Guben

Guben grew on the Neisse in Lower Lusatia, where its market and river crossing attracted merchants and craftsmen. In 1235 Henry the Illustrious, margrave of Meissen, granted the settlement town rights on the model of Magdeburg law. The town shared the changing allegiances of the margravate: from 1367 Lower Lusatia belonged to the Bohemian crown, and in 1635 it passed to Saxony. Guben remained part of Lower Lusatia until the settlement of 1815 brought the region under Prussian rule.