Count Nibelung or Nevelung (born c. 890–900, died before 943), son of Count Ricfried and his wife Herensinda. He was probably his father's heir, and like his father he was probably a count in Betuwe (Batavia), and more generally in the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta region, now in the Netherlands, and the neighbouring northern Rhineland in Germany. His better-known brother was Bishop Balderic of Utrecht (bishop of Utrecht 918–975).
Nevelung is mentioned on the grave monument of his parents which was in Utrecht. The text was transcribed before the monument was removed. He was described there as a count ("comes Nevelongus").[1]
Nibelung married a daughter of Reginar II, Count of Hainaut. This was demonstrated by independently by both Joseph Daris and Vanderkindere from the text of a grant made by Nevelung's brother, Bishop Balderic, which was addressed to Nevelung's wife after he had died.[2] The grant gave the widow and her two sons the usufruct of lands controlled by the bishopric near Roermond. In return, Nevelung's widow gave lands and rights near Krefeld.
Apart from the two sons, a much older daughter was also proposed by Léon Vanderkindere.
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). Nevelung's sons must have been born in the 930s or early 940s, because his eldest son Balderic was considered young when he became a bishop in 956.