To Saint-Godard who died in 529, Flavius succeeded the same year. The first foundation by Clotaire I, of the abbey of Saint-Peter, now Saint-Ouen, about the year 540, is attributed to him.
After Flavius, came Pretextat, whose name alone reminds us of those of two women, unfortunately too celebrated, Fredégonde and Brunehaut. The latter had been exiled to Rouen, by Chilperic, king of Soissons. Merovee, son of Chilperic, loved Brunehaut and was loved by her. He came to Rouen, and married his mistress; Pretextat blessed their union. Chilperic arrives and the two lovers take refuge in the church of Saint-Martin-sur-Renelle, a wooden building, on the wall of the town. It is to Gregory of Tours that we owe this information which is valuable, in as much, as it makes us acquainted with the limits of Rouen on the north-west side at this period.
Fredegonde did not pardon Pretextat; she caused him to be murdered, during mass, in the Cathedral.
The episcopate of Melance and of Hidulfe, the successors to Pretextat, offers no very particular circumstances. That of Saint-Romain, is much more remarkable, for the destruction of heathen temples, and the famous miracle of the Gargouille, which, gave birth to the privilege not less famous, which the chapter possessed of setting at liberty a prisoner every year. It is thought generally, however, that Saint-Romain, constructed one of the churches, which succeeded each other on the site of the Cathedral, but, they were deceived who have said that this bishop extirpated paganism from Rouen, and from the province. Saint-Ouen, who came after Saint-Romain, found the people clownish, superstitious, and idolatrous, in consequence of the negligence of some bishops, his predecessors. The inhabitants of the neighbouring country, were coarse, cruel and dishonest; morals and the sciences were cultivated only among the higher classes of society. We find in the preface to the life of Saint-Eloi by Saint-Ouen, that, even in the VIIth century, they read authors of whose works nothing now remains.
Saint-Ouen, founded or enriched a great many religious establishments in Rouen and its environs. It was under his episcopate, that a monument was first raised to Saint-Nicaise within the walls of Rouen. He also caused to be built the celebrated abbeys of Fontenelle (since Saint-Wandrille), Jumiéges, and Saint-Austreberthe.
In the time of this archbishop, there was a state prison near the end of the rue de la Poterne. It was in this prison that Saint-Ouen, having been deceived by the mayor of the palace Ebroin, caused Philibert the first Abbot of Jumieges to be confined on a false accusation of the crime of high-treason.
To Saint-Ouen, Ansbert succeeded in 683; at this time doubtless the mechanical arts were not very far advanced in Rouen, since the new bishop, wishing to erect a rich mausoleum to his predecessor, sent for workmen from different provinces.
According to the monk Aigrad, a great famine took place in Rouen and its neighbourhood, during the episcopate of Ansbert, who caused the treasures of the church to be given, for the relief of the poor.
Here, the history of Rouen is lost in obscurity; our materials are reduced, we may almost say, to the mere list of bishops, until the time when the north-men shewed themselves in this country. From the year 841, when they appeared for the first time at the mouth of the Seine, until the year 912, the period of the treaty of Saint-Claire-sur-Epte, Rouen, and its environs presented nothing but a scene of carnage, fire, and, slaughter. Strangers devouring the country; the villages deserted; the population massacred; the towns half destroyed, every where discord, hatred, avarice, and rapacity; all excesses united: such is the picture of the country at that period. At last Rollo, is created duke of Normandy; the proud Norwegian, becomes the benefactor of the country, to which he had so long proved a scourge. The population reappears; an active police is established, robberies are put a stop to; no more plunderers exist on the highways, or thieves in the towns. Rouen, rises from amidst its ruins, its monuments are repaired, its size increases, its political influence is becoming immense.
The second boundary is due to Rollo, the first duke, and to his son Guillaume Longue-Epée. They confined the waters of the Seine in a narrower bed. Several churches, such as Saint-Martin-de-la-Roquette, Saint-Clement, Saint-Stephen and Saint-Eloi, which had till then been situated on small islands, were united to the main land, the portion which had been gained from the river, received the name of Terres-Neuves. The limits of the town remained the same on the north, east and west.