Lands of Schlawe and Stolp
The Lands of Schlawe and Stolp (German: Schlawe-Stolp, Länder Schlawe und Stolp are a historical region of Pomerania, centered around Stolp (Słupsk) and Schlawe (Sławno) in Farther Pomerania. It is the region between river Nestbach at hill Gollenberg (2 km East of Köslin) in the West and the Leba River in the East, the border to Pomeralia. In the North the region is bounded by the Baltic Sea. Before World War II, the region had boundaries in the South to both the province of Brandenburg and to Poland.
In the High Middle Ages, it was ruled by Ratibor I (since the 1120s) and his descendants (Ratiboriden branch of the Griffin House of Pomerania). It was under Danish occupation from the 1180s to 1227.
The last member of the Ratiborides branch of the Griffins, Ratibor II, died in 1223. This led to a competition between the Griffins and the Pomerelian Samborides for inheritance of Schlawe-Stolp. Because Ratibor died during the Danish period, Denmark administered the area until she had to withdraw after the lost Battle of Bornhöved in 1227. Barnim I, Duke of Pomerania, took control of the lands immediately after the Danish withdrawal, but had to yield Pomerelian duke Swantopolk's rights, whose relationship to the Ratiborides was closer. Swantopolk took over Schlawe-Stolp in 1235/36. In the 1250s, the Griffins mounted an unsuccessful campaign to gain the area. After the death of Swantopolk II in 1266, Barnim I took over the area and kept it until 1269, when Rugian prince Wizlaw II took over. He withdrew in 1277 and sold his rights on the area for 3.500 Brandenburgian Marks in silver to the Margraves of Brandenburg. In 1283, Mestwin II of Pomerelia took over. Competition arose anew after his death in 1294.[1]
In 1295 the lands of Stolp, Schlawe and Rügenwalde were taken over by Wizlaw of Rügen and count Adolph from Holstein. They had to withdraw at about 1301, after the Bohemian king Wenzel II had become king of Poland too. He inserted an administrator in the lands of Schlawe and Stolp, Frederic of Scassowo, who appeared in Schlawe in December 1302.[2] After both Wenzel II and his young successor, Wenzel III, had died, the margraves of Brandenburg returned in 1305 to the lands of Schlawe, Rügenwalde and Stolp. In 1307 they launched from the region a campaign against the fortified castle of Danzig in Pomeralia. The attack failed, however, since the local war lord had recruted soldiers of the Teutonic Knights in order to help defending it.
Since promises made were not kept and the Teutonic Knights were not paid off for their service, in 1308 the Teutonic Order took over Danzig for compensation. Grandmaster Siegfried von Feuchtwangen and Master Heinrich von Dirschau und Schwetz integrated the region of Danzig into the Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights. In the Treaty of Soldin of 13 September 1309, the Margraves of Brandenburg sold the part of Pomerelia east of the Leba River with Lauenburg and Bütow to the Teutonic Order. The Lands of Schlawe and Stolp remained under the sovereignty of the Ascanians. Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor ratified the Soldin Treaty in 1313.
The districts of Schlawe (now Sławno), Rügenwalde (now Darłowo) and Stolp (now Słupsk), remained with Brandenburg and were ruled by the margraves' vassals, the Swenzones, who had administered the area already before under other dynasties.
In 1316/17, the Griffin duke of Pomerania-Wolgast took over these areas as a fief from Waldemar of Brandenburg. In 1347, the area became fully attached to Pomerania-Wolgast.[3] The lands of Stolp were pawned to the Teutonic Order from 1329 to 1341, the Bütow area was bought by the knights in 1329 and thus remained outside Pomerania-Wolgast.[4]
The lands of Schlawe and Stolp became part of Pomerania-Stolp after the partition of the Duchy of Pomerania in 1368.
The eastern border of the lands of Schlawe and Stolp to Pomeralia had shifted several times, before together with the lands of Lauenburg and Bütow they were integrated into the Prussian Province of Pomerania.[5]
See also
References
- ^ Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, p.87, ISBN 3886802728
- ^ Jacob Caro: Geschichte Polens, Part II (1300-1386), Gotha 1863, p. 6.
- ^ Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, p.105, ISBN 3886802728
- ^ Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, pp.106, ISBN 3886802728
- ^ Roderich Schmidt: Die Lande Lauenburg und Bütow in ihrer wechselnden Zugehörigkeit zum Deutschen Orden, zu Pommern und Polen und zu Brandenburg-Preußen, in: Reiche und Territorien in Ostmitteleuropa - Historische Beziehungen und politische Herrschaftslegitimation (D. Willoweit und H. Lemberg, Hrsg.), Oldenbourg, München 2006, ISBN 9783486578339. pp. 93-106. PDF