Bernhard, Count of Anhalt
| Bernhard | |
|---|---|
| Count of Anhalt | |
Woodcut by Balthasar Mencius (Menz), 1596, showing Bernhard holding his coat-of-arms. Inscription: Churfürst Bernhard (i.e. Prince-elector Bernhard)
|
|
| Duke of Saxony | |
| Reign | 1180–1212 |
| Predecessor | Henry the Lion |
| Successor | Albert I |
| Spouse(s) | Brigitte of Denmark Sophia of Thuringia Judith of Greater Poland |
| Issue | |
| Noble family | House of Ascania |
| Father | Albert the Bear |
| Mother | Sophie of Winzenburg |
| Born | c. 1134 |
| Died | 2 February 1212 Ballenstedt |
Bernhard (c. 1134 – 2 February 1212), a member of the House of Ascania, was Count of Anhalt and Ballenstedt, and Lord of Bernburg through his paternal inheritance. From 1180 he was also Duke of Saxony (as Bernhard III or Bernhard I).
Bernhard was the youngest of the seven sons of Albert the Bear (d. 1170), Duke of Saxony from 1138 to 1142 and first Margrave of Brandenburg from 1157, by his wife Sophie of Winzenburg. In 1157 he was present together with his father and brothers at the funeral of the Wettin margrave Conrad of Meissen. Two years later, Bernhard accompanied Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to Italy with his brother Margrave Otto I of Brandenburg.
After the death of his father in 1170, Bernhard inherited the estates around Ascaria (Aschersleben) in the Saxon Schwabengau and the adjacent Gau Serimunt between the Saale, Mulde, and Elbe rivers in the former Saxon Eastern March. These territories eventually emerged as the nucleus of the Ascanian Principality of Anhalt, named after Anhalt Castle near Harzgerode.
When his elder brother Albert died without male issue in 1172, Bernhard also inherited his County of Ballenstedt. In the same year he solicited the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in the Imperial Diet of Goslar for possession of Plötzkau, which passed to him in 1173. However, a dispute over the rule of the Plötzkau lordship sparked a fierce conflict with the Welf duke Henry the Lion that led to the destruction of Aschersleben and Gröningen and nearly resulted in the destruction of Halberstadt. Bernhard nonetheless was able to confirm his possessions.
...
Wikipedia