The House of Sponheim or Spanheim was a medieval German noble family, which originated in Rhenish Franconia . They were immediate Counts of Sponheim until 1437 and Dukes of Carinthia from 1122 until 1269. Its cadet branches ruled in the Imperial County of Ortenburg-Neuortenburg and various Sayn-Wittgenstein states until 1806.
13-720: The family took its name from their ancestral seat at Sponheim Castle in the Hunsrück range, in present-day Burgsponheim near Bad Kreuznach , Rhineland-Palatinate . From the 11th century the family was divided in two closely related branches. One of these branches, probably the senior one, retained the Duchy of Carinthia and originated the County of Ortenburg in Bavaria . The other one remained in Rhenish Franconia, retaining
26-695: A castle chapel is documented in an indulgence dated 1300. When the ruling male line of the Rhenish branch of the House of Sponheim became extinct in 1437, the castle became a joint jurisdiction of the Margraves of Baden and the Counts of Veldenz , whose territories were inherited by Count Palatine Frederick I of Simmern in 1444 and held by the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken . In the Thirty Years' War
39-660: Is a medieval ruin in Burgsponheim on the edge of the Hunsrück mountain range in Rhineland-Palatinate , Germany . From the 12th century it was the original residence of the Counts of Sponheim . Significant portions of the castle remain standing. The castle stands on a crag, approximately 250 meters long, around which the Ellerbach stream, a tributary of the Nahe , flows on the south and east sides. The ruin
52-417: Is on the peak of the crag, which is roughly 150 meters high. The castle was probably already built in the 11th century and is first mentioned in two documents of 1127. In the 12th century it was extended and became the residence of the Counts of Sponheim . Upon the partition of the county in the early 13th century, the castle lost its importance, becoming the seat of comital ministeriales . The existence of
65-802: The Margraves of Baden and the Counts Palatine of Simmern-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld , took on the title of Count to Sponheim, along with the Elector of the Palatinate , who had received a small part as dowry. The branch of the Counts of Ortenburg is still living today in Tambach (Bavaria) . A lateral line of the Rhenish branch survives also with the Princes of Sayn-Wittgenstein . Castle Sponheim Sponheim Castle ( German : Burg Sponheim )
78-701: The Bavarian Sieghardinger noble family, he became heir to large territories in Carinthia and Tyrol . In 1045 Siegfried received the title of a margrave in the Hungarian March by Emperor Henry III . His sons Engelbert, Margrave in Istria from 1090, and Hartwig founded Saint Paul's Abbey, Lavanttal on their mother's estates in 1091. When the ducal House of Eppenstein finally became extinct in 1122, Siegfried's grandson Henry inherited
91-567: The County of Sponheim. The founder of the ducal branch was Count Siegfried I (1010–1065), a Ripuarian Frank by birth and retainer of the Salian emperor Conrad II . For this reason the family is sometimes termed the Siegfrieding. Siegfried followed Conrad in his 1035 campaign against Duke Adalbero of Carinthia , who for unknown reasons had fallen out of favour with the emperor. By his marriage to Richgard, daughter of one Count Engelbert of
104-602: The Imperial House of Hohenstaufen , they nevertheless had to struggle with reluctant local nobles like the Carinthian Ortenburger . The margravial title in Verona was lost to Herman III of Baden in 1151. Under Bernhard of Sponheim , Carinthian duke from 1202 until 1256, the dynasty reached the height of its power. In 1213 he married Judith, a daughter of King Ottokar I of Bohemia , which affiliated
117-548: The River Nahe. Weitramsdorf Weitramsdorf is a municipality in the district of Coburg in Bavaria in Germany . It consists of the following villages: Weitramsdorf, Gersbach, Schlettach, Altenhof, Hergramsdorf, Tambach , Neundorf, Weidach and Weidach-Vogelherd. The castle (and former monastery) of Tambach has been owned by the counts of Ortenburg since 1806. This Coburg district location article
130-481: The castle was besieged by Spanish troops under Ambrogio Spinola in 1620, which may have caused some destruction. Within a ring wall , the castle comprised a residential section, a round tower, and a strongly fortified rectangular keep , provided for habitation purposes with privy , enlarged windows, and fireplaces . The keep was constructed of rough-hewn stone and dates roughly to the mid-12th century. Other towers with rough-hewn masonry are found only south of
143-536: The ducal line with the Czech royal Přemyslid dynasty . Bernhard's son Ulrich III by marriage with Agnes of Merania in 1248 also inherited the title of a margrave in the adjacent March of Carniola . However, as he outlived his children, he bequested his Carinthian and Carniolan lands to his Přemyslid cousin King Ottokar II of Bohemia according to a secret inheritance agreement of 1268. These estates were among
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#1732765331671156-640: The territories which Rudolph of Habsburg after his election as King of the Romans in 1273 seized due to their acquisition in suspicious circumstances. The founder of the Rhenish branch was Count Stephan I of Sponheim (d. 1080), who may have been a 1st cousin, a son or a nephew of Siegfried. One of his successors Gottfried III (1183–1218) married Adelheid of Sayn, sister and heiress of the last Count of Sayn , Henry II . In 1437 this branch's ruling male line in Sponheim died out, and female line descendants, namely
169-578: The title and became the first Sponheim Duke of Carinthia as well as Margrave in the Italian March of Verona . Upon his death only one year later, he was succeeded by his brother Engelbert , whose descendants ruled in Carinthia until the death of Duke Ulrich III in 1269. Engelbert's younger son Rapoto became the ancestor of the Bavarian Ortenburg dynasty. The Sponheim dukes tried to consolidate their possessions by being loyal liensmen of
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