George Aribert of Anhalt-Dessau

George Aribert of Anhalt-Dessau (Dessau, 3 June 1606 – Wörlitz, 14 November 1643), was a German prince of the House of Ascania and (titular) ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Dessau.

He was the sixth son of John George I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, but the fourth-born son of his second wife Dorothea, daughter of John Casimir of Simmern. In fact, he was the second and youngest son of John George and Dorothea who survived adulthood; two of his older brothers, Frederick Maurice and Henry Waldemar, died in infancy.

After the death of his father in 1618, the twelve-year-old George Aribert was put under the custody of his older brother John Casimir. Nominally, the young prince was co-ruler with his brother, but he never took real part in the government of Dessau.

In 1619 Georg Aribert was accepted by his uncle Louis of Anhalt-Köthen in the Fruitbearing Society. The Bitter orange tree was chosen as his emblem.

George Aribert performed military service in the Imperial army with Christoph Albrecht von Zanthierfrom 1625 to 1629.

After thirteen years of "co-government" between him and John Casimir, a treaty was signed on 28 January 1632 that divided the territories of Anhalt-Dessau; George Aribert took possession of just a few locations: Wörlitz (which he chose as his residence), Radegast, and Kleutsch.

Around 1632 George Aribert decided to marry Johanna Elisabeth (Anna?) von Krosigk (d. aft. 1686), of old nobility and daughter of Christoph von Krosigk, "Cammerrath, Marschall und Hauptmann in Diensten" at the court of his brother John Casimir.

This decision created many difficulties with his relatives, who were totally against the union. However, on 10 February 1637 they finally concluded a formal agreement to accept the union as morganatic.

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