Heinrich von Podewils (Field Marshal)

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Heinrich von Podewils

Heinrich von Podewils (born May 5, 1615 on Vorwerk near Demmin in Western Pomerania ; † July 16, 1696 in Hamburg ) was a German mercenary leader in French service and a Brunswick-Lüneburg general field master .

Life

Coat of arms on Heinrich von Podewil's sarcophagus in the crypt chapel in Krangen .
Podewils burial chapel in Crangen

Heinrich von Podewils came from the well-known noble family of Podewils , who lived in Pomerania . His parents were the royal Danish councilor, bailiff and heir to Krangen and house Demmin Joachim von Podewils (1577-1616) and Margaretha von Ramel adH Wusterwitz, daughter of the Danish chancellor and court master Heinrich von Ramel († 1610). Podewils, embarked on a military career and first attended the knight academy in Sorø , which was headed by Heinrich von Ramel (1601–1653), his maternal uncle at the time. He then continued his studies at the University of Leiden and in Paris , where he mainly dealt with mathematics and fortification . He found a teacher in Duke Bernhard von Sachsen-Weimar , in whose army he served in the Thirty Years' War . When after the Duke's death the cadres of this army were recruited for military service in France at Cardinal Richelieu's instigation , Podewils - like most of the army officers - accepted the offer and became a mercenary in the French army . There he impressed his superiors with his military expertise. After the Thirty Years' War ended with the Peace of Westphalia , Podewils first decided to return to his homeland in Pomerania.

The French military leader Turenne wanted to keep Podewils in French service if possible. He therefore specially dispatched a courier to Pomerania to let make Podewils there and find him a cavalry - regiment offer and other privileges. Podewils responded and took part in acts of war in northern France and the Spanish Netherlands from 1652 . In 1657 he was promoted to brigadier des armes du roi of the cavalry. As leader of the foreign cavalry, he was to receive command of German auxiliary troops in 1659, but this did not happen because of the armistice in May and the subsequent Peace in the Pyrenees . In 1661 his regiment was disbanded except for one company .

Shortly thereafter, had Louis XIV. Count of Coligny the command transmitted over a 6,000-strong French auxiliary corps, the Emperor Leopold I in the Turkish War of 1664 should come to the rescue. Podewils was assigned to him on January 12, 1664 and promoted to Maréchal de camp on January 13 . In the same year the auxiliary corps played a part in an important victory against the Turks in the battle of St. Gotthard . Subsequently, Louis XIV thanked Podewils in several personal letters for his successful work and granted him honorary French citizenship. In the letter Louis XIV dated December 6, 1664 to Podewils, it says literally:

Pour vous répondre en un mot sur les lettres de naturalité dont vous me remerciez, je vous dirai que quand on fait des graces de cette nature à des personnes comme vous, c'est plus acquérir que thunder. "

From 1665 Podewils served under Saint-Luc in Guyenne . During the War of Devolution , he took part in the sieges of Tournai , Douai and Lille . Until the renewed dissolution of his regiment after the Peace of Aachen (1668) he served again under Turenne in Flanders .

Podewils was repeatedly promised by the French that if he were to convert to the Catholic faith, he would be raised to the rank of Marshal of France in France and receive further privileges. Since he did not want to burden his conscience for the sake of material advantages, he turned down such offers and remained true to his denomination.

He was just about to give up his military service and retire when Duke Johann Friedrich von Braunschweig urgently needed a capable commander for a contingent of troops he had assembled. Podewils was persuaded by Turenne and others to take command, which he did in 1672. He was promoted to Lieutenant General transported, received the same Geheimrats- and Governor-batch, and it was the in Hanover in garrison assigned to adjacent red infantry regiment.

At the same time, Podewils remained a member of the French army at the French request. From her Podewils received - with the permission of the Duke - a pension . Louis XIV reserved the right to “accomodate” him again if necessary.

Podewils' main task in Hanover was the organization of the Hanoverian army and the training of troops based on the French model. After Turenne had crossed the Rhine in 1673, Podewils received the command of the Hanoverian military contingents united near Hameln , which crossed the Weser and occupied the Lippe region . As a result, he threatened the Brandenburg provinces in Westphalia , which prompted Friedrich Wilhelm to conclude the separate peace of Vossem . Since Duke Johann Friedrich could not be persuaded to take an active part in France and give up his neutrality granted by the Emperor, Podewil's troops were relocated to the area around Göttingen and then to northern Thuringia and the Eichsfeld . From his headquarters in Mühlhausen he negotiated with the Electorate of Saxony . The aim was to counter the threat of Brandenburg overweight in northern Germany with an alliance between the Albertine and Guelph countries, for which Podewils concluded treaties in 1678 on behalf of the Guelph Dukes at Kindelbrück and Eisleben .

After the death of Duke Johann Friedrich von Braunschweig at the end of 1679, his brother and successor, who later became the First Elector of Braunschweigisch-Lüneburg, Ernst August , took Podewil into his service and left him in command of the entire army. Podewils had been active in diplomacy when another treaty was signed with Electoral Saxony in Langensalza in October 1681 . In 1688 he was sent to the Lower Elbe with Hanoverian regiments against Danish troops threatening Hamburg . Under the command of Ernst August, he moved from there in the Palatinate War of Succession to the Rhine and Main . As General Feldzeugmeister he was present at the sieges of Mainz and Bonn and in 1690, although half-blind and frail, moved to Brabant with the Hereditary Prince Georg . After that he did not lead Hanoverian troops again until 1693 because of inheritance disputes in the Duchy of Saxony-Lauenburg on the Elbe.

Podewils was never married and died in Hamburg at the age of 81 without leaving a will. He had gone to Hamburg to see a doctor. He was buried in the crypt chapel in Krangen .

literature

  • Bernhard von PotenPodewils, Heinrich von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 26, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1888, pp. 341-344.
  • Jakob Christoph Beck , August Johann Buxtorf (Ed.): Supplement to the Basel general historical lexicon. Volume 1, part 2. Basel 1749, pp. 683-684 .
  • A la gloire immortelle de Son Excellence, Monsieur Henry de Podewils, premier Conseiller privé de Guerre & Marêchal General de l'Armée de SA Elect. de Brunsuic & Lunebourg, Governor de Hanover. Mort le 16. Juillet 1696. Hanover 1696

Footnotes

  1. ^ Friedrich Albrecht von der Schulenburg: The Duchess of Ahlden - ancestral mother of the royal houses of Hanover and Prussia . Leipzig 1852, footnote on p. 25
  2. Johannes Hinz : Pomerania. Signpost through an unforgettable country. Flechsig-Buchvertrieb, Würzburg 2002, ISBN 3-88189-439-X , p. 193.
  3. ^ Sarcophagus in the crypt chapel in Krangen ( Memento from October 31, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Polish)