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.
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.
[4] The Berthold-Bezelin dynasty in Stromberg and its relation to the original Berthold-Bezelin dynasty of Trechirgau is discussed by Heinzelmann,[5] which proposes Berthold of Stromberg to be an Emichone with a maternal heritage of the Bertholde/Bezeline from Trechirgau.