Adolf I, Count of the Mark

Who was Adolf I, Count of the Mark?

Adolf I, Count de la Mark, until 1226 a.k.a. Adolf I. Count of Altena-Mark, son of Frederick I, Count of Berg-Altena and Alveradis of Krickenbeck, daughter of Reiner of Krieckenbeck-Millendonk.

Adolf belonged to a collateral line of the counts of Berg and was founder of the new noble branch of the Counts de la Mark.

Following the year 1226, he reunited the lands of the Counts of Berg-Altena, which had been in possession of the counts of Altena and Isenberg, the senior lines of the family ever since the division of their heritage in 1180, thereby forming the county of Mark with its capital city of Hamm. Moreover, Adolf I was reeve of the monasteries of Cappenberg and Werden.