Talk:Sponheim family

Carantania/Karantania
The spelling question is completely irrelevant here! In the 12th century that name had already disappeared. There is no Latin or German document of that time that does not speak either in Latin of "Carinthia" or in German   of "Kaernten" in various forms of spelling: Kaerndten, Caernthen, etc. The Sponheims of the second millenium, called after Sponheim castle in the Rhineland had really  nothing whatsoever  in common with the ancient Slav principality of Carantania. The "Carantanian March" or "Carinthian March", which was under the overlordship of the Dukes of Carinthia till 1180, was not Carinthia but Styria, which at that time was already often called "Steiermark", because their Margraves had come from the town of Steyr in Upper Austria. Marschner (talk) 23:19, 1 November 2008 (UTC)