County of Berg

Who rules

Name

Adolf III (numbering differs between authors)

Title

Count of Berg

Since

1189, on the death of his father Engelbert I on the Third Crusade; attested in charters from 1194

Born

No later than 1175

Family

Son of Engelbert I of Berg (died 1189) and Margaret, daughter of Count Henry I of Guelders. Brother: Engelbert, born 1185-1186 at Burg, provost of St George in Cologne from 1198 and cathedral provost of Cologne from 1199 (archbishop 1216-1225). Wife: Bertha, probably of Sayn, married no later than 1204; whether the marriage had taken place by 1 January 1200 is not pinned. Only child Irmgard, born no later than 1204 (not pinned as born by 1200). First cousin of Archbishop Adolf of Cologne and of Count Arnold of Altena.

Confidence

high

de.wikipedia Adolf III. (Berg), Engelbert I. von Köln, Grafschaft Berg; fmg.ac Lower Rhine nobility.

Overlord

The king for the county; the archbishop of Cologne for many fiefs and advocacies; the landgrave of Thuringia for Windeck (a sub-fief from Henry Raspe since 1174).

Allies and rivals

Allies: Archbishop Adolf (cousin), the Altena counts, Otto IV. Rivals: the counts of Hückeswagen, the Sayn counts on the Sieg (Blankenberg) in the longer run, the lords of Hardenberg.

The realm that morning

Adolf III holds Berg and its advocacies and backs Otto IV (welf), medium confidence: he 'first fought for Otto, whom his cousin had raised to king' (de.wikipedia), and his family ties bind him to Adolf of Cologne; no charter pins him that winter.

Wealth

Advocacy dues and courts over the great abbeys (Siegburg, Deutz, Gerresheim, the Cologne and Bonn chapters), the Rhine bank at Düsseldorf and Monheim, the iron and forest of the uplands, the Wupper and Sieg mills. No figures.

Military

Castles: Burg on the Wupper (residence, built by Adolf II), Bensberg, Neu-Windeck on the Sieg, Neuenberg near Lindlar; the old seat Burg Berge was given to the Cistercians of Altenberg in 1133. No figures.

Threats

• Staufen raids across the Rhine (none attested on the right bank in 1198-1199)
• Debts of the war shared with his cousin the archbishop

Family and heirs

No son by 1200; brother Engelbert in holy orders; the marriage to Bertha (probably of Sayn) and the birth of Irmgard are not pinned before 1200.

Officers

• Not pinned by name: the count's ministeriales at Burg, Bensberg, Windeck and Neuenberg.

Where the court is this winter

Not pinned; Burg on the Wupper is the residence.

Treaties and feuds

• Family alliance with the archbishop (cousin) and the Altena lines
• Claims of the counts of Hückeswagen on Berg pledges, not settled until 1260

Rome and the Church

No dispute attested for 1199.

Coinage

The counts struck pennies copying the Cologne coin (Adolf I, Adolf II, Engelbert I); a mint at work in 1200 is not pinned.

The host

Knights and ministeriales of the Bergisch hill castles and the advocacies; no figures.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. About 1200 (day not pinned)Death of Bruno III of Berg, his uncle (a son of Adolf II, half-brother of his father) and former archbishop, a monk at Altenberg, the family abbey.Depends on: Natural death Stopped by: Nothing in play
2. 1200Stays with Otto and his cousin the archbishop; he will follow Adolf to Philip only in 1204.Depends on: Adolf staying with Otto Stopped by: A Staufen offer to the Berg-Altena house

Places of note

• Burg on the Wupper: Residence of the counts
• Altenberg abbey: Family abbey on the site of the old castle of Berge

Where the sources disagree

• The relationship of Bruno III to the Berg counts is given differently by the sources (half-brother of Engelbert I in one, uncle of Archbishop Adolf in another); he was a son of Adolf II.

Evidence: Accession, family and advocacies are well attested; the throne-war stance is general (first for Otto) rather than dated to the winter.

On the map: The count's lands are drawn on the lord record Berg.

Primary sources for this realm

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Royal Chronicle of Cologne (in stages from about 1175 to about 1250; the section on 1198 to 1220 written soon after the events). The fullest German narrative of the throne war from the Welf and Cologne side. Read online
• Dialogue on Miracles, Caesarius of Heisterbach (about 1219 to 1223). Not a chronicle but a Cistercian's book of exempla, full of stories about Cologne, the Rhineland and the Low Countries around 1200: the throne war, usurers, heretics, crusade preachers, knights and townsmen, monks and recruits at Heisterbach, founded in 1189. Read online