William Knight (1572 – 29 November 1596) was an English

layman In religious organizations, the laity () consists of all members who are not part of the clergy, usually including any non-ordained members of religious orders, e.g. a nun or a lay brother. In both religious and wider secular usage, a layperson ...

put to death for his Catholic faith at

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, England. With him also suffered George Errington of Herst,

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

;

William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as ''cyberpunk''. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ...

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city ...

; and Henry Abbot of

Howden Howden () is a market and minster town and civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Vale of York to the north of the M62, on the A614 road about south-east of York and north of Goole, which lies across the Ri ...

, Yorkshire.

Life

Knight, apparently a secret convert to the Catholic Church, was the son of a Leonard Knight and lived at South Duffield, a hamlet currently in the

Selby District Selby District is a local government district of North Yorkshire, England. The local authority, Selby District Council, is based in the town of Selby. The Local Authority had a population of 83,449 at the 2011 Census. The southernmost distri ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

. On coming of age, he claimed from his uncle some property which had been left to him by his father, an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

, and his uncle denounced him to the authorities for being a Roman Catholic. He was at once seized and committed to the custody of Roger Colyer, a

pursuivant A pursuivant or, more correctly, pursuivant of arms, is a junior officer of arms. Most pursuivants are attached to official heraldic authorities, such as the College of Arms in London or the Court of the Lord Lyon in Edinburgh. In the mediaeval ...

, who treated him with indignity and severity.MacErlean, Andrew. "Ven. William Knight." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 17 December 2021 He was sent in October 1593, to

York Castle York Castle is a fortified complex in the city of York, England. It consists of a sequence of castles, prisons, law courts and other buildings, which were built over the last nine centuries on the south side of the River Foss. The now-ruined ...

, where William Gibson and George Errington were already confined, the latter having been arrested some years before for participation in a rising in the North. A

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

clergyman was among the prisoners at York. To gain his freedom, he had recourse to an act of treachery: feigning a desire to convert to the Roman Church, he won the confidence of Knight and his two companions, who explained their faith to him. With the connivance of the authorities, he was directed to Henry Abbot, then at liberty, who endeavoured to procure a priest to reconcile him to the Church. When the minister had sufficient evidence, Abbot was arrested and, together with Knight and his two comrades, accused of attempting to persuade the clergyman to embrace Roman Catholicism — an act of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

under the penal laws. The men were found guilty, and, with the exception of Abbot who was executed later, suffered

hanging, drawing and quartering To be hanged, drawn and quartered became a statutory penalty for men convicted of high treason in the Kingdom of England from 1352 under King Edward III (1327–1377), although similar rituals are recorded during the reign of King Henry III ( ...

on 29 November 1596. Knight was about 24 years old when he died. Knight was one of the

eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales The Eighty-five Martyrs of England and Wales, also known as George Haydock and Eighty-four Companion Martyrs, are a group of men who were executed on charges of treason and related offences in the Kingdom of England between 1584 and 1679. Of the e ...

beatified Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

on 22 November 1987 during a trip to Great Britain.Homily of Pope John Paul II
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knight, William 1572 births 1596 deaths 16th-century Roman Catholic martyrs 16th-century venerated Christians English beatified people History of Catholicism in England People executed under Elizabeth I by hanging, drawing and quartering People executed under the Tudors for treason against England Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales 16th-century English people Executed people from North Yorkshire People from Selby District