The Foot-Kiss Refused

Intro

(Hrólfr! Rollo!)

Too large for any horse — I walked to Paris...

(Hu-ha!) Charles thought the treaty would embarrass —

My man tipped the king — the hall went sparse —

(Hrólfr! Rollo!) The Viking who became Normandy's apparatus...

Verse 1 — Rollo

They called me Hrólfr the Walker — no horse could carry

This frame — I walked from Norway — didn't tarry.

Besieged Paris — watched the Franks get wary —

Charles came to negotiate — I made him marry

His daughter to the deal — the treaty's condition —

Normandy's transfer — my recognition

As count, as duke, as Robert — the transition

From Hrólfr the raider to the feudal politician.

Saint-Clair-sur-Epte — the table between kingdoms —

I got the land, the title, and the freedom

Of a Viking holding Frankish deeds and fiefdoms —

Charles got a buffer from the next Norse seadom.

The kiss — they said: kneel at the king's foot presenting —

I looked at Charles on his throne — not consenting —

Sent my man instead — he grabbed the foot — relenting

Never — lifted it face-high — the king went denting

The floor — the Franks gasped — I kept my standing —

That was the last purely Viking act — commanding —

Everything after was the slow transmanding

Of Hrólfr into Robert — Norse into Normandy's branding.

Pre-Chorus — both

Gisla: I was the price of the land — not the prize (not the prize)

Rollo: she taught me the Frankish tongue — I learned to disguise —

(learned to wear it...)

Both: the wolf in the duke's clothing — no surprise —

Normandy grew teeth behind the Christian eyes. (uh!)

Chorus — both

The foot-kiss refused — the land accepted (land accepted!)

Viking blood in Norman veins — redirected (redirected!)

William's cavalry in England — connected (connected!)

Rollo's treaty — 911 — perfected! (Hu-ha!)

Verse 2 — Gisla

Charles gave me like a deed — the daughter-clause —

To the largest man I'd stood before — because

The kingdom needed a wall and Rollo was

The only wall that worked against Norse laws.

I watched him take the baptism — Robert now —

The water on the forehead — saw him bow

To something not yet in him — the outer vow

That left the inner Hrólfr intact — that's how.

He kept the Norse gods longer than the record shows —

Hedged the Christ against the Óðinn — nobody knows

Which altar got the prayer when the river froze —

A wise man keeps all doors — that's how Normandy grows.

I bore him William Longsword — thread re-seaming

Norse blood into Frankish soil — the dreaming

Of a tamed wolf — and the wolf just kept on scheming

Through Latin titles — the Carolingian ceiling.

A hundred fifty-five years from this table's dealing —

His blood at Hastings — October — the revealing

Of what the treaty built beneath the feudal ceiling:

The Viking never left — he just changed his feeling.

Pre-Chorus — both

Gisla: I was the price of the land — not the prize (not the prize)

Rollo: she taught me the Frankish tongue — I learned to disguise —

(learned to wear it...)

Both: the wolf in the duke's clothing — no surprise —

Normandy grew teeth behind the Christian eyes. (uh!)

Chorus — both

The foot-kiss refused — the land accepted (land accepted!)

Viking blood in Norman veins — redirected (redirected!)

William's cavalry in England — connected (connected!)

Rollo's treaty — 911 — perfected! (Hu-ha!)

Bridge — trading

Rollo: Harald Hardrada fell at Stamford Bridge that autumn —

(September 25...)

Same year — different blood — the same Norse bottom —

(same year...)

William landed Hastings nineteen days that followed —

(October 14...)

Two Norse lines — one England — fully swallowed.

Gisla: the Viking Age ended twice that autumn season —

(ended twice...)

Hardrada's arrow — William's cavalry — the reason

(twice that year...)

One Norse line fell — one rose beyond all treason —

The treaty I was part of built that season.

Both: Hrólfr walked to Paris — no horse could hold him —

(walked it...)

Robert knelt at the font — the water told him

(took the name...)

A new name — same wolf — Normandy enrolled him —

(Skál to the treaty! Skál — the Norse blood bold him

Into the land that carried it to England's old rim!)

Drop — Instrumental

Chorus — both

The foot-kiss refused — the land accepted (land accepted!)

Viking blood in Norman veins — redirected (redirected!)

William's cavalry in England — connected (connected!)

Rollo's treaty — 911 — perfected! (Hu-ha!)

Outro

(Hrólfr! Rollo!)

William landed at Hastings — October — 1066...

(Hu-ha!)

Rollo's blood.

Norse veins.

Frankish name.

The Viking never left.

He learned to wear

a duchy

like a shield.

(Normandy

was always

the longship

that didn't leave.)