Anhalt-Bernburg was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire and a duchy of the German Confederation ruled by the House of Ascania with its residence at Bernburg in present-day Saxony-Anhalt. It emerged as a subdivision from the Principality of Anhalt from 1252 until 1468, when it fell to the Ascanian principality of Anhalt-Dessau. Recreated in 1603, Anhalt-Bernburg finally merged into the re-unified Duchy of Anhalt upon the extinction of the line in 1863.
Christian I, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg, also known as Christian of Anhalt, (11 May 1568 – 17 April 1630) was a German prince of the House of Ascania. He was ruling prince of Anhalt and, from 1603, ruling prince of the revived principality of Anhalt-Bernburg. From 1595 he was governor of Upper Palatinate, and soon became the advisor-in-chief of Frederick IV, Elector Palatine.
The House of Ascania is an Old Saxon high noble family historically documented since the 11th century. It is also known as the House of Anhalt, which refers to its longest-held possession. Their ancestral seats, Ballenstedt, Anhalt, Aschersleben, and Bernburg, are located in the present-day Anhalt region in Saxony-Anhalt. The ruins of Anhalt Castle are situated in the Harz Mountains northeast of Harzgerode. The name "Askanier" derives from the Latinization of their seat at Aschersleben. Since the late 17th century, only the Anhalt branch has survived. Albert the Bear became Duke of Saxony in 1138 and, with the control of the Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1150, the first Margrave in the formerly Slavic settlement area. In 1180, eastern parts of the Stem Duchy of Saxony passed to the Askanier Bernhard of Saxony. As Dukes of Saxe-Wittenberg, the family received hereditary electoral dignity in 1356. The family ruled Anhalt-Dessau, Anhalt-Bernburg, Anhalt-Köthen, Anhalt-Zerbst, Anhalt-Plötzkau, and Anhalt-Aschersleben. Alexius Friedrich Christian of Anhalt-Bernburg was the first of the Anhalt princes to gain the title of Duke in April 1806. The ducal title was adopted in Anhalt-Köthen and Anhalt-Dessau in 1807. Since 1863, only the Dessau line has existed, with Aribert of Anhalt abdicating in 1918 due to the November Revolution in the Duchy of Anhalt. Since 1963, Eduard, Prince of Anhalt has been the head of the family.
The Principality of Anhalt (German: Fürstentum Anhalt) was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, located in Central Germany, in what is today part of the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt.
Under the rule of the House of Ascania, the Anhalt territory was split off the German stem duchy of Saxony in 1212 and granted to Count Henry I, who was raised to the rank of a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire in 1218. Ruled by Ascanian princes from the High Middle Ages to the Early modern period, Anhalt was divided several times amongst various lines of the dynasty until the dissolution of the Empire in 1806, when Napoleon elevated the remaining states of Anhalt-Bernburg, Anhalt-Dessau and Anhalt-Köthen to duchies.