Louise of Anhalt-Dessau

The eventual inheritance of all the Legnica lands to Christian seemed inevitable, since none of his older brothers had surviving male issue.

The deaths of Louis IV in 1663 and George III in 1664 finally left Christian as sole ruler of all the family lands.

His only surviving son, George William, succeeded him in Legnica-Brzeg, but because he was a minor, the regency was held by his mother Louise, who was the regnant Duchess of Wołów-Oława as her dower, in accordance with her husband's will.

The Duchess-Regent, who was a tolerant and generous person, financially assisted the Catholics, thereby earning the hatred of the Protestant population of the Duchy.

Louise retained her dower lands and retired to Oława, where she spend her last years constructing the Baroque Silesian Piast mausoleum at the church of St. John the Baptist in Legnica, also called the Piasteum, where she had buried the remains of her husband, son, and some of their ancestors.

Alabaster statue of Princess Louise of Anhalt-Dessau: The Piasts Mausoleum in St. John the Baptist Church, Legnica
Louise of Anhalt-Dessau (1656)