The ROLLO History

In my research on the family name I have gained a massive amount of information from Jack Mingay.  This fantastic 80+ year old was still active to his death looking up material and finding out more than I can possibly put on this site.  Jack believed that the Mingay name came from the Vikings who invaded Scotland and the East Coast of England.  He had a strong belief that we descended from ROLLO who was a Viking and founded the Duchy of Normandy.  

Below is Jacks brief History of the Vikings & Rollo, it makes fascinating reading, enjoy!

Recently Jo sent me this little gem

Also, I am sending part of a letter written to me from a descendant (grandson of Axel Minge) Axel came to US and he is trying to trace him.
Thought this paragraph  might be of interest to you: "And we will find a way to take a DNA test, either myself or one of my brothers. But this will have to wait for now".

It is very interesting that your brother's DNA said that he have ancestors from Norway. You said your family came from Scotland. And many Norwegian Vikings settled there, and also many in the 17th and 18th century. ROLLA (Ganger Rolf) was a son of the best friend of the first king of Norway, his name was Harald, and his friends was the earl of my district and called: Rangvald Mørejarl
(Rangvald Moerejarl). Rolf was so big that he could not sit on a horseback, because they would break, and his feet touched the ground when he sat on the horse. So his name; Ganger Rolf means Walking Rolf, because he had to walk. He invaded Paris, France, and he claimed his weight in silver to let the city go. The French king gave him his silver. But Rollo think that this was very good business, so instead of leaving France, he claimed his own weigth in gold. This the french king couldn't pay, instead he gave him the land he later called Normandie. In return Rollo was to protect France against pirates and vikings. And he did. He got a grand grand son called William. He invaded England in 1066. In the battle of Hastings he beat the english king (Harold). You know the rest.

The Norsemen -------- THE VIKINGS

Although they are referred to as "hosts" and "hordes", and have been likened to a swarm of locusts, the Viking numbers were not great. They were, however a tough people. They raided and traded in the then known world and explored far beyond its reaches. It was Brutal and practical; the burning, the plundering, the slaughtering (nothing was sacred). The population of the Scandinavian World was out stripping the ability of the rugged land to support it. At the end of the eighth century AD the Vikings fell upon the neighboring lowlands. In the course of the next 200 years and more the dreaded "Long Ships" plowed the water ways of the world until the Norsemen had fought their way into territories almost as large as those that had constituted the Roman Empire. The Norsemen were Traders, colonizers, and explorers. They discovered America and established a Russian dynasty, all by the end of the ninth century!              
A new source of revenue was the Dane Gold, protection money extracted in return for a promise not to attack. Between 845 and 926 a total of 13 Dane Gold was levied on the Franks. During this period a new type of Dane had begun to arrive, men seeking land rather than cash. Their leader's name was Rollo, (855-931) (Rollon in the French spelling) and within two decades this land hungry Norsemen held all Northern France under the name of Normandy. (Life World Library ---- Scandinavia ---Pages 29, 30, 34 and 35)
Perhaps Norman vigor is connected with the Viking ancestry. A far more out going people that the Britons, the Norman's have a long history of expansion behind them. In ancient times wild Gallic tribes inhabited the land of the Norman's. Later it became part of the Roman providence, and Christian missionaries reached it at an early date. Then King Clovis I conquered it, in the sixth century.

In the end the success of the Danes brought this period of destruction to a close; the raiders turned into colonists, and in 911 Charles the Simple, by granting Normandy to Rollo, was able to establish a barrier against further invasion. When Rollo (Hrolf) of Norway seized Rouen he forced Charles the Simple (King Charles III), whose sister Gisela, Rollo married, to make him Duke of Normandy. When Rollo's proxy had to perform the rite of allegiance by kissing the Kings foot, that rude Viking stood erect, lifted the royal foot to his mouth and toppled the King over backward, at which Rollo's men shouted with laughter.
Thus from Rollo sprang the Dukes of Normandy. One of them was William I of England, known as William the conqueror. So adaptable were the Norsemen that they soon became more Gallic than the more civilized Gaels themselves. They zealously restored the very monasteries they had destroyed. William the Conqueror himself was present when the rebuilt church of Jumieges, west of Rouen, was consecrated in 1065. William was the son of Robert the Devil and a maid of Malaise. A famous tapestry at 

Bayeux depicts his conquest of England. United with England for a time, Normandy then broke away. Joan of Arc, who was burned at the stake in Rouen 1431, saved it from English invaders.

There are are some links you might find interesting, but Rollo bless him is a subject in himself

http://www.mingayhistorywebpages.com/rollo.htm