628 Romagna
Göngu-Hrólfr, or Hrolf the Ganger, he became a leg-
endary figure to whom a saga was dedicated in the 14th
century. Some texts said that he had been banned by the
king of NORWAY. He certainly had stayed in the north of
the British Isles on the Orkney and Hebrides Islands,
before he entered the Seine Valley, where Viking raids
had been endemic since 820.
Frankish sources were unclear as to the circum-
stances of Rollo’s arrival on the Seine, but he was in con-
trol of ROUENearly in the 10th century. In 911 his army
was defeated close to CHARTRES. In 912 Rollo was bap-
tized and allowed the Christian clergy into Rouen. About
then the agreement was struck with Charles the Simple
whereby he also married Charles’s daughter, Gisla. A
later royal CHARTERof 918 referred to a concession to the
NORMANSof an area situated on both sides of the Seine.
Supposedly in control of a dependent FIEF, in 924 Rollo
acted quite autonomously, in 924 adding territory to the
original grant. He kept order in his county asserting his
authority over its Scandinavian colonists. Rollo died in
about 930/932. He was succeeded by his son, William
Longsword (d. 942).
Further reading:David Bates, Normandy before 1066
(London: Longman, 1982); Charles Homer Haskins, The
Normans in European History(Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
1915); Eleanor Searle, Predatory Kinship and the Creation
of Norman Power, 840–1066(Berkeley: University of Cali-
fornia Press, 1988).
Romagna The medieval Romagna was a region in
north central Italy bordering the Adriatic Sea, south of
the Po River and northeast of the Apennine Mountains,
now part of the modern province of Emilia-Romagna.
The use of the name first occurred in the sixth century in
a political division, when its western part was occupied
by the LOMBARDSand its eastern region remained part of
the BYZANTINEEMPIRE, with a strong Greek presence. The
borders of Romagna varied over the Middle Ages, but the
towns of RAVENNA, Imola, Forlì, Cesena, and Rimini were
always considered part of its core. Other cities were fre-
quently considered to be within its boundaries, such as
BOLOGNA, Modena, Parma, and FERRARA. From the eighth
century, the popes claimed sovereignty over the
Romagna, arguing from an alleged restitution made by
PÉPINIII the Short to Pope Stephen II (III) (r. 752–757)
in 754. It supposedly was merely restoring papal control
initially gained in the DONATION OF CONSTANTINE.
Nonetheless, the region was long controlled by the Ger-
man emperors and a shadowy count of the Romagna. In
the 13th century the Romagna was used as a base of oper-
ations by FREDERICKII in his struggle against the towns
of northern Italy of the second Lombard League.
The defeat of Frederick II and RUDOLFof Habsburg’s
formal renunciation of sovereignty over Romagna in 1278
still did not make papal control over the region much
easier. Diplomatic and military activities by the papal
legates, such as Bertold Orsini, Bertrand du Poujet (ca.
1280–1352), Cardinal ALBORNOZ, and others in the 14th
and 15th centuries, ultimately resulted only in a strength-
ening of the autonomy of rival towns, some of which
were ruled by tough lords such as those of the Da Polenta
at Ravenna and Malatesta at Rimini. Romagna also
became a cockpit of control of northern Italy among
MILAN,FLORENCE,VENICE, and the papacy in the later
Middle Ages and Renaissance. Despite this warfare and
violence, Romagna remained a region famous for produc-
ing horses, grain, and wine. It was rich in mercenaries
much esteemed by the great Italian powers, and finally a
land of art inspired by the Byzantine tradition in Ravenna
and the new style fostered by GIOTTOin Rimini. It lost its
political designation and was at last fully integrated into
the PAPALSTATESin 1503 by Pope Julius II (r. 1503–13).
Further reading: John Larner, The Lords of the
Romagna: Romagnol Society and the Origins of the Signorie
(London: Macmillan, 1965); Peter Partner, The Lands of
St. Peter: The Papal States in the Middle Ages and the Early
Renaissance (London: Eyre Methuen, 1972); Daniel P.
Waley, The Papal State in the Thirteenth Century(London:
Macmillan, 1961).Romance of the Rose See ROMAN DE LAROSE.romances The word romance,which first appeared in
the 12th century, originally referred to a poem written in
French, itself a “Romance” language derived from the
popular or rustic LATINspoken by some of the inhabi-
tants of what became France. French was also spoken in
ENGLAND, the Low Countries, and Lorraine. Romances
constituted a diverse genre of literature: prose narratives
or poems telling stories and tales based on legends,
chivalric love, adventure, religious or secular allegories,
and the supernatural. They included narratives from the
ancient world (Alexander the Great and Troy in particu-
lar), the court of CHARLEMAGNE, and the Celtic tradition
concerning ARTHUR, a legendary ruler of the Britons.
Lavish in detail, romances often focused on the
exotic, the remote, and the miraculous, almost anything
except real local situations. Their love stories usually
ended happily, but not always. They had their origins in
the aristocratic courts of the 12th century, such as that of
ELEANOR OFAQUITAINE. Later, when they were written in
English, they encompassed stories about legendary and
historical English heroes, such as HAVELOCK THEDANE
and RICHARDI LIONHEART. They emphasized courtesy,
quests taken on as challenges, tests of honor, and the
acquisition of wisdom through trials. All were set and
accomplished within chivalric codes of behavior. They
contained details about feasts, dancing, tournaments,
hunting, and sparkling conversations. When romances
were set in the ancient world, the details of clothing,