Until the end of the 16th century, half of Kněžice and the villages of Rychlov and Víska were owned by the monastery in Želiv.

In the 1620s, Kněžice was acquired by the Collalto family, who held it continuously until the establishment of a sovereign municipality.

The Church of Saint James the Great has a Romanesque core.

[6] Kněžice Castle is a Renaissance hunting lodge with Baroque and Neoclassical modifications.

Today the castle houses the municipal office, library and Kněžice's Museum of Nature.