The
Elder House of Welf 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.