Leopold IV
Leopold IV in the 19th century
Duke of Anhalt
Reign9 August 1817 – 22 May 1871
PredecessorAnhalt unified
SuccessorFrederick I
Born(1794-10-01)1 October 1794
Dessau, Anhalt
Died22 May 1871(1871-05-22) (aged 76)
Dessau, Anhalt
SpousePrincess Frederica of Prussia
Issue
among others...
Names
Leopold Frederick
HouseAscania
FatherFrederick, Hereditary Prince of Anhalt-Dessau
MotherLandgravine Amalie of Hesse-Homburg

Leopold IV Frederick, Duke of Anhalt (1 October 1794 – 22 May 1871) was a German prince of the House of Ascania.

From 1817 until 1853 he was ruler of the duchy of Anhalt-Dessau and from 1847 until 1853 also ruler of the duchy of Anhalt-Köthen. From 1853 until 1863 he was the ruler of the joined duchy of Anhalt-Dessau-Köthen and from 1863 the first ruler of the united duchy of Anhalt.

Early life

Leopold was born in Dessau on 1 October 1794 as the eldest son of Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, by his wife Landgravine Amalie of Hesse-Homburg, daughter of Frederick V, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg.

Following the premature death of his father in 1814, he became heir to the duchy of Anhalt-Dessau.[1]

Reign

Following the death of his grandfather Leopold III he succeeded as duke on 9 August 1817.[1]

During the Revolutions of 1848 he was forced to grant a constitution to Dessau on 29 October 1848. It was revoked, however, on 4 November 1849, then replaced with a new version in October 1859. Leopold maintained a friendship with his administrative officer Wilhelm Christian Raster, though Raster's politically active son, Hermann participated in the revolutions.[2] The younger Raster was given the unusual choice to either stay in Anhalt-Dessau and face criminal prosecution for his role in the Revolution or to emigrate from the country freely like other Forty-Eighters. Raster made the second choice and eventually became a powerful Republican Party political boss in the United States.[3]

On 27 November 1847 he inherited the Duchy of Anhalt-Köthen from his distant cousin Duke Henry. As a result of a treaty concluded with Anhalt-Bernburg in May 1853 his duchies were joined together and named Anhalt-Dessau-Köthen, because the eventual inheritance of Leopold over all the Anhalt duchies seemed inevitable.[1] The death of another distant cousin, Duke Alexander Karl, on 19 August 1863 resulted in the ruling line of the duchy of Anhalt-Bernburg becoming extinct, thus Leopold inherited that duchy as well.[1] On 30 August he assumed the title "duke of Anhalt."[1]

Leopold died in Dessau on 22 May 1871. He was succeeded by his son Frederick.[4]

Marriage and issue

Leopold's wife Princess Frederica Wilhelmina of Prussia

In Berlin on 18 April 1818 Leopold married Princess Frederica of Prussia (b. Berlin, 30 September 1796 - d. Dessau, 1 January 1850), daughter of Prince Frederick Louis Charles of Prussia (brother of King Frederick William III of Prussia) by his wife Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; through her mother's last marriage, she was a half-sister of King George V of Hanover.[1] They had been engaged since 17 May 1816, as the connection had already been arranged by the Prussian court. This dynastic connection was an expression of Leopold's pro-Prussian policies.

They had six children:[5][6]

NameBirthDeathNotes
Princess Fredericka Amalie Auguste28 November 181911 December 1822
Princess Fredericka Amalie Agnes24 June 182423 October 1897married on 28 April 1853 to Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg.
A son3 August 18253 August 1825he was either stillborn or died shortly after the birth.
A son3 November 18273 November 1827he was either stillborn or died shortly after the birth.
Frederick I, Duke of Anhalt29 April 183124 January 1904married on 22 April 1854 to Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Altenburg.
Princess Maria Anna14 September 183712 May 1906married on 29 November 1854 to Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia.

Honours

He received the following orders and decorations:[7]

Ancestry

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Almanach de Gotha. 1867. p. 3.
  2. ↑ Hermann Raster (1891). Reisebriefe von Hermann Raster: Mit einer Biographie und einem Bildniss des Verfassers. Buchdr. Gutenberg (F. Zillessen). pp. 8–9.
  3. ↑ "Inventory of the Hermann Raster Papers". The Newberry Library.
  4. ↑ "Duke of Anhalt is dead". The New York Times. 25 January 1904. p. 7.
  5. ↑ Genealogical database by Herbert Stoyan
  6. ↑ Marek, Miroslav. "Complete Genealogy of the House of Ascania". Genealogy.EU.
  7. ↑ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Herzogtum Anhalt (1867) "Das Herzoglicher Haus: Genealogie" p. 1
  8. ↑ "A Szent István Rend tagjai" Archived 22 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Baden (1834), "Großherzogliche Orden" p. 31
  10. ↑ Liste der Ritter des Königlich Preußischen Hohen Ordens vom Schwarzen Adler (1851), "Von Seiner Majestät dem Könige Friedrich Wilhelm III. ernannte Ritter" p. 18
  11. ↑ "Андреевский кавалер – Герцог Леопольд IV Фридрих Франц фон Ангальт-Дессау-Кетен Александр Рожинцев" (in Russian). Archived from the original on 30 November 2011. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
  12. ↑ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Herzogtum Anhalt (1867) "Herzoglicher Haus-orden Albrecht des Bären" p. 13
  13. 1 2 Staat Hannover (1865). Hof- und Staatshandbuch für das Königreich Hannover: 1865. Berenberg. pp. 37, 75.
  14. ↑ Jørgen Pedersen (2009). Riddere af Elefantordenen, 1559–2009 (in Danish). Syddansk Universitetsforlag. p. 463. ISBN 978-87-7674-434-2.
  15. ↑ Adreß-Handbuch des Herzogthums Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha (1847), "Herzogliche Sachsen-Ernestinischer Hausorden" p. 26
  16. ↑ Staat Oldenburg (1870). Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Großherzogtums Oldenburg: für ... 1869/70. Schulze. p. 28.
  17. ↑ Bayern (1870). Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Königreichs Bayern: 1870. Landesamt. p. 8.
  18. ↑ Staats- und Adreß-Handbuch des Herzogthums Nassau (1866), "Herzogliche Orden" p. 9
  19. ↑ Sveriges och Norges Statskalender (in Swedish), 1865, p. 428, retrieved 20 February 2019 – via runeberg.org
  20. ↑ Sachsen (1870). Staatshandbuch für den Freistaat Sachsen: 1870. Heinrich. p. 4.
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