Henry Knyvet (died 1547)

Sir Henry Knyvet (1510–1547) of Charlton in Wiltshire and East Horsley in Surrey, Master of the Jewel Office.

He was knighted some time after 15 November 1538.

He had lands in Surrey and was for several years a gentleman of the privy chamber, ambassador to Charles V in 1540–1541, in 1545 marshal of Hertford's army in Scotland, and in 1546, the year of his death, captain of the horsemen at Guisnes.

Thomas Chaloner went with him as his secretary in 1540 to the court of Charles V.

In 1542, Henry Knyvet was under a cloud when he was recalled from the Emperor’s court and lingered at Orléans on his return from Spain until he knew what to expect.

He was one of the party who received Anne of Cleves within a mile of Calais.

He was the son of Sir Thomas Knyvett and Muriel Howard, the widow of John Grey, 2nd Viscount Lisle, by whom she was the mother of Elizabeth Grey, Viscountess Lisle, one-time betrothed of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk and the wife of Henry Courtenay. Muriel Howard was the daughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, and Elizabeth Tilney, and through the Howard connection, Knyvett was related to many of the great figures of English history. He was the first cousin of Queen Anne Boleyn and of Queen Katherine Howard.

His father died aboard the '' Regent'', which burst into flames, during the Battle of St. Mathieu in 1512, while his mother died in childbirth four months later. He and his siblings were brought up by their grandmother, Eleanor Knyvett.

Knyvet's elder siblings were: Edmund (1508–1551); Katherine who married firstly Sir William Fermor (d. 1558), Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk in 1540 and son of Sir Henry Fermor of East Barsham in Norfolk and Margaret, through whom he was the half-brother of Elizabeth Wood, Lady Boleyn and uncle of John Astley, and secondly Nicholas Mynne, Esquire; Ferdinand; and Anne, lady-in-waiting to Katherine of Aragon, who married firstly Thomas Thursby of Ashwicken (d. 1543) and secondly Henry Spelman (the son of Sir John Spelman and the father of Sir Henry Spelman and of Erasmus Spelman, whose son Henry went to Virginia).

Knyvet married Anne Pickering, the daughter of Sir Christopher Pickering of Killington, Westmorland and Escrick, Lancashire (d. 7 September 1516) and Jane Lewknor (c. 1503–1547). Anne Pickering's paternal grandparents were James Pickering Subscription or UK public library membership required (d. 1498), of Killington, Westmoreland, whose mother Margaret Lascelles brought the manor of Escrick, and Anne Moresby (d. 1523), the daughter and heiress of Sir Christopher Moresby, of Scaleby, who remarried to Sir Humphrey Coningsby. Anne Pickering was heiress to her grandmother and to her father's estates in Yorkshire, Middlesex, Cumberland, and Westmorland. After her father’s death, she was the ward of Sir Richard Weston, who married her to his son, Francis Weston. They had two children, Henry Weston and Anne Weston. After Weston's execution she married Knyvett.

During their marriage, they were involved in two disputes concerning her mother.

Children

Knyvett had six children:

* Henry (1537–1598) of Charlton Park, Wiltshire, English member of parliament.
* Elizabeth
* Alice
* Katherine (1543 – 20 December 1622), a maid of honour, who married Henry Paget, 2nd Baron Paget, and then Sir Edward Cary of Berkhamsted and Aldenham, Hertfordshire, Master and Treasurer of His Majesty's Jewels
* Thomas (1545–1622), English courtier and member of parliament who played a part in foiling the Gunpowder Plot
* Margaret who married Henry Vavasour of Tadcaster, Copmanthorpe, Yorkshire, and was the mother of Anne Vavasour and Thomas Vavasour

His widow

After Knyvet's death, his widow was robbed of £500 worth of silver, by Francis Keilway, who had married her daughter Anne Weston, and an accomplice.

Anne married thirdly John Vaughan of London (d. 25 June 1577) and had Francis Vaughan (d. 15 July 1597, slain in Ireland) who married Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Boynton of Barmston in Holderness, Frances Vaughan (c. 1562–1647) who married Sir Thomas Burgh, 3rd Baron Burgh, and another son, Raynold, and another daughter, Elizabeth, both of whom died without issue.

During Anne’s third marriage, while her son Henry Weston was still a minor, Anne and John Vaughan lived at Sutton Place, Surrey, the Weston family seat. After 1558, Vaughan bought Sutton-on-Derwent, Yorkshire. Anne's will is dated 13 April 1581 and was proven 18 May 1582.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knyvet, Henry
16th-century English people
Henry
English knights
1510 births
1547 deaths