Bernhard (c. 1140– 2 February 1212), a member of the House of Ascania, was Count of Anhalt and Ballenstedt, and Lord of Bernburg through his paternal inheritance.

[1] Bernhard was the youngest of the seven sons of Albert the Bear, Duke of Saxony from 1138 to 1142 and first Margrave of Brandenburg from 1157, by his wife Sophie of Winzenburg.

Two years later, Bernhard accompanied Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to Italy with his brother Margrave Otto I of Brandenburg.

In Gelnhausen on 13 April 1180, Bernhard was granted the eastern part of the Welf lands, including the Archbishopric of Bremen-Hamburg, which was passed on to his elder brother Siegfried, and the Duchy of Saxony.

In Nordalbingien and the areas between the Elbe and the Baltic Sea, Bernhard's vassals soon rebelled against him and gave their support to Henry the Lion.

Determined to eliminate the opposition against him in his lands, he levied high taxes on rebellious territories, which led to an attack against Lauenburg and its destruction in 1182, followed by the restoration of the fortress.

His cousin Nicholas I, granted Burg Malchow by Henry the Lion in 1164, lost part of it due to his association with Bernhard.

Borwin allied himself with Duke Bogislaw I of Pomerania and Nicholas with Jaromar I, Prince of Rügen, a faithful vassal of Denmark.

Count Adolf of Holstein kept the disputed regions, however he had to pay 700 marks to Bernhard and swear the oath of fidelity that he had earlier refused to do.

Otto IV, who meanwhile had fallen out with Pope Innocent III over Sicily, supported the reascension of Valdemar, the papally dismissed Prince-Archbishop of Bremen.

On his death, aged seventy-two, Bernhard was buried beside his father Albert and several of his brothers in the Church of the Benedictine monastery in Ballenstedt.