The Elder House of Welf (known as Rudolphins in Burgundy) was a Frankish noble dynasty of European rulers documented since the 9th century. Closely related to the Carolingian dynasty, it consisted of a Burgundian and a Swabian group. It has not been definitively clarified, however, whether the two groups formed one dynasty or whether they shared the same name by coincidence only. While the Elder House became extinct in the male line with the death of Duke Welf of Carinthia in 1055, his sister Kunigunde married into the Italian House of Este and became the ancestor of the (Younger) House of Welf. Origins According to a family tradition, the ancestry of the Welfs can be traced back to the Skirian prince Edeko (d. 469), a confidant of King Attila the Hun, and to his son Odoacer, King of Italy from 476. Nevertheless, an early ancestor may have been the Frankish nobleman Ruthard (d. before 790), a count in the Argengau and administrator of the Carolingian king Pepin the Younger in Alamannia. The origin of the name Welf (also Guelph, from ) has not been conclusively established. A late medieval legend first documented in 1475 referred to a (non-historical) Duke Balthazar of Swabia, whose marriage had remained childless and who represented as his own heir and successor Bundus, the newborn son of one of his hunters. When Bundus came of age and was betrothed to a duchess of Guelders, his mother secretly informed him of the circumstances of his birth. The shocked young man waived both the duchess' hand and rule in Swabia. Retired, he spent the rest of his life at the Altdorf monastery. Only on his deathbed did he reveal the truth about his descendance and become known thenceforth as Herzog Wolf (Duke Wolf). Another popular version refers to the eleven (elf) sons of one Count Isenbart of Altdorf, whose mother wanted them to be drowned and years later was faced with those among them who escaped death. Burgundian group The older of the two groups was the Burgundian group. When the name first appeared in surviving documents, the family was already at the top of Francia society, with Welf, the first Count of Altdorf, the father-in-law of Emperor Louis the Pious (the son and heir of Charlemagne). He was mentioned in 819 as father of Empress Judith. The younger sons of the first count of Altdorf, Conrad and