Popa was the daughter of the Count of Bayeux. Rollo the Viking captured her in battle and married her – but was this bride-kidnapping or not?

She is my 28 x great-grandmother.

Popa, sometimes spelt as Poppa, was born in Évreux, Eure, Haute-Normandie, France in 8721. She is the only daughter of Berengar, Count of Bayeux2 3. Poppa’s mother was the daughter of Pepin, but her name is not recorded4.

A photo of the cathedral in Evreux - Exvreux, France
The cathedral in Evreux – Evreux, France

Titles

As Rollo’s wife, she had the title of Duchess consort of Normandy1.

Family

In or around 8863, Popa married Rollo more Danico or ‘in the Danish manner’ which is another way of saying ‘according to Viking customs‘5. The term is vague and can distinguish between Catholic and other pagan rituals. It is a practice that existed, at least, in the early years of the Duchy of Normandy5.

Other unverifiable sources suggest more danico is another way of saying bride kidnapping.

A photo of a statue of Poppa of Bayeux - Bayeux, France
A statue of Poppa of Bayeux – Bayeux, France

While we know Rollo captured Bayeux and Popa there is nothing conclusive to suggest this was a forced marriage. On the other hand Rollo was a viking. Anyone who’s seen his character on the hit TV series Vikings wouldn’t be surprised at this conclusion.

We may never know the truth behind this relationship.

Popa and Rollo had two children:

  1. William5.
  2. Gerloc, who changed her name to Adele2.

Through William, Popa is the great-great-great-grandmother of William the Conqueror1. This makes him my fourth-cousin twenty-three times removed.

Rollo later renounced his marriage and married the daughter of Charles the Simple more Christiano5.

This new marriage was a political move to show allegiance to French King Charles the Simple after the Battle of Chartres. It is likely Rollo humoured Charles to gain the region now known as Normandy from France.

After his second wife’s death around 9124, Rollo took Popa back and had a proper, i.e., Christian, wedding5. This removed any doubts of William being his successor5.

Notable events

Rollo the Viking conquered Bayeux in France where he captured Popa5 6, and killed her father3.

Death

She died on 11 August 930 in Rouen, France7 but we don’t know how she died. They buried her in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Rouen, in Rouen1.

Lineage

She is my 28 x great-grandmother.

  1. Poppa of bayeux; Geni.com; (Retrieved 2019-10-24) [↩][↩][↩][↩]
  2. Dukes of Aquitaine, Comtes de Poitou 902-1137; Charles Cawley; 2019-02-16[↩][↩]
  3. Normandy Dukes; Charles Cawley; 2017-04-13[↩][↩][↩]
  4. Franks, Carolingian nobility; Charles Cawley; 2018-11-03[↩][↩]
  5. Marriage in the Western Church: The Christianisation of marriage during the patristic and early medieval periods; Philip Lyndon Reynolds; 1994[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
  6. Queens, Concubines and the Myth of Marriage More Danico: Royal Marriage Practice in tenth and eleventh-century England; J. L. Laynesmith; 2014-03[↩]
  7. Poppa of bayeux; Geni.com; (Retrieved 2019-10-24) [↩]