The county of Spanheim, known also as Spontheim or Sponheim, was located in Rhenish Franconia, a region that had been heavily settled by Franks from the seventh century onwards. Like a number of important Frankish-German noble families, the Spanheimers saw opportunities to be won in the disputed border lands on the eastern edge of Germany. In 1035, Count Siegfried I (1010-1065) served with distinction under Emperor Conrad II (the Salian) against Adalberon of Eppenstein, duke of Carinthia, and also married one Richgard, daughter of Count Engelbert of the Sieghardingers of Bavaria. Through this he inherited large tracts of territory in Carinthia and Tyrol and, in 1045, was appointed margrave of the Hungarian march. His son Engelbert I became margrave of Istria in 1090.
