Adolph II de la Marck (bishop)


Adolph II von der Mark was the Prince-Bishop of Liège from 1313 until his death in 1344.
Adolph was the third son of Count Eberhard I of the Mark and Mary of Loon.
Aged only 25, but through the influence of King Philip IV of France, he became Prince-Bishop of Liège in 1313.
The people of the Prince-Bishopric opposed his authoritarian way of ruling. In 1316, he was forced to sign the Peace of Fexhe, which has been compared to Magna Carta and which limited his powers. When he tried to revert the treaty, he was forced to flee from Liège to Huy at the end of 1324. From here, he placed Liège under interdict.
In 1333, he sold the Lordship of Mechelen to the Count of Flanders. He intervened in the War of Awans and Waroux and participated in the 1334 siege of Maastricht. When Louis VI of Loon died in 1336 without an heir, he tried to annex the County of Loon, but without success.
In 1343, his power was reduced further with the creation of the Tribunal of the XXII, an independent court. He died the next year and was succeeded by his nephew Engelbert III of the Marck.