Adolf III. from the mark

Coat of arms of the Counts of the Mark

Adolf von der Mark (* around 1334; † September 7, 1394 in Kleve ) was bishop in the diocese of Münster from 1357 to 1363 , from 1363 to 1364 elect of the archbishopric of Cologne , from 1368 Count von Kleve and from 1391 regent of the County of Mark .

According to Klevian counting, he is known as Count Adolf I of Kleve , according to Electoral Cologne counting as Archbishop Adolf II of Cologne and as Bishop of Münster as Adolf I of Münster .

Life

origin

Adolf was the second son of Count Adolf II von der Mark and his wife Margarethe von Kleve . His older brother was Engelbert III. von der Mark , and he had four other siblings. He was appointed to the clergy at an early age and grew up at the court of his uncle Engelbert , the bishop of Liège .

Spiritual career

Adolf became canon at Cologne Cathedral in 1348 and in Liège in 1351. From 1353 to 1357 he studied canon law in Montpellier . After almost a year of vacancy, the Archbishopric of Cologne fell to the Mark family. On March 8, 1353, his uncle Engelbert brought him into possession of a cathedral priest from Münster , which he kept until 1364. On November 16, 1357, Adolf von der Mark was appointed bishop of Münster by Pope Urban V and transferred to Cologne on June 21, 1363, after he had been elected archbishop by the cathedral chapter on June 13, 1363 and thus opposed the actual favorite of the cathedral chapter , Johann von Virneburg , could claim. As early as 1364 Adolf transferred the Archdiocese of Cologne to his uncle Engelbert in order to prepare himself for the succession in the county of Kleve , which was ruled by his childless great-uncle Count Johann . For this he was compensated by Engelbert, among other things, with the Rheinberg district of Cologne, which is adjacent to Kleve . Even at the papal curia in Avignon , from which Adolf had always been supported, this behavior was seen as scandalous.

Count of Kleve

Double grave of Adolf I and his wife Margarethe in the collegiate church of Kleve

After the death of Count Johann von Kleve in 1368, Adolf was able to prevail against his rivals Dietrich von Horn and Otto von Arkel and succeed him in Kleve. His brothers, Count Engelbert III. Von der Mark and Dietrich von der Mark had to cede the parts of the county of Kleve on the right bank of the Rhine (except Emmerich and the Hetter ) for their support . In 1369 he married Margarete von Jülich , with whom he had sixteen children, at least five of whom did not survive childhood. After the death of Duke Rainald III. von Geldern In 1371 Adolf supported the old Countess Mechtild von Geldern in vain . For her Wittum Linn , a series of wars broke out from 1378 with the Archbishop of Cologne, Friedrich III. from Saar Werden . Adolf had to do without Linn for good in 1392, but received the city of Rees in return ; Xanten was placed under a Cologne-Klevian velvet rule.

In 1381 Count Adolf founded the Geselschap van den Gecken together with 35 knights and noble lords , which can be regarded as the first carnival society. They elected a king and six councilors from among their number , who took over the foolish regiment during the carnival season. Court was held for seven days until Shrove Monday and the service was attended together on Carnival Tuesday. Members were required to wear a badge depicting a fool throughout the year. Those who forgot to do so had to pay a fine, which was donated to those in need. The Carnival Society of Cologne Fools Guild still invokes Count Adolf in its tradition today.

Graf von der Mark

After the death of his brother, Count Engelbert III. from the Mark in 1391, which had no male descendants, the county of Mark also fell to Adolf. But he ceded this to his second son Dietrich as early as 1393 . Adolf died on September 7, 1394 and was buried in the Klever collegiate church. His eldest son Adolf II followed him in the county of Kleve .

progeny

The following children emerged from Adolf's marriage with Margarethe von Berg :

• Adolf II (* 1373; † 1448), successor as Count von Kleve
• Dietrich (* 1374; † 1398), successor as Count von der Mark
• Gerhard († 1461), Count zur Mark since 1430
• Heinrich (died young)
• Walter (died young)
• Johann (died young)
• Wilhelm (died young)
• Margarethe (* around 1375; † 1411), married Albrecht I of Bavaria-Holland (1336–1404) in 1394
• Mynta (?; Died young)
• Elisabeth (* around 1378; † after 1439), married Reinold von Valkenburg († 1396) on 1 st 1393, Stephan III on 2 1401 . of Bavaria-Ingolstadt († 1413)
• Johanna, Abbess of Hörde († after 1415)
• Engelberta († 1458), married Friedrich IV. Von Moers († 1448)
• Catherine († 1459)
• Irmgard
• two other daughters who died young

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Otto Küpper: Chronicle of the Cologne Fools Guild from 1880 - 2005 . Cologne 2004. p. 3

literature

• Woldemar Harless:  Adolf I . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, pp. 98-100.
• Helmut Dahm:  Adolf I .. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 80 f. ( Digitized version ).
• Manuel Hagemann: The Klever inheritance 1368 - preparation and stabilization of the takeover of rule by the House of Mark , in: RhVjbll . 83, 2019. pp. 80-109, ISBN 978-3-7749-4222-6

Web links

• Biography in the portal Rheinische Geschichte

predecessor	Office	successor
Wilhelm of Gennep	Elector Archbishop of Cologne Adolf II von der Mark 1363-1364	Engelbert III. from the mark
Ludwig II of Hesse	Bishop of Münster Adolf I von der Mark 1357-1363	Johann I of Virneburg
Johann	Count of Kleve Adolf I of Kleve 1368–1394	Adolf II
Engelbert III.	Count of the Mark Adolf III. from the mark 1391-1393	Lockpick