Anyone familiar with this German aristocracy?

Question

I stumbled upon this profile looking for something else, and has too may unmerged matches and a rejected match that looks similar.   Can someone with knowledge take a look and see if they can figure out what is going on here?

Answer 1

I generally try to stay away from medieval nobility for various reasons, one of which is illustrated by this profile: No primary or even halfways decent secondary sources, one unsourced tree based on another unsourced tree and another and another. The location "Fruili" exists only in these trees, may be it would be amusing to try to find who made this typo first. There was a Duchy of Friaul (or Friuli in Italian) roughly around that time, but the closest I can come to this person is a Rodoald, Duke of Friulia, in Paulus Diaconus, Pauli Historia Langobardorum V.24, MGH SS rer Lang I, p. 153. He "records that "Rodoald" succeeded Laudari as Duke of Friulia, but this event cannot be dated from the primary sources so far consulted.  Paulus Diaconus records that "Ansfrit de castro Reunia" invaded Friulia and expelled Rodoald who fled to Ticino taking refuge with "Cunincpertum regem"". (Foundation for Medieval Genealogy, http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/NORTHERN%20ITALY%20900-1100.htm#_Toc285707719, accessed 07/29/2014.) There are no documented family members except for a brother Ado.

The family of this profile in my opinion has to be treated as fictitious as well as birth and death dates and places.

Comments

They weren't fictitious (or not totally), Rothard was the father of Welf I (the ancestor of the elder line of Welf) and they came from the region of Metz, though it is probably incorrect to give Rothard the surname 'von Metz'.  As Helmut states they definitely weren't Dukes of Friuli.

There is some information about them in Chapter 9 of Swabia Nobility in Medieval Lands - here http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/SWABIAN%20NOBILITY.htm

That uses a book by Christian Settipani as a reference, and Settipani refers to Rothard as son of Hardrad but there isn't anymore information on the family, and no wife of Rothard is mentioned.  

Birthdates are probably about right, given that Welf's elder daughter Judith married the Carolingian Emperor Louis I in 819, but they can only be rough estimates.  Birthplaces are probably fictitious, although there were some Grafs von Altdorf in the family it wasn't for a few generations later and can't be assumed to be a birthplace for any earlier generations.

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Ficticious was ment to be applied to any family of Rodoald of Friuli. I don't see any evidence to equate him with Rothard.

Answer 2

Sorry I was sure this question was referring to a different profile originally (?)

I think it's going to take a long time to sort out Rothard Friuli, leaving aside the question of whether any of these people were real or fictious.

To start with it looks like there have been some incorrect merging along the line somewhere.  If you look at Rothard's mother http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/De_Burgundy-102 she seems to have been the wife of Guerin Thurgovie and also the wife of her son Bourchard de Hesbaye http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/De_Hesbaye-4 and his son Aubri de Fezensac is also his brother.

The best option might be to search through Medieval Lands to see what can be found http://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/Search.htm