de Normandie: Légende et réalité,” Thèse de doctorat, Paris, Université de Paris IV, 1993). Difficult to find and concentrating on Rollo as a literary figure, but she gives the gist of it in: Isabelle Richard, “Rollon, premier duc de Normandie et son mythe,” Études Germaniques 50 (1995): 691-98.

Annie Renoux, “Rollo,” in Lexikon des Mittelalters (Munich: Artemis, 1995), 7:966-967. A brief encyclopedia article.

Not Rollo

Göngu-Hrolfs Saga, translated by Hermann Pálsson and Paul Edwards (Edinburgh: Canongate, 1980). Studied at length in Jacob Wittmer Hartmann, The Gongu-Hrólfssaga: A Study in Old Norse Philology (New York: Columbia University Press, 1912). I do not buy the conflation of Rollo and Göngu-Hrolfr.

Halvdan Koht, “L’oliphant de Rollon,” Normannia 2 (1929): 361-69. Concludes that the oliphant was not, in fact, Rollo’s. D’oh.

Fiction

Léon de Tinseau, Le Duc Rollon (Paris: Calmann-Lévy, 1913). A French science-fiction novel published in 1913, set in 2000, and featuring time travellers who retrieve Rollo to the present (which is really the future, which has become the past...oh, never mind). Really more about how Tinseau saw his own world evolving (America has become a monarchy, the Columbian Empire) than about Rollo. I can see Tinseau watching the Norman millenary celebrations and thinking "Harumph. What would Rollo think of all this?"