Count Rudolf (living 944), was a count in Lower Lotharingia, who apparently held possessions in the Hesbaye region and in the area of Meuse river north of Maastricht. It has been proposed that he was a son of Reginar II, Count of Hainaut, and thus a member of the so-called Regnarid dynasty.
Although there are no records which associate the brother of Reginar III clearly with any specific geographical area, counties called Avernas and Huste were counties belonging to a count or counts named Rudolf in this period, and it has been proposed that this may have been Rudolf the brother of Reginar.
Attestations
Rudolf is only clearly mentioned in one specific record as brother of Reginar III: Their uncle Gilbert, Duke of Lorraine, who was senior member of their family was killed in 939 at the Battle of Andernach, and King Otto the Great took firm control of Lotharingia. Flodoard reported that in 944, Rudolf and his brother were allied with King Louis IV of France, and Hugh the Great, Duke of the Franks. Otto requested that Herman I, Duke of Swabia, lay siege to the castle of "Reginar and his brother Rudolf" and quell the rebellion.
Another possible record comes from a later period, where Reginar is associated with a count Rodwold. The two men were both uncles of the same person. Bishop Ratherius wrote his Phrenesis to defend the position he lost as Bishop of Liège, and one of his claims was that his replacement Balderic I (bishop 956-9), had benefited from nepotism, being the nephew of Counts "Regeneri atque Ruoduolti", and the son of the brother of Bishop Balderic of Utrecht. This Rodwold has often been equated to the Rodulf the brother of Reginar mentioned by Floduard.
It is generally accepted that it is the same two brothers who appear next to each other ("Rudolfus comes, Reginherus comes") in a charter by King Otto in 949, confirming the Abbey of Susteren on the Meuse to be a possession of Prüm abbey.
Other charters previous to this appear to show (if they are the same person) that he held territory on the left bank of the Meuse, and also the County of Avernas (though none of these charters give genealogical information). Approximately 946, a charter mentions "villa lens in comitatu avernae temporibus rodulphi comitis" (Villa Lens in the County of Avernas under the rule of Count Rodulphe). Lens is the name of two neighbouring villages near the town of Avernas-le-Baudoin. In a charter of 7 Oct 950, Kessel on the left bank of the Meuse () between Roermond and Venlo is described as being "in pago Masalant in comitatu Ruodolfi" (in the country of Maasland, in the county of Rudolf). 4 Jul 952. Alden-Eyck near Maaseik is described as being "in pago Huste in comitatu Ruodulphi" (in the country of Huste, in the county of Rudolf). Huste and Hufte are generally assumed to be the same, and are sometimes considered to be related to the place Hocht in Lanaken, also on the Maas but approximately 30km southwards. On the other hand, Van de Weerd has proposed it was Hoeselt. Wherever it was, it must have been seat of a count. The only other mention of both Huste and Avernas, from the same approximate period, is geographically distant from Hocht or Hoeselt, but close to Borgloon, the future seat of the county of Loon. It mentions a land-holder named Rodulf, but he is not described as a count, only a neighbour. This land exchange record, dated between 927 and 964, and probably around 950, mentioned the places, Muizen (nl) and Buvingen (nl) (both in Gingelom), and Heusden being in Avernas; and Heers and Engelmanshoven as being in a county called "Hufte", or Huste. The two groups of places are noted by Baerten, Verhelst and others as being close, but separated by the old medieval deaconry boundaries of St Truiden and Tongeren, and in the 11th century probably also the boundaries between the counties of Duras and Loon ran in a similar way.