Adolf VI. (Mountain)

Tomb of Adolf VI. in Altenberg Cathedral

Adolf VI. von Berg († April 3, 1348 ), also called the Venerable , was a Count von Berg and ruled from 1308 to 1348.

Adolf was the nephew of his two predecessors Adolf V. von Berg (ruled 1259–1296) and Wilhelm I von Berg (ruled 1296–1308). His father was their brother Heinrich von Windeck . Adolf's marriage to Agnes von Kleve in 1312 gave him Duisburg , which his wife had brought into the marriage as a trousseau, with the associated Rhine toll.

During his reign there were many floods , bad harvests and plague epidemics . In addition, the population suffered from the war between Frederick of Austria and Ludwig the Bavarian . Adolf VI. When the king was elected in 1314, he took the side of Ludwig, who also confirmed the Duisburg imperial pledge .

Adolf was also known for granting city rights to many places, for example when he gave Mülheim am Rhein the rights of a freedom in 1322 . Many places in the Bergisches Land also refer to contracts or documents signed by Adolf in the first documentary mentions. In return for founding cities, Adolf had to contractually promise the citizens of Cologne not to fortify Deutz or to use it as a deployment area against Cologne.

From 1327 to 1328 he accompanied King Ludwig IV on his Italian expedition to Rome , where he was crowned emperor by antipope Nicholas V. As a reward, Adolf received the extraordinary privilege of being able to mint silver money ( groschen ). He did this in his mint in Wipperfürth .

Adolf died in 1348 and was buried in Altenberg Cathedral. Since he remained childless, he arranged the succession early on by assuring his eldest sister Margaretha , who was married to Count Otto IV of Ravensberg , and her legal heirs, the succession of rule in the county of Berg on August 16, 1320. With his death, the county of Berg fell to his niece Margarete , Countess von Ravensberg and wife of Gerhard , son of Count Wilhelm VI. from Jülich . The male line of the Bergisch-Limburg counts died out.

Web links

Commons : Adolf VI., Count of Berg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

• Hansjörg Laute: The Lords of Berg - On the trail of the history of the Bergisches Land (1101–1806) , 1988, City of Solingen, ISBN 3-9801918-0-X
• Karl Leopold Strauven:  Adolf VI. In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 95 f.
• Helmut Dahm:  Adolf VI. (VIII.). In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 76 f. ( Digitized version ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Axel Kolozdziej: Duke Wilhelm I. von Berg (1380-1408) . In: Bergische Research. Sources and research on Bergisch history, art and literature . Volume XXIX. VDS-Verlagsdruckerei Schmidt, Neustadt an der Aisch 2005, ISBN 3-87707-639-4 , p. 15

predecessor	Office	successor
Wilhelm I.	Count of Berg 1308–1348	Gerhard I.