Principality of Anhalt-Köthen

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Territory in the Holy Roman Empire
Anhalt-Koethen
coat of arms
map
Consist	1252-1847
Form of rule	Principality from 1806 duchy
Ruler / government	Prince / Duke
Today's region / s	DE-ST
Dynasties	Ascanians
Denomination / Religions	Lutheran , from 1525
Incorporated into	1853 Anhalt-Dessau 1863 Duchy of Anhalt

Koethen Castle

The principality of Anhalt-Köthen was a German territory. It existed from 1252 to 1847, with an interruption from 1509 to 1606 (united Principality of Anhalt), was a duchy from 1806 and fell to Anhalt-Bernburg in 1847 after its own branch line, Anhalt-Köthen-Pleß, had expired . After the last branch line (Anhalt-Bernburg) died out in 1863, the now united Duchy of Anhalt was reorganized administratively. The sovereigns were the princes of Anhalt-Koethen from the house of the Askanians , the capital of the principality was the city of Koethen .

history

Heinrich I von Anhalt , who was raised to the rank of imperial prince in 1218 and was thus the first prince of Anhalt, died in 1252. Two of his five sons held religious offices. The other three divided the Principality of Anhalt among themselves. Heinrich II. Von Anhalt , the oldest, received the areas of Aschersleben, Gernrode, Hecklingen, Ermsleben and Wörbzig and founded the Anhalt-Aschersleben line. Bernhard I von Anhalt , the second son, received the areas of Bernburg and Ballenstedt and founded the old Anhalt-Bernburg line. Siegfried I von Anhalt received the areas of Köthen, Dessau and Koswig and founded the old Anhalt-Köthen line.

Older line from Anhalt-Köthen

Around 1259 Siegfried I married Katharina, daughter of King Birger Jarl of Sweden . In the course of the Thuringian-Hessian War of Succession, Siegfried occupied the Palatinate County because, as the grandson of Landgrave Hermann I , he raised claims to inheritance. In exchange for compensation, however, he later waived in favor of the Wettins . In 1273 Siegfried let himself stand up as a candidate for the election of a king, but Rudolf von Habsburg won it. Siegfried died around 1298. Albrecht I of Anhalt-Köthen , the eldest son of Siegfried I, was the first prince to move into Köthen Castle. Around 1298 he married Lutgard, daughter of Count Gerhard I of Holstein , and after her death around 1300 Agnes, daughter of Margrave Conrad I of Brandenburg . Albrecht I became known for making significant donations to churches and monasteries and died in 1316.

Albrecht's sons, Albrecht II and Waldemar I, initially took over the paternal inheritance under guardianship in 1316. Her reign was shaped by the dispute over the inheritance of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, in which the House of Askania ruled until 1320. However, in 1355 they had to renounce all claims. Albrecht II died in 1362, his brother Waldemar I was killed in a battle against Bishop Gerhard von Hildesheim in 1368 . Waldemar's son, Waldemar II, died in 1370, so that Albrecht's son Johann II became the new sovereign. From 1366 he was married to Elisabeth von Henneberg-Schleusingen . Johann acquired the county of Lindau for the principality . During a trip to Jerusalem, John II passed away in 1382.

John's three sons, Waldemar III., Albrecht III. and Siegmund I., initially ruled together. Waldemar III. died childless in 1392, and Albrecht III. and Siegmund I ruled together for another four years. In 1396 they divided the country, with Albrecht receiving the area to the left of the Elbe and establishing the middle line Anhalt-Köthen, while Siegmund ruled right of the Elbe in future and donated the old Anhalt-Zerbst line.

Middle line Anhalt-Koethen

The period of the middle line Anhalt-Koethen was closely connected with that of the old line Anhalt-Zerbst. When Siegmund I von Anhalt-Zerbst died in 1405, Albrecht III took over. von Anhalt-Köthen took over the government in Anhalt-Zerbst as guardian for Siegmund's sons. In the same year armed conflicts broke out between Zerbst and the renegade city of Magdeburg , which only ended with the Peace of Kalbe in 1407 after severe devastation of the country. After the four sons of Siegmund I came of age, they ruled the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst together: Waldemar V died in 1417, Siegmund II in 1452 and Albrecht V was co-regent until his death in 1469. Georg I was from 1417, as the eldest son of Siegmund I, he was in charge of the government.

As Albrecht III. von Anhalt-Köthen died in 1423 after a contentious government, his sons Adolf I, Waldemar IV and Albrecht IV took over the paternal inheritance. Waldemar IV died in 1436 and his only son, Johann III, became co-regent. Her reign was shaped by territorial disputes with her cousin Georg I von Anhalt-Zerbst. In 1460 it was agreed that Georg would receive the lands to the left of the Elbe (Köthen, Dessau etc.). In addition to his Zerbst prince title, he now also called himself Prince of Koethen-Anhalt . Adolf, Albrecht and Johann received the area to the right of the Elbe (Zerbst, Roßlau etc.). They were dubbed Princes of Anhalt in Koethen . Although Georg now owned the area around Köthen, they were the ruling princes. After Johann III. 1463 and Adolf I had died in 1473, Albrecht IV ruled alone until his death in 1475. Then his son, Philipp I, and the sons of Adolf I, Magnus I and Adolf II , took over the government in Anhalt-Köthen. Philip I died in 1500 and his two co-ruling cousins ​​ceded the Zerbst lands and their prince title to the House of Anhalt-Zerbst in 1508.

Georg I von Anhalt-Zerbst died in 1474 at the age of 84. As early as 1470/1471 he resigned the government in favor of his sons. Four of his sons divided the land between themselves: Ernst I. and Siegmund III. new masters in Dessau, Waldemar VI. and Georg II received the Koethen region. The area around Bernburg inherited in 1468 was to be governed jointly. George II hardly took part in government affairs and entered the service of the Elector of Brandenburg, who appointed him governor of the Duchy of Crossen in 1498. He died in 1509. Waldemar VI. was able to redeem the pledged Amt Hoym again in 1492 . In 1496 he won the office of Burgscheidungen . He died in 1508. Wolfgang I succeeded his father Waldemar in the government which he held alone after the death of his uncle Georg II in 1509 until his abdication in 1562. With the assignment of the title of prince by Magnus I of Anhalt-Köthen and Adolf II of Anhalt-Köthen, Wolfgang I was now the sole Prince of Anhalt-Köthen in traditional territory. In 1521 he met Martin Luther at the Reichstag in Augsburg , with whose help he introduced the Reformation as the second principality in the empire after the Electorate of Saxony . Wolfgang I was a member of the Torgau Bund and the Schmalkaldic Bund and was always a spokesman for the Protestant princes on the following days of the Reichstag. Wolfgang ceded his lands to the sons of his cousin Johann IV in 1562 and died unmarried in 1566.

Anhalt's short-term reunification

Joachim II. Ernst von Anhalt-Zerbst and his brother Bernhard VII. Von Anhalt-Zerbst ruled together after the death of their older brother Karl I in 1561 and the cession of the lands by Prince Wolfgang I von Anhalt-Köthen in 1562 the entire state of Anhalt. As early as 1563, however, the brothers divided their united principality again. Bernhard received the offices of Dessau, Zerbst, Plötzkau, Lips, Lindau, Warmsdorf, Coswig and Wörlitz. Joachim II. Ernst received the offices of Köthen, Bernburg, Sandersleben, Freckleben, Hoym, Ballenstedt, Harzgerode and Günthersberge. Bernhard VII died in 1570. Since his son and heir, Franz Georg, had died two years earlier, Joachim II Ernst was able to reunite all of Anhalt with Bernhard's territories. From then on Joachim II called himself Ernst Prince of Anhalt . He created the state ordinance of Anhalt in 1572 and was a staunch supporter of the Reformation . Joachim II Ernst died in 1586 and seven sons inherited him.

The eldest son, Johann Georg, led the government for himself and his underage brothers with the support of Elector Johann Georg von Brandenburg. After Bernhard had died in 1596 and Johann Ernst in 1601, the other five brothers concluded an inheritance settlement in 1603 in which the land of Anhalt was divided up.

• Johann Georg chose the offices of Dessau, Lips, Raguhn, Jeßnitz, Wörlitz, Sandersleben, Freckleben etc. and founded the Anhalt-Dessau line.
• Christian received the offices of Bernburg, Plötzkau, Ballenstedt, Hoym, Harzgerode, Günthersberge etc. and founded the new Anhalt-Bernburg line.
• Rudolf got the offices of Zerbst, Kermen, Lindau, Rosslau, Coswig etc. and founded the new Anhalt-Zerbst line.
• Ludwig was awarded the offices of Köthen, Brambach, Wulfen, Nienburg, Warmsdorf, etc., with which he founded the new Anhalt-Köthen line.
• August renounced land and was given financial compensation. However, in the event that one of the four lines became extinct, this inheritance should pass to his descendants.

The division of the estate finally came into effect in 1606. Externally, however, Anhalt remained an undivided principality. All common affairs were conducted by the eldest ruling prince, also called "senior". He represented Anhalt within the Holy Roman Empire and was responsible for interlinking inheritance claims.

New line from Anhalt-Köthen and the Duchy of Anhalt-Köthen (from 1806)

After a ten-year educational trip through western and southern Europe, Ludwig I took office in 1606 in the Principality of Anhalt-Köthen. In the same year he married Amoena Amalie, daughter of Count Arnold II of Bentheim-Tecklenburg . The Hereditary Prince Ludwig, born in 1607, died in 1624. In 1617 Ludwig founded the Fruit Bringing Society in Koethen , of which he became the first head. In 1618, Ludwig brought Wolfgang Ratke to the Köthener court. Together they built schools in Köthen and the Princely Printing House, which was set up specifically for the production of school books, became the first school book publisher. When his first wife died in 1625, he married Sophie, daughter of Count Simon VI. to the lip . After spending a few years in Florence, the prince redesigned his castle in Koethen in the Italian style. Prince Ludwig died in Köthen in 1650 at the age of 70.

Wilhelm Ludwig , the youngest son of Ludwig I, born in 1638, was still a minor when his father died in 1650. The guardianship was taken over by Prince August von Anhalt-Plötzkau and, after his death in 1653, his sons Lebrecht and Emanuel . Wilhelm Ludwig's marriage to Elisabeth Charlotte, daughter of Prince Friedrich von Anhalt-Bernburg-Harzgerode , remained childless, and when he died in 1665, the Köthen lands fell to Prince Lebrecht von Anhalt-Plötzkau and Prince Emanuel in accordance with the inheritance provision of 1606 from Anhalt-Plötzkau. They returned the office of Plötzkau to the Principality of Anhalt-Bernburg and ruled from then on as the Prince of Anhalt-Köthen.

Lebrecht died childless in 1669; his brother Emanuel died in November 1670. His son, Emanuel Lebrecht , who was born posthumously in May 1671, was now Prince of Anhalt-Köthen from birth. Until he came of age, his mother, Princess Anna Eleonore, and Prince Johann Georg II of Anhalt-Dessau took over the custodial government. In 1692 Emanuel Lebrecht took over the government himself. In the same year he married the indecent Gisela Agnes von Rath . She was made Countess of Nienburg by Emperor Leopold I in 1694 .

When Emanuel Lebrecht died in 1704, his second-born son Leopold became the new Prince of Anhalt-Köthen in 1694 , as the first-born son, August Lebrecht, died shortly after his birth. Just like his father, Leopold was still a minor and so his mother, Princess Gisela Agnes, took over the reign. King Friedrich I of Prussia exercised the supreme guardianship . This is also one of the reasons why Leopold attended the Knight Academy in Brandenburg from 1708–1710. On his cavalier tour in the years 1710–1713, which took him through western and southern Europe, he discovered his fondness for music and on his return founded the Köthener court orchestra. When he came of age in 1715, he took over the government in the principality. In 1717, Leopold brought Johann Sebastian Bach to the Köthener court and employed him as court conductor. Bach held this office until 1723. Since Leopold died in 1728 at the age of 33 and until then he had only one daughter, his brother August Ludwig took over the office of prince. He was married three times and had 9 children from these marriages. August Ludwig died in 1755.

Since his first-born son, Friedrich August, was only two years old, the principality passed to the second-born son, Karl Georg Lebrecht . Karl Georg was an economic and charitable ruler for his subjects, who suffered from the Seven Years' War. So he founded the fire fund, the poor house and a school teacher seminar. In order to increase the state income, he bought the manors Hohnsdorf, Pfriemsdorf and Wörbzig. In 1779 Karl Georg was promoted to major general in the Prussian army, in 1788 he became lieutenant general, but quit the service anyway and switched to Austrian military service as a field marshal in order to take part in the Turkish war. He died in 1789 during the siege of Semlin near Belgrade. His eldest son, August Christian , followed him as ruling Prince of Anhalt-Koethen; When the Anhalt-Zerbst line became extinct in the male line in 1793, Prince August Christian gained the offices of Roßlau, Lindau and Dornburg for his Koethen line in addition to his previous imperial territories due to the Dessau partition treaty in 1797. On April 18, 1806, Napoleon Bonaparte granted him the ducal dignity and thus the Duchy of Anhalt-Köthen came into being. August Christian was a member of the Rheinbund and died childless in 1812. The title of duke went to Ludwig August Karl Friedrich Emil . He was the second-born son of Prince Ludwig , the younger brother of August Ludwig. Since he was only 10 years old, Duke Leopold III took over . Friedrich Franz von Anhalt-Dessau the Guardian Government. Ludwig August was only 16 years old. When he died in 1818, the title of duke passed to Friedrich Ferdinand from the Anhalt-Köthen-Pleß branch.

Branch line Anhalt-Köthen-Pleß

Friedrich Erdmann von Anhalt-Koethen was the great-uncle of Duke Ludwig August von Anhalt-Koethen and a brother of Prince Karl Georg von Anhalt-Koethen. From his uncle, Count Johannes Erdmann von Promnitz, in 1765 he received the civil status in the former Duchy of Pless . From then on Friedrich Erdmann called himself Prince of Anhalt-Koethen-Pless. He died in 1797. His son, Friedrich Ferdinand, inherited the title of prince (Anhalt-Köthen-Pless) and, after the death of his great cousin, Duke Ludwig August, also the title of duke (Anhalt-Köthen) in 1818. He left the rulership of Pless to his younger brother Heinrich. In 1825 Friedrich Ferdinand converted to the Catholic faith, which was met with dissatisfaction among the Protestant regional church. From 1823 to 1825 he had the architect Gottfried Bandhauer expand the Köthen Palace to include Ferdinand's building. In 1830 he died childless.

His brother Heinrich , who ruled Pless until the death of Friedrich Ferdinand, took over the regency in the Duchy of Anhalt-Koethen. He transferred the rulership of Pless to his younger brother Ludwig . However, Ludwig died childless in 1841 and thus Heinrich was Duke of Anhalt-Köthen and Prince of Anhalt-Köthen-Pless. Thanks to Duke Heinrich, the first train went to Köthen as early as 1840 , as a stop on the Magdeburg-Leipzig line. Heinrich died in 1847. Since he remained childless and his two younger brothers had died childless before him, the Anhalt-Köthen line became extinct. All lands fell to the Duchy of Anhalt-Bernburg.

The princes and dukes of Anhalt-Köthen

	Surname	Reign	ancestry
1.	Siegfried I of Anhalt	1252–1298 Prince of Anhalt-Koethen	Son of Heinrich I. von Anhalt
2.	Albrecht I of Anhalt-Koethen	1298–1316 Prince of Anhalt-Koethen	Son of 1.
3.	Albrecht II of Anhalt-Koethen	1316–1362 Prince of Anhalt-Koethen	Son of 2.
4th	Waldemar I of Anhalt-Koethen	1316–1368 Prince of Anhalt-Koethen	Son of 2.
5.	Waldemar II of Anhalt-Koethen	1368–1370 Prince of Anhalt-Koethen	Son of 4.
6th	Johann II of Anhalt-Koethen	1370–1382 Prince of Anhalt-Koethen	Son of 3.
7th	Waldemar III. from Anhalt-Koethen	1382–1392 Prince of Anhalt-Koethen	Son of 6.
8th.	Albrecht III. from Anhalt-Koethen	1382–1423 Prince of Anhalt-Koethen	Son of 6.
9.	Siegmund I of Anhalt-Koethen	1382–1396 Prince of Anhalt-Koethen	Son of 6.
10.	Waldemar IV of Anhalt-Koethen	1423–1436 Prince of Anhalt-Koethen	Son of 8.
11.	Adolf I of Anhalt-Koethen	1423–1473 Prince of Anhalt-Koethen	Son of 8.
12.	Albrecht IV of Anhalt-Koethen	1423–1475 Prince of Anhalt-Koethen	Son of 8.
13.	Johann III. from Anhalt-Koethen	1436–1463 Prince of Anhalt-Koethen	Son of 10.
14th	Philip I of Anhalt-Koethen	1475–1500 Prince of Anhalt-Koethen	Son of 12.
15th	Magnus I of Anhalt-Koethen	1475–1508 Prince of Anhalt-Koethen	Son of 11.
16.	Adolf II of Anhalt-Koethen	1475–1508 Prince of Anhalt-Koethen	Son of 11.
17th	Waldemar VI. from Anhalt-Zerbst	1508 Prince of Anhalt-Koethen	Grandchildren from 9.
18th	Georg II of Anhalt-Zerbst	1508–1509 Prince of Anhalt-Koethen	Grandchildren from 9.
19th	Wolfgang I. of Anhalt-Zerbst	1508–1562 Prince of Anhalt-Koethen	Nephew of 17.
20th	Bernhard VII of Anhalt-Zerbst	1562–1563 Prince of Anhalt	2nd nephew of 18.
21st	Joachim II. Ernst of Anhalt-Zerbst	1562–1563 Prince of Anhalt, 1563–1570 Prince of Anhalt (offices in Köthen and Bernburg), 1570–1586 Prince of Anhalt	2nd nephew of 18.
22nd	Johann Georg I of Anhalt-Zerbst	1586–1606 Prince of Anhalt	Son of 20.
23.	Ludwig I of Anhalt-Zerbst	1606–1650 Prince of Anhalt-Köthen	Son of 21.
24.	Wilhelm Ludwig of Anhalt-Koethen	1650–1665 Prince of Anhalt-Köthen	Son of 23.
25th	Lebrecht von Anhalt-Plötzkau	1665–1669 Prince of Anhalt-Köthen	Cousin of 23.
26th	Emanuel von Anhalt-Plötzkau	1665–1670 Prince of Anhalt-Köthen	Cousin of 23.
27.	Emanuel Lebrecht of Anhalt-Koethen	1671–1704 Prince of Anhalt-Köthen	Son (posthumously) of 25.
28.	Leopold of Anhalt-Koethen	1704–1728 Prince of Anhalt-Köthen	Son of 26.
29	August Ludwig of Anhalt-Koethen	1728–1755 Prince of Anhalt-Köthen	Brother of 27.
30th	Karl Georg Lebrecht of Anhalt-Koethen	1755–1789 Prince of Anhalt-Köthen	Son of 28.
31.	August Christian von Anhalt-Koethen	1789–1806 Prince of Anhalt-Koethen, 1806–1812 Duke of Anhalt-Koethen	Son of 29.
32.	Ludwig August Karl Friedrich Emil von Anhalt-Koethen	1812–1818 Duke of Anhalt-Koethen	Nephew of 30.
33.	Friedrich Ferdinand of Anhalt-Koethen	1818–1830 Duke of Anhalt-Köthen	Nephew of 29.
34.	Heinrich von Anhalt-Koethen	1830–1847 Duke of Anhalt-Köthen	Brother of 32.

See also

• Stop
• Ascanians
• Askanija-Nova
• Principality of Pless
• Dialects in Saxony-Anhalt
• Anhalt dialect

Lore

The archival sources of the former Principality of Anhalt-Köthen are in the Dessau department of the Saxony-Anhalt State Archives .

literature

• Burke's Royal Families of the World. Vol. 1: Europe & Latin America . London 1977.
• Thomas Gehrlein: The Anhalt House . In: German Princely Houses . Vol. 34. Werl 2013, ISBN 978-3-981-4458-1-7 .
• Genealogical handbook of the nobility: Princely houses. Vol. I and VI. Limburg an der Lahn 1951/1961.
• Gerhard Heine: History of the state of Anhalt and its princes . Nabu Press, 2011, ISBN 978-1246613018 .
• Edgar Liebmann: The constitution of the Duchy of Anhalt-Köthen from 1810/11 . In: Hartwig Brandt , Ewald Grothe (eds.): Rheinbündischer Konstitutionalismus (= legal historical series , vol. 350), Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-631-56489-9 , pp. 105–116.
• Heinrich Lindner: History and description of the state of Anhalt . Halle (Saale) 1991, ISBN 978-3910147034 .
• Hermann Lorenz: The history of Anhalt in words and pictures . Dessau 2001, ISBN 978-3910192034 .
• Hans Riehl: When the German princes fell . Schneekluth Verlag, Munich 1979, ISBN 978-3795105884 .
• Hermann Laundry : Outline of the Anhalt history . (Reprint from 1895). Dessau-Roßlau 2011, ISBN 978-3939197614 .

Web links

Wikisource: Constitution, Dec. 28 1810  - sources and full texts

• Tradition of the Principality of Anhalt-Köthen in the State Archives Saxony-Anhalt, Dessau department