Background
Sibylle Christine was the sixth daughter of John George I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, but third-born daughter of his second wife Dorothea, daughter of John Casimir of Simmern.
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Sibylle Anhalt-Dessau
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Career
Through her two marriages she became Countess of Hanau-Münzenberg and Hanau-Lichtenberg. In Dessau on 26 December 1627 Sybille Christine married Philip Maurice, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg. His successor was Frederick Casimir, head of the Lutheran branch of the Hanau-Lichtenberg family.
The accession of Frederick Casimir took place during the Thirty Years" War, which left him in a financially awkward situation.
As Dowager Countess, Sibylle Christine put considerable strains on the county for her upkeep. To minimize her own expenses and avoid the required financial support for a new wife, she and Frederick Casimir were married on 13 May 1647.
This union with the Dowager Countess had the effect of calming Frederick Casimir"s Reformist subjects in Hanau-Münzenberg who looked upon the new Lutheran Count with suspicion. The marriage remained childless probably due to the great difference in age between the spouses: Sybille Christine was 20 years older than Frederick Casimir.
The union was characterized by other differences as well, partly because Frederick Casimir relied on his wife"s property to subsidize his spending habits.
She died there one year later and was buried on 25 March 1686 in the family vault of the Marienkirche in Hanau.
