Category: Ascania

Categories: German History | Saxony-Anhalt, Germany

The Ascanians are named after Ascania (or Ascaria) Castle, Schloss Askanien, which is located near and named after Aschersleben. The castle was seat of the County of Ascania, a title that was later subsumed into the titles of the princes of Anhalt.

The earliest known member of the house, Esiko, Count of Ballenstedt, first appears in a document of 1036, and is assumed to have been a grandson (through his mother) of Odo I, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark. From Odo, the Ascanians inherited large properties in the Saxon Eastern March.

In the 13th century, the Principality of Anhalt was split off from the Duchy, and later, the remaining state was split into Saxe-Lauenburg and Saxe-Wittenberg. The Ascanian dynasties in the two Saxon states became extinct in 1689 and in 1422, respectively, but Ascanians continued to rule in the smaller state of Anhalt and its various subdivisions until monarchy was abolished in 1918.

Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia from 1762–1796, was a member of the House of Ascania, herself the daughter of Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst.


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Person Profiles (13)

abt 1470 Dessau, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany - 12 Jun 1516
abt 1390 Dessau, Anhalt, Germany - 21 Sep 1474
04 May 1656 Zerbst, Anhalt, Germany - 01 Nov 1704 photo
17 Mar 1540 Dessau, Germany - 01 Mar 1570
29 Nov 1690 Dornberg, Germany - 16 Mar 1747 photo
15 Oct 1545 Dessau, Germany - 26 Sep 1574
24 Mar 1621 Zerbst, Fürstentum Anhalt-Zerbst, Heiliges Römisches Reich - 04 Jul 1667 photo
04 Sep 1504 Dessau, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany - 04 Feb 1551 photo
17 Nov 1534 Dessau, Germany - 04 May 1561
18 Aug 1541 Dessau, Germany - 25 Jul 1547
01 Dec 1538 Dessau, Germany - 25 Apr 1563
28 Oct 1576 Harzgerode, Fürstentum Anhalt, Heiliges Römisches Reich - 30 Jul 1621 photo
21 Apr 1729 Stettin, Pomerania, Kingdom of Prussia - 06 Nov 1796 photo




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