House of La Marck

The family history started with Count Adolf I, scion of a cadet branch of the Rhenish Berg dynasty residing at Altena Castle in Westphalia. In the early 13th century Adolf took his residence at his family's estates around Mark, a settlement in present-day Hamm-Uentrop. Adolf had inherited the Mark fortress from his father Count Frederick I of Berg-Altena (d. 1198) together with the older county around Altena and began to call himself count de La Mark.

Originally liensmen of the archbishops of Cologne in the Duchy of Westphalia, the family ruled the County of Mark, an immediate state of the Holy Roman Empire, and, at the height of their powers, the four duchies of Julich, Cleves, Berg and Guelders as well as the County of Ravensberg. Members of the family became bishops in the Prince-Bishoprics of Liège, Münster and Osnabrück, and Archbishops in Cologne. Later collateral lines became dukes of Bouillon, a title which was later inherited by the House of La Tour d'Auvergne, princes of Sedan, dukes of Nevers, counts of Rethel and so forth.

• Adolph de la Marck (1288–1344) was prince-Bishop of Liège from 1313 until 1344
• Adolph II of the Marck the son of Engelbert I of the Marck and Mechtild of Arberg
• Engelbert III of the Mark (1333–1391) was a son of Count Adolph II of Mark.
• Adolf III de la Marck (1334–1394) was a son of Count Adolph II. He was bishop of Münster and later archbishop of Cologne. In 1364 he left his position as bishop of Cologne to his cousin Engelbert III, to become Count of Cleves. {See Duchy of Cleves.}
• Engelbert de la Marck (1304–1368) was prince-bishop of Liège from 1345 until 1364. He was also archbishop of Cologne from 1364 until 1369.
• William I de la Marck (1445-1486) was the younger brother of Erard III de la Marck. He was nicknamed Le Sanglier des Ardennes ("The Wild Boar of the Ardennes").
• Erard de la Marck (1472–1538), nephew of William I, was prince-bishop from 1506 till 1538.
• Robert II de la Marck, nephew of William I, was Duke of Bouillon, seigneur of Sedan and Fleuranges.
• Robert III de la Marck (1491–1537), son of Robert II, was Marshal of France in 1526 and historian.
• Robert IV de la Marck (1520–1556) was Duke of Bouillon and Prince of Sedan, and Marshal of France in 1547.
• William II de la Marck (1542–1578) was admiral of the Gueux de mer, the so-called 'sea beggars' who fought in the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648). He was the great-grandson of William I de la Marck.

In 1591 the heiress of one of the collateral lines of the family, Charlotte de la Marck, was married to Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Marshal of France. In 1594 Charlotte died without issue, and her claims to Bouillon passed to her husband.

• Louis Pierre Engelbert, Comte de la Marck (1674–1750)[1]
• Louis Engelbert, Comte de la Marck (1701–1773)[1] He was the last male descendant of the Counts de la Marck, so his title Comte de la Marck was passed on to his grandson through his daughter, Louise-Marguerite, who married Charles Marie Raymond of Arenberg.[2]
• Auguste Marie Raymond, Comte de la Marck (1753–1833)

• County of Mark (French Comté de La Marck)

Marguerite de La Marck d'Arenberg (1527-1599), princess-countess and sovereign of Arenberg from 1576. Married Jean de Ligne, baron of Barbançon, in 1547. General of the Spanish armies, he was killed at the battle of Heiligerlée in 1568.

Genealogy de la Marck on genealogy.euweb.cz :

• Marek, Miroslav. "dukes of Cleves". Genealogy EU.
• Marek, Miroslav. "Arenberg, dukes of Bouillon, William the Wild Boar, Erard de la Mark". Genealogy EU.