Balderic (Betuwe) de Betuwe (abt. 840 - 890)

Descendants

Research notes

We can think of "Balderic" as a modern "family name", given by scholars, and this article is about that family. This person who appears in some online trees as a father of Ricfried probably derives from speculative comments by scholars such as Dhondt (pp.20-21) concerning the feeling they get that there is a "Balderiks" family showing up in early records, simply based on similar names and positions, though they can not really draw a family tree for them:

In 814-15 treffen we in Teisterbant een grondbezitter aan, me name Balderik.^[1] In 850 leert een schenking van dezelfde of een andere gelijknamige grondbezitter (Balderik) ons iets over deze familie. Er schijnt uit dit stuk te blijken, dat bisschop Luidgerus van Utrecht van dichtbij verwant is aan die Balderik; vier andere bloedverwanten worden nog opgesomd: Craft, Ymmo, en de "nepos" (neef? kleinzoon?) van Ymmo, ook Balderik geheten. De meeste van de geschoken goederen liggen in Teisterbant, veelal in de buurt van Tiel^[2]

In 897 treffen we een graaf Dodo of Ricfried in de Betuwe aan...^[3]

Translation by Andrew Lancaster:

In 814-15 we come across a landholder in Teisterbant with the name Balderic. In 850 we learn something about this family from a grant by the same, or a like-named landholder (Balderic). It appears from this piece that bishop Luidger of Utrecht was closely related to this Balderic; four other blood-relatives are summarized: Craft, Ymmo, and the "nepos" (nephew? grandson?) of Ymmo, also called Balderic. Most of the possessions granted lay in Teisterbant, many in the neighbourhood of Tiel

In 897 we come across count Dodo or Ricfrid in the Betuwe...

Note that Teisterbant and Betuwe are close but not the same. A closer connection in the above is the holding of the Utrecht Bishopric, which seems to have often been granted based on family alliances of the highest nobility, at least in later times. It is notable that Craft, Ymmo and young Balderic were in line to become clerics. (Could Ymmo's son have been Ricfried, and his grandson Bishop Balderic? No, because this grandson Balderic was already alive, and probably even approaching adulthood, in 850. The eventual Bishop reigned long in his post from 918-975.)

That the 9th century Balderic's family had members named Ymmo is also relevant, because this is a short-form of names such as Irimfrid, which was the name of one of Ricfried's sons (although it is often suggested it must be a name this son inherited from his mother's family, as her name also starts with the "(H)ermin" component). Might she have been the "Balderic"?

Dhondt called the family the Balderiks. A 2012 article by Jongbloed commenting on the much later Count Balderic of Upladen, whose ancestry is controversial quotes Kos (2002) as saying:

"de naam Balderik veraadt (...) wel degelijk een hoge komaf: hij was telg uit het zogenoemde rik-geslacht, dat in negende en tiende eeuw graven leverde in het rivierengebied en bischoppen in Utrecht en Luik"

Jongbloed explains that the idea of using the term "-rik" for this family comes from Johanna-Maria van Winter, who used the term in 1996 for a family including four 9th century Utrecht bishops: Ricfried (806-bef.820), Frederik (ca.820-835), Alberik II (835/7-bef.845) and Liudger (ca.848-bef.854). The last one, Liudger, is the one with relatives named Balderic mentioned by Dhondt.

Note that in his explanation, Dhondt did not include Alberic as one of the 9th century Balderiks. This came from van Winter, who describes this Alberic as Frederic's brother. She also discussed speculations linking this family back earlier into the 8th century.

Notes

1. ↑ Dhondt's footnote 64: "Sloet, Oorkondenboek Gelre & Zutphen, pp. 30-31". This has "Baldericus dedit in villa Hosenheim mansos duos cum hubis et iurnalibus et quicquid ibidem aspicit: in villa Wethlara mansum I cum huba et iurnalibus; in villa Barla mansum unum cum huba; in villa Castra mansum I cum huba: In Villa Vurde mansum I cum huba: in villa Halosta mansum I cum huba, et quicquid ad haec omnia praenominata pertinet. [Codex Laurenshamensis diplomaticus, I, p.163]".
2. ↑ Dhondt's footnote 65: Uitgeven in Muller, Oorkondenboek, nr 67 pp. 73-75
3. ↑ Dhondt's footnote 66: Sloet op. cit. nr. 70 p.71 "in pago Battawi in comitatu Dodonis"

Sources

• Dhondt, J (1952) “Proloog van de Brabantse Geschiedenis”, Bijdragen tot de Studie van het Brabantse Heem
• Jongbloed, Hein H. (2012) “Balderik 'van Upladium' (ca. 970-5 juni 1021). Karoling met een krasje in nu Gelderse contreien” Gelre, 103, p.7-44
• Kos (2002) "Machtstrijd in Hamaland, de politieke ambities van Balderik en Adela, circa 973-1016" Jaarboek voor Middleeeuws Geschiednis 5 pp.27-68 (cited in Jongbloed)
• van Winter, J-M. (1996) "The first centuries of the episcopal see at Utrecht" Utrecht, Britain and the Continent. Archaelogy, Art and Architecture, edited by Elisabeth de Bievre link to a Dutch version