divided between the three remaining princes.  During these years the policy of the different princes was marked, perhaps intentionally, by considerable uniformity.  Once or twice Calvinism was favoured by a prince, but in general the house was loyal to the doctrines of Luther.  The growth of Prussia provided Anhalt with a formidable neighbour, and the establishment and practice of primogeniture by all branches of the family prevented further divisions of the principality.  In 1806 Alexius of Anhalt-Bernburg was created a duke by the emperor Francis II., and after the dissolution of the Empire each of the three princes took this title.  Joining the Confederation of the Rhine in 1807, they supported Napoleon until 1813, when they transferred their allegiance to the allies; in 1815 they became members of the Germanic Confederation, and in 1828 joined, somewhat reluctantly, the Prussian Zollverein.

[v.02 p.0046]

Anhalt-Coethen was ruled without division by a succession of princes, prominent among whom was Louis (d. 1650), who was both a soldier and a scholar; and after the death of Prince Charles at the battle of Semlin in 1789 it passed to his son Augustus II.  This prince sought to emulate the changes which had recently been made in France by dividing Coethen into two departments and introducing the Code Napoleon.  Owing to his extravagance he left a large amount of debt to his nephew and successor, Louis II., and on this account the control of the finances was transferred from the prince to the estates.  Under Louis’s successor Ferdinand, who was a Roman Catholic and brought the Jesuits into Anhalt, the state of the finances grew worse and led to the interference of the king of Prussia and to the appointment of a Prussian official.  When the succeeding prince, Henry, died in 1847, this family became extinct, and according to an arrangement between the lines of Anhalt-Dessau and Anhalt-Bernburg, Coethen was added to Dessau.

Anhalt-Bernburg had been weakened by partitions, but its princes had added several districts to their lands; and in 1812, on the extinction of a cadet branch, it was again united under a single ruler.  The feeble rule of Alexander Charles, who became duke in 1834, and the disturbed state of Europe in the following decade, led to considerable unrest, and in 1849 Bernburg was occupied by Prussian troops.  A number of abortive attempts were made to change the government, and as Alexander Charles was unlikely to leave any children, Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau took some part in the affairs of Bernburg.  Eventually in 1859 a new constitution was established for Bernburg and Dessau jointly, and when Alexander Charles died in 1863 both were united under the rule of Leopold.