Augustus, Prince of Anhalt-Plötzkau
German prince (1575-1653)
Augustus of Anhalt-Plötzkau (Dessau, 14 July 1575 – Plötzkau, 22 August 1653), was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the unified principality of Anhalt. From 1603, he was ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Plötzkau.
Augustus was the fourth son of Joachim Ernest, Prince of Anhalt, but second-born son of his second wife Eleonore, daughter of Christoph, Duke of Württemberg.
Life
In 1586, after the death of his father, Augustus inherited Anhalt jointly with his half- and full brothers under the regency of the eldest, John George I.
After seventeen years of joint rule, the surviving brothers agreed to a formal division of their lands in 1603. Augustus received Plötzkau, which was created from parts of the old principality of Anhalt-Bernburg.
In 1611 he proposed publishing the two Rosicrucian manifestos together, but was unable to locate a copy of Confessio.
From 1621 until 1642, Augustus acted as regent in Anhalt-Zerbst for his infant nephew John VI, and from 1650 until 1653 in Anhalt-Köthen for another infant nephew, William Louis.
Marriage and issue
In Ansbach on 25 January 1618 Augustus married Sibylle (b. Laubach, 19 October 1590 - d. Plötzkau, 23 March 1659), daughter of John George I, Count of Solms-Laubach.
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This entry incorporates text from “Augustus, Prince of Anhalt-Plötzkau” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.