Simon II of Sponheim ( – 1336 in

Kastellaun Kastellaun () is a town in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the like-named ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality. Geography Location The town lies in the eastern Hunsrüc ...

) was a nobleman from the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. He was a member of the

House of Sponheim The House of Sponheim or Spanheim was a medieval Germans, German noble family, which originated in Rhenish Franconia. They were Imperial immediacy, immediate Counts of County of Sponheim, Sponheim until 1437 and Dukes of Duchy of Carinthia, Carint ...

and a ruling Count of the

County of Sponheim The County of Sponheim (, former spelling: Spanheim, Spanheym) was an independent territory in the Holy Roman Empire that lasted from the 11th century until the early 19th century. The name comes from the municipality of Sponheim, where the cou ...

Life

Simon II was born around the year 1270 as a son of Count John I, Count of Sponheim-Kreuznach and his wife Adelaide of Leiningen-Landeck. After his father died in 1290, Simon II ruled the county jointly with his brother John II, Count of Sponheim-Kreuznach. He married Elisabeth II of Valkenburg in 1300. Around this time, the brothers divided the county. The dividing line was Soonwald Forest; Simon II ruled the part north of the forest, including Kirchberg and

. Simon chose Kastellaun Castle as his residence. He expanded the castle and the town, giving it

city rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...

in 1305 and market rights in 1309. Later, he built city walls and a new church, which today serves as the

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

(i.e. Protestant) church. In

Kreuznach Bad Kreuznach () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a spa town, known for its medieval bridge dating from around 1300, the Alte Nahebrücke, which is one of the few remaining bridges in the world wi ...

he built the Alte Nahebrücke (Old Nahe Bridge) in about 1300.Zaschel, Anne (Universität Koblenz-Landau) (2014
Brückenhäuser auf der Alten Nahebrücke in Bad Kreuznach
o
www.kuladig.de
Retrieved 17 June 2018 The first recorded mention of the stone bridge was in 1332. It not only provided an important link on the road between

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

and

Trier Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...

, but also formed part of the Kreuznach's town fortifications. It still stands today and is one of oldest stone bridges in Germany.Vogt, Werner (1988) ''Nahebrücke Bad Kreuznach''. In: ''Steinbrücken in Deutschland''. Düsseldorf: Beton-Verlag, pp. 394–398 Simon II's younger brother Emerich made two failed attempts to be elected

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

. Both attempts were blocked by the powerful Luxembourg family. After this blockade, Simon II and his brothers opposed Archbishop

Baldwin Baldwin may refer to: People * Baldwin (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname Places Canada * Baldwin, York Regional Municipality, Ontario * Baldwin, Ontario, in Sudbury District * Baldwin's Mills, ...

Archbishopric of Trier The Diocese of Trier (), in English historically also known as ''Treves'' () from French ''Trèves'', is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic church in Germany.Frederick the Fair Frederick the Fair () or the Handsome ( – 13 January 1330), from the House of Habsburg, was the duke of Austria and Styria from 1308 as well as the anti-king of Germany from 1314 until 1325 and then co-king until his death. Background Frederi ...

, the opponent of Emperor Louis IV. Their opposition to the Luxembourg dynasty formed the basis of their policies, and led to numerous feuds. In 1320, Baldwin captured the Sponheim city of Sprendlingen and besieged

and

. A year later, Simon II gave up and signed a peace treaty with Baldwin. In 1325, Baldwin constructed Balduinseck Castle, to weaken the position of Kastellaun Castle. Three years later, Simon II supported the

wildgrave The first Waldgraves or Wildgraves (Latin: ''comites silvestres'') descended from a division of the House of the Counts of Nahegau in the year 1113. When the (a countship named after the river Nahe) split into two parts in 1113, the count ...

s of

Nahegau The Nahegau was a county in the Middle Ages, which covered the environs of the Nahe and large parts of present-day Rhenish Hesse, after a successful expansion of the narrow territory, which did not reach the Rhine, to the disadvantage of the Wo ...

, who fought Archbishop Baldwin over

Schmidtburg The Schmidtburg is a ruined hill castle next to Schneppenbach (Hunsrück) in Germany. The castle was built up in 926, and was destroyed during the War of the Grand Alliance (1688–1697) by French troops in 1688. File:Schmidtburg Castle Panora ...

Castle. Simon II died in 1336 and was buried in the church he had built in Kastellaun. A double grave monument for Simon II and his wife can still be found in the church. His heir was his son

Walram Waleran, Galeran, or Walram is a Germanic first name, common in the Middle Ages, that may refer to: People *Waleran I of Limburg (died 1082) * Waleran the Hunter (fl. 1086) * Walram (bishop of Naumburg) (r. 1091–1111) * Waleran of Le Puiset (died ...

Marriage and issue

He married Elisabeth II of Valkenburg in 1300. Together, they had the following children: *

(d. 1380), Count of Sponheim, married on 9 August 1330 to Elisabeth of

Katzenelnbogen Katzenelnbogen () is the name of a castle and small town in the district of Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Katzenelnbogen is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Aar-Einrich. History Katzenelnbog ...

(d. 1383) * Simon * John II (1312-1348), Count of Sponheim * Reinhard (d. 1352),

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

in Mainz and Trier * Imagina (d. after 21 December 1352), married in 1322 to Count Philip of

Solms Solms () is a town west of Wetzlar in the Lahn-Dill-Kreis, Hessen, Germany with around 13,500 inhabitants. In the constituent community of Burgsolms once stood the ancestral castle of the Counts and Princes of House of Solms, Solms. Geography Lo ...

(d. 1364 or 1365) * Margaret, married in 1330 to a Wildgrave of Dhaun and Grumbach (d. 1350) * Anna (d. 1330), married Count John I of Katzenelnbogen (d. 1357) * Elisabeth, married: *# before 1331 to Count Rudolph I of Hohenberg (d. 1336) *# before 15 October 1340 to Louis the Junker of Hesse (d. 1345)

Bibliography

Johannes Mötsch Johannes Mötsch (born 8 July 1949 in Bonn) is a German archivist and historian. Life Johannes Mötsch studied History and Latin Philology from 1970 to 1978 at the Universität Bonn and graduated in 1979. In 1978 he started, as trainee teacher, ...

: ''Die Burg Kastellaun bis 1437'', in: Stadt Kastellaun (eds.): ''Das Wahrzeichen Kastellauns — Seine Burg'', in the series ''Kastellaun in der Geschichte'', vol. 3, Kastellaun, 1994, p. 19-58 *

: ''Trier und Sponheim'', in: Johannes Mötsch and Franz-Josef Heyen (eds.): ''Balduin von Luxemburg. Erzbischof von Trier — Kurfürst des Reiches. Festschrift aus Anlaß des 700. Geburtsjahres'', Mainz, 1985, p. 357 - 389

References

External links

Genealogy of the Counts of Sponheim from Godfried III
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simon 02 Sponheim Kreuznach Counts in Germany House of Sponheim Bad Kreuznach People from Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis 1270s births 1336 deaths Year of birth uncertain 13th-century German nobility 14th-century German nobility