Wolfgang of Anhalt, called "The Confessor", who became prince of Anhalt-Köthen in 1508, was the second ruler in the world to introduce the Reformation in his territory. He was a co-signer of the Augsburg Confession in 1530, and after the Battle of Mühlberg in 1547 was placed under Imperial ban and deprived of his lands by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. After the peace of Passau in 1552 he bought back his principality, but as he was childless he surrendered it in 1562 to his kinsmen, the princes of Anhalt-Dessau. Ernest I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (d. 1516), left three sons, John II, George III, and Joachim, who jointly ruled their lands for many years and favoured the reformed doctrines, which thus became dominant in Anhalt. About 1546 the three brothers divided their principality and founded the lines of Zerbst, Plötzkau and Dessau. This division, however, was only temporary, as the acquisition of Köthen, and a series of deaths among the ruling princes, enabled Joachim Ernest, a son of John II, to unite the whole of Anhalt under his rule in 1570.