House of Kinsky

Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau
Heraldic shield of the princely arms
Country	Bohemia Holy Roman Empire Austrian Empire Austro-Hungarian empire
Titles	Imperial Counts Princes of the Holy Roman Empire (honorary, one branch) Austro-Hungarian Princes
Founded	1237
Current head	Karl, 12th Prince Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau

Kinsky (formerly Vchynští, sg. Vchynský in Czech; later (in modern Czech) Kinští, sg. Kinský; German: Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau) is the name of a prominent Central European noble family originating from Bohemia (in the present-day Czech Republic). During the Thirty Years' War, the Kinsky family rose from minor nobles to comital (1628) and later princely status (1747) under the rule of the Habsburgs. The family, recorded in the Almanach de Gotha, is considered to have been one of the most illustrious of Austria-Hungary.

According to romantic medieval legend, the Kinsky story began in Bohemia over 1,000 years ago, when a king's beautiful daughter went out hunting in the forest and was attacked by a pack of wolves. Her attendants all fled the terrible scene except for one young man, who saved the princess by killing some wolves and driving the rest away. In gratitude, the girl's father ennobled the young man, granting him a coat of arms featuring three wolves' teeth as an emblem of his bravery.

The first factual mention of an ancestor of this clan dates back to 1237, during the reign of the Přemyslid king Wenceslaus I of Bohemia. Over the next three centuries they were only minor nobles with estates in northwestern Bohemia, around the village of Vchynice (German: Wchinitz) near Litoměřice. Holding of Vchynice manor was confirmed by the Habsburg emperor Rudolf II in 1596 and in 1611 one of the family's members, Radslav Vchynský of Vchynice the Elder, ennobled as lord (Czech: pán), became a member of the Diet of Bohemia (zemský sněm).