Bernhard, Count of Anhalt

Bernhard, Count of Anhalt (b. ca. 1140 - d. 2 February 1212), was a member of the House of Ascania and by paternal inheritance, Count of Anhalt and Ballenstedt and Lord of Bernburg. Since 1180 he was also Duke of Saxony as Bernhard III.

Life

Early years

Bernhard was the youngest of the seven sons of Albert the Bear, Margrave of Brandenburg and Duke of Saxony by his wife Sophie of Winzenburg. In 1157 he was present together with his father and brothers at the funeral Conrad the Great, member of the House of Wettin and Margrave of Meissen. In 1159 Bernhard, with his brother Otto, follow the emperor Frederick I Barbarossa on his trip to Italy. After the death of his father in 1170, Bernhard inherited the states of Anhalt and the district of Ascaria (Aschersleben) as well as the former Gau Serimunt between Saalde, Mulde and the Elbe.

After the death of his brother Albert in 1172 without male issue, Bernhard also inherited his County of Ballenstedt. In the same year he solicited to the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in the Reichstag of Goslar the possession of Plötzkau, which passed to him in 1173. The County of Plötzkau was disputed to him by Henry the Lion in a war, where he destroyed Aschersleben and Gröningen and almost had the same with Halberstadt. Nevertheless, Bernhard could assert his dominion over Plötzkau.

Fall of Henry the Lion

When Henry the Lion was outlawed by the Emperor in 1180, the Reichstag also took under his control his fiefs (Würzburg and the Duchies of Bavaria and Saxony). Thereupon Bernhard, on 13 April 1180 in Gelnhausen, was granted the eastern part of the Welf lands, the Archbishopric of Bremen-Hamburg, which was passed on to his elder brother Siegfried I, Count of Anhalt, and the Duchy of Saxony. However, this award was without real value, since this Duchy was a radically belittled territory consisting of three unconnected territories along the river Elbe, from north west to south east, (1) Hadeln around Otterndorf, (2) around Lauenburg upon Elbe and (3) around Wittenberg upon Elbe. Previously the Duchy had been divided, so that he could only receive the region between Meissen and the Mark of Brandenburg as his formal possession. Besides, he received small lands: the towns of Aken and Wittenberg and the Burgraviate of Magdeburg. The dignity of Duke of Saxony, Angria and Westphalia was only an empty title. The rich lands of Engern and Westphalia, in addition to the ducal Highness rights, were conferred to the Archbishopric-Electorate of Cologne. The counts of Holstein were released from the homage of the Saxon dukes, the County of Stade was taken by the Archbishop of Bremen, Lübeck became an Imperial City, the Saxon Palatinate was bestowed to Count Hermann of Thuringia and, in addition, the Saxon bishops took back their fiefs. Nevertheless, Bernhard was forced to support the Emperor in his renewed war against Henry the Lion in 1181. But, despite his defeat, Henry the Lion could save his Allodial title from which later the Duchy of Brunswick and Lüneburg was formed.

Ruling as Duke of Saxony

In Nordalbingien and the areas between the Elbe and the Baltic Sea, the vassals soon rebeled against him and gave their support to Henry the Lion. Bernhard tried to put through his claims, thanks to the support of his brothers, first of all Otto I of Brandenburg and Siegfried, now Archbishop of Bremen. At first the vassals of Artlenburg swore the oath of fidelity. After them, the counts of Ratzeburg, Danneberg, Luckow and Schwerin also swore. However, the most powerful of these vassals, Count Adolf of Holstein, didn't accept the lordship of Bernhard and became in his adversary. Quarrels broke out around Dithmarschen, in western Holstein, but without success.

After his defeat Lauenburg (Polabenburg), on the lower Elbe, became in the firm point of opposition to his rule. Determined, to eliminate the hostility against him in his lands, he loaded them with high taxes, by which it came to an attack against Lauenburg and destroyed him in 1182.

In 1183 another of his brothers, Count Dietrich of Werben died without surviving male issue. His possessions fell mostly to Bernhard.

Now the quarrel also expanded on the Slavic countries. Henry Borwin I, the son of Pribislav, was like his father a supporter of Heinry the Lion; moreover, he was also the husband of his illegitimate daughter Mathilde, and remained as one of Bernhard's opponents. His cousin Nicholas I (Niklot), granted by Henry the Lion with the Burg Malchow in 1164, lost part of it in behalf of Bernhard. Borwin allied with the Duke Bogislaw I of Pomerania and Niklot with the Prince Jaromir I of Rügen, which was a faithful vassal of Denmark. But shortly after Bogislaw had to punish Borwin -by a secret order of the emperor- with the help of King Canute VI of Denmark for his refusal to homage, by which his lands were split between the Elbe and Or to the Empire and Denmark. Borwin got in captivity by King Canute and was forced, like Niklot, to accept his lands of the king as fief. After incursions of the Danes in Pomerania in 1184 and 1185, Bogislaw share the same destiny.

By the success of the Danes, in 1184 the Emperor pressed to a balance between Bernhard and his vassal. Count Adolf of Holstein should keep the disputed regions; however, had to pay for it 700 marks to Bernhard and perform the refused oath of fidelity. Counts Bernhard of Ratzeburg and Gunzelin of Schwerin were also obliged to payments. The destroyed Lauenburg should be rebuilt.

However, after Henry's return in 1188 it came again to discussions with Bernhard, who finally lost the town of Bardowick.

As Duke of Saxony, Bernhard became at the same time in Marshal of the Holy Roman empire. He could hold this important post for the first time in 1190 in the coronation of Emperor Henry VI; but he broke his good terms with the Emperor by his opposition to made the German crown hereditary into the House of Hohenstaufen. In 1198 he chose Philipp of Swabia as Emperor. However, he was killed on the 21 June 1208 by Otto of Wittelsbach on Altenburg in Bamberg. Thereupon a new emperor's choice was fixed in Halberstadt and (with the vote of Bernhard included) was elected Otto of Brunswick on 22 September, who was crowned inmediately in Frankfurt.

By the acquired Saxon estates Bernhard moved his residence and court to Wittenberg. In 1260 (with effect as from 1296 on) his grandsons split the Duchy into the Duchies Saxe-Wittenberg (German: Herzogtum Sachsen-Wittenberg) and Saxe-Lauenburg (German: Herzogtum Sachsen-Lauenburg), the latter holding the unconnected two northern territories. Wittenberg continued as a residence of the House of Ascania until the extinction of this line in 1422. On his death, aged seventy-two, he was buried besides his father Albert and several of his brothers in the Church of the Benedictine's monastery in Ballenstedt.

Marriage and Issue

Bernhard married with Judith (b. bef. 1154 - d. aft. 12 December 1201), daughter of Mieszko III the Old, Duke of Greater Poland and High Duke of all Poland. They had six children:

1. Henry I, Count of Anhalt (b. ca. 1170 - d. 1252).
2. Albert I, Duke of Saxony (b. ca. 1175 - d. 7 October / 8 November? 1260).
3. Magnus (d. young).
4. John, a canon in Halberstedt (1256).
5. Adelheid (d. 16 July 1244), Abbess of Gernrode (1221-44).
6. Hedwig, married ca. 1204 to Count Ulrich of Wettin.