The House of Wurmbrand-Stuppach is an old noble family of Austria. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Counts of Wurmbrand-Stuppach gained notability in wars against the Turks in the Balkans. The Counts of Wurmbrand-Stuppach were highly decorated advisors to the Habsburg Emperors. During the 18th century the family had immediate status as ruling counts of a small territory of the Holy Roman Empire and as such, the family belonged to high nobility. The Wurmbrand Saga The founding of the house of Wurmbrand-Stuppach, and the origins of the name, occurred during the Crusades. The Count of Stuppach had disappeared seven years earlier fighting in the Holy Land, and the knights were getting impatient on waiting for his wife and successor to remarry. A lindworm (a mythological two-legged wyvern-like creature) had entered the county and began to terrorise the land. The knights demanded she marry a brave nobleman to fight it. The Countess asked for four weeks' delay, and when that time had passed she said to the knights "I asked God. He likes my husband to return to me, if he still lives. To my sadness he did not come. Give me still four weeks period." But the people would not have another four weeks delay due to the lindworm, so she instead announced that she would marry whoever slayed the beast. Silently, the knights left. Those which went to slay the lindworm did not return. One day, a poor farmer was on the Burglach making fences when the lindworm appeared. It lunged at the farmer, which speared the lindworm in the mouth with a stake he was using to build the fences. Other farmers who were nearby saw it, and they carried him to the countess to be married. The wedding lasted a week. History The family is first mentioned with Leupold dem Wurmbrant in 1194. They originate from the Bucklige Welt region in Lower Austria. At the end of the 12th century they received the fief of Stuppach castle near Gloggnitz which remained in their possession until 1659. In 1600, they acquired Steyersberg castle near Warth, Lower Austria. Ehrenreich the Elder (1558- c. 1620) became baron in 1607. His children became counts in 1682. Count Johann Josef Wilhelm (1670–1750), president of the Aulic Council, was honored by the Emperor by being made a personal (not yet hereditary) member of the Franconian count's bench, a part of the college