Gottfried III, Count of Sponheim

Gottfried III, Count of Sponheim was a German nobleman. He succeeded his father Gottfried II as Count of Sponheim.

Life

In 1202 he married Adelheid von Sayn, one of the two sisters and heirs of Henry III, the last count of Sayn. They had issue:

After Henry III's death in 1246/47 parts of Sayn fell to Gottfried's son John I, the founder of the Sponheim-Starkenburg line. Gottfried built the Kauzenburg at Kreuznach and thus came into conflict with the Bishopric of Speyer. In 1218 Gottfried joined the Fifth Crusade, in which he lost his life. His widow Adelheid remarried to Eberhard IV of Eberstein, owner of the lordship of Stauf and brother of Conrad of Eberstein, bishop of Speyer.