Anhalt
Anhalt was an Ascanian principality in Germany, divided among branches of the family. In 1337 Albert II ruled the Zerbst branch from Zerbst.
The Bernburg line died out in 1468 and its lands passed to Zerbst. Wolfgang of Köthen was among the first rulers to introduce Protestantism and signed the Augsburg Confession in 1530; after the Battle of Mühlberg in 1547, Emperor Charles V placed him under the imperial ban and took his lands. When the empire dissolved in 1806, Napoleon raised the surviving Anhalt-Bernburg, Anhalt-Dessau and Anhalt-Köthen to sovereign duchies.
Characters
- Albert I, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
- Albert II, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
- Beatrix of Saxe-Wittenberg
- Henry I, Prince of Anhalt
- Luitgarde of Holstein-Itzehoe
- Siegfried I, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
- Waldemar I, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst