Lauenburg and Bütow Land

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The Pomerelian districts of Lauenburg and Bütow, identified by Lb. and Bt, enfeoffed to the Dukes of Pomerania (as of 1526)

Lauenburg and Bütow Land[1][2][3] (German: Länder or Lande Lauenburg und Bütow, Kashubian: Lãbòrskò-bëtowskô Zemia, Polish: Ziemia lęborsko-bytowska) formed a historical region in the western part of Pomerelia (Polish and papal historiography) or in the eastern part of Farther Pomerania (German historiography). It was composed of two districts centered on the towns of Lauenburg (Lębork) and Bütow (Bytów). The land is today part of the Polish Pomeranian Voivodeship.

History

Polish Pomerelia

In the 12th and 13th centuries the area east of the

Teutonic Knights
.

Seizure by the State of Teutonic Order

After expelling the Brandenburgians from Gdańsk, the Knights massacred the local population and

Griffin
dukes in 1317 also acquired the Bütow area, which was yet again sold to the Knights in 1329.

After paying off the Brandenburg margraves, the Teutonic knights integrated the Pomerelian lands into their monastic state, with the Lauenburg and Bütow Landmarking its western border with the Pomeranian duchy. The knights invited German settlers (see

Kingdom of Poland
and the Order's State.

Polish fief held by dukes of Pomerania

In 1455 Poland promised the Lauenburg and Bütow Land to Duke

Georg I of Pomerania.[4]

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1648
Lordships of Lauenburg and Bütow (identified as Buto) on a map of Farther Pomerania in the 18th century (on the r. h. s., western border marked in red)

After the childless death of the last Griffin duke,

Reformation had been enforced by the Pomeranian dukes, the Poles took action to regain the area for the Catholic Church.[citation needed
]

Polish fief held by Brandenburg-Prussia

After the 1657

Treaty of Wehlau it was granted as a fief to the Hohenzollern dynasty of Brandenburg-Prussia in return for her help against Sweden in the Swedish-Polish War under the same favourable conditions the Griffins had enjoyed before. The Hohenzollern had also acquired the adjacent lands of Farther Pomerania upon the extinction of the line and since 1618 held the Duchy of Prussia in personal union
.

Kingdom of Prussia

Lauenburg-Bütow was officially a Polish fiefdom until the

Draheim their only parts outside of Holy Roman Empire (thus Germany). After the Napoleonic Wars, Farther Pomerania was succeeded from 1815 onwards by the larger Province of Pomerania which became as a whole a part of the German Confederation. In 1846, the territory was partitioned into the two Landkreise Lauenburg and Bütow, both parts of the Regierungsbezirk of Köslin
.

Free State of Prussia

While much of the Pomerelian lands annexed by Prussia returned to the Second Polish Republic after World War I according to the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, Lauenburg and Bütow remained with the Prussian province of Pomerania until 1945.

Poland

Since the

a part of Poland
.

Sources

Footnotes
  1. ^ Karin Friedrich, The Other Prussia: Royal Prussia, Poland and Liberty, 1569-1772, p. 150, 2006 [1]
    Frederick William gained the East Pomeranian districts of Lauenburg and Bütow (Lębork and Bytow), which had returned to Polish rule as fiefs after the ...
  2. ^ J. H. W. Verzijl, W. P. Heere, J. P. S. Offerhaus, International law in historical perspective[page needed]
  3. ^ Beth Lettow Brusius, John Milton Liittschwager, The Lettows, B.L. Brusius, 1984, p.14
    however, this excluded the lands of Lauenburg and Butow which reverted to Poland
  4. ISBN 3-486-57839-1
  5. ^ Translation of a treaty between the King of Prussia and the King and Republic of Poland. In: The Scots Magazine, vol. XXXV, Edinburgh 1773, pp. 687–691.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lauenburg_and_Bütow_Land&oldid=1191004893"