George III, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau

George III
George III
Prince of Anhalt-Dessau
Reign	1516–1544
Predecessor	Ernest I
Successor	defunct
Prince of Anhalt-Plötzkau
Reign	1544–1553
Predecessor	Principality created
Successor	Karl I Joachim Ernest Bernhard VII
Born	15 August 1507; Dessau
Died	17 October 1553 (aged 46); Dessau
House	House of Ascania
Father	Ernest I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau
Mother	Margaret of Münsterberg

George III, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (15 August 1507 – 17 October 1553), was a German prince of the

Anhalt-Plötzkau

.

George was the third (but second surviving) son of Ernest I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, by his wife Margaret of Münsterberg, daughter of Henry I, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels and granddaughter of George of Poděbrady, King of Bohemia.

Life

He was mainly brought up with his brothers John V and Joachim I by his devout mother. After the death of his father in 1516, he inherited Anhalt-Dessau as a co-ruler with his brothers (at first with their mother serving as regent).

With the assistance of his kinsman

University of Leipzig, where the theologian Georg Helt of Forchheim

became his "highly beloved teacher."

In 1524 Adolph consecrated George as a priest. That he might be better able to refute

Lutherans

.

After the first Evangelical celebration of the Mass at Dessau, on Maundy Thursday in 1534, George visited the district churches, making the fewest possible changes in the church practises in accordance with his natural disposition and with Luther's acquiescence. In the interest of peace, he sought to deter Luther, in 1538, from publishing his tract "Against the Bishop of Magdeburg" (Wider den Bischof zu Magdeburg) and persuaded him in 1542 not to circulate his sharply worded tract on the feud of Wurzen.

In 1544 the protector of

Maurice of Saxony, appointed his brother Augustus as administrator, but because the latter was not a cleric, Maurice designated George as his "coadjutor in spiritual affairs." That year, he and his brothers decided to divide their principality of Anhalt-Dessau formally; George received Plötzkau

.

In his new capacity as coadjutor, George forthwith proceeded, in company with

Melanchthon

. Of the many sermons which he delivered in the cathedral, only a few have been preserved. They are distinguished by temperate and lucid exposition.

When the

Anhalt. Traveling often to Warmsdorf, he continued to preach there, and when the occasion presented itself, he sought to mediate the Osiandrian

dispute.

He died unmarried after lingering sickness, and Melanchthon composed his epitaph. His unfeigned piety, gentleness, and love of peace, his benevolence and freedom of service, all earned him the honorable epithet "devout" or "pious." His theology was that of Luther.

His personal library has been preserved intact, and is now part of the Anhaltische Landesbücherei at Dessau, along with an exhibition to honor his 500th birthday.

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
New Schaff–Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (third ed.). London and New York: Funk and Wagnalls. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help
)

Preceded by Ernest I	Prince of Anhalt-Dessau with John V and Joachim I 1516–1544	Succeeded by Principality divided in Anhalt-Zerbst, Anhalt-Plötzkau and Anhalt-Dessau
Preceded by Principality created	Prince of Anhalt-Plötzkau 1544–1553	Succeeded by Karl I Joachim Ernest Bernhard VII

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