Bernhard III, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg
Bernhard III. , Prince of Anhalt -Bernburg († August 20, 1348 ) was a reigning sovereign anhaltischer of the family of Ascanians.
Life
He was the eldest son of Bernhard II von Anhalt- Bernburg and his wife Helena, daughter of Wizlaw II Prince of Rügen.
Bernhard succeeded his father in 1323 in the reign over the principality of Anhalt- Bernburg. He also carried the title of "Count of Anhalt " and " Graf von Bernburg ". His younger brothers Henry and Otto were devoted to the Church and consequently renounced their claims from the inheritance, which the in-house Anhalt usual inheritance was prevented.
Bernard's uncle - - Under his reign, the dispute over the inheritance of Otto II von Anhalt, especially around the town of Aschersleben, with the Halberstadt bishops Albrecht I extended and Albrecht II of a bitter legal battle. Although himself Emperor Louis IV the Bavarian several times in favor of Bernard began, the city fell in 1333 finally to the bishopric of Halberstadt.
Marriages and descendants
Bernhard married in 1328 Agnes (* 1310, † January 4, 1338 ), a daughter of Rudolf I Duke of Saxe- Wittenberg, whose grandmother and namesake Agnes von Habsburg, a daughter of the first Habsburg Holy Roman king Rudolph I was. Bernhard III. Duke of Saxony was the great-grandfather of both Bernard and Agnes.
The couple had the following children:
- Bernhard IV († June 28, 1354 ) - Prince of Anhalt -Bernburg,
- Catherine ( * 1330, † January 30, 1390 ) - married to Magnus II Torquatus, Duke of Brunswick- Lüneburg on October 6, 1356 in his second marriage on May 11, 1374 with Albrecht of Saxony -Wittenberg, Prince of Lüneburg,
- Henry IV († July 7, 1374 ) - Prince of Anhalt -Bernburg,
- Albrecht ( † August 1, 1336 )
- Sophie ( * 1330, † December 18, 1362 ) - married to William II, Duke of Brunswick -Lüneburg in his third marriage,
- Adelheid (c. 1337)
After the death of his first wife Bernhard married in 1339 Mathilde ( † around 1342 ), youngest daughter of Albert I Prince of Anhalt -Zerbst. Also for Mathilde was the Regent in kinship relationship, because in Heinrich I Prince of Anhalt both had a common great-grandfather. The marriage was, however, without issue.
Around 1343 Bernhard was his third and final marriage to Mathilde († after June 28, 1354 ), a daughter of Magnus I Duke of Brunswick -Wolfenbüttel, a, a descendant of Margrave Otto I of Brandenburg
This last marriage produced children
- Otto III. († February 27, 1404 ) - Prince of Anhalt -Bernburg and
- Gertrude - before August 12, 1371 with Günther XII. Count of Schwarzburg.
Data from the master list of the House of Schwarzburg According to the daughter Gertrude, however, may have come from Bernhard's first marriage and would therefore born before January 1338.