Straupe

Straupe grew around a castle of the Rosen family on a road north of Riga. The fortified residence and its church stood beside a small medieval trading town known in German as Roop. Granted town privileges in 1374, Straupe belonged to the Hanseatic trading world, and its location brought merchants through the lands of the Archbishop of Riga.

The Polish–Swedish War devastated both town and castle. Swedish troops occupied Straupe in 1600, Polish forces followed in 1601, and control changed repeatedly. By 1624 the church was roofless and the castle described as damaged and largely empty. The ruined town was not restored to its former standing, and the settlement became a village while the castle continued as the centre of a landed estate.