Norman Conquest Encyclopedia

Rouen was, for centuries, the place at which the first bridge across the River Seine upstream of the sea was to be found. The river was first bridged by the Romans. The city thus became a centre of communications, commerce and political power. It was here that the Viking invader, Rolf, known to the French as Rollo, was baptized by the archbishop. He made the city the capital of his new fief, the land that was to become Normandy, and built quays and drained marshes with works that survived until the 19th century.

See also: Normandy; Viking