The House of anhalt
House of Anhalt
Also known as the House of Ascania, the House of Anhalt is a dynasty of German rulers, which refers to its longest-held possession, Anhalt. The earliest known member of the house, Esiko, Count of Ballenstedt (died c. 1060). Esiko’s grandson was Otto, Count of Ballenstedt (c. 1070 – 1123), married to Eilika, daughter of Magnus, Duke of Saxony (c. 1045 – 1106), the last member of the House of Billung, former dukes of Saxony. In the thirteenth century, the Principality of Anhalt was split off from the Duchy of Saxony. Later, the remaining state was split into Saxe-Lauenburg and Saxe-Wittenberg. The Ascanian dynasties in the two Saxon states became extinct in 1689 and in 1422, respectively, but Ascanians continued to rule in the smaller state of Anhalt and its various subdivisions until the monarchy was abolished in 1918. Otto's son, Albert the Bear (c. 1100 – 1170), was the first margrave of Brandenburg and was briefly duke of Saxony. The principality of Anhalt-Zerbst when the Anhalt territory was divided among the sons of Albert the Bear’s son, Prince Ernest I of Anhalt-Dessau (c. 1170 – 1252), into the principalities of Anhalt-Aschersleben, Anhalt-Bernburg and Anhalt-Zerbst in 1252. The principality was recreated, when in 1544 the heirs of Prince Ernest I of Anhalt-Dessau divided their territory and the eldest surviving son, Prince John V, took his residence at Zerbst Castle.
The Ascanian dynasties in the two Saxon states became extinct in 1689 and in 1422, respectively, but Ascanians continued to rule in the smaller state of Anhalt and its various subdivisions until the monarchy was abolished in 1918. Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796, was a member of the House of Ascania, herself the daughter of Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst.
Ernest I of Anhalt-Dessau + Margarete of Münsterberg-Oels
John V, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst + Margaret of Brandenburg
Joachim Ernest, Prince of Anhalt + Eleonore of Württemberg
John George I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (learned in astrology and alchemy. Member of Fruitbearing Society) + Countess Palatine Dorothea of Simmern
CHRISTIAN OF ANHALT (advisor-in-chief of Frederick IV, Elector Palatine, of the ALCHEMICAL WEDDING) + Anna of Bentheim-Tecklenburg
Dorothea Maria of Anhalt (at whose funeral the Fruitbearing Society was founded, on August 24, 1617, date of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572) + Johann II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar
Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha (member of Fruitbearing Society, founder of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha dynasty. See Genealogy of the House of Romanov) + Elisabeth Sophie (great-great-granddaughter of John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony (friend of Martin Luther, founder of Schmalkaldic League with Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, and ordered creation of Luther Rose)
Elisabeth Dorothea + Louis VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (Fruitbearing Society)
Augustus, Prince of Anhalt-Plötzkau (Fruitbaering Society, led Rosicrucian court, including PAUL NAGEL, collaborated with Baltazar Walther)
Rudolph, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst (Fruitbaering Society) + Dorothea Hedwig of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (see below)
Dorothea of Anhalt-Zerbst + AUGUSTUS THE YOUNGER, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (member of Fruitbaering Society, friend of JOHANN VALENTIN ANDREAE, purported author of the ROSICRUCIAN MANIFESTOS, and RABBI TEMPLO)
Anthony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel + Princess Elisabeth Juliana of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Norburg
Louis Rudolph, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg + Princess Christine Louise of Oettingen-Oettingen
Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel + Archduke Charles VI of Austria
EMPRESS MARIA THERESA + Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor
JOSEPH II, HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR (had affair with JACOB FRANK)
Charlotte Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel + Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich of Russia (son and heir of PETER THE GREAT, who initiated by Sir Christopher Wren and introduced Freemasonry in his dominions))
PETER II OF RUSSIA (the direct male line of the Romanov dynasty ended with this death)
Princess Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel + Ferdinand Albert II, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (member of Fruitbearing Society, grandson of AUGUSTUS THE YOUNGER. by Duchess Elisabeth Sophie of Mecklenburg, daughter of Duke John Albert II of Mecklenburg)
Princess Sophie Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel + Ernest Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (see above)
Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld + Countess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf
Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg + Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (see below)
Leopold I of Belgium (first King of the Belgians, ORDER OF THE GOLDEN FLEECE, and Grand Master of the ORDER OF THE FLEUR DE LYS)
John VI, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst (member of Fruitbearing Society) + Sophie Augusta of Holstein-Gottorp
Karl William, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst (Fruitbearing Society) + Duchess Sophia of Saxe-Weissenfels
John Augustus, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst (no issue)
Magdalene Auguste + Frederick II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha + Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick III, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg + Princess Luise Dorothea of Saxe-Meiningen (see above)
ERNEST II, DUKE OF SAXE-GOTHA-ALTERNBURG (member of the ILLUMINATI, gave refuge to Adam Weishaupt) + Charlotte of Sase-Meiningen
Augustus, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg + Louise Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg + Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg (see above)
Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha + QUEEN VICTORIA
John Louis I, Prince of Anhalt-Dornburg + Christine Eleonore von Zeutsch
Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst + Duchess Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp
CATHERINE THE GREAT + Peter III
TSAR PAUL I (Grand Master of the Knights of Malta) + Natalia Alexeievna
Sophie Auguste of Anhalt-Zerbst + Johann Ernst III, Duke of Saxe-Weimar
Ernest Augustus II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach + Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
KARL AUGUST, GRAND DUKE OF SAXE-WEIMAR-EISENBACH (member of the ILLUMINATI, established what was to become known as Weimar Classicism at his court in Weimar, notably by bringing Johann Wolfgang von Goethe there)
Louis I, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen (founder of the Fruitbearing Society) + Louis married Amöena Amalie