Exploring Rollo's Roots: DNA Leads the Way

   It’s been nearly a year since I wrote about William the Conqueror’s DNA.  Based on a study of men with surnames historically associated with William and their corresponding Y-DNA, I concluded that I identified the genetic signature of the first Norman King of England.  Now it’s time to get back to William and more specifically his 3^rd great grandfather, Rollo.  To be honest, the 37 marker Y-DNA haplotype that I published is really connected to Richard the Fearless, William’s great grandfather.  Genealogically, the surnames in the study trace back to Richard.  As long as there was no hanky-panky, William the Conqueror has the same Y-DNA as Richard.  What that also means is that Richard has the same Y-DNA as his grandfather, Rollo.

   Based on the work done in my previous paper, the following haplotype is that of William the Conqueror (and Richard the Fearless)-

DYS393	DYS390	DYS19	DYS391	DYS385a	DYS385b	DYS426	DYS388	DYS439	DYS389i	DYS392	DYS389ii
13	24	14	11	11	14	12	12	12	13	13	29

DYS458	DYS459a	DYS459b	DYS455	DYS454	DYS447	DYS437	DYS448	DYS449	DYS464a	DYS464b	DYS464c	DYS464d
17	9	10	11	11	25	15	19	29	15	15	17	17

DYS460	Y-GATA-H4	YCAIIa	YCAIIb	DYS456	DYS607	DYS576	DYS570	CDYa	CDYb	DYS442	DYS438
11	11	19	23	15	15	17	17	36	37	12	12

   There is an assumption, inherent in genetic genealogy, that there weren’t any non-paternal events between the generations that separate Rollo and William and that this haplotype is that of Rollo as well.  One of the goals for this Rollo study is to get more accurate with his haplotype by narrowing the dataset to only those records with 67 markers.  The second goal is to determine Rollo’s haplogroup R SNP.  The best I was able to determine for William was R-P312, which is a fairly high level SNP.  My third goal is to determine Rollo’s origin using my TribeMapper analysis.  Whether Rollo is Danish or Norwegian has been disputed for hundreds of years.

   I picked up where I left off with William.  There were 152 Y-DNA records that made it into the William the Conqueror Modal Haplotype (WCMH).  For each of these records a 67 marker test result and SNP testing result were added to the analysis, where the data was available.  I threw out any record that didn’t have enough data and retained the ones that grouped into a single SNP of R-DF13 (just downstream of R-L21).  Based on these final 25 records, I have identified the 67 marker Rollo Norman Modal Haplotype (RNMH) as follows:

DYS393	DYS390	DYS19	DYS391	DYS385a	DYS385b	DYS426	DYS388	DYS439	DYS389i	DYS392	DYS389ii
13	24	14	11	11	14	12	12	12	13	13	29

DYS458	DYS459a	DYS459b	DYS455	DYS454	DYS447	DYS437	DYS448	DYS449	DYS464a	DYS464b	DYS464c	DYS464d
17	9	10	11	11	25	15	19	29	15	15	17	17

DYS460	Y-GATA-H4	YCAIIa	YCAIIb	DYS456	DYS607	DYS576	DYS570	CDYa	CDYb	DYS442	DYS438
11	11	19	23	15	15	17	17	36	37	12	12

DYS531	DYS578	DYF395S1a	DYF395S1b	DYS590	DYS537	DYS641	DYS472	DYF406S1	DYS511	DYS425	DYS413a	DYS413b
11	9	15	16	8	10	10	8	10	10	12	23	23

DYS557	DYS594	DYS436	DYS490	DYS534	DYS450	DYS444	DYS481	DYS520	DYS446	DYS617	DYS568
16	10	12	12	16	8	12	22	20	13	12	11

DYS487	DYS572	DYS640	DYS492	DYS565
13	11	11	12	12

Based on this modal haplotype and the associated SNP, a broader collection of genetic cousin records were identified to be used with my new TribeMapper analysis (Biogeographical Multilateration).

   This map shows the geographic distribution of Rollo’s cousins.  The large number of points along the coast of Normandy is a good sign.  If the majority of points were in Eastern Europe, I would have to revisit my whole hypothesis about William the Conqueror.  It is best not to try to interpret any relationships until we look at them through the lens of a phylogenetic tree.

   The TribeMapper analysis takes into consideration the mapped location, the tree node connections and the time between common ancestors.  The time is converted to distance based on the demic diffusion migration rate.  The distance is plotted to ‘triangulate’ the geographic location of each common ancestor.  This is a process called multilateration.

   The earliest documented origins for Rollo come from Dudo of Saint-Quentin in 1015 and William of Jumièges in 1060.  Both ‘histories’ were commissioned by the House of Normandy and attribute a Danish origin to Rollo.  Commissioned biographies can border on mythology.   The Norwegian Orkneyinga Saga, from the 13th century, gives Rollo a Norwegian origin. 

   I’ve run the analysis with Rollo’s record as an unknown location.  TribeMapper allows us to back into the location for any unknown point.  What we get is a highly constrained location for Rollo’s ancestor, in the middle of Denmark.  The data then shows that Rollo may have lived within 226 km of that paternal ancestor.  The red circle illustrates the range for Rollo.  This covers the majority of Denmark.  The data also shows that Rollo’s ancestors, going back at least 12 generations were also in Denmark.

   We can give the Norwegians some credit also.  The ancestors of Rollo’s ancestors were Nowegian, with an origin on the west coast of Norway.  Rollo’s ancestors were responsible for multiple branches of migration into Europe.  This includes a back migration into Norway that then went on to invade Scotland.

   This was accomplished with small sample of 65 records for simplification.  Much larger data sets could determine the genetic flow in a greater geographic and chronologic view.  Additional records within the same SNP grouping could result in a more accurate origin for Rollo.  Records that are genetically upstream from the SNP and STR group used, may identify the nomadic migrations prior to the Western Norway settlement.

   I’ve run this simulation multiple times, getting the same results.  I’m comfortable calling Rollo – “The Dane”.

Reference:

Maglio, MR (2014) Biogeographical Origins and Y-chromosome Signature for the House of Normandy  (Link)