Christian I, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg

Christian was the second son of Joachim Ernest, Prince of Anhalt, by his first wife Agnes, daughter of Wolfgang I, Count of Barby-Mühlingen.In the early months of 1586 he went to Dresden and remained there several years as the closest friend of his namesake, Christian I, Elector of Saxony, whose Calvinist sympathies he shared.Taking possession of his family lands in December of the same year (1586), Christian remained a devoted Calvinist and later served as advisor to Frederick IV, Elector Palatine.In 1621, in response to his affiliation with the Palatines, Christian was put under an imperial ban that effectively made him an outlaw within the Holy Roman Empire and stripped him of his lands.In Lohrbach on 2 July 1595 Christian married Anna of Bentheim-Tecklenburg (b. Bentheim, 4 January 1579 – d. Bernburg, 9 December 1624), daughter of Arnold III, Count of Bentheim-Steinfurt-Tecklenburg-Limburg.