county · Germany and Central Europe
County of Mark
Origins
A branch of the counts of Altena acquired the castle of Mark near Hamm and from about 1198 called themselves counts of the Mark. Adolf I founded Hamm in 1226. Their county lay between the Ruhr and the Lippe, and they long fought the archbishops of Cologne for dominance in Westphalia.
Rule and society
Count Eberhard II helped defeat Cologne at the Battle of Worringen in 1288, securing the county's independence. Small towns such as Hamm, Unna, Iserlohn and Lüdenscheid grew from metalworking and wire-drawing. In 1368 the counts also inherited Cleves, and from 1398 Cleves and Mark were ruled together. Soest joined Mark after the Soest Feud of 1444 to 1449.
Decline and legacy
Joined with Jülich-Berg in 1521, Mark was inherited by Brandenburg in 1614 after the Jülich succession dispute. It was part of the Grand Duchy of Berg from 1807, then Prussia's Province of Westphalia, and its Ruhr towns industrialised in the 19th century.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (3)
- County of Mark was part of Holy Roman Empire1198 CE – 1806 CE
- County of Mark in personal union with Duchy of Cleves1368 CE – 1614 CE
- County of Mark in personal union with Margraviate of Brandenburg1614 CE – 1701 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). County of Mark. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-mark
- MLA
- “County of Mark.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-mark. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “County of Mark.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-mark.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘County of Mark’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/county-of-mark (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻