Louis of Anhalt-Köthen, called The Younger (Köthen, 19 October 1607 – Köthen, 15 March 1624), was a German prince of the House of Ascania and heir to the principality of Anhalt-Köthen

Anhalt-Köthen

Anhalt-Köthen has existed on two separate occasions. The first state was created in 1396 when the Anhalt-Zerbst was partitioned between Anhalt-Dessau and Anhalt-Köthen. The first creation lasted until 1552 when it was inherited by Anhalt-Dessau....

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He was the only son of Louis I, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen

Louis I, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen

Louis I of Anhalt-Köthen , was a German prince of the House of Ascania and ruler of the unified principality of Anhalt. From 1603, he was ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Köthen...

, by his first wife Amöena Amalie, daughter of Arnold III, Count of Bentheim-Steinfurt-Tecklenburg-Limburg.

Life

A highly-gifted boy, he was considered by contemporary witnesses to be "the hope for the political future of his country" (in the words of Kaspar von Teutleben).

After the creation of the Fruitbearing Society

Fruitbearing Society

The Fruitbearing Society was a German literary society founded in 1617 in Weimar by German scholars and nobility to emulate the idea of the Accademia della Crusca in Florence and similar groups already thriving in Italy, to be followed in later years also in France and Britain...

 on 24 August 1617 his father, its first leader, accepted him as a member. As an emblem, he chose for him a "watermelon

Watermelon

Watermelon is a vine-like flowering plant originally from southern Africa. Its fruit, which is also called watermelon, is a special kind referred to by botanists as a pepo, a berry which has a thick rind and fleshy center...

 cut into little pieces".

The participation of Louis the Younger in the Académie des parfaits amants in Köthen on 1 March 1624 is doubtful, because he died fourteen days later, on 15 March, at the age of sixteen.