The fascinating history of the imperially immediate County of Sponheim
in the Nahe-Hunsrück area begins around the turn of the last millennium
(imperially immediate: priviledged feudal and political status of the
Middle Ages). At that time the entire region
belonged to the Salians. The Salic kings and emperors were rulers
of the "Nahe area". Count Eberhard von Nellenburg, who came from
Stockach on the Lake of Constance and who had much influence with
the Salians, built a church in 1044-1047 on a very attractively
situated hill near Sponheim castle. A short time later the church was
expanded and a Convent of Canons constituted from which the Sponheim
monastery emerged. At about the same time the imperial cathedral
was built in the romanesque style in Speyer, less than 50
kilometers away, as the entombment place for the Salians
(completed in 1061). The monastery church of Sponheim was also
built in this massive style. In the year 1124, Count Meginhard
von Nellenburg and his wife Mechthild from Mörsburg near
Wiesendangen (Switzerland) established the Sponheim Benedictine monastery
and donated it, together with other properties, to the Archbishop of Mainz.
The House of Sponheim, as they
now called themselves after inheriting the castle in Ellerbach
Valley from Count von Nellenburg, ruled the Nahe-Hunsrück area
over the following centuries.
Photo: Monastery church «St. Martin and Mary» with the
ground plan of a Greek cross with arms of equal length. It is remarkable
the ease with which the dome of the crossing inside changes from a square
to an octagon (right picture); the left picture shows the side altar with
the statue of St. Martin (Martin of Tours).