Ernest I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau

Ernest I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (died Dessau, 12 June 1516[1]), was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Dessau. He was the second son of George I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, yet the first born by his fourth wife Anna, daughter of Albert VIII, Count of Lindow-Ruppin.

Ernest I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau
Died(1516-06-12)12 June 1516
Dessau
Noble familyAscania
Spouse(s)Margarete of Münsterberg-Oels
FatherGeorge I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau
MotherAnna of Lindow-Ruppin

Life

edit

In 1473, after the death of his father, Ernest inherited the principality of Anhalt-Dessau alongside his younger brothers George II, Sigismund III, and Rudolph IV. Following the family law of the House of Ascania, the accession took place without any division of territories.

The deaths of Sigismund III in 1487, George II in 1509, and Rudolph IV in 1510[2] without surviving male issue left Ernest as the sole ruler of Anhalt-Dessau until his death.

Marriage and issue

edit

In Cottbus on 20 January 1494 Ernest married Margarete (b. Breslau, 25 August 1473 – d. Dessau, 28 June 1530), daughter of Henry I, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels, and granddaughter of George of Poděbrady, King of Bohemia. They had four sons:[3]

  1. Thomas (b. Dessau, 27 November 1503 – d. 1503).
  2. John V, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, later Anhalt-Zerbst (b. Dessau, 4 September 1504 – d. Zerbst, 4 February 1551).
  3. George III, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, later Anhalt-Plötzkau (b. Dessau, 15 August 1507 – d. Dessau, 17 October 1553).
  4. Joachim I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (b. Dessau, 7 August 1509 – d. Dessau, 6 December 1561).

References

edit
  1. ^ WUERDIG, L. (1876). L. W.'s Chronik der Stadt Dessau. Von den frühesten Zeiten bis Ende 1875. Mit zwei Ansichten der Stadt Dessau (in German). Dessau: Albert Reissner. p. 18. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  2. ^ Weyhe-Eimke, Arnold Freiherr von (1860). Prinz Rudolf "Das treue Blut von Anhalt". Historisches Gedicht von (in German). Böhm. p. 33. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  3. ^ Hamberger, Julius Wilhelm; Michaelis, August Benedikt (1785). Einleitung zu einer volständigen Geschichte der Chur- und Fürstlichen Häuser in Teutschland (in German). Meyer. p. 589. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
Ernest I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau
 Died: 12 June 1516
Preceded by Prince of Anhalt-Dessau
with George II (until 1509)
and Sigismund III (until 1487)
and Rudolph IV (until 1510)

1474–1516
Succeeded by