Mark (Grafschaft)

The County of Mark (German: Grafschaft Mark, French: Comté de La Marck colloquially known as Die Mark) was a county and state of the Holy Roman Empire in the Lower Rhenish–Westphalian Circle. It lay south of Lippe river on both sides of the Ruhr river along the Volme and Lenne rivers. The Counts de la Mark were among the most powerful and influential Westphalian lords in the Holy Roman Empire. The name Mark derived from a small village Mark and the nearby Castle Mark, the latter was built between 1190 and 1202, both today incorporated in the unitary authority Hamm, founded in 1226 by the first Count, Adolph de la Mark. His father used the older title Altena or Berg-Altena. The name of the county is recalled to the present-day Märkischer Kreis district in lands south of the Ruhr in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in 1975 when the districts were rearranged and the former district Altena was merged with former parts of neighbouring districts. The district Märkischer Kreis is only the southern part of the former county, the county is now divided between Märkischer Kreis, parts of Cities Bochum, Dortmund, Hagen, Hamm and the districts Kreis Unna, Soest and Ennepetal