Lands of Schlawe and Stolp

The area holds historical significance as it was initially ruled by a cadet branch of the House of Griffin and did not belong to the Duchy of Pomerania (Slavinia) under Duke Wartislaw I and his descendants when they became vassals of the Holy Roman Emperor in 1181.

The small region comprises the easternmost lands of historic Farther Pomerania, where the Wieprza and Słupia Rivers empty into the Baltic Sea.

The area lay beyond the territory of the Prince-Bishops of Cammin, with the border running along the Unieść creek, Lake Jamno, and the Góra Chełmska hill (about 2 km (1.2 mi) east of Koszalin) in the west.

In the east, the Łeba River marked the historic border with Lauenburg and Bütow Land in Pomerelia (Gdańsk Pomerania).

This led to an inheritance dispute between the Pomeranian Griffins and the Samborides dukes of neighbouring Pomerelia, vassals of the Piast Kingdom of Poland.

[3] A final attempt by Przemysł II to occupy the region ended in 1296 when Polish invasion troops were defeated by a Pomeranian contingent in a decisive battle near Bukowo, a village near Rügenwalde.

According to a chronicle by Matthäus Merian the Elder published in 1652, the Schlawe-Stolp lands were again taken over by Vitslav of Rügen and Count Adolph from Holstein.

Emperor Henry VII ratified the Soldin Treaty in 1313, and, although he could not assert any feudal claims to the territory of the extinct Samboride dukes, the now Brandenburgian lands of Schlawe and Stolp finally were incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire.

The districts of Schlawe (now Sławno), Rügenwalde (Darłowo), and Stolp (Słupsk), remained with the Margraviate of Brandenburg and were ruled by the margraves' vassals, the Swienca family, who had administered the area previously under other dynasties.

Following the 1317 Treaty of Templin, the Griffin duke Wartislaw IV of Pomerania-Wolgast took over these areas as a fief from Margrave Waldemar of Brandenburg.