Victor Amadeus, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg


Victor Amadeus of Anhalt-Bernburg, was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Bernburg.
He was the sixth son of Christian II, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg, by his wife Eleonore Sophie, daughter of John the Younger, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg.

Life

The death of his older brother, the Hereditary Prince Erdmann Gideon, made Victor Amadeus the new heir of his father, whom he succeeded seven years later, in 1656. Four years after that, the death of his younger and only surviving brother Karl Ursinus left him as the only living agnate of the main line of Anhalt-Bernburg; the next heirs, until the birth of his children, were his uncle Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode, and his only son William Louis. In 1665, upon the death without heirs of William Louis, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen, the territories and title of the latter were taken over by his cousins Emmanuel and Lebrecht, the co-rulers of Anhalt-Plötzkau, whose territories were returned to Anhalt-Bernburg under Victor Amadeus. In 1709, he inherited the territories of the principality of Anhalt-Harzgerode upon the death of William Louis, who had been its ruler.

Marriage and issue

In Meisenheim am Glan on 16 October 1667 Victor Amadeus married Elisabeth, daughter of Frederick, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken. They had six children:
  1. Karl Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg.
  2. Lebrecht, Prince of Anhalt-Zeitz-Hoym, later Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym.
  3. Sophie Juliane.
  4. John George.
  5. Christian.
  6. A son.
After the death of his wife during her sixth childbirth, Victor Amadeus remained a widower for the next forty-one years, until his death.