 When Emperor Frederick Barbarossa deposed the Saxon duke, Henry the Lion in 1180, the Wittenberg lands belonged to Albert's youngest son, Count Bernhard of Anhalt, who assumed the Saxon ducal title.Bernard's eldest son, Albert I, ceded the territory known as Anhalt to his younger brother, Henry, retaining the ducal title and attached to this territory the lordship of Lauenburg.His sons divided the territory into the duchies of Saxe-Wittenberg and Saxe-Lauenburg.