Ricfried, Count of Betuwe
Ricfried was a 9th and 10th century count in Betuwe (Batavia) now in the Netherlands, and possibly also some neighboring areas such as the Duffelgau, now in Germany. He was ancestor of a family referred to as the "Balderics" because it included several powerful bishops of this name. It is also proposed by historians such as Leon Vanderkindere that he is probably ancestor of the Counts of Loon (Looz) in modern Belgian Limburg. Life. He was mentioned in an 897 charter by Zwentibold, King of Lotharingia, as a Count with possessions in Betuwe. He was also  known as Count Dodo ("comitatu Dodonis"), his memorial calling him "Ricfridus hoc nomine Dodo vocatus … comes". The memorial names "presul Baldricus … preses Rodolphus … victor Yrimfredus pariterque comes Nevelongus" [prelate Balderic, governor Rudolph, victor Ehrenfried and count Nebelung] as his children. Virtually all that we know about Ricfried is based on this memorial and the one charter which mentions him. The biography of Bishop Balderic I of Utrecht states that “he was the son of Count Ricfried in the Betuwe, who expelled the Vikings from Utrecht, after which Balderic, who like his immediate predecessors had resided in Deventer, was able to  move the bishopric back to Utrecht.” Balderic is also identified as a cousin of Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine, and uncle of Baldrick I, Bishop of Liège. Family. Ricfried married Herensinda, from an unknown family. They had five children: According to Jongbloed, Ricfried was succeeded by his son Nevelung as Count of Betuwe upon his death. However he had also died by 943. External links. Medieval Lands Project, Graven van Betuwe