Christian of Anhalt

Christian of Anhalt (born May 11, 1568, Bernburg, Anhalt [Ger.]—died April 17, 1630, Bernburg) was a minor Protestant prince who played a major role in precipitating the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48).

Christian entered the service of the Lutheran elector of Saxony and in 1591 led a force of German Protestant troops to support the Calvinist Henry IV in the French Wars of Religion. The following year he converted to Calvinism, and in 1595 Frederick IV, elector Palatine of the Rhine, made Christian his principal adviser. Christian played a leading role in forming the Protestant Union in 1608, and he commanded its army; he also forged close links with the Protestants of Bohemia and encouraged them to defy their Habsburg rulers.

In 1619 Christian helped to persuade Frederick V, the new elector Palatinate, to accept the crown offered by the estates of Bohemia. In 1620 they were outmaneuvered and defeated at the Battle of White Mountain, just west of Prague. Christian’s field chancery fell into the hands of the victors, who published a selection of his correspondence to discredit the Bohemian cause. Like Frederick, Christian fled, taking refuge in Denmark and Sweden until, in 1624, he made his peace with the Habsburgs and returned to govern his estates until his death.