County of Sponheim

County of Sponheim Grafschaft Sponheim
State of the Holy Roman Empire
←   ← 11th century – 1804 →   →   →
Coat of arms
Location of the County of Sponheim
Capital	Sponheim Traben-Trarbach Kreuznach
Government	Principality
Historical era	Middle Ages
- Established	the 11th century
- Partitioned to Starkenburg and Kreuznach	about 1225
- Divided between Baden, Palatinate-Simmern-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld and Electoral Palatinate	1437
- Joined Upper Rhenish Imperial Circle	1500
- Annexed by the First French Empire	1804

Historic map of the left bank of the Rhine in 1692 - including the County of Sponheim

The County of Sponheim (German: Grafschaft Sponheim, former spelling: Spanheim, Spanheym) was an independent territory in the Holy Roman Empire which lasted from the 11th century until the early 19th century. The name comes from the municipality of Sponheim, where the counts had their original residence.

Geography

The territory was located roughly between the rivers Rhine, Moselle and Nahe, in the present state of Rhineland-Palatinate, around the Hunsrück region. It bordered the Electorate of Trier to the north and west, the Raugraviate, the Electorate of Mainz and the Electoral Palatinate to the east and the County of Veldenz to the south and west, among other states.

History

Beginnings

The family of Sponheim, also of Spanheim, is documented since the 11th century. There are two main branches which are with certainty related, but whose exact relationship is still debated. The branch of the Dukes of Carinthia descends from Siegfried I, Count of Sponheim. The Rhenish branch which retained the County of Sponheim descends from Stephan I, Count of Sponheim.

The county originated from various inheritances which were united in the family's hands, including possessions from the Counties of Nellenburg and Stromberg and jurisdiction of the Gaugrafen of Trechirgau (Berthold-Bezelin dynasty). The Sponheimish countly office is supposedly derived from the countly office of Trechirgau.^[1] The family of the Counts of Sponheim founded in the 12th century the monastery of Sponheim, where in the 11th century a church had already been built. Through the famous abbot from Sponheim Johannes Trithemius is a large quantity of information available about the counts and the monastery. He wrote the so-called Sponheimer Chronic and arranged a collection of documents for posterity.

First divisions, Rear and Front Counties, 13th to 15th centuries

Christopher I, Margrave of Baden-Baden, joint ruler 1475–1515

Around 1225 the county was divided in two, which in turn were ruled by two lines of the House of Sponheim. The line Sponheim-Starkenburg ruled over the "Rear County" based on Starkenburg (Hintere Grafschaft Sponheim), and the line Sponheim-Kreuznach over the "Front County" based on Kreuznach (Vordere Grafschaft Sponheim).

This partition took place among the sons of Count Gottfried III of Sponheim, who died abroad while participating in the Fifth Crusade. Gottfried had married Adelheid of Sayn, sister of the last Count of Sayn Heinrich III. His estate was divided between their three sons Johann I, Heinrich and Simon I. Simon, the youngest brother, received the Front County of Sponheim and set as his residence castle Kauzenburg near Kreuznach. Heinrich married the heiress of Heinsberg, received a portion of the Saynish inheritance and founded the Sponheimish line of the Lords of Heinsberg. Johann became heir to Sayn and to the Rear County of Sponheim, residing in castle Starkenburg (from 1350 on Castle Grevenburg became residence).

Johann I's sons divided their father's estate in 1265. Gottfried received the County of Sayn, whose direct heirs are today the Counts of Sayn-Wittgenstein. Heinrich I, Count of Sponheim-Starkenburg became heir to the Rear County of Sponheim.

Both territories were widely fortified throughout the centuries, what becomes evident through the existence of around twenty-one castles which can still be visited today (most as ruines) in the former sovereignty of the counts.^{[note 1]} Feuds with the neighboring Electorates of Mainz and Trier were common, with some giving birth to southwestern German legends such as the tale of Michel Mort. The Rear County and the Front County were also not always in terms with each other regarding political affiliation. During the dispute between the German Kings Friedrich der Schöne and Ludwig the Bavarian the Rear County supported Ludwig, while Front-Sponheim advocated for Friedrich. Ludwig's victory resulted in political strengthening of Rear-Sponheim. Around that time the Front County had itself been administratively parted between the brothers Johann II of Sponheim-Kreuznach and Simon II of Sponheim-Kreuznach, with forest Soonwald defining the limits. Count Walram of Sponheim-Kreuznach reunited the Front County. Walram became known as a military leader who commanded many confronts, including inter-Sponheimish ones, although those were not of higher importance.

Second divisions, joint regency

In 1417 the line Sponheim-Kreuznach became extinct and the line Sponheim-Starkenburg ruled alone for about 20 years over most of the whole county. Count Walram's granddaughter married Ruprecht Pipan, heir to the Electoral Palatinate, who died of disease after returning from the Battle of Nikopolis at the age of 21. The marriage was childless but nevertheless a small portion of the Front County (less than 1/5) was granted as dowry to the Electors Palatine. In 1437 the line Sponheim-Starkenburg died out also on the male succession, and the counties were managed in joint rule as a condominium (international law) by female line heirs from then on until the early 19th century. These rightful successors, which took on the title of Count at Sponheim (Graf zu Sponheim), were the Margraves of Baden, which descended from Mechtild of Sponheim, and the Counts of Veldenz, which descended from Loretta of Sponheim; both Mechtild and Loretta were daughters of Count Johann III of Sponheim-Starkenburg. The County of Veldenz was soon inherited by a collateral line of the Counts Palatine of the Rhine through the union of the heiress Anna of Veldenz with Count Palatine Stefan of Simmern-Zweibrücken. The rule of the Rear County of Sponheim was thus shared between Baden and Palatinate-Simmern-Zweibrücken or Palatinate-Birkenfeld; the rule of the Front County of Sponheim roughly between Baden and the Electoral Palatinate.

Reformation

The Reformation was instituted in the County of Sponheim in the year 1557, led by Friedrich II, Count Palatine of Simmern. The county became an important Protestant territory, with exclaves on the Moselle like Enkirch, Trarbach or Winningen, bordering as it did the catholic Electorate of Trier. Warfare with neighboring catholic states would take place intermittently through the centuries, there included the Thirty Years' War.

Annexations

After the Napoleonic Wars, most of the county became a part of Prussia,^{[note 2]} and the region around Birkenfeld became part of Oldenburg. The ruling dinasties of Baden and Wittelsbach received extensive territories in exchange for the loss of Sponheim (compare also literature on the so-called "Sponheim Controversy" between Baden and Bavaria).

Literature

• Jackman, Donald C.: Sponheim. Medieval German Counties. Medieval Prosopography. http://web.archive.org/web/20040205173219/www.personal.psu.edu/users/d/c/dcj121/prosop/counts/countyA/county11.htm

German language literature

• Bergholz, Thomas: Die Grafschaften Sponheim. In: Emil Sehling (Begr.): Die evangelischen Kirchenordnungen des 16. Jahrhunderts. Band 18: Rheinland-Pfalz I. Tübingen 2006, S. 619–684.
• Dotzauer, Winfried: Die Vordere Grafschaft Sponheim als pfälzisch-badisches Kondominium 1437–1707/8. Diss. phil. Universität Mainz 1963; Bad Kreuznach 1963
• Dotzauer, Winfried: Geschichte des Nahe-Hunsrück-Raumes von den Anfängen bis zur Französischen Revolution. Franz Steiner Verlag 2001, ISBN 3-515-07878-9
• Fey, Carola: Die Begräbnisse der Grafen von Sponheim. Untersuchungen zur Sepulkralkultur des mittelalterlichen Adels. Phil. Diss. Gießen, Mainz, 2003, ISBN 3-929135-41-8
• Hofmann, Johann: Trorbachische Ehren-Säul: Oder Geschichtliche Beschreibung förderst der Fürstl. Spanheymischen Ober-Amts-Statt Trorbach an der Mosel, Theils auch anderer Ohrt in derselben Gegend, sonderlich des dahin verbürgerten Haupt-fleckens Traben, Rößlin, Stuttgart 1669 (digitalized)
• Lehmann, Johann Georg: Die Grafschaft und die Grafen von Spanheim (Sponheim) der beiden Linien Kreuznach und Starkenburg. R. Voigtländer, Kreuznach 1869. Sändig Reprint, 1985, ISBN 978-3-253-02727-7 (digitalized at [1], [2], ed. 1869)
• Mötsch, Johannes: Die Grafschaften Sponheim. (Geschichtlicher Atlas der Rheinlande, Beiheft V/4), Köln: Rheinland-Verlag, 1992, ISBN 3-7927-1341-1
• Mötsch, Johannes: Genealogie der Grafen von Sponheim. In: Jahrbuch für westdeutsche Landesgeschichte. Band 13, 1987, S. 63–179, ISSN 0170-2025
• Mötsch, Johannes: Regesten des Archivs der Grafen von Sponheim 1065–1437. 5 Bände, Koblenz 1987–1991
• Mötsch, Johannes: Trier und Sponheim. In: Johannes Mötsch und Franz-Josef Heyen (Hrsg.): Balduin von Luxemburg. Erzbischof von Trier — Kurfürst des Reiches. Festschrift aus Anlaß des 700. Geburtsjahres. Mainz 1985, S. 357–389
• Stramberg, Johann Christian von; Weidenbach, Anton Joseph: Das Nahethal. Historisch und topographisch. 5 volumes. (Denkwürdiger und nützlicher rheinischer Antiquarius: Welcher die wichtisten und angenehmsten geographischen, historischen und politischen Merkwürdigkeiten des ganzen Rheinstroms, von seinem Ausflusse in das Meer bis zu seinem Ursprunge darstellt. Abt. II Bd. 16–20) Koblenz, Rud. Friedr. Hergt 1869–1871 (digitalized)
• Weydmann, Ernst: Geschichte der ehemaligen gräflich-sponheimischen Gebiete. Ein Beitrag zur deutschen Territorialgeschichte. Dissertation. Konstanz, Ackermann 1899
• Wild, Klaus Eberhard: Die Hintere Grafschaft Sponheim als pfälzisch-badische Gemeinsherrschaft (1437–1776). In: Mitteilungen des Heimatvereins Birkenfeld. 1972, Jg. 35, 3–32
• Wild, Klaus Eberhard: Zur Geschichte der Grafschaften Veldenz und Sponheim und der Birkenfelder Linien der pfälzischen Wittelsbacher. Birkenfeld 1982

See also

House of Sponheim List of Counts to Sponheim Margraviate of Baden

County of Veldenz Electoral Palatinate House of Palatinate-Simmern

House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken House of Palatinate-Birkenfeld Friedrich Karl von Tettenborn

References

1. ^ Jackman, Donald C.: Sponheim. Medieval German Counties. Medieval Prosopography. http://web.archive.org/web/20040205173219/www.personal.psu.edu/users/d/c/dcj121/prosop/counts/countyA/county11.htm . P. 4

Footnotes

1. ^ The County of Sponheim included throughout its history the following fortifications: Allenbach, Alt-Wolfstein, Argenschwang, Birkenfeld, Böckelheim, Dill, Tannenfels, Ebernburg, Frauenburg, Gemünden/Hunsrück, Grafendahn, Grevenburg, Gutenberg, Herrstein, Kastellaun, Koppenstein, Kreuznach, Naumburg, Sponheim, Starkenburg, Winterburg, Zollburg
2. ^ Grand Duchy of the Lower Rhine, 1822 Rhine Province

External links

Media related to County of Sponheim at Wikimedia Commons

• (German) Mötsch, Johannes: Ein Kondominatsbesitz – Die Vordere und die Hintere Grafschaft Spohnheim (website by Wolfgang Morscheck) with good maps. (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/5kR0AUVHN)
• Höckmann, Thomas: Historical map of Rhineland-Palatinate 1789. Historical Atlas – Germany. (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/5kR0osgWA and http://www.webcitation.org/5kR17k3E4)

Sources

This article incorporates information from the German Wikipedia.