Nibelung, Count of Betuwe

Count Nibelung or Nevelung (b. abt 890-900 d. abt 939-943), son of Ricfried, Count of Betuwe, and Herensinda was probably his father's heir and a count in Betuwe (Batavia).

Nevelung is mentioned on the grave monument in Utrecht of his parents which was transcribed before it was removed. He is described there as a count ("comes Nevelongus").[1]

Nibelung married a daughter of Reginar II, Count of Hainaut. Their two sons are known from a grant made by Nevelung's brother, Bishop Balderic of Utrecht (bishop 918-975), addressed to Nevelung's wife after he had died.[2] A daughter was also proposed by Léon Vanderkindere.

• Bertha, married to Arnulf, Count of Cambrai, son of Isaac, Count of Cambrai. Count Arnulf of Valenciennes was their son. She died 967, at which time her son was already an adult.
• Balderic I, Bishop of Liège (bishop 956-959). Described as young when he became bishop.
• Rodolphe. The 943 letter makes it clear that Rodolphe was younger than Balderic.

As pointed out by Jongbloed (2006), although he was a count when his parents' grave was made, in 943 his own brother describes his father, but not him, as a count, and refers to the "sins of our family" of Nevelung and his father-in-law Count Regnier II. The so-called Regnarid family is known to have been in rebellion until in 939 and the Battle of Andernach. Therefore Jongbloed proposes that he died during, or soon after, that rebellion, and that he must have lost his comital title because of events connected to this.

Concerning his approximate age, his brother Balderic was made bishop in 918, and is estimated to have been born 895-900 (Jongbloed 2006). His sons must have been born in the 930s, because his son Balderic was young in 956, and his son Rodolphe was younger.