Rollo was one of the most violent men of his exceptionally bloody times: on one occasion he prevailed in battle by ordering his men to kill all their animals, chop their carcasses in half, and build a makeshift barricade out of freshly butchered meat. But he was a canny negotiator. During the second half of the ninth century, Rollo made a tidy living among the Franks, doing as all thrusting young Northmen did: burning, laying towns and villages to waste, plundering, and killing.
