The Łeba (), a river in Middle Pomerania (

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

), originates near the village of Borzestowo west of Kartuzy, passes through Łebsko Lake and empties into the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

. It is 117 km long with a basin area of 1,801 km². The town of

Lębork Lębork (; csb, Lãbòrg; formerly german: Lauenburg in Pommern) is a town of 37,000 people on the Łeba River, Łeba and Okalica rivers in the Gdańsk Pomerania region in northern Poland. It is the capital of Lębork County in Pomeranian Voivode ...

lies on the river Łeba, while the town of Łeba on the Baltic coast was originally located west of the present-day mouth of the river. In the 12th century the lower Łeba marked the eastern border of the Land of Słupsk-Sławno, ruled by the Pomeranian (Griffin) duke

Ratibor I Ratibor or Ratiboř may refer to: People * Ratibor (Polabian prince) (died 1043), a prince of the Obotrite confederacy from the Polabian tribe * Ratibor I, Duke of Pomerania (1124–1156), duke of the House of Pomerania (Griffins) * Ratibor II, Duk ...

and his descendants, while the territory around the castellany of Białogarda was a possession of the Pomerelian duke Sobieslaw I of the

Samborides The Samborides () or House of Sobiesław () were a ruling dynasty in the historic region of Pomerelia. They were first documented about 1155 as governors (''princeps'') in the Eastern Pomeranian lands serving the royal Piast dynasty of Poland ...

dynasty. After

regained Pomerelia in 1294, the Łeba formed the boundary between the Polish part of Pomerania and the

Duchy of Pomerania The Duchy of Pomerania (german: Herzogtum Pommern; pl, Księstwo Pomorskie; Latin: ''Ducatus Pomeraniae'') was a duchy in Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, ruled by dukes of the House of Pomerania (''Griffins''). The country ha ...

. From 1308, after the

Teutonic takeover of Danzig (Gdańsk) The city of Danzig (Gdańsk) was captured by the State of the Teutonic Order on 13 November 1308, resulting in a massacre of its inhabitants and marking the beginning of tensions between Poland and the Teutonic Order. Originally the knights moved ...

and the Treaty of Soldin (Myślibórz), the river formed the western border of the Order's Pomerelian lands with the

until 1466, when Poland regained Pomerelia. From that time the mouth of the Łeba on the Baltic coast marked the north-easternmost point of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...

till its dissolution in 1806. The adjacent Pomerelian lands of Lauenburg and Bütow (

Bytów Bytów (; csb, Bëtowò; formerly german: Bütow ) is a town in the Gdańsk Pomerania region of northern Poland with 16,730 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is the capital of Bytów County in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. The origins of Byt ...

) became a fief of the

Polish Crown The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Korona Królestwa Polskiego; Latin: ''Corona Regni Poloniae''), known also as the Polish Crown, is the common name for the historic Late Middle Ages territorial possessions of the King of Poland, incl ...

with the

Second Peace of Thorn (1466) The Peace of Thorn or Toruń of 1466, also known as the Second Peace of Thorn or Toruń ( pl, drugi pokój toruński; german: Zweiter Friede von Thorn), was a peace treaty signed in the Hanseatic city of Thorn (Toruń) on 19 October 1466 betwe ...

External links

Leba river basin - Poland
Institute for Environment and Sustainability, European Commission - Joint Research Centre {{DEFAULTSORT:Leba River Rivers of Poland Rivers of Pomeranian Voivodeship 1Łeba