# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Anhalt

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​ANHALT, a duchy of Germany, and a constituent state of the German empire, formed, in 1863, by the amalgamation of the two duchies Anhalt-Dessau-Cöthen and Anhalt-Bernburg, and comprising all the various Anhalt territories which were sundered apart in 1603. The country now known as Anhalt consists of two larger portions—Eastern and Western Anhalt, separated by the interposition of a part of Prussian Saxony—and of five enclaves surrounded by Prussian territory, viz. Alsleben, Mühlingen, Dornburg, Gödnitz and Tilkerode-Abberode. The eastern and larger portion of the duchy is enclosed by the Prussian government district of Potsdam (in the Prussian province of Brandenburg), and Magdeburg and Merseburg (belonging to the Prussian province of Saxony). The western ​or smaller portion (the so-called Upper Duchy or Ballenstedt) is also enclosed by the two latter districts and, for a distance of 5 m. on the west, by the duchy of Brunswick. The western portion of the territory is undulating and in the extreme south-west, where it forms part of the Harz range, mountainous, the Ramberg peak attaining a height of 1900 ft. From the Harz the country gently shelves down to the Saale; and between this river and the Elbe there lies a fine tract of fertile country. The portion of the duchy lying east of the Elbe is mostly a flat sandy plain, with extensive pine forests, though interspersed, at intervals, by bog-land and rich pastures. The Elbe is the chief river, and intersecting the eastern portion of the duchy, from east to west, receives at Rosslau the waters of the Mulde. The navigable Saale takes a northerly direction through the western portion of the eastern part of the territory and receives, on the right, the Fuhne and, on the left, the Wipper and the Bode. The climate is on the whole mild, though somewhat inclement in the higher regions to the south-west. The area of the duchy is 906 sq. m., and the population in 1905 amounted to 328,007, a ratio of about 351 to the square mile. The country is divided into the districts of Dessau, Cöthen, Zerbst, Bernburg and Ballenstedt, of which that of Bernburg is the most, and that of Ballenstedt the least, populated. Of the towns, four, viz. Dessau, Bernburg, Cöthen and Zerbst, have populations exceeding 20,000. The inhabitants of the duchy, who mainly belong to the upper Saxon race, are, with the exception of about 12,000 Roman Catholics and 1700 Jews, members of the Evangelical (Union) Church. The supreme ecclesiastical authority is the consistory in Dessau; while a synod of 39 members, elected for six years, assembles at periods to deliberate on internal matters touching the organization of the church. The Roman Catholics are under the bishop of Paderborn. There are within the duchy four grammar schools (gymnasia), five semi-classical and modern schools, a teachers' seminary and four high-grade girls’ schools. Of the whole surface, land under tillage amounts to about 60, meadowland to 7 and forest to 25%. The chief crops are corn (especially wheat), fruit, vegetables, potatoes, beet, tobacco, flax, linseed and hops. The land is well cultivated, and the husbandry on the royal domains and the large estates especially so. The pastures on the banks of the Elbe yield cattle of excellent quality. The forests are well stocked with game, such as deer and wild boar, and the open country is well supplied with partridges. The rivers yield abundant fish, salmon (in the Elbe), sturgeon and lampreys. The country is rich in lignite, and salt works are abundant. Of the manufactures of Anhalt, the chief are its sugar factories, distilleries, breweries and chemical works. Commerce is brisk, especially in raw products—corn, cattle, timber or wool. Coal (lignite), guano, oil and bricks are also articles of export. The trade of the country is furthered by its excellent roads, its navigable rivers and its railways (165 m.), which are worked in connexion with the Prussian system. There is a chamber of commerce in Dessau.
Constitution.—The duchy, by virtue of a fundamental law, proclaimed on the 17th of September 1859 and subsequently modified by various decrees, is a constitutional monarchy. The duke, who bears the title of “Highness,” wields the executive power while sharing the legislation with the estates. The diet (Landtag) is composed of thirty-six members, of whom two are appointed by the duke, eight are representatives of landowners paying the highest taxes, two of the highest assessed members of the commercial and manufacturing classes, fourteen of the other electors of the towns and ten of the rural districts. The representatives are chosen for six years by indirect vote and must have completed their twenty-fifth year. The duke governs through a minister of state, who is the praeses of all the departments—finance, home affairs, education, public worship and statistics. The budget estimates for the financial year 1905–1906 placed the expenditure of the estate at £1,323,437. The public debt amounted on the 30th of June 1904 to £226,300. By convention with Prussia of 1867 the Anhalt troops form a contingent of the Prussian army. Appeal from the lower courts of the duchy lies to the appeal court at Naumburg in Prussian Saxony.
History.—During the 11th century the greater part of Anhalt was included in the duchy of Saxony, and in the 12th century it came under the rule of Albert the Bear, margrave of Brandenburg. Albert was descended from Albert, count of Ballenstedt, whose son Esico (d. 1059 or 1060) appears to have been the first to bear the title of count of Anhalt. Esico’s grandson, Otto the Rich, count of Ballenstedt, was the father of Albert the Bear, by whom Anhalt was united with the mark of Brandenburg. When Albert died in 1170, his son Bernard, who received the title of duke of Saxony in 1180, became count of Anhalt. Bernard died in 1212, and Anhalt, separated from Saxony, passed to his son Henry, who in 1218 took the title of prince and was the real founder of the house of Anhalt. On Henry’s death in 1252 his three sons partitioned the principality and founded respectively the lines of Aschersleben, Bernburg and Zerbst. The family ruling in Aschersleben became extinct in 1315, and this district was subsequently incorporated with the neighbouring bishopric of Halberstadt. The last prince of the line of Anhalt-Bernburg died in 1468 and his lands were inherited by the princes of the sole remaining line, that of Anhalt-Zerbst. The territory belonging to this branch of the family had been divided in 1396, and after the acquisition of Bernburg Prince George I. made a further partition of Zerbst. Early in the 16th century, however, owing to the death or abdication of several princes, the family had become narrowed down to the two branches of Anhalt-Cöthen and Anhalt-Dessau. Wolfgang, who became prince of Anhalt-Cöthen in 1508, was a stalwart adherent of the Reformation, and after the battle of Mühlberg in 1547 was placed under the ban and deprived of his lands by the emperor Charles V. After the peace of Passau in 1552 he bought back his principality, but as he was childless he surrendered it in 1562 to his kinsmen the princes of Anhalt-Dessau. Ernest I. of Anhalt-Dessau (d. 1516) left three sons, John II., George III., and Joachim, who ruled their lands together for many years, and who, like Prince Wolfgang, favoured the reformed doctrines, which thus became dominant in Anhalt. About 1546 the three brothers divided their principality and founded the lines of Zerbst, Plötzkau and Dessau. This division, however, was only temporary, as the acquisition of Cöthen, and a series of deaths among the ruling princes, enabled Joachim Ernest, a son of John II., to unite the whole of Anhalt under his rule in 1570.
Joachim Ernest died in 1586 and his five sons ruled the land in common until 1603, when Anhalt was again divided, and the lines of Dessau, Bernburg, Plötzkau, Zerbst and Cöthen were refounded. The principality was ravaged during the Thirty Years’ War, and in the earlier part of this struggle Christian I. of Anhalt-Bernburg took an important part. In 1635 an arrangement was made by the various princes of Anhalt, which gave a certain authority to the eldest member of the family, who was thus able to represent the principality as a whole. This proceeding was probably due to the necessity of maintaining an appearance of unity in view of the disturbed state of European politics. In 1665 the branch of Anhalt-Cöthen became extinct, and according to a family compact this district was inherited by Lebrecht of Anhalt-Plötzkau, who surrendered Plötzkau to Bernburg, and took the title of prince of Anhalt-Cöthen. In the same year the princes of Anhalt decided that if any branch of the family became extinct its lands should be equally divided between the remaining branches. This arrangement was carried out after the death of Frederick Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst in 1793, and Zerbst was divided between the three remaining princes. During these years the policy of the different princes was marked, perhaps intentionally, by considerable uniformity. Once or twice Calvinism was favoured by a prince, but in general the house was loyal to the doctrines of Luther. The growth of Prussia provided Anhalt with a formidable neighbour, and the establishment and practice of primogeniture by all branches of the family prevented further divisions of the principality. In 1806 Alexius of Anhalt-Bernburg was created a duke by the emperor Francis II., and after the dissolution of the Empire each of the three princes ​took this title. Joining the Confederation of the Rhine in 1807, they supported Napoleon until 1813, when they transferred their allegiance to the allies; in 1815 they became members of the Germanic Confederation, and in 1828 joined, somewhat reluctantly, the Prussian Zollverein.
Anhalt-Cöthen was ruled without division by a succession of princes, prominent among whom was Louis (d. 1650), who was both a soldier and a scholar; and after the death of Prince Charles at the battle of Semlin in 1789 it passed to his son Augustus II. This prince sought to emulate the changes which had recently been made in France by dividing Cöthen into two departments and introducing the Code Napoléon. Owing to his extravagance he left a large amount of debt to his nephew and successor, Louis II., and on this account the control of the finances was transferred from the prince to the estates. Under Louis’s successor Ferdinand, who was a Roman Catholic and brought the Jesuits into Anhalt, the state of the finances grew worse and led to the interference of the king of Prussia and to the appointment of a Prussian official. When the succeeding prince, Henry, died in 1847, this family became extinct, and according to an arrangement between the lines of Anhalt-Dessau and Anhalt-Bernburg, Cöthen was added to Dessau.
Anhalt-Bernburg had been weakened by partitions, but its princes had added several districts to their lands; and in 1812, on the extinction of a cadet branch, it was again united under a single ruler. The feeble rule of Alexander Charles, who became duke in 1834, and the disturbed state of Europe in the following decade, led to considerable unrest, and in 1849 Bernburg was occupied by Prussian troops. A number of abortive attempts were made to change the government, and as Alexander Charles was unlikely to leave any children, Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau took some part in the affairs of Bernburg. Eventually in 1859 a new constitution was established for Bernburg and Dessau jointly, and when Alexander Charles died in 1863 both were united under the rule of Leopold.
Anhalt-Dessau had been divided in 1632, but was quickly reunited; and in 1693 it came under the rule of Leopold I. (see Anhalt-Dessau, Leopold I., Prince of), the famous soldier who was generally known as the “Old Dessauer.” The sons of Leopold’s eldest son were excluded from the succession on account of the marriage of their father being morganatic, and the principality passed in 1747 to his second son, Leopold II. The unrest of 1848 spread to Dessau, and led to the interference of the Prussians and to the establishment of the new constitution in 1859. Leopold IV., who reigned from 1817 to 1871, had the satisfaction in 1863 of reuniting the whole of Anhalt under his rule. He took the title of duke of Anhalt, summoned one Landtag for the whole of the duchy, and in 1866 fought for Prussia against Austria. Subsequently a quarrel over the possession of the ducal estates between the duke and the Landtag broke the peace of the duchy, but this was settled in 1872. In 1871 Anhalt became a state of the German Empire. Leopold IV. was followed by his son Frederick I., and on the death of this prince in 1904 his son Frederick II. became duke of Anhalt.
Authorities.—F. Knoke, Anhaltische Geschichte (Dessau, 1893); G. Krause, Urkunden, Aktenstücke und Briefe zur Geschichte der anhaltischen Lande und ihrer Fürsten unter dem Drucke des 30 jährigen Krieges (Leipzig, 1861–1866); O. von Heinemann, Codex diplomaticus Anhaltinus (Dessau, 1867–1883); Siebigk, Das Herzogthum Anhalt historisch, geographisch und statistisch dargestellt (Dessau, 1867).