Ricfried was a 9th and 10th century count in Betuwe (Batavia) now in the Netherlands, possibly into parts of the Rhineland now in Germany.
Partly for this reason it has been proposed by historians such as Leon Vanderkindere that he may be an ancestor of the Counts of Loon (Looz) in modern Belgian Limburg, because this family also included a bishop named Balderic.
He was mentioned in an 897 charter by Zwentibold, King of Lotharingia, as a Count with possessions in Betuwe.
The memorial names presul Baldricus … preses Rodolphus … victor Yrimfredus pariterque comes Nevelongus [prelate Balderic, governor Rudolph, victor Ehrenfried and count Nebelung] as his children.
The biography of Bishop Balderic I of Utrecht states that “he was the son of Count Ricfried in the Betuwe, who expelled the Vikings from Utrecht, after which Balderic, who like his immediate predecessors had resided in Deventer, was able to move the bishopric back to Utrecht.”[citation needed] Balderic is also identified as a cousin of Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine, and uncle of Baldrick I, Bishop of Liège.