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Rollo Duke of Normandy or The Bloody Brother is a play written in collaboration by John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, Ben Jonson, and George Chapman. Scholars have disputed almost everything about the play; but it was probably written sometime in the 1612–24 era and later revised, perhaps in 1630 or after. In addition to the four writers cited above, the names of Nathan Field and Robert Daborne have been connected with the play by individual scholars.

The play was acted at Hampton Court Palace on January 24, 1637 (new style). It was entered into the Stationers' Register on October 4, 1639 by the booksellers John Crook and Richard Sergier, as the work of "J. B." It was first published later in 1639, in a quarto printed by R. Bishop for John Crook and Thomas Allot, under the title The Bloody Brother. The title page of this quarto attributes the play to "B. J. F." A second quarto appeared in 1640 under the title The Tragoedy of Rollo Duke of Normandy, published at Oxford by stationer Leonard Lichfield, "Printer to the University." Q2 assigns the play to Fletcher, and asserts that it was acted by the King's Men.^[1] Q2 appears to derive from a theatre prompt-book, while Q1 shows less sign of direct contact with the stage and is a more "literary" text.^[2] The play was included in the second Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1679.

Rollo is a Viking leader, a powerful Danish duke at loggerheads with the king of Denmark, who then dies and leaves his two sons, Gurim and Rollo, leaving Rollo to be expelled and Gurim killed.

With his followers (known as Normans or northmen), Rollo invades the area of northern France, and besieges Paris. From the moonlit terrace of the royal palace, King Charles III gazes on the Princess Gisella, who is feasting with her father Rollo and his men. The voice of his brother, count of Lorraine, echoes from a deep cistern, where he is imprisoned by the king, who fears him. Gisella demands the head of the King's brother in a silver ewer, ignoring Charles's desperate alternatives, war with the Normans or with his own feudal vassals. The terrified king finally gives in. After a tense pause, the arm of the executioner rises from the cistern, offering the head to Rollo.

Concluding the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, Rollo pledges feudal allegiance to the king and converts to Christianity. At the city gates, victory is celebrated in parade and dance, a ceremony observed by the King and Gisella. Gisella delivers a speech in praise of dancing. The Viking army plans to launch an invasion of England.

The plot is based loosely on the historical Rollo of Normandy and the foundation of the Duchy of Normandy.

Scholars have been divided about the nature of the play's authorship. Some have regarded it as a play that was originally written by Jonson and Chapman and later revised by Fletcher and Massinger; while this scheme makes a good deal of sense, others have disputed it. Massinger's share is most clearly visible in Act I, scene i and in the first 90 lines of V, i. The remainder of Act V is likely the work of Massinger and Fletcher. Cyrus Hoy, in his extensive study of authorship problems in the canon of Fletcher and his collaborators, assigns Act II and part of III to Fletcher as well, while the rest of III and all of IV are by neither Fletcher nor Massinger. Jonson's hand is seen most clearly in IV, ii-ii.^[3]

1. ^ Oliphant, pp. 457-9
2. ^ Logan and Smith, p. 71.
3. ^ Logan and Smith, pp. 70-2.

• Logan, Terence P., and Denzell S. Smith, eds. The Later Jacobean and Caroline Dramatists: A Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaissance Drama. Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1978.
• Oliphant, E. H. C. The Plays of Beaumont and Fletcher: An Attempt to Determine Their Respective Shares and the Shares of Others. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1927.