The family is known to exist from 1223 to 1744 and was named after the market village of
Sparneck. One of their first castles was the
Waldsteinburg; further castles were located in Sparneck,
Weißdorf,
Stockenroth, Uprode near
Weißdorf, Stein near
Gefrees, Hallerstein (now part of
Schwarzenbach an der Saale) and
Gattendorf. Their homeland corresponds to the old
district of
Münchberg, now part of the
district of Hof. The family is directly related to the Houses of
Bibra,
Gravenreuth,
Guttenberg,
Kotzau,
Künsberg,
Notthafft,
Pappenheim,
Reitzenstein and
Zedtwitz. As a consequence of supporting the
robber baron Thomas von Absberg, they were forced to give up their origin lands and moved to
Upper Palatinate, keeping only few
fiefs, the so-called
Afterlehen, e.g. in Bernstein near
Wunsiedel and Dörflas, now a part of
Marktredwitz. For two generations they can be found in
Libá. At last they owned
manor houses in
Trausnitz,
Püchersreuth and
Reuth bei Erbendorf. == References ==