The former edelfrei family was first mentioned as Ursperch in a deed of 1162 issued by Duke Herman II of Carinthia at his residence St. Veit.

Above the engraving stands the original Auersperg coat of arms, displaying an aurochs (German: Auerochs(e) or Ur, Slovene: Tur).

The family name may derive from Ursberg in Swabia, and their ancestors probably settled in Lower Carniola after the victory of King Otto I of Germany over the Hungarian forces at the 955 Battle of Lechfeld.

They held large estates from Grosuplje in the north down to Velike Lašče and Ribnica, rivalling with the Meinhardiner counts of Görz, the Carinthian Ortenburg dynasty and the Patriarchs of Aquileia.

In the mid 15th century, this line split into two eponymous branches with the brothers Pankraz II (1441–1496) and Volkhard VIII (1442–1508).

Trojan's son Herbard VIII von Auersperg (1528–1575), called Hervard Turjaški in Slovene, was Carniolan Landeshauptmann and commander of the Croatian and Slavonian Military Frontier, he played a vital role as a patron of Primož Trubar, Jurij Dalmatin and the Protestant Reformation in the Slovene Lands.

[2] His son Andreas von Auersperg was one of the military commanders during the decisive Battle of Sisak against the Ottomans, gaining the nickname "Carniolan Achilles".

[4] Emperor Ferdinand III elevated Johann Weikhard to a hereditary Prince of the Holy Roman Empire in 1653 and enfeoffed him with the Silesian Duchy of Münsterberg in the Lands of the Bohemian Crown the next year.