The Konetspolski is the known
Polish nobiliary family of the arms Pobog. The arms Pobog is a silver horseshoe in the red
field which is turned by thorns 
downwards,
at its top there is established a gold cross. In the helmet - a dog in a collar. The
family of Konetspolski appeared in the historical annals at the beginning of XV century.
One of its first representatives - Jakob Konetspolski - took participation in the
battle near Grunvald
(1410). In 1443 the city-fortress Konetspol was founded and it became an
advanced post of the family of Konetspolski on Bratslav lands. Konetspol, which was built
on the border of the Dike Pole (Wild Field), had a hard history. It was several times
stormed by the horde, the fortress frequently should to be restored. In the middle of XVII
century French engineer Giyom de Boplan considerably worked to strengthen of Konetspol. He
became famous due to the historical
description of Ukraine. In
later times the city became the property of the family of Pototski.
In 1708 near its walls there was one of most bloody battles of the beginning of XVIII
century between worshippers of August II and Stanislav Leshchinskiy, in which more than 20
thousand men were killed... But, we shall return to the representatives of the family of
Konetspolski. In XVI century it was divided into two branches - hetman and
"kashtelian". The most known representative of the hetman branch was the great
crown hetman Stanislav Konetspolski (1591-1646). In our opinion, it is possible to put him
in one line with the greatest commanders of the first half of XVII century, such as Konrad
Vallenshtein or baron fon Tilli. Stanislav Konetspolski was at war against the army of the
Swedish king Gustav-Adolph, stormed Smolensk in 1611, and for many times defeated the
tatar forces on steppe borders. But there were failures in his military career. In 1620
near Cecora Konetspolski got in captivity to turks and spent in necessity more than three
years. Later he took vengeance on his enemies for it. In the Rich Pospolita S.
Konetspolskiy was named "Kunktator" ("Slow") - on analogy with the
Roman dictator of the times of Punichna War II Fabiy Maxim Kunktator -, you see he never
did anything without thinking and precise planning. Just in the middle of XVII century the
Konetspolski’s got the greatest political authority, became the owners of huge
possessions, in particular on Podillia and Bratslavshchina. Being the Head of the Bar
Stanislav Konetspolskiy ordered to reconstruct and to strengthen the Bar castle, that the mentioned engineer de Boplan skill
fully built. For justice we shall note, that S. Konetspolskiy has come into the history of
Ukraine as 
a severe tamer of the Cossack revolts of Zmaylo, Sulima,
Pavluk, Guna, Ostrianin. Not without reason in 1646 a lot of people in Rich Pospolita
confirmed, that the death of this man symbolizes the decline of Poland. In the second half
of XVII century the power of the family of Konetspolski decreased. Stanislav-Olexander
Konetspolskiy is known in the Ukrainian history mainly under a contemptuous nickname
"child", which as though was given to him by hetman Bogdan Khmelnitskiy before
the Piliavetska battle (1648). The Polish army in that battle was completely defeated, and
its commanders (among them was Konetspolskiy) could hardly rescue. The last large
representative of the family of Konetspolski was Stanislav-Jan K. The powerful magnate,
great crown "oboznyi", governor of Podillia since 1679, Stanislav-Jan
Konetspolski actively carried out politics of the Polish Crown on the Ukrainian lands. At
the beginning of XVIII century the family of Konetspolski came to decline and in 1719 it
was ended.
