Lauenburg and Bütow Land

Lauenburg and Bütow Land (German: Länder or Lande Lauenburg und Bütow, Kashubian: Lãbòrskò-bëtowskô Zemia, Polish: Ziemia lęborsko-bytowska) formed a historical region in eastern Pomerania. Composed of two districts centered on the towns of Lauenburg (Lębork) and Bütow (Bytów), it was on the western periphery of Pomerelia. The land is today part of the Polish Pomeranian Voivodeship.

In the 12th and 13th centuries the area east of the Łeba river was on the western periphery of the Pomerelian duchies, ruled by the Samborides dynasty as vassals of the Polish Crown as distinct to the neighbouring Duchy of Pomerania, which in 1181 had become an Imperial State. After the Danish defeat at the 1227 Battle of Bornhöved, the Pomerelian duke Swietopelk II at Gdańsk acquired the adjacent Lands of Schlawe and Stolp, formerly a possession of the Pomeranian dukes, and declared himself an independent dux Pomeranorum in his enlarged territory (Pomorze Gdańskie).

However, the line of the Samborides became extinct upon the death of Swietopelk's son Mestwin II in 1294, and after the Treaty of Kępno, the territory became part of Poland, under King Przemysław II. The Margraviate of Brandenburg also sought to control the area and in the following armed conflict, the Polish duke Władysław I the Elbow-high called for the support of the Teutonic Knights. After expelling the Brandenburgians from Gdańsk, the Knights massacred the local population and took over Gdańsk and adjacent areas in 1308. Disregarding the Polish claims, the Order's State concluded the Treaty of Soldin with Brandenburg in the following year, where the Knights claimed all Pomerelian lands - including Lauenburg and Bütow - while the adjacent Lands of Schlawe and Stolp fell to the Ascanian margraves and were again acquired by the Duchy of Pomerania in 1316 (later Pomerania-Stolp). The Griffin dukes in 1317 also acquired the Bütow area, which was yet again sold to the Knights in 1329.

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