Henrietta Catherine Agnes of Anhalt Dessau

Life

Agnes, also called Agnese, was a daughter of Prince Leopold II Maximilian of Anhalt-Dessau (1700–1751) from his marriage to Gisela Agnes (1722–1751), daughter of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen. At the age of six months, she was made a canoness in Herford Abbey; this should provide her for life. She developed a particularly close relationship with her sisters Maria Leopoldine and Casimire. She followed them to Detmold, when they married there. As the oldest sister, Agnes took over the duties of representation at the court in Dessau, until her brother Leopold III married. She then returned to Detmold. After both her sisters had died, she moved to Herford Abbey in 1769, where she became the Dean.

She married on 26 October 1779 at Bosfeld House in Rheda-Wiedenbrück with Baron Johann Jost of Loën, Lord of Cappeln and Tecklenburg (1737–1803), son of Johann Michael von Loën. Johann Jost's mother was a first cousin of Catharina Elisabeth Goethe, the mother of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. From 1795, Agnes and John Jost lived in Dessau and had a keen interest in the social life of the city. They were in close contact with their Goethe relatives. After a visit, she wrote in 1796: In Dessau, the memory of earlier times delighted us: the Loën family proved to be comfortable, trusting relatives and we could rememberd our earliest days and hours together in Frankfurt.

Agnes's son Frederick later became Marshal of the Court at the court in Dessau, her daughter Agnes was the wife of Count Heinrich Ernst Leopold of Seherr-Thoß.