House of Ascania
The House of Ascania is an Old Saxon high noble family historically documented since the 11th century. It is also known as the House of Anhalt, which refers to its longest-held possession. Their ancestral seats, Ballenstedt, Anhalt, Aschersleben, and Bernburg, are located in the present-day Anhalt region in Saxony-Anhalt. The ruins of Anhalt Castle are situated in the Harz Mountains northeast of Harzgerode. The name "Askanier" derives from the Latinization of their seat at Aschersleben. Since the late 17th century, only the Anhalt branch has survived. Albert the Bear became Duke of Saxony in 1138 and, with the control of the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1150, the first Margrave in the formerly Slavic settlement area. In 1180, eastern parts of the Stem Duchy of Saxony passed to the Askanier Bernhard of Saxony. As Dukes of Saxe-Wittenberg, the family received hereditary electoral dignity in 1356. The family ruled Anhalt-Dessau, Anhalt-Bernburg, Anhalt-Köthen, Anhalt-Zerbst, Anhalt-Plötzkau, and Anhalt-Aschersleben. Alexius Friedrich Christian of Anhalt-Bernburg was the first of the Anhalt princes to gain the title of Duke in April 1806. The ducal title was adopted in Anhalt-Köthen and Anhalt-Dessau in 1807. Since 1863, only the Dessau line has existed, with Aribert of Anhalt abdicating in 1918 due to the November Revolution in the Duchy of Anhalt. Since 1963, Eduard, Prince of Anhalt has been the head of the family.
History Overview
From the Beginnings to Before 1212
The Askanier are documented as Counts of Ballenstedt, originating from an area now part of the Harz district in Saxony-Anhalt. From the outset, the family held possessions in the present-day districts of Salzlandkreis and Anhalt-Bitterfeld. Ballenstedt, Aschersleben, and ultimately Anhalt Castle were the most significant ancestral seats, with Ballenstedt as the eponymous seat in the 11th and 12th centuries. These possessions, along with further holdings in present-day Anhalt, led to the emergence of several Anhalt principalities in the 13th century. Due to numerous land divisions, concentrated ownership in a single hand was the exception over the centuries.The earliest known Askanier, Esico of Ballenstedt, is reported in older literature to have built Anhalt Castle. The ruins of Anhalt Castle are located on a spur of the Great Hausberg on the right bank of the Selke. The origins and earlier history of the Ballenstedt family are unknown.
The family name, derived from Anhalt Castle, is still used by members of the house today. The term "Askanier" became a common designation for the Counts of Aschersleben starting in the 14th century. The Margraves of Brandenburg, Dukes of Saxony, and all other lines are also referred to as Askanier.
Family history often begins in literature with an Askanier whose name is unknown. Traditionally, this figure is still referred to as Adalbert, though it is agreed that the name is merely speculative based on his grandson. He was married to Hidda, a daughter of Hodo I, Margrave of the Ostmark. Their children are typically listed as Esico, Theoderich, Ludolf, Uta, and Hazecha.
Esico of Ballenstedt is the first named ancestor and exercised comital rights. He is mentioned in contemporary documents, such as a diploma issued by Emperor Conrad II on October 26, 1036, at the Pfalz Tilleda. His clan was based in the eastern Saxon Schwabengau, which is why they are classified in the Sachsenspiegel as part of the Swabian ancient nobility. The Schwabengau was a county located east of Quedlinburg.
The primary source for the genealogy of the early Askanier is the chronicle of the Annalista Saxo, written in the mid-12th century. According to it, Esico was maternally a grandson of Margrave Hodo and inherited several allodial estates in the Schwabengau and Serimuntgau after the death of his uncle Siegfried. The name of Esico's father is unknown; only in much later genealogies was he assigned the name Adalbert, as the Saxon annalist names the Count Adalbert, murdered around 1080, as Esico's son. On the present-day Schlossberg of Ballenstedt, Esico established the collegiate church St. Pancratius und Abundus, consecrated in 1046 in the presence of King Henry III. He was advocate of the monasteries Nienburg and Hagenrode.
Adalbert II of Ballenstedt, son of Esico and his wife Matilda, was a count in the Nordthüringgau and is mentioned in connection with the Nizizi and Serimunt counties. It is presumed that his mother was the daughter of Duke Herman of Swabia. He married Adelheid, daughter and heiress presumptive of Count Otto I of Weimar-Orlamünde, Margrave of Meissen, and had two sons, Otto the Rich and Siegfried. Adalbert was killed around 1080 by Egeno II of Konradsburg. While speculations about the motive exist, the reasons remain unclear. A seal depicting Adalbert exists, representing the earliest known stylized depiction of an Askanier.
The Saxon annalist referred to Esico, Adalbert II, and Otto the Rich as "Counts of Ballenstedt," but this title is historically verified only for Otto in 1106. Thus, it is confirmed that he named himself after Ballenstedt Castle in the eastern Harz. Otto was briefly Duke of Saxony in 1112. He married Eilika, daughter of Duke Magnus of Saxony. Through this, he acquired Billung allodial estates and later received the Duchy of Saxony from the emperor. The count died in 1123 and was buried in Ballenstedt. His widow Eilika lived in Halle and Bernburg after his death. Otto the Rich and his son Albert the Bear converted the Ballenstedt collegiate church into a Benedictine monastery in 1123. His brother Siegfried was Count of Weimar-Orlamünde and Palatine of the Rhine.
File:Albert I of Brandenburg.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|Monument to Albert the Bear in the Spandau Citadel, Berlin
Albert the Bear was the first significant family member and the most prominent Askanier in the Middle Ages. A contemporary and rival of Henry the Lion and Conrad the Great, he significantly advanced the German settlement of Slavic border marks and founded the Margraviate of Brandenburg on the territory of the former Nordmark. He briefly served as Duke of Saxony before becoming Margrave of Brandenburg, establishing his family's power in the Saxon eastern marches. His extensive territorial possessions were divided among his sons Otto, Herman, Bernhard, and Adalbert. This created the four main Askanier branches at the time: Brandenburg, Weimar-Orlamünde, Saxe-Wittenberg, Saxe-Lauenburg, and Anhalt. Albert is referred to as a Count of Aschersleben, indicating that the title "Counts of Aschersleben" emerged in the 12th century. He was first documented as comes Asscherslovensis on August 8, 1147, during a court session he presided over. Whether Albert used this title himself is unclear, but he referred to himself as Margrave of Brandenburg in a document dated October 3, 1157. The epithet "the Bear" was used in contemporary sources. Albert the Bear died in November 1170 and was almost certainly buried in the Ballenstedt house monastery. The bear is the heraldic animal of Anhalt. His son Bernhard used various Latin variants of Count of Aschersleben and later Duke of Saxony. The Gelnhausen Charter of 1180 included the division of the Stem Duchy of Saxony. In this arrangement, Bernhard was enfeoffed with the eastern part, which continued to bear the name Saxony. He received the ducal title the following year after the Erfurt Reichstag.
From 1212 to 1603
After the death of Bernhard III, Duke of Saxony, in February 1212 in Bernburg, his eldest son Henry received the Anhalt house estates between the Lower Harz and the lower Mulde River, while his brother Albert inherited the Duchy of Saxony. Their father Bernhard III inherited the County of Aschersleben from Adalbert, who had no male heirs. Although Albert held a higher title, Henry's possessions were securely in the family's hands. Part of the County of Anhalt was also allodial property. The division of 1212 marks the beginning of Anhalt's independent development, with Henry I as its first ruler. It is likely that he controlled a relatively cohesive area around Aschersleben, Ballenstedt, and Anhalt Castle, with a narrow connection to larger eastern complexes around Bernburg, Köthen, Wörbzig, Dessau, and Wörlitz, extending to the right bank of the Elbe around Coswig. Henry I of Anhalt appeared as Count of Askanien in a document issued on November 4, 1213. Ascharia is a term used by the document's issuer. Henry I was also the first to be called Prince in or of Anhalt and was also Count of Aschersleben. The prince was considered cruel, as he mistreated Abbot Gernot at Nienburg. In the early 14th century, family members used Anhalt as their designation, regardless of whether they held Anhalt Castle.In the 13th century, the Anhaltiner were among the elite in their region, i.e., the Anhalt area. However, their significance declined sharply in the 14th and 15th centuries, as evidenced by their reduced imperial political influence and marriage alliances. Like other imperial princes, the Askanier benefited from the Statutum in favorem principum, enacted in 1231 at the Worms Hoftag, which regulated the sovereign rights of princes. The first formation of lines in the present-day Anhalt region occurred through the land division of 1252 among the sons of Henry I of Anhalt. Henry II founded the Aschersleben line, Bernhard I the Bernburg line, and Siegfried I the Köthen line. Alongside Köthen, Dessau and Coswig were part of this Principality. Dessau later gained significance as a residence. Ballenstedt belonged to Anhalt-Aschersleben and gave the Askanier their name as Counts of Ballenstedt. The family ruled the Principality of Anhalt-Aschersleben until 1315. The Askanier acquired the lordship of Zerbst in 1307 from the lords of Barby, which was last administered by Anhalt-Köthen; the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst was established in 1396.
Anhalt-Köthen was divided among the sons of John II, son of Albert II of Anhalt-Zerbst. The brothers Sigmund I, Albert III, and Waldemar III initially ruled jointly. Waldemar III died soon after, and in 1396, the Sigmundian line and Albertine line emerged. Sigmund I received the land on the right bank of the Elbe, while Albert III received the land on the left bank. Albert III's sons Waldemar IV, Adolf I, and Albert IV had significant disputes with their cousin George I of Anhalt-Zerbst regarding possessions. The possessions were later redistributed. The Sigmundian line eventually gained partial ownership of the Albertine line, which ended at the beginning of the 16th century. The Bernburg branch expired in 1468, and its possessions passed to the Sigmundian line.
The Sigmundian line split again in 1474 into the older Dessau line and the so-called older Köthen line, here used to refer to the Waldemarian-Köthen branch. The death date of George I is used, though some sources cite the earlier division by him in 1471. The latter line expired with Wolfgang of Anhalt-Köthen in 1566, and the possessions had already passed to the older Dessau line in 1562. Wolfgang was the son of Waldemar VI of Anhalt-Köthen and grandson of George I. The older Köthen line acquired part of the Zerbst lands in 1508, which also passed to the older Dessau line. Around 1500, the Magdeburg Archbishop attempted to subordinate the principality to his own sphere of influence, which would have meant the loss of imperial immediacy. Through the Imperial Reform starting in 1500, imperial circles were created in the Holy Roman Empire. The principalities were part of the Upper Saxon Circle. Wolfgang of Anhalt-Köthen introduced the Reformation in 1525 and was a leading figure among Protestant princes. He signed the Augsburg Confession in 1530, was a co-founder of the Schmalkaldic League in 1531, and participated in the Schmalkaldic War in 1546.
In the mid-16th century, progressive legislation modernized administration. The older Dessau line split in 1546 into the Zerbst, Dessau, and Plötzkau branches. John V received the Zerbst lands, Joachim Dessau, and George III Plötzkau.
Since Wolfgang of Anhalt-Köthen from the older Köthen line died childless, his lands passed to Joachim Ernst of Anhalt, son of John IV and part of the older Dessau line. Joachim Ernst unified all possessions in 1570 and moved his seat of government to Dessau.