Labiau

Labiau lies on the Deime near its entrance into the Curonian Lagoon. The Teutonic Order built a castle here in the thirteenth century, and the settlement later belonged to ducal Prussia. Lithuanian was heard in the local church as well as in the surrounding countryside. In 1656 Sweden and Brandenburg concluded the Treaty of Labiau here, by which the Swedish king recognised the elector's sovereignty in Prussia in return for closer military cooperation. The town's name thus became attached to a turning point in the duchy's political fortunes.