John VI, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst

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He was the only son of Rudolph, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst by his second wife Magdalene, daughter of John XVI, Count of Oldenburg.

Life

John succeded his father in Anhalt-Zerbst with only four months of life; during his long minority, his paternal uncle Augustus of Anhalt-Plötzkau acted as regent of his principality.

His education was not only in charge of a private tutor; first of all, John was supervised by his Protestant mother. The turmoils war time motivated that John was educated in Zerbst, Coswig and Wittenberg. Since 1633 he continue his education in the court of his maternal uncle Anthony Günther, Count of Oldenburg.

Immediately after reached adulthood and formally asumed the government of his state, John made the Lutheranism the oficial religion of Zerbst. Also, he increase his principality noticeably by the taking of different fiefs.

In 1642 his uncle Louis of Anhalt-Köthen admitted John in the Fruitbearing Society together with the "Hofrat" Konrad Balthasar Pichtel and the "Hofjunker" Joachim von Boeselager. He chose the motto "anmutiger Schärfe" ("graceful sharpness"). As an emblem the flower Tropaeolaceae was intended for him. In the Köthen society book John appears under the No 398.

Marriage and Issue

In Gottorp on 16 September 1649 John married with Sophie Auguste (b. Gottorp, 5 December 1630 - d. Coswig, 12 December 1680), daughter of Frederick III, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp. They had fourteen children:

#John Frederick (b. Zerbst, 11 October 1650 - d. Zerbst, 13 March 1651).
#George Rudolph (b. Zerbst, 8 September 1651 - d. Zerbst, 26 February 1652).
#Karl William, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst (b. Zerbst, 16 October 1652 - d. Zerbst, 8 November 1718).
#Anthony Günther, Prince of Anhalt(-Zerbst)-Mühlingen (b. Zerbst, 11 January 1653 - d. Zerbst, 10 December 1714).
#John Adolph (b. Zerbst, 2 December 1654 - d. Zerbst, 19 March 1726).
#John Louis I, Prince of Anhalt(-Zerbst)-Dornburg (b. Zerbst, 4 May 1656 - d. Dornburg, 1 November 1704).
#Joachim Ernest (b. Zerbst, 30 July 1657 - d. Zerbst, 4 June 1658).
#Magdalene Sophie (b. Zerbst, 31 October 1658 - d. Zerbst, 30 March 1659).
#Frederick (b. Zerbst, 11 July 1660 - d. Zerbst, 24 November 1660).
#Hedwig Marie Eleonore (b. Zerbst, 30 January 1662 - d. Zerbst, 30 June 1662).
#Sophie Auguste (b. Zerbst, 9 March 1663 - d. Weimar, 14 September 1694), married on 11 October 1685 to Johann Ernst III, Duke of Saxe-Weimar.
#A daughter (b. and d. Zerbst, 12 February 1664).
#Albert (b. and d. Zerbst, 12 February 1665).
#Augustus (b. Zerbst, 23 August 1666 - d. Zerbst, 7 April 1667).