John VI, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst


John VI of Anhalt-Zerbst, was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Zerbst.
He was the only son of Rudolph, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, by his second wife Magdalene, daughter of John VII, Count of Oldenburg.

Life

John succeeded his father in Anhalt-Zerbst at only four months of age; during his long minority, his paternal uncle Augustus of Anhalt-Plötzkau acted as regent in the principality.
John's education was supervised primarily by his mother. Political instability caused by warfare during the Thirty Years War caused John to be educated in Zerbst, Coswig, and Wittenberg at various times. From 1633 he continued his education at the court of his maternal uncle Anthony Günther, Count of Oldenburg.
Immediately after he reached adulthood and formally assumed the government of his state, John made Lutheranism the official religion of Zerbst. He increased the size of his principality noticeably by acquiring various fiefs.
In 1642 his uncle Louis of Anhalt-Köthen, admitted John to the Fruitbearing Society together with the Hofrat Konrad Balthasar Pichtel and the Hofjunker Joachim von Boeselager. He chose the motto anmutiger Schärfe. As an emblem the flower Tropaeolaceae was reserved for him.

Marriage and issue

In Gottorp on 16 September 1649 John married Sophie Auguste, daughter of Frederick III, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp. They had fourteen children:
  1. John Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst.
  2. George Rudolph, Hereditary Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst.
  3. Karl William, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst.
  4. Anthony Günther, Prince of Anhalt-Mühlingen.
  5. John Adolph.
  6. John Louis I, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg.
  7. Joachim Ernest.
  8. Magdalene Sophie.
  9. Frederick.
  10. Hedwig Marie Eleonore.
  11. Sophie Auguste, married on 11 October 1685 to Johann Ernst III, Duke of Saxe-Weimar.
  12. A daughter.
  13. Albert.
  14. Augustus.