Loretta of Sponheim

1300 to John I of (Upper) Salm and Jeanne of Joinville, the daughter of the Seigneur Geoffrey de Geneville, and was raised speaking both German and French.

Widespread poverty and the scarcity of currency set great problems for the young widow in a period marked by territorial conflicts, crop failures, and desertion to the cities by the peasantry.

In this unpromising position Loretta was forced to engage in a trial of strength with one of the most powerful and influential princes of her time, the Elector Baldwin of Luxembourg, Archbishop of Trier (1285–1354), the brother of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VII.

In May 1328, despite a declared armistice, Loretta undertook an even more drastic action: as the unsuspecting Elector was passing Starkenburg on a voyage down the Moselle to Koblenz, his cog was stopped by a chain drawn across the river and surrounded by boats filled with her troops, who conveyed him to a dignified captivity in the reputedly impregnable castle.

Toward the end of her life the Countess busied herself with the construction of the Frauenburg (German: Lady-Castle), after which the current municipality of Frauenberg [sic] is named; according to legend, the castle was built principally using the ransom she had received from Baldwin’s kidnapping.

Tomb sculpture of Loretta's husband. The inscription reads "HENRIC:IVNIOR:COMES:DE: SPANHEIM" ( Latin : Henry, the younger Count of Spanheim ). "Spanheim" is an older form of "Sponheim."
Baldwin of Luxemburg on a trip down the Moselle . From the Codex Balduini , 1341.
The coronation of Henry VII and his wife Margaret of Brabant . Loretta's rival Baldwin of Luxembourg , Henry's brother, stands to the left in the scarlet cap . (Margaret’s ample vair -lined peliçon , with its distinctive w-shaped neck, is typical of the sort of garments Loretta would have worn toward the end of her life.) From the Codex Balduini , 1341.
The excursion ship Gräfin Loretta on the Moselle near Bullay