Knollys (family)

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Knollys, the name of an English family descended from Sir Thomas Knollys (d. 1435), Lord Mayor of London. The first

distinguished member of the family was Sir Francis Knollys (c.1514–1596), English statesman, son of Robert Knollys, or

Knolles (d. 1521), a courtier in the service and favour of Henry VII and Henry VIII. Robert had also a younger son, Henry, who

took part in public life during the reign of Elizabeth I and who died in 1583. From the time of Sir Francis, the family were

associated with Greys Court at Rotherfield Greys and Caversham Park, then in Oxfordshire, as well as the nearby town

of Reading in Berkshire, where the family's private chapel could once be seen in the church of St. Laurence.

Francis Knollys, who entered the service of Henry VIII before 1540, became a Member of Parliament in 1542 and was knighted

in 1547 while serving with the English army in Scotland. He became custodian of Wallingford Castle in 1551. A strong and
somewhat aggressive supporter of the reformed doctrines, he retired to Germany soon after Mary became queen, returning to

England to become a privy councillor, vice-Chamberlain of the royal household and a Member of Parliament under Queen

Elizabeth, whose cousin Catherine Carey (d. 1568), daughter of William Carey and niece of Anne Boleyn, was his wife. After

serving as governor of Plymouth, Knollys was sent in 1566 to Ireland, his mission being to obtain for the queen confidential

reports about the conduct of the lord-deputy Sir Henry Sidney.

Approving of Sidney's actions, he came back to England, and in 1568 was sent to Carlisle to take charge of Mary, Queen of

Scots, who had just fled from Scotland; afterwards he was in charge of the queen at Bolton Castle and then at Tutbury Castle.

He discussed religious questions with his prisoner, although the extreme Protestant views which he put before her did not meet

with Elizabeth's approval, and he gave up the position of guardian just after his wife's death in January 1569. In 1584 he

introduced into the House of Commons, where since 1572 he had represented Oxfordshire, the bill legalizing the national

association for Elizabeth's defence, and he was treasurer of the royal household from 1572 until his death on 19 July 1596.

His monument may still be seen in the church of Rotherfield Greys. Knollys was repeatedly free and frank in his objections to

Elizabeth's tortuous foreign policy; but, possibly owing to his relationship to the queen, he did not lose her favor and he was one

of her commissioners on such important occasions as the trials of Mary Queen of Scots, of Philip Howard, earl of Arundel, and

of Anthony Babington. An active and lifelong Puritan, his attacks on the bishops were not lacking in vigour and he was also very

hostile to heretics. He received many grants of land from the queen, and was chief steward of the city of Oxford and a Knight of

the Garter.

References

 This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public
domain.
[edit]External links
 Royal Berkshire History: Sir Francis Knollys Senior, Sir Francis Knollys Junior, Richard Knollys & Robert Knollys