suggests that Dirk may have been the son of a sister of Gerolf and that his own father died while he was still an infant.

The first count of Holland, Dirk I, was the son or foster-son of Gerolf, Count in Frisia He received land around Egmond from Charles the Fat at a place called Bladella (modern-day Bladel near Eindhoven) in 922.

The property was inherited through Sophia of Rheineck, married to Dirk VI of Holland.

This branch survived longer than the original family: it went extinct in 1421, after which Bentheim was inherited through non-direct female line.

The House of Egmond and the Van Wassenaer may also trace their origins to an illegitimate child from this family.