Thomas Knyvett Explained

Sir Thomas Knyvett (also Knevitt or Knivet or Knevet), of Buckenham, Norfolk (c. 1485 – 10 August 1512) was a young English nobleman who was a close associate of King Henry VIII shortly after that monarch came to the throne. According to Hall's Chronicle,^[1] Knyvett was a frequent participant in the jousts and pageants of the new king's glittering court and was made Henry's Master of the Horse in 1510.

Family

Sir Thomas Knyvett was the son of Sir Edmund Knyvett (d.1504^[2]) of Buckenham by his wife Eleanor Tyrrell,^[3] the daughter of Sir William Tyrrell of Gipping, Suffolk by Margaret, daughter of Robert Darcy, knight.^[4] His mother Eleanor was sister of Sir James Tyrrell.^[5] He was the grandson of Sir William Knyvett.

Knyvett married, before 9 July 1506, Muriel Howard, the widow of John Grey, 2nd Viscount Lisle, by whom she was the mother of Elizabeth Grey, Viscountess Lisle, who was at one time betrothed to Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk and later 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 (his brother-in-law, for example, was Thomas Boleyn, father of Queen Anne, and grandfather of Queen Elizabeth I). By Muriel Howard Knyvett had three sons and two daughters, Edmund (1508–1551), Katherine who married firstly Sir William Fermor (d.1558) (Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk in 1540^[6] and son of Sir Henry Fermor of East Barsham in Norfolk) and secondly Nicholas Mynne, Esquire,^[7] Ferdinand, Anne who married firstly Thomas Thursby of Ashwicken (d. 1543) and secondly Henry Spelman^[8] (the son of Sir John Spelman and the father of Sir Henry Spelman^[9]) and Henry (died c. 1547). Henry was the father of Sir Henry Knyvet and through him grandfather of the Katherine Knyvett who married her third cousin Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk and is the ancestor of the Earls of Suffolk and Berkshire. Four months after her husband's death, Muriel Howard died in childbirth between 13 and 21 December 1512. Their five orphaned children were brought up by their grandmother, Eleanor Knyvett.^[10]

The actress and theatre director Sally Knyvette, who starred as Jenna Stannis in the British science fiction TV series Blake's 7, is a direct descendant of Sir Thomas Knyvet.^[11]

Death

When Henry declared war on France in 1512, Knyvett, along with Sir John Carew, was given command of the royal flagship, the Regent. With a number of court favourites commanding other vessels, a small fleet set sail for the coast of Brittany. On 10 August 1512 they engaged a slightly smaller French fleet, and a violent melee known as the Battle of St. Mathieu ensued off the coast of Brest. Knyvett's ship grappled with the Breton command vessel Cordelière, and was engaged in boarding her when the Cordelières powder magazine blew up (some say it was deliberately ignited). The two vessels burst into flame. Knyvett and Carew both perished, along with the Breton captain Hervé de Portzmoguer and more than 1,700 men, both French and English.

In fiction

On the TV series The Tudors, a fictionalized Sir Anthony Knivert is based on Knyvett and played by Callum Blue.

Notes and References

1. Hall, Edward, The Vnion of the Two Noble And Illustre Famelies of Lancastre & Yorke (London, 1548). Generally known as "Hall's Chronicle," this contemporary history remains an important source of Tudor history. The 1809 edition, which is available online, describes the death of Thomas Knyvett pp. 534 ff.
2. Sir Edmund Knyvett married Eleanor Tyrrell (died 1514), the daughter of Sir William Tyrrell of Gipping, Suffolk, and sister of Sir James Tyrrell. They had six sons and three daughters, including Edmund Knyvett (died 1 May 1539), esquire, who married Joan Bourchier, the only surviving child of John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners. Sir Edmund Knyvett was drowned at sea in 1504; .
3. Book: Douglas Richardson. Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Kimball G. Everingham. 30 July 2005. Genealogical Publishing Com. 978-0-8063-1759-5. 394–96. 13 June 2012.
4. Book: Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study In Colonial And Medieval Families, 2nd Edition, 2011. Douglas Richardson. 978-1-4610-4513-7. en.
5. Book: Richardson, Douglas . Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families . Kimball G. . Everingham . Salt Lake City, Utah . 2011 . 2nd . II . 978-1449966386 . .
6. Book: Clark, Nicola . Gender, Family, and Politics: The Howard Women, 1485-1558 . 2018-07-26 . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19-108765-3 . 7 . en.
7. Web site: Gallow and Brothercross Hundreds: East-Barsham British History Online . 2023-10-28 . www.british-history.ac.uk . By an indenture dated November 20, in the 18th of Henry VIII. between Thomas Duke of Norfolk, treasurer, of the one part, and Henry Fermor, of East Barsham, Esq. of the other part, it was agreed that William Fermor, son and heir apparent of Henry, shall, before the feast of All Saints following, marry Katherine Knevet, one of the daughters of Sir Thomas Knevet, deceased; her portion of 200l. to be paid to Henry Fermour, on a settlement made by him. This William was high sheriff in the 32d of Henry VIII. and a knight; by his will dated August 4th, 1557, and proved January 12, 1558, he gives his body to be buried where it shall please God to call him; to the repair of East Barsham church 10l. to that of Pudding Norton 20s. to every house of East Barsham, and Pudding Nroton 11d. to the pore men's boxe, of every town, where I have a flock of shepe going, 10s. Sir William dying without issue, Thomas, his nephew, was found to be his heir, son of Thomas Fermor, Esq. his brother, and Ann his wife, daughter of Christopher Coote of Blownorton. Katherine, relict of Sir William, was remarried to Nicholas Mynne of East Barsham, Esq..
8. Book: The Visitation of Norfolk in the year 1563, taken by William Harvey, Clarenceux King of Arms: Volume 1 . Dashwood . G.H. . Norwich . 253.
9. Book: Thoresby, Ralph . Ducatus Leodiensis, Or, The Topography of the Ancient and Populous Town and Parish of Leedes, and Parts Adjacent in the West-Riding of the County of York: With the Pedigrees of Many of the Nobility and Gentry, and Other Matters Relating to Those Parts . 1715 . en . Wocken in Norfolk, p. 575. is more truely written Ash-Wicken-Thoresby, by that learned Antiquary Sir Henry Spelman (in his Icenia, p. 144.) whose Father married Anne the Widow of Thomas Thoresby of Ash-Wicken Thoresby Esq; she was descended from the first Thomas Duke of Norfolk who by his former Wife Elizabeth Daughter and Heir of Sir Frederick Tylney, and Relict of Humfrey Bourchier Lord Berners, had Issue Thomas Duke of Norfolk, Elizabeth (who married Thomas Bullen Viscount Rochford, by whom she had Issue Queen Anne Bullen the Mother of Queen Elizabeth) and Muriel, who married first John Grey Viscount Lisle, and 2dly, Sir Thomas Knevet, by whom she had Issue the said Anne, the Wife of Thomas Thoresby, and Henry Spelman Esquires, as my kind Friend John Hare Esq; Richmond Herald, shewed me in some valuable Manuscripts in the College of Arms, London..
10. Gunn
11. Web site: Interview with Sally Knyvette by Alan Stevens.