Poniec dates back to the 10th century, when it was part of the emerging Polish state. The oldest known mention comes from 1108. It was granted town rights before 1309. It was a private town, administratively located in the Kościan County in the Poznań Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown. Crafts, especially clothmaking, developed and the town prospered until the Swedish invasion of Poland in 1655–1660. The Battle of Poniec occurred nearby on 28 October 1704 during the Great Northern War.