Albert I, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst

Albert I (died 17 August 1316) was a German prince of the House of Ascania and the second ruler of the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst from 1298 until his death.

He was the eldest son of Prince Siegfried I of Anhalt-Zerbst, by his wife Catherine of Bjelbo, daughter of the Swedish regent Birger Jarl and sister of Kings Valdemar and Magnus III of Sweden. From about 1290, after Prince Siegfried abdicated to become a preaching monk, Albert ruled the Anhalt territories of his father, then comprising the towns of Dessau and Köthen. In 1295, Prince Albert was the first member of the House of Ascania who took his residence at Köthen Castle.

He participated in the 1291 siege of Harly Castle against the Welf duke Henry I of Brunswick-Grubenhagen. Together with Abbot Konrad of Nienburg and his cousin Prince Bernhard II of Anhalt-Bernburg, Albert abolished the use of Polabian (Wendish) as a court language in his domains in 1293. He later obtained a part of Zerbst still controlled by the Ascanian Margraves of Brandenburg as a fiefdom. The acquisition was accomplished about 1307.

After the murder of the Habsburg king Albert I of Germany in 1308 he was suggested by his brother-in-law Margrave Waldemar of Brandenburg to be elected the new King of the Romans, but had no success in obtaining this dignity.