Skuodas

Skuodas lies on the Bartuva River in northwestern Samogitia, close to the old border with Courland. It was mentioned in 1253, when the lands of the Curonians were being divided between the Bishop of Courland and the Livonian Order. The river later divided the older settlement from a new town laid out on the opposite bank. In 1572 Jan Chodkiewicz granted Skuodas municipal rights and established the new town around a rectangular market square. His son Jan Karol Chodkiewicz founded a church and school in 1614. The town passed to the Sapieha family in 1625, continuing its history as a noble-owned centre of trade and worship.