Człopa is an ancient town that was part of Poland since the 12th Century, guarding its northern and western borders after the loss of the areas located more north and west. By 1245 Człopa was granted town rights. By the end of the 13th century, the Czarnkowski family of the Nałęcz szlachta received possession of the region around Człopa from Przemysł II, Duke of Greater Poland. The grant included permission to raise a hill-fort. Only portions of the hill-fort's walls have survived to the present time. In the early 14th-century the town was briefly occupied by the Margraviate of Brandenburg, before it was recovered by Polish King Casimir III the Great in 1368. In 1406 it was ravaged by the Teutonic Knights. Administratively it was located in the Poznań Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown. Człopa belonged to various Polish noble families, including Opaliński, Leszczyński, Poniatowski and Sułkowski. One of the most famous owners was the Queen consort of Poland Catherine Opalińska, wife of King Stanisław Leszczyński. The oldest known image of Człopa's coat of arms dates back to 1601. During the Swedish occupation of Poland, in 1658, a concentration of Polish troops led by Stefan Czarniecki, a national hero of Poland, was ordered near Człopa.