County (Principality) of Anhalt Grafschaft (Fürstentum) Anhalt
1218–1806
Lesser arms of Anhalt
Map of Anhalt (Zerbst, Dessau, Köthen, Bernburg) in 1793
Status	Principality
Capital	Dessau (when united)
Religion	Roman Catholic (until 1520s) Lutheran (from 1520s)
Government	Principality
Prince of Anhalt
• 1218–1252	Henry I
Historical era	Middle Ages
• Partitioned from Saxony	1212
• Elevated to principality	1218
• Partitioned¹	1252–1570
• Joined Council of Princes	1582
• Partitioned²	1603–1863
• Principalities³ raised to duchies	1806
Preceded by Succeeded by Duchy of Saxony Duchy of Anhalt
Today part of	Germany
1: 13th-century partition into Anhalt-Aschersleben, Anhalt-Bernburg and Anhalt-Zerbst. 2: 17th-century partition into Anhalt-Bernburg, Anhalt-Dessau, Anhalt-Köthen, Anhalt-Plötzkau and Anhalt-Zerbst. 3: Anhalt-Bernburg, Anhalt-Dessau and Anhalt-Köthen.

The Principality of Anhalt (German: Fürstentum Anhalt) was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, located in Central Germany, in what is today part of the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt.

Under the rule of the House of Ascania, the Anhalt territory was split off the German stem duchy of Saxony in 1212 and granted to Count Henry I, who was raised to the rank of a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire in 1218. Ruled by Ascanian princes from the High Middle Ages to the Early modern period, Anhalt was divided several times amongst various lines of the dynasty until the dissolution of the Empire in 1806, when Napoleon elevated the remaining states of Anhalt-Bernburg, Anhalt-Dessau and Anhalt-Köthen to duchies.

Geography

The Anhalt territory stretched from the Harz mountain range in the west to the Elbe River and beyond to the Fläming Heath in the east. Upon the 1315 loss of Anhalt-Aschersleben, the lands around Ballenstedt formed a western exclave. The area of the later duchy was 906 sq mi (2,300 km²).

In the west, the land is undulating and in the extreme northwest, where it forms part of the Harz mountains, hilly, with the Ramberg (Harz) peak as the tallest point at 1,900 ft (579 m). From the Harz the country gently shelves down to the Saale; the land between this river and the Elbe is particularly fertile. East of the Elbe, the land is mostly a flat sandy plain, with extensive pine forests, interspersed with bog-land and rich pastures. The Elbe is the chief river, intersecting the eastern portion of the former duchy, from east to west, and at Rosslau is met by the Mulde. The navigable Saale takes a northerly direction through the central portion of the territory and receives, on the right, the Fuhne and, on the left, the Wipper and the Bode.

The climate is generally mild, less so in the higher Harz regions to the south-west.

History

From the 9th century onward, the western parts of the later Anhalt territory up to the Elbe and Saale rivers were included in the Schwabengau region of Eastphalia, the eastern part of the medieval Duchy of Saxony. In the 11th century, it came under the rule of Count Esico of Ballenstedt (died 1059 or 1060), mentioned in a 1036 deed issued by Emperor Conrad II at Tilleda. Possibly a descendant of the Saxon margrave Odo, he owned large allodial lands around Ballenstedt in the Schwabengau as well as in the adjacent Gau Serimunt in the former Saxon Eastern March.

Count Esico was succeeded by his son Adalbert II of Ballenstedt, who also appeared as a count in the Saxon Nordthüringgau and further territories in the Eastern March. Adalbert joined the Saxon Rebellion against King Henry IV and was slain in a feud with Egeno II of Konradsburg in 1080. His son Count Otto the Rich appeared as a "Count of Ballenstedt" from 1106. When Emperor Henry V temporarily deprived Lothair of Supplinburg of the Saxon ducal title in 1112, Otto was enfeoffed with the Duchy of Saxony, which, however, he had to renounce shortly afterwards, as Lothair and Henry had reconciled. On the eve of the 1115 Battle of Welfesholz, Otto campaigned the lands of the Polabian Slavs, gaining large estates around Zerbst up to the Hevelli lands ruled by the Hevelli princes.

County of Anhalt

Until his death in 1123, Count Otto had Anhalt Castle built in the Harz mountains near Harzgerode and appears to have been among the first to assume the title of a "Count of Anhalt". He was the father of Albert the Bear, who temporarily was appointed Margrave of the Saxon Eastern March (or March of Lusatia) by the Saxon duke Lothair of Supplinburg and struggled for the ducal title himself. Albert could not prevail against the Welf duke Henry the Lion, nevertheless he conquered the eastern territories of the former Northern March, which had been lost in the 983 Great Slav Rising, where he established the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1157. When he died in 1170, his younger son Count Bernhard inherited the Ascanian home territories around Anhalt Castle and after the deposition of Henry the Lion by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa finally became Duke of Saxony in 1180. However, he effectively only ruled over the Eastphalian territories, while the Westphalian and Engern parts of Saxony fell under the control of the Prince-Archbishops of Cologne.

The County of Anhalt finally arose upon the death of Duke Bernhard in 1212, when his sons divided their heritage. The younger Albert I became Duke of Saxony, while the elder Henry I went on to rule the Ascanian lands, now definitely separated from Saxony, as Count of Anhalt. In 1218, Henry I assumed the title of a prince and thereby was the real founder of the princely House of Anhalt.

Princes of Anhalt

On Henry's death in 1252, his three sons partitioned the principality and founded, respectively, the lines of Aschersleben, Bernburg and Zerbst. The family ruling in Aschersleben became extinct in 1315, and this district was subsequently incorporated in the neighboring Bishopric of Halberstadt, thus dividing the territory of Anhalt-Bernburg in two separate pieces. The last prince of the original line of Anhalt-Bernburg died in 1468 and his lands were inherited by the princes of the sole remaining line, that of Anhalt-Zerbst. The territory belonging to this branch of the family had been divided in 1396, and after the acquisition of Bernburg Prince George I made a further partition of Zerbst (Zerbst and Dessau). Early in the 16th century, however, owing to the death or abdication of several princes, the family had become narrowed down to the two branches of Anhalt-Köthen and Anhalt-Dessau (issued both from Anhalt-Dessau in 1471).

Wolfgang of Anhalt, called the Confessor, who became prince of Anhalt-Köthen in 1508, was the second ruler in the world to introduce the Reformation to his country. He was a co-signer of the Augsburg Confession in 1530, and after the Battle of Mühlberg in 1547 was placed under Imperial ban and deprived of his lands by Emperor Charles V. After the peace of Passau in 1552 he bought back his principality, but as he was childless he surrendered it in 1562 to his kinsmen the princes of Anhalt-Dessau. Ernest I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (d. 1516) left three sons, John V, George III, and Joachim, who ruled their lands together for many years, and who favoured the Lutheran doctrine, which thus became dominant in Anhalt. About 1546 the three brothers divided their principality and founded the lines of Zerbst, Plötzkau and Dessau. This division, however, was only temporary, as the acquisition of Köthen, and a series of deaths among the ruling princes, enabled Joachim Ernest, a son of John V, to unite the whole of Anhalt under his rule in 1570.

The first united principality of Anhalt was short-lived, and in 1603 it was split up into the mini states of Anhalt-Dessau, Anhalt-Bernburg, Anhalt-Köthen, Anhalt-Zerbst and Anhalt-Plötzkau.

Joachim Ernest died in 1586, and his five sons ruled the land in common until 1603, when owing to the lack of primogeniture, Anhalt was again divided, and the lines of Dessau, Bernburg, Plötzkau, Zerbst and Köthen were re-founded. The principality was ravaged during the Thirty Years' War, and in the earlier part of this struggle Christian I of Anhalt-Bernburg took an important part. In 1635 an arrangement was made by the various princes of Anhalt, which gave a certain authority to the eldest member of the family, who was thus able to represent the principality as a whole. This proceeding was probably due to the necessity of maintaining an appearance of unity in view of the disturbed state of European politics.

In 1665, the branch of Anhalt-Köthen became extinct, and according to a family compact this district was inherited by Lebrecht, Prince of Anhalt-Plötzkau, who surrendered Plötzkau to Bernburg, and took the title of prince of Anhalt-Köthen. In the same year the princes of Anhalt decided that if any branch of the family became extinct its lands should be equally divided between the remaining branches. This arrangement was carried out after the death of Frederick Augustus, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst in 1793, and Zerbst was divided between the three remaining princes. During these years the policy of the different princes was marked, perhaps intentionally, by considerable uniformity. Once or twice Calvinism was favoured by a prince, but in general the house was loyal to the doctrines of Martin Luther. The growth of Prussia provided Anhalt with a formidable neighbour, and the long-delayed establishment of primogeniture by all branches of the family prevented further divisions of the principality.

Dukes of Anhalt

In 1806, Napoleon elevated the remaining states of Anhalt-Bernburg, Anhalt-Dessau and Anhalt-Köthen to duchies; in the meantime, Anhalt-Plötzkau and Anhalt-Zerbst had ceased to exist. With the Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire the duchies became fully independent. The extinction of the Köthen line in 1853 and the Bernburg line in 1863, resulted in those states merging with Anhalt-Dessau to form the united Duchy of Anhalt.

Rulers of Anhalt

House of Ascania

Partitions of Anhalt under Ascanian rule

Table of rulers

Ruler		Born	Reign	Death	Ruling part	Consort	Notes
Albert I the Bear		c.1100	1123-1170	18 November 1170	Anhalt	Sophie of Winzenburg 1125 thirteen children	Also Count of Ballenstedt, Duke of Saxony and Margrave of Brandenburg.
Bernard I		c.1134	1170-1212	2 February 1212	Anhalt	Brigitte of Denmark six children Sophia of Thuringia one child Judith of Poland c.1173 no children	Also Count of Ballenstedt and Duke of Saxony
Henry I		1170	1212-1252	1252	Anhalt	Irmgard of Thuringia 1211 eleven children	First independent ruler of Anhalt. In 1218 becomes Prince of Anhalt. After his death his sons divided the Principality.
Henry II the Fat		1215	1252-1266	12 June 1266	Anhalt-Aschersleben	Matilda of Brunswick-Lüneburg 1245 two children	Children of Henry I, divided their rule.
Bernard I		1218	1252-1287	1287	Anhalt-Bernburg	Sophia of Denmark 3 February 1258 Hamburg six children
Siegfried I		1230	1252-1298	25 March 1298	Anhalt-Zerbst	Catherine of Sweden 17 October 1259 ten children
Regency of Matilda of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1266-1270)							Children of Henry II, ruled jointly, first under their mother, who was elected Abbess of Gernrode in 1275. In 1283, Henry renounced his rights in Otto's favor.
Otto I		c.1245	1266-1304	25 June 1304	Anhalt-Aschersleben	Hedwig of Wrocław 1283 three children
Henry III		c.1245	1266-1283	12 June 1266	Anhalt-Aschersleben	Unmarried
Bernard II		1260	1287-1323	After 26 December 1323	Anhalt-Bernburg	Helena of Rügen 27 December 1302 three children	Ruled jointly. After the death of John, Bernard ruled alone.
John I		1258/60	1287-1291	5 June 1291	Anhalt-Bernburg	Unmarried
Albert I		c.1260	1298-1316	17 August 1316	Anhalt-Zerbst	Liutgard of Holstein-Itzehoe after 1277 two children Agnes of Brandenburg-Stendal 1300 five children
Otto II		c.1260	1304-1315	24 July 1315	Anhalt-Aschersleben	Elisabeth of Meissen 24 August 1309 two children	After his death in 1315 without male heirs, the Principality was annexed by the Bishopric of Halberstadt.
Definitively annexed by the Bishopric of Halberstadt
Albert II		after 1277	1316-1362	17 July 1362	Anhalt-Zerbst	Agnes of Rügen 2 September 1324 no children Beatrix of Saxe-Wittenberg c.1337 five children	Albert III and Valdemar I ruled jointly, as sons of Albert II. In 1359 Albert III associated his eldest son, Albert IV, but he predeceased him. In 1362, after Albert III's death, is brother Valdemar continued the co-ruling with his nephew John II. Valdemar II, Valdemar I's son, joined John II after his father's death.
Valdemar I		after 1277	1316-1368	7 January 1368	Anhalt-Zerbst	Elisabeth of Saxe-Wittenberg 22 June 1344 six children Beatrice d'Este 1365 no children
Albert III		c.1337	1359	1 August 1359	Anhalt-Zerbst	Unmarried
John II		after 1337	1362-1382	11 April 1382	Anhalt-Zerbst	Elisabeth of Henneberg-Schleusingen 1366 four children
Valdemar II		c.1337	1368-1371	before 24 August 1371	Anhalt-Zerbst	Unmarried
Bernard III		1300	1323-1348	20 August 1348	Anhalt-Bernburg	Agnes of Saxe-Wittenberg 1328 five children Matilda of Anhalt-Zerbst 1339 no children Matilda of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel 1343 two children
Bernard IV		Before 1339	1348-1354	28 June 1354	Anhalt-Bernburg	Unmarried
Henry IV		Before 1339	1354-1374	7 July 1374	Anhalt-Bernburg	Sophia of Stolberg before 1348 three children	Bypassed by his older brother Bernard IV as ruler of Anhalt-Bernburg, he only assumed rule of the principality when Bernhard died in 1354.
Otto III		Before 1348	1374-1404	27 February 1404	Anhalt-Bernburg	Unknown two children Lutrudis before 1391 one child	Bypassed his nephew Bernard.
Sigismund I		After 1366	1382-1405	19 January 1405	Anhalt-Dessau (in Zerbst until 1396)	Judith of Querfurt 1386 eleven children	Sons of John II. Ruled jointly. In 1396 divided the land. Sigismund received Anhalt-Dessau and Albert Anhalt-Köthen.
Albert IV		After 1366	1382-1423	24 November 1423	Anhalt-Köthen (in Zerbst until 1396)	Elisabeth of Mansfeld I before 1398 six children Elisabeth of Querfurt before 4 January 1419 three children
Valdemar III		After 1366	1382-1391	1391	Anhalt-Zerbst	Unmarried
Bernard V		Before 1374	1404-1420	24 June 1420	Anhalt-Bernburg	Elisabeth of Hohnstein-Kelbra 8 September 1396 one child	Succeeded in reaching the power jointly with his eldest cousin, Otto. As he left no male heirs, the land was inherited by his other cousin, Bernard.
Otto IV		Before 1391	1404-1415	7 July 1374	Anhalt-Bernburg	Unmarried	Ruled jointly with his cousin. Left no descendants.
George I the Elder		1390	1405-1474	21 September 1474	Anhalt-Dessau	Matilda of Anhalt-Bernburg I after 1413 no children Euphemia of Oleśnica 1432 six children Sophia of Hohnstein after 1442 three children Anna of Lindow-Ruppin 7 September 1453 nine children	Sons of Sigismund I, ruled jointly. In 1468 inherited Anhalt-Bernburg.
Albert V		After 1390	1405-1469	1469	Anhalt-Dessau	Sophie of Hadmersleben no children
Valdemar IV		c.1386	1405-1417	After 22 July 1417	Anhalt-Dessau	Unmarried
Sigismund II		After 1390	1405-1452	After 22 May 1452	Anhalt-Dessau	Matilda of Anhalt-Bernburg II no children
Bernard VI		Before 1391	1420-1468	2 February 1468	Anhalt-Bernburg	Matilda of Querfurt-Burgscheidungen 21 October 1419 two children Hedwig of Żagań 11 March 1434 no children	His children predeceased him, which left him no heirs at his death in 1468. Bernburg was inherited by Anhalt-Dessau line.
Anhalt-Bernburg was annexed to Anhalt-Dessau
Adolph I		After 1398?	1423-1473	28 August 1473	Anhalt-Köthen	Cordula of Lindow-Ruppin 2 November 1442 Ruppin seven children	Ruled jointly. Adolph ruled with his brother Valdemar V until 1436 and then with Valdemar's son John. In 1471, Adolph concluded a succession contract with George I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, which would put his youngest son in Köthen's throne, as Valdemar VI.
Valdemar V		After 1398?	1423-1436	28 August 1473	Anhalt-Köthen	Sophie of Hadmersleben 1420 no children
John III			1436-1463	1463	Anhalt-Köthen	Unmarried
Valdemar VI (from Anhalt-Dessau line)		1450	1473-1508	1 November 1508	Anhalt-Köthen	Margaret of Schwarzburg 24 January 1485 Köthen four children	After the contract established with Dessau, this line of princes dominated in Köthen. After the death of Adolph in 1473, George I of Dessau's sons, Valdemar VI and Albert VI, ascended to the principality. After Albert's death, Valdemar co-ruled with his nephews. In 1508, all his co-rulers abdicated to Valdemar VI's son, Wolfgang.
Albert VI		After 1419?	1473-1475	9 January 1475	Anhalt-Köthen	Elisabeth of Mansfeld II 27 March 1454 Alsleben seven children
Philip		31 May 1468	1475-1500	13 November 1500	Anhalt-Köthen	Unmarried
Magnus		1455	1475-1508	29 October 1524	Anhalt-Köthen	Unmarried
Adolph II		16 October 1458		24 March 1526	Anhalt-Köthen	Unmarried
Ernest I		1454	1474-1516	12 June 1516	Anhalt-Dessau	Margaret of Münsterberg 20 January 1494 Cottbus four children	Sons of George I, ruled jointly.
George II the Strong		1454	1474-1509	25 April 1509	Anhalt-Dessau	Agnes of Pomerania-Barth 1478 no children
Sigismund III		1456	1474-1487	27 November 1487	Anhalt-Dessau	Unmarried
Rudolph I the Valiant		1466	1474-1510	7 September 1510	Anhalt-Dessau	Unmarried
Wolfgang the Confessor		1 August 1492	1508-1562	23 March 1566	Anhalt-Köthen	Unmarried	Sole ruler of Köthen. After his abdication without descendants, the Principality was incorporated in the recreated Anhalt-Zerbst.
Regency of Margaret of Münsterberg (1516-1524)							Children of Ernest I, ruled jointly, firstly under their mother. In 1544, the brothers divided the land. Joachim mainteined Dessau to himself; John took Zerbst and refounded Anhalt-Zerbst; George took Plotzkau. After George and Joachim's deaths without descendants, their lands were inherited by their nephews, sons of John III.
Joachim I		7 August 1509	1516-1561	6 December 1561	Anhalt-Dessau	Unmarried
John IV		4 September 1504	1516-1551	4 February 1551	Anhalt-Dessau-Zerbst (in Dessau until 1544)	Margaret of Brandenburg 15 February 1534 Dessau six children
George III the God-Blessed		15 August 1507	1516-1553	17 October 1553	Anhalt-Plotzkau (in Dessau until 1544)	Unmarried
Charles I		17 November 1534	1551-1561	4 May 1561	Anhalt-Zerbst	Anna of Pomerania 16 May 1557 Zerbst no children	Sons of John IV. In 1553 inherited Plotzkau from their uncle George III. In 1561 inherited Dessau and Bernburg from their uncle Joachim. In the next year inherited Kothen. From 1570 Joachim Ernest was the sole owner of all Anhalt.
Joachim Ernest		21 October 1536	1551-1562	6 December 1586	Anhalt-Zerbst	Agnes of Barby-Mühlingen 3 March 1560 Barby six children Eleonore of Württemberg 9 January 1571 Stuttgart ten children
			1562-1586		Anhalt
Bernard VII		17 March 1540	1551-1562	1 March 1570	Anhalt-Zerbst	Clara of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Gifhorn 28 May 1565 Dessau one child
			1562-1570		Anhalt
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