Duchy · The Rhineland, the Low Countries and the Swiss Lands · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Duchy of Saxony (Bernhard of Anhalt)

Bernhard is the prince who took the title of duke of Saxony when Henry the Lion fell in 1180, but the duchy he received was a shell: Westphalia went to Cologne, the Welf allods stayed with the Welfs, and the bishops and counts of eastern Saxony answer to no duke.

What Bernhard really holds is his own Ascanian inheritance on the eastern Harz and the lower Saale (Aschersleben, Ballenstedt, Bernburg, Plötzkau, the lands of Köthen and Dessau towards the Elbe), the ducal fortress of Lauenburg on the lower Elbe, and a ducal claim over Holstein, Ratzeburg and Schwerin that the Danes and the Welfs contest. In 1197-98 some princes thought of making him king; he declined and backed Philip, and at Philip's Christmas court at Magdeburg in 1199 he carried the king's sword in procession, a public act of submission and support.

Who rules

Name
Bernhard (Bernhard III in the Ascanian count numbering)
Title
Duke of Saxony (Westphalia and Engern in title; in practice the eastern rump); count of Aschersleben and Ballenstedt, lord of Bernburg
Since
13 April 1180 (Gelnhausen charter); the ducal title took effect after Henry the Lion's submission at Erfurt in November 1181
Born
1140; about 59 years old
Family
Ascanian; youngest son of Albert the Bear, margrave of Brandenburg (died 1170); uncle of Margrave Otto II of Brandenburg
Confidence
high

de.wikipedia (Bernhard III. (Sachsen)); his sword-bearing at Philip's Magdeburg Christmas from de.wikipedia (Philipp von Schwaben, Otto IV.).

Overlord

The king (he holds the duchy of the Empire). He recognises Philip of Swabia.

What the realm holds

  • The county of Aschersleben (Ascaria) with the old Gau Serimunt round Köthen (since 1170)
  • The county of Ballenstedt (since 1171) with the family abbey of Ballenstedt
  • Bernburg (his title as lord)
  • Plötzkau (reversion granted 1171, held since 1173; contested by the Welfs)
  • Ascanian lands towards the Elbe: Köthen, Dessau and Aken (Aken listed among his holdings by de.wikipedia); Wittenberg and its mint (he later resided there; date of the move not pinned)
  • Lauenburg on the lower Elbe, the fortress built in 1182 (who garrisons it that winter belongs to the nsw sheet; Adolf III of Holstein surrendered it to the Danes in 1203)
  • Ducal claims of overlordship over Holstein, Ratzeburg and Schwerin (settlement of 1184), contested

Allies and rivals

Allies: Philip of Swabia, his nephew Margrave Otto II of Brandenburg, Archbishop Ludolf of Magdeburg. Rivals: the Welfs (who drove him from Bardowick in 1189 and contest Plötzkau), and in the north the Danish crown and Duke Valdemar of Schleswig, who press on Holstein and Lauenburg.

The realm that morning

Bernhard is with Philip at Magdeburg or has just been: he bore the sword at the Christmas crown-wearing of 1199. He backs Philip firmly (he stays with him until Philip's murder in 1208). His real power is the Ascanian block between the eastern Harz and the Elbe, which borders Halberstadt to the west, Magdeburg to the north and the Wettin lands across the Saale (egr sheet).

Wealth

Rents and tolls of his Ascanian counties, the Saale crossings at Bernburg, his mints (Aschersleben; Wittenberg later). No ducal revenues of note.

Military

Castles at Bernburg, Aschersleben, Ballenstedt and Plötzkau. In 1180-81 he could not hold off Henry the Lion, who destroyed Aschersleben and the Halberstadt castle of Gröningen. No figures.

Threats

  • Welf raids from Brunswick into the eastern Harz
  • The Danes in Holstein and Lauenburg (the Danish conquest of 1201 is not yet)
  • The weakness of a ducal title that brings no revenue

Family and heirs

Sons living on 1 January 1200: Henry (later Henry I of Anhalt, born about 1170) and Albert (later Albert I, duke of Saxony, born about 1175); John, provost at Halberstadt. A son Magnus died about 1195. Daughter Hedwig (married Ulrich of Wettin only in 1204). Bernhard married Brigitte of Denmark, Sophie of Thuringia and Judith of Poland; the order, dates and which wife is living that winter are disputed, and the mother of Henry is uncertain.

Officers and court

No ducal administration worth the name. His court moves between Bernburg (where he died in 1212), Aschersleben and Ballenstedt (his burial church). His ministeriales and castellans that winter are not pinned.

Relations with rome

As a Staufen partisan he shares Philip's standing with Innocent III; no personal sentence is known for 1200.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

In 1200

  1. 21 August 1200Likely in Philip's army against Brunswick, which fails on 21 August; his part is not pinned.Depends on: Philip calling the Saxon princes to the campaign. Stopped by: A truce or a Danish threat in the north keeping him at Lauenburg.

Later, on the likely course

  1. 1201 onwards (not yet)The Danish advance into Holstein and Lauenburg (Adolf III captured 1201; Lauenburg surrendered to the Danes 1203).Depends on: Canute VI and Valdemar's war on Adolf III of Holstein. Stopped by: A northern peace.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: His titles, lands and side are well attested; his household, his wife that winter and his whereabouts after Christmas are not.

Primary sources for this realm

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

Sources and studies

  1. Bernhard III. (Sachsen), de.wikipedia
  2. Philipp von Schwaben, de.wikipedia

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.