Lubawa

Lubawa lies on the Sandela in the old lands of the Prussians. In 1214 the local lord Surwabuno was baptised by Christian of Oliva, and by 1257 Lubawa had become a residence of the bishops of Chełmno. Their stone castle, built in the early fourteenth century and rebuilt after a Lithuanian attack, stood at the centre of the episcopal estate.

Lubawa joined the Prussian Confederation in 1440 and passed to Poland after the Thirteen Years' War. Fire devastated it in 1533, but the town was rebuilt. Nicolaus Copernicus visited the local bishop's rebuilt castle on several occasions between 1535 and 1539; the decision to publish his work on the revolutions of the heavenly spheres was made here. Another fire in 1545 again damaged the town and castle.