Henry II, Count of Sponheim-Starkenburg
Henry II of Sponheim, the Younger( born between 1292 and 1295; died before 11 October 1323, Wolfstein) was a German nobleman of the house of Sponheim.
He married Loretta of Salm in 1315.
He may have ruled the county of Sponheim alongside his father, John II, Count of Sponheim- Starkenburg, for a brief while; however, he pre-deceased his father by five months.
John II was succeeded by his grandson( the son of Henry II), John III who was, however, only nine years old at his grandfathers death.
For the following seven years, 1324 – 1331, his mother, Loretta of Sponheim, acted as his regent.
Elisabeth, Count of Sponheim-Kreuznach
Elisabeth of Sponheim and Vianden, Duchess of Bavaria (1360 - 31 July 1417) was a German noblewoman.
She was the last countess at Sponheim of the rear line and countess of Vianden.
In 1381 she married Engelbert III of the Mark.
Engelbert III of the Mark
Engelbert III of the Mark (1333–1391) was the Count of Mark from 1347 until 1391.
Adolph was the eldest son of Count Adolph II of the Marck and Margaret of Cleves.
After his father died in 1347, Engelbert III ruled the County of Mark, mainly from Burg Blankenstein in 1393.
In his time, he was the leading political leader of Westphalia.
He was though, efficient and successful, but failed to conquer Arnsberg after years of struggle.
Engelbert was married with:
and had one daughter:
When Engelbert died of the plague in 1391, he was succeeded by his brother Adolph II of the Marck, Archbishopric of Cologne.
Walram, Count of Sponheim-Kreuznach
Walram( c. 1305 – 1380) was a German nobleman of the House of Sponheim.
He succeeded his father Simon II, Count of Sponheim- Kreuznach.
Simon II, Count of Sponheim-Kreuznach
Simon II of Sponheim( – 1336 in Kastellaun) was a German nobleman.
He was a member of the House of Sponheim and a ruling Count of the County of Sponheim.
Henry I, Count of Sponheim-Starkenburg
Henry I, Count of Sponheim( born between 1235 and 1240; died 1 August 1289) was a German nobleman of the house of Sponheim.
He was the count of Sponheim from 1266 until his death.
Stephen I, Count of Sponheim
Stephen I, Count of Sponheim( d. ca. 1080) is the patriarch of the Rhenish branch of the House of Sponheim, which ruled over the County of Sponheim.
He was closely related to Siegfried I, Count of Sponheim, patriarch of the Carinthian Sponheimish branch, but the exact relationship between the two dynasts is disputed.
Johannes Trithemius credits a Count Eberhard of Sponheim as founder of the Abbey of Sponheim and dates the founding to 1044, a position questioned by Johannes Mötsch.
The" Genealogia Sponhemica" presents Count Eberhardus as son of Countess Hedwig and father of a single Count Stephenus I/ II of Sponheim.
Donald C. Jackman considers
Stephen I a son of Siegfried I. Both Jackman and Josef Heinzelmann consider Stephen as being identical to Stephen, Vogt of Worms documented with his brother Markward in 1068.
Heinzelmann however casts doubt on a male lineage relationship of Stephen and Siegfried and sees Stephen I of Sponheim as being Lord of Sponheim but not a Count, notices that Stephen I of Sponheim is documented in 1075 as" S( igna) Stepheni de Spanheim" with his seal in a document of Udo, Archbishop of Trier, and proposes Stephen to have married into the House of Sponheim.
In another work Heinzelmann considers the Stephen mentioned in 1075 to be Stephen II, or maybe a single Stephen, mentions a Mainzer" ministerialis" Stephen, the son of Embricho( Emich) and nephew of Archbishop Ruthard, who lived later, as a possible relation, and puts forward that the documented Stephen and Markward belong to the House of the Counts of Metz/ Lunéville, which later provided the Vogts of Worms:" Identisch kann er sein mit einem Wormser Vogt Stephen( 1068)[ 239 UB Stadt Worms I, Nr. 55], der mit seinem Bruder Markwart zu den Grafen von Lunéville/ Metz zu gehören scheint, die mit den de Meti später die Wormser Vögte stellen."
Stephen I's wife is supposed to have been a sister of Count Berthold IV of Stromberg.
The Berthold- Bezelin dynasty in Stromberg and its relation to the original Berthold- Bezelin dynasty of Trechirgau is discussed by Heinzelmann, which proposes Berthold of Stromberg to be an Emichone with a maternal heritage of the Bertholde/ Bezeline from Trechirgau.
Loretta of Sponheim
Loretta of Sponheim( born" ca". 1300; died 1346) was a countess of the noble house of Sponheim- Starkenburg, regent of the County of Sponheim for her son, count John III, from 1324 to 1331.
John II, Count of Sponheim-Starkenburg
John II of Sponheim( born between 1265 and 1270; died 22 February or 29 March 1324) at Starkenburg was a German nobleman from the house of Sponheim.
He was count of Sponheim from 1289 to 1324.
He succeeded his father, Henry I, Count of Sponheim- Starkenburg, and was succeeded by his grandson, John III, Count of Sponheim- Starkenburg.
John I, Count of Sponheim-Starkenburg
John I, Count of Sponheim( born before 1206; died 1266) was a German count.
He belonged to the house of Sponheim and ruled the county of Sponheim from 1218 to 1266.
He inherited the county of Sayn.

Question: Why did Elisabeth, Count Of Sponheim-Kreuznach's husband die?
Answer: plague