This portrait does not represent Christian of Anhalt (1568–1630) but his son Christian II of Anhalt-Bernburg.

Christian of Anhalt, 1568–1630, prince of Anhalt (1603–30). He was a firm Calvinist and a skilled diplomat. As adviser to Frederick IV, Elector Palatine, he sought to build a strong Protestant alliance against the Catholic states and achieved limited success with the formation (1608) of the Protestant Union. Christian guided Frederick's son and successor, Frederick V, Elector Palatine (later to be known as the Winter King of Bohemia) and arranged his election (1619) to the Bohemian throne in place of the Roman Catholic king, Ferdinand II, also Holy Roman emperor. Supported by the Catholic League under Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria, Ferdinand sent an army to subdue the Bohemian rebels. When military aid that Christian counted on was not forthcoming - partially because of the failure of James I of England to embrace and support the Protestant Union, although he was Frederick's father-in-law, having wed his daughter Elizabeth (Stuart, later to be known as the Winter Queen of Bohemia), to the young Elector Palatine - Christian was utterly defeated at the Battle of White Mountain, where he had been in command of Frederick's forces. He was put under the imperial ban, but was pardoned in 1624. Image File history File links Anhalt. ... In an unadorned church, the 17th century congregation stands to hear the sermon. ... Frederick IV, Elector Palatine of the Rhine (March 5, 1574-September 19, 1610), only surviving son of Louis VI, Elector Palatine, called Frederick the Righteous (in German, Friedrich Der Aufrichtige; in French Frédéric IV le juste). ... The Protestant Union or Evangelical Union or Union of Auhausen was a coalition of Protestant German states that was formed in 1608 to defend the rights, lands and person of each member. ... Frederick is also called the Winter King of Bohemia because he reigned for less than three winter months in 1620 after he was installed by a rebellious Protestant faction. ... Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (July 9, 1578 – February 15, 1637), of the house of Habsburg, ruled 1620-1637. ... Maximilian I, Elector and Duke of Bavaria and his second wife, Maria Anna of Austria Maximilian I, Elector and Duke of Bavaria (17 April 1573 – 27 September 1651), called the Great,, was a Wittelsbach ruler of Bavaria and an prince-elector (Kurfürst) of the Holy Roman Empire. ... James VI of Scotland/James I of England and Ireland (Charles James) (June 19, 1566 – March 27, 1625) was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland and was the first to style himself King of Great Britain. ... Elisabeth, Electress Palatine and (briefly) queen of Bohemia (August 19, 1596 – February 13, 1662), born Princess Elizabeth Stuart of Scotland, was born as the eldest daughter to King James VI of Scotland and his Queen consort Anne of Denmark. ... The Battle of White Mountain, November 8, 1620 (Bílá hora is the name of White Mountain in Czech) was an early battle in the Thirty Years War in which an army of 20,000 Bohemians and mercenaries under Christian of Anhalt were routed by 25,000 men of the...

References

• Christian of Anhalt (Answers.Com)
• Yates, Frances. The Rosicrucian Enlightment. London; New York: Routledge, 1972. ISBN 0-415-26769-2