Wolfgang, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen

Wolfgang, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen (b. Köthen, 1 August 1492 - d. Zerbst, 23 March 1566), was a German prince member of the House of Ascania and ruler of the Principality of Anhalt-Köthen. He was one of the earliers Protestant Reformers of the Holy Roman Empire.

He was the second but eldest surviving son of Waldemar VI, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen by his wife Margarete, daughter of Günther XX, Count of Schwarzburg and Lord of Arnstedt.

Life

In 1500, and with only eight years, Wolfgang was admitted in the University of Leipzig, and in 1508, with sixteen years, he took over the government of his principality and settled his residence in Köthen. On the Diet of Augsburg (1521) Wolfgang had the oppotunity to met Martin Luther; later he said: "He gained my heart". With Luther's help, he introduced the Reformation in Anhalt-Köthen (1525) and Anhalt-Bernburg (1526), who become in the second and third countries in the world to made this, after the conversion of the Electorate of Saxony. In 1526 he joined in a alliance defensive with another Evangelical states against the Emperor Charles V; this was a direct prelude of the later formed Schmalkaldic League. Wolfgang was also one of the six Princes who, on 19 April 1529, as a representants of the Protestant minority, made the Protestation at Speyer and petitioned at Diet reunited in that city the removal of the Imperial Ban (German: "Reichsacht") against Luther, as well as the proscription of his works and teachings, and called for the unhindered spread of evangelical belief. In 1530 he signed the Augsburg Confession on the Diet of Augsburg. In 1534 Wolfang ordened the first Church Inspections (German: "Kirchenvisitationen") in Anhalt-Köthen, expropriated the church possession and handed gave them to the municipalities.

In 1544 he resigned to his rights over Anhalt-Dessau on behalf of his cousins but retained his rights over Anhalt-Bernburg where he had already build in 1538 the "Wolfgang-Bau", a castle with renaissance styles. When the old "Burg" of Köthen was destroyed by a fire in 1547, he made his permanent residence in Bernburg. That year, he participated in the Battle of Mühlberg and was outlawed for it by the Emperor. Wolfgang took refuge in Saxony, were was appointed as Governor of Magdeburg in 1551 by the Elector Maurice. In 1552 he was freed of the outlawry under the terms of the Peace of Passau adn was restored in the government of his states.

However, in 1562 he finally resigned to all his states in favor of his cousins and kept only Coswig. By 1564 he moved to Zerbst where he died two years later, unmarried and childless.