Henning Podebusk

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Henning Podebusk (Putbus; in today's genealogies, regularly prepared in a way that he is shown in German, known also as Herr Henning II zu Putbus), died circa 1388 (or 1387). Danish statesman, the last drost of Denmark.

Podebusk belonged to a German-Slavic magnate family related to the last independent princes of the island of Rügen. Nothing is known of his youth. He first time appeared in Danish history 1350 when he met Valdemar IV in Northern Germany and was taken into Danish service. During the next 15 years he became one of the king’s most important and loyal officials in both foreign and domestic relations.

1365 he was appointed drost (”prime minister”) of Denmark and he soon showed his ability during the war 1367-1370 against the omnipotent Hanseatic League and its allies. Being the de facto ruler of Denmark during the king’s absence he prevented a disaster by splitting the coalition through a separate peace with the Hansa, the Treaty of Stralsund. After the war he took part in the king’s legal settlement with the magnate rebellionists in Denmark and during the next years he managed to sabotage much of the Hansa’s economic advantages from the peace.

After the death of Valdemar 1375 Podebusk played an important role as the protector of the royal interests and perhaps as the political mentor of Queen Margaret I. He damped the magnate’s opposition by temporary concessions and repudiated foreign demands on the throne. His last success seems to have been the completion of Margaret’s accession as a ruling queen 1387 that paved the way for her conquest of Sweden.

Podebusk whose personal character is quite unknown is now considered one of the most important Danish statesmen of the Middle Ages. His political views seem to have been just as cynical and power-centred as that of his royal masters but perhaps he was an even better diplomat. By his death the office as drost was abolished, probably because he had shown how powerful it might be.

He married his distant relative Gisela Podebusk, from Denmark, whose mother Eufemia was, according to medieval tales, daughter of the last Danish count of Halland. His descendants played a (far more modest) role in Danish politics until 1660, then as magnates in Sweden, hereditary lord marshals of Pomerania, and elevated Princes of Putbus, ultimately in kingdom of Prussia.