County of Mark

County de La Mark Grafschaft Mark (German)
c. 1198–1807
Coat of arms
Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle		1500
• Part of     Jülich-Cleves-Berg	1521
• To Brandenburg	1614
• Awarded to Berg	1806
• To Prussia	1815
Preceded by Succeeded by Duchy of Saxony Grand Duchy of Berg

The County of Mark (

The Counts of the Mark were among the most powerful and influential Westphalian lords in the Holy Roman Empire. The name Mark is recalled in the present-day Märkischer Kreis district in lands south of the Ruhr in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The northern portion (north of the Lippe river) is still called Hohe Mark ("Higher Mark"), while the former "Lower Mark" (between the Ruhr and Lippe Rivers) is for the most part merged in the present Ruhr area.

Geography

The County of the Mark enclosed an area of approximately 3,000 km² and extended between the

The seat of the Counts of the Mark

The coat of arms of the county was "Or a fess chequy Gules and Argent of three". These arms have been used by the city of Hamm since 1226. Many other places in the area include the red and white checkered fess in their arms as a reference to the county and often to their founders.

History

Originally belonging to a collateral line of the counts of

In 1509 the heir to the throne of Cleves-Mark John III the Peaceful married Maria, the daughter of Duke William IV of Berg and Jülich. In 1511 he succeeded his father-in-law in Jülich-Berg and in 1521 his father in Cleves-Mark, resulting in the rule of almost all territories in present North Rhine-Westphalia in personal union, except for the ecclesiastical states. The dynasty of Jülich-Cleves-Berg became extinct in 1609, when the insane last duke John William had died. A long dispute about the succession followed, before the territory of Mark together with Cleves and Ravensberg was granted to the Brandenburg Elector John Sigismund of Hohenzollern by the 1614 Treaty of Xanten (generally accepted in 1666). It then became part of the Kingdom of Prussia after 1701.

In 1807 the County of the Mark passed from Prussia to

The Prussian administrative reform of 30 April 1815 placed Mark within Regierungsbezirk Arnsberg, Province of Westphalia. The Hohenzollern Prussian sovereigns remained Counts of the "Prussian County of the Mark" until 1918. The "County of the Mark" has no official meaning anymore, but is used to informally refer to the region in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Counts de la Mark

The

• 1160–1180 Eberhard I, son of Adolf IV, Count of Berg
• 1180–1198 Frederick I, son of Eberhard I
• 1198–1249 Adolph I, son of Frederick I. First Count of the House to name himself Count de La Marck in 1202; he scarcely used the titles of Berg and Altena
• 1249–1277
  Engelbert I
• 1277–1308
  Eberhard II
• 1308–1328
  Engelbert II
• 1328–1347
  Adolph II
• 1347–1391
  Engelbert III
• 1391–1393 Adolph III, brother of Engelbert III, Count of Cleves since 1368 and former Bishop of Münster and Archbishop of Cologne
• 1393–1398
  Dietrich
• 1398–1448 Adolph IV, son of Adolf III, also Count of Cleves 1394–1417, Duke of Cleves 1417–1448
• 1437–1461 Gerhard, brother of Adolf IV – Regent in the county, not allowed to use the title Count de la Mark in his own rights
• 1448–1481 John I, son of Adolph IV, also Duke of Cleves since 1448
• 1481–1521 John II "The Babymaker", son, also Duke of Cleves
• 1521–1539 John III "the Peaceful", son, also Duke of Jülich-Berg since 1511
• 1539–1592 William "the Rich", son, also Duke of Jülich-Berg, Duke of Guelders 1538–1543
• 1592-1609 John William, son, son, also Duke of Jülich-Berg

House of Hohenzollern

• 1614–1619 John Sigismund of Hohenzollern
• 1619–1640 George William, son
• 1640–1688
  Frederick William I
  , son
• 1688–1713 Frederick I, son, King in Prussia from 1701
• 1713–1740 Frederick William I, son, King in Prussia
• 1740–1786
  Frederick II
  , son, King of Prussia from 1772
• 1786–1797 Frederick William II, nephew, King of Prussia
• 1797–1807 Frederick William III, King of Prussia

To France by the 1807 Treaty of Tilsit, incorporated into Grand Duchy of Berg

See also

• de la Marck
  (French spelling of the family name which is often used in English)

Further reading

• Julius Menadier: Die Münzen der Grafschaft Mark. Dortmund 1909.
• Aloys Meister: Die Grafschaft Mark, Festschrift zum Gedächtnis der 300-jährigen Vereinigung mit Brandenburg-Preußen. 2 Bde., Dortmund 1909.
• Margarete Frisch: Die Grafschaft Mark. Der Aufbau und die innere Gliederung des Gebietes besonders nördlich der Ruhr. Aschendorff, Münster in Westfalen 1937.
• Margret Westerburg-Frisch (Hrsg.): Die ältesten Lehnbücher der Grafen von der Mark (1392 und 1393). Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission Westfalens, Bd. 28: Westfälische Lehnbücher, Bd. 1, Münster in Westfalen 1967.
• Uta Vahrenhold-Huland: Grundlagen und Entstehung des Territoriums der Grafschaft Mark. Dortmund 1968.
• Norbert Reimann: Die Grafen von der Mark und die geistlichen Territorien der Kölner Kirchenprovinz (1313–1368). Historischer Verein, Dortmund 1973.
• ISBN 3-922885-14-4
  .
• Oliver Becher: Herrschaft und autonome Konfessionalisierung. Politik, Religion und Modernisierung in der frühneuzeitlichen Grafschaft Mark. Klartext-Verlag, Essen 2006,
  ISBN 3-89861-512-X
  .
• ISBN 3-7995-4522-0. online Text

Wikimedia Commons has media related to County of Mark.

• Edicts of the Duchy of Berg and the County of Mark, 1418–1816 online
• Map of the County of Mark in 1789

51°40′25″N 7°48′57″E / 51.67361°N 7.81583°E / 51.67361; 7.81583