Sir William Knyvett (c. 1440 – 2 December 1515) was an English knight in the late Middle Ages.[1][note 1] He was the son of John Knyvet and Alice Linne[2] and assumed the titles of Sheriff of Norfolk & Suffolk, Burgess of Melcombe, Bletchingley, & Grantham, Constable of Rising Castle.[3]
Sir William married married three times. The first was to Alice Grey, daughter of Sir John Grey of Ruthin, eldest son of the Baron Grey de Ruthin. The Grey family were staunch Yorkists and closely related to the Woodville family, and Queen Elizabeth. His second marriage was to Joan Stafford, daughter of Sir Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke Buckingham, Earl of Buckingham, Hereford, Stafford, & Northampton, Count of Perche, 7th Lord Stafford and Anne II Neville, sometime before 1477. His final marriage was to Jane or Joan Courtenay, during the Wars of the Roses. She was the daughter of Thomas, Earl of Devon, a friend of York.[3][4]
Sir William Knyvett died December 2, 1515 in Wymondham, Norfolk.
His children were Sir Edmund Knivet of Buckenham, who married Eleanor Tyrell; and Anne Knyvett who married John Thwaits, 4th in descent from John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, 5th Earl of Leicester, 2nd Earl of Derby, Duke of Aquitaine, King of Castile and León, and his first wife, Blanche Plantagenet, mother of King Henry IV of England, daughter of Henry Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his wife, Isabel de Beaumont.[1][5]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by William Hopton |
High Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk 1480 and 1471 |
Succeeded by Alexander Cressener |