ADOLPH OF NASSAU (c. 1255-1298), German king, son of Walram, count of Nassau. On May 5, 1292 he was chosen German king, in succession to Rudolph I., an election due rather to the political conditions of the time than to his personal qual ities. His position was unstable, and the allegiance of many of the princes, among them Albert I., duke of Austria, son of the late King Rudolph, was merely nominal. He claimed Meissen as a vacant fief of the empire, and in 1294 allied himself with Edward I., King of England, against France. Edward granted him a sub sidy, but Adolph turned his arms against Thuringia, which he had purchased from the landgrave Albert II. This bargain was resisted by the sons of Albert, and from 1294 to 1296 Adolph was campaigning in Meissen and Thuringia. Meissen was con quered, but he was not equally successful in Thuringia. He had been unable to fulfil the promises made at his election, and the princes began to look with suspicion upon his designs. Wences laus II., king of Bohemia, fell away from his allegiance, and Adolph was deposed at Mainz, on May 23, 1298, when Albert of Austria was elected his successor. At the battle of Goellheim on July 2, 1298 Adolph was killed, it is said by the hand of Albert.
See F. W. E. Roth, Geschichte des Romischen Konigs Adolf I. von Nassau (Wiesbaden, 1879) ; V. Domeier, Die Absetzung Adolfs von Nassau (Berlin, 1889) ; L. Ennen, Die Wahl des KOnigs Adolf von Nassau (Cologne, 1866) ; L. Schmid, Die Wahl des Grafen Adolf von Nassau zum Romischen Konig; B. Gebhardt, Handbuch der deutschen Geschichte, Band i. (Berlin, 1901).