Anhalt-Köthen was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire ruled by the House of Ascania. It was created in 1396 when the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst was partitioned between Anhalt-Dessau and Anhalt-Köthen. The first creation lasted until 1562, when it fell to Prince Joachim Ernest of Anhalt-Zerbst, who merged it into the reunited Principality of Anhalt. Anhalt-Köthen was created a second time in 1603, when Anhalt was again divided. In 1806, Anhalt-Köthen was raised to a duchy. With the death of Duke Henry on 23 November 1847, the Anhalt-Köthen line became extinct and its territories were united to Anhalt-Dessau by patent of 22 May 1853. Today, Anhalt-Köthen is mostly remembered as a long-time residence of Johann Sebastian Bach, while he worked for Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen. History The Principality of Anhalt arose in 1212 under its first ruler, Henry I, son of the Saxon duke Bernhard III. Named after Anhalt Castle, the ancestral seat of the Ascanian dynasty near Harzgerode, the principality experienced a number of partitions throughout its centuries-long existence. When Henry died in 1252, his sons divided their heritage, with the younger, Prince Siegfried I receiving the Anhalt-Zerbst territory including Dessau and Köthen. First creation The Principality of Anhalt-Köthen emerged in 1396, when the two surviving sons of late Prince John II of Anhalt-Zerbst divided their heritage and the younger, Prince Albert IV, took his residence at Köthen. Upon the death of his elder brother Prince Sigismund I of Anhalt-Dessau in 1405, Albert also acted as a regent for Sigismund's minor sons. He himself died in 1423 and was succeeded by his sons Adolph I and Waldemar V. Waldemar died in 1436 and Adolph entered a long-time quarrel with their cousin Prince George I of Anhalt-Dessau, finally in 1471, both concluded a succession contract whereby George took over the government of half the principality and became co-ruler as Lord of Köthen. When Adolph's younger brother, Prince Albert VI, succeeded in 1473, he had to share the rule over Anhalt-Köthen with George's sons, Prince Waldemar VI and George II. While George II soon after entered the service of Elector Albrecht Achilles of Brandenburg, Waldemar was able to regain the pawned territory of Hoym and also added Burgscheidungen to his possessions. Albert VI died in 1475 and was succeeded by his only son Philip, with his cousins Magnus and Adolph II, the sons of Adolph I, as co-rulers. Philip died in