Sobków
Sobków is a town in Jędrzejów County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in south-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Sobków. It lies in historic Lesser Poland, approximately north-east of Jędrzejów and south-west of the regional capital Kielce.
The village is located on the left bank of the Nida river. Sobkow has a railway station, which is located three kilometers northwest of the village, along a main line from Kraków to Kielce.
History
It was founded as a town in 1563 by Grand Treasurer of the Crown Stanisław Sobek in the area of the village of Nida, and named after him. The Brochwicz coat of arms of the Sobek family remains included in the coat of arms of Sobków. Together with the town, Sobek founded a castle, which became main residence of his family. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the private town belonged to several families, such as the Drohojewski, the Wielopolski, the Sarbiewski, the Myszkowski, and the Szaniawski. Sobków remained a small town, whose development was limited due to proximity of well-established local urban and trade centers at Checiny and Jędrzejów. In 1667, while part of Sandomierz Voivodeship in the Lesser Poland Province, it had only 32 houses, with a population of 270. King Augustus II the Strong established 12 annual fairs. In 1778, the old privileges were confirmed by King Stanisław August Poniatowski.After the Third Partition of Poland, it was annexed by Austria. After the Polish victory in the Austro-Polish War of 1809, it became part of the short-lived Duchy of Warsaw. In 1815, it became part of Russian-controlled Congress Poland. Following the example of many other places in northern Lesser Poland, Sobków lost its town charter in 1869, after the January Uprising. During World War I, the village was completely burned. In 1918, Poland regained independence and control of Sobków. During World War II, it was occupied by Germany.