Poppa

• Name	Poppa   [1]
  Gender	Female
  Person ID	I5224	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others | Ancestor of AP, Ancestor of AW, Ancestor of DDB, Ancestor of DGH, Ancestor of DK, Ancestor of EK, Ancestor of GFS, Ancestor of JMF, Ancestor of JTS, Ancestor of LD, Ancestor of LDN, Ancestor of LMW, Ancestor of TNH, Ancestor of TSW, Ancestor of TWK, Ancestor of UKL, Ancestor of WPF
  Last Modified	23 Dec 2020

  
  

  Family	Rollo   d. Between 928 and 933
  Children	+ 1. Guillaume "Longue Epee", Leader of the Normans of Rouen,   b. Overseas d. 16 Dec 942, Picquigny, Picardy, France + 2. Adèle of Normandy   d. Aft Feb 942
  Family ID	F1762	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	28 Nov 2014

  
  

• Notes

  Also called Poppa of Bayeux. "A wife or mistress of Rollo of Normandy, and mother of Rollo's son and successor William 'Longsword', her name is reported only by the often unreliable Dudo and by sources depending on him ... The only certain fact that is known about her comes from the contemporary (or nearly so) Planctus of her son William, which states (without naming her) that she was a Christian, and that her son William was born overseas." [The Henry Project, citation details below] Peter Stewart, 25 Jun 2010, on soc.genealogy.medieval: I'm inclined to believe that William's Christian mother named "Poppa" was invented by Dudo—it's very curious that this name is otherwise unexampled for a Frankish noblewoman of the time, but had recently been made famous by Widukind of Corvey as the name of the cleric who had baptised Harald I and converted the Danes (Rollo's people according to Dudo). "Poppa" was said to have been taken at the capture of Bayeux, a daughter of Count Brenger: however, the latter's son (Judical) Brenger was later one of the foresworn leaders of the Breton rebellion against William with no suggestion that he was the Norman ruler's uncle. Further, according to Dudo the sister of William was described as a "girl" ca 936, but her father Rollo had been purportedly free to marry a Carolingian princess named Gisla as part of the settlement when the Normans were converted to Christianity, so that if Adela/Gerloc had been born after that time she and William could not have had the same mother unless she was never regarded as Rollo's canonical wife. Yet, according to Dudo, William was born to Poppa at Rouen, where the Normans were settled after the conversion, and the stain of bastardy is not in any way imputed to him.

  
  

• Sources

  [S91] The Henry Project: The Ancestors of King Henry II of England, by Stewart Baldwin, Todd A. Farmerie, and Peter Stewart.