Lady Katherine Knollys

by Sarah-Beth Watkins

  There was time for celebration in July when Katherine’s eldest son, Henry, married Margaret, the daughter and heiress of Sir Ambrose Cave, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on 16th July at Durham Place on the Strand. Elizabeth was guest of honour at the wedding. She had a soft spot for Henry and he was fast becoming one of the men she could trust and rely upon. She ordered a court tournament to mark the wedding celebrations but the joyous mood was not to last. Kat Ashley died on 18th July and Elizabeth lost her surrogate mother and closest friend who had been with her since she was a child. Katherine must have mourned the woman she had also spent part of her childhood with and had lately been her work mate but she gained by taking her place as Chief Lady of the Bedchamber. Francis too had continued his rise in position and power and was now given the role of Captain of the Guard. His position took him away from court and Katherine yet again. In 1566 he was sent to Ireland to advise Sir Henry Sidney, the lord deputy, on the O’Neill problem in Ulster and to control his expenditure amidst the turmoil of this rebellion. Francis was trusted by both Elizabeth and Sir William Cecil to undertake his orders, which he did although he didn’t always agree with them. His most trying order was to come in 1568 when he was appointed guardian of Elizabeth’s nemesis and cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots.

  Mary was the daughter of the Scottish King James V and she had spent most of her childhood in France, marrying the dauphin in 1558 but when he became ill and died not long after his accession, she was left widowed. Mary returned to Scotland and remarried in 1565 but two years later her husband Lord Darnley was found murdered in his garden after an explosion had rocked his house. Some believe that Mary had a hand in his death although the Earl of Bothwell was also implicated. Matters were complicated still further when Mary married Bothwell and rumours abounded that they had conspired together to end Lord Darnley’s life. There followed in Scotland an uprising against them and Mary was forced to abdicate and flee to England calling on Elizabeth to provide her protection. Elizabeth was no fool. Whatever Mary’s involvement with Lord Darnley’s death had been, she had also claimed that the English throne belonged to her. Elizabeth did protect her - by putting her under house arrest and who better to become her guardian but one of the people Elizabeth could trust above all others - Katherine’s husband, Francis.

  Francis was in his fifties now and beginning to wish for a life away from court and to be with his family but Elizabeth would have none of it. When Mary was moved to Lord Scrope’s castle in Carlisle, Francis was sent to meet her. If Francis had to go, he wanted Katherine to go with him but Elizabeth refused as she ‘loved Lady Knollys above all other women in the world’ and could not bear to be parted from her.

  Francis found Mary an intriguing woman from their first meeting. He reported back to Elizabeth:

  We arrived here yesterday at 6 o’clock p.m. and by the way Lord Herries met us 6 miles from this town, discoursing much of his mistress’s lamentable estate, her enemies’ cruelty, her innocence of the murder of her husband, which would be easily proved, if she might be heard thereon before your highness—trusting also you would either give her aid to chasten her subjects, or leave to pass to France to seek relief. We said we doubted if your highness would like her to bring French into Scotland—and whether you could receive her so honourably to your presence as your affection to her wished, till you were satisfied of her innocence of the said murder. Whereon he seemed determined to ride towards your highness in a day or two—the thing we specially sought for. Then repairing to the castle, we found the Queen in her chamber of presence ready to receive us. Whereafter declaring your highness’s sorrow for her “lamentable mysadventure, and inconvenyent arryvalle” though you were glad of her escape from peril: we found her to have “an eloquent tonge and a discreete hedd, and it seemethe by hyr doyngs she hathe stowte courage and lyberalle harte adjoyned therunto.” After delivering your highness’s letters “she fell into some passion with the water in her eyes,” and taking us into her bedchamber complained that you did not answer her expectation to admit her forthwith to your presence, where on declaring her innocency, you would either without delay aid her to subdue her enemies, “or els beyng nowe come of good wyll. and not of necessitie, into your hyghnes handes (for a good and greatest part of hyr subjects, sayd she, doe remayne faste unto hyr styll)”: you would at least give her passage through your country to France—not doubting but both the kings of France and Spain would help her. Here she said the cause of the war and treason of her subjects, was to keep that which she had so liberally given them, by violence, since by her privy revocation thereof with full age, they could not enjoy it by law. And “she affyrmed that both Lyddyngton and the lo[rd] Morton were assentyng to the murder of hyr husband, as it cowld wel be proved, althoe nowe they wo[ld] seme to persequte the same.” To the first part we answered that your highness “was inward[ly] sorye and verye moche greved, that youe cowld n[ot] doe hyr that great honor to admytt hyr solempn[ly] and worthely into your presence, by reason off this great selander of murder, wheroff she w[as] not yet purged. But we sayde we were sure that your hyghnes affection towards hyr w[as] so great, that whether hyr grace could purge hyr s[elf] or not in that behalffe, yet yf she wold depend u[pon] your hyghnes favor, withowte sekyng to bryng in stran[gers] into Skotland, (the ymmynent danger wheroff your hyglmes cowld not suffer), then undowtedly yowre hghynes wold use all the convenyent meanes youe cowld for hyr releeffe and cumforte.” And if it pleased her grace to direct us, we would advertise your highness of her declarations with speed; and on your answer, we should be able to declare your intent and meaning. “Wherwith hyr grace complayned motche of delayes to hyr prejudice, and wynnyng of tyme to hyr enemyes, so that discontent- edlye she contented hyr selffe therwith.” Wheron we took our leave… 7

  Elizabeth was in no rush to agree to anything concerning Mary. She was dangerous and Elizabeth knew it. Francis could continue to monitor Mary and keep Elizabeth informed over the coming months. His insistence that Carlisle Castle was not the best place for her to be kept was agreed with and in July they moved to Bolton Castle where Mary was housed in the south-west tower. The castle was a cold, miserable place and tapestries and rugs had to be borrowed from Barnard Castle and other houses to make it more habitable. Francis did his best to make sure he kept both Queens happy while all the while he wished to be back with Katherine.

  When he heard that Katherine had become ill with a fever Francis asked for leave to visit her. He wrote to Lord Cecil in the August of 1568:

  As my wife has lately been sick, “and moderate travayle and qwyatenes of mynd” are the only means to preserve her health, and she is desirous to come hither if my return be not shortly, I desire you to signify to her by this bearer whether it is likely I shall remain here 5 or 6 weeks longer? For if it be, then with her highness’s contentation (whereof I make no doubt) she will come forthwith; and if the likelihood be not, then I am sure it will content her. Her sickness has made my purse bare, and seeking health elsewhere cannot be without expenses, wherefore since I must needs be at charge, the same is best bestowed in satisfying her mind to the comfort of her spirits, and the healthful exercise of her body in travelling hither..8

  But still Katherine was not allowed to join him nor was Francis allowed to visit her. And rumours had started about how Francis was being too lenient with Mary and how he had come under her spell. For his part, Francis explained to Cecil about Mary: You see how she corrupts me, sending “tokyns” after me! That for my wife is a “pretie cheyne of pomander beades, fynelye laced with goolde wyer.”9 Mary was doing her best to keep her jailor sweet, even by sending Katherine gifts. Given Francis’ admiration of Mary, did Katherine feel pangs of jealousy at her husband being so far away and with this most powerful woman? Francis and Mary certainly had an interesting relationship. She referred to him as her ‘schoolmaster’ for helping her learn English and he allowed her perhaps more freedom than was wise. Katherine may have felt a little jealous but she was also feeling unwell
again, her health was deteriorating and Elizabeth, so immune to other people’s feelings at times, so strict with her ladies, loved her enough to care for her in her illness.

  Francis often mentioned Katherine in his letters to Cecil even if it was just to excuse him for not writing to her. In December 1568, Francis thanked Cecil for good news concerning his wife - Katherine was well again and she implored Elizabeth to let her travel to Bolton to be with Francis but she refused fearing that ‘the journey might be to her danger or discommodity’. But by 13th January 1569 Francis was thanking Cecil ‘most heartily for comforting my wife in her “sycklye and dolfull estate.”‘10 Katherine’s health had rallied but she was now failing fast and Elizabeth had her moved to a bedchamber near her own so that she could care for her.

  Francis wanted to get back to Katherine even if it meant being subject to Elizabeth’s wrath. He dreamed of a life away from court where they could retire to the countryside and live together as a family. He wrote on the 19th January:

  It seems by your letter you cannot promise my wife that I shall be discharged, but I trust you do not doubt it when I have brought this Queen to Tutbury—”for as sure as God is in Heaven,” if I am not then discharged by order, I must repair to Court and suffer any punishment her majesty pleases. Save me that “obleqwye”—for if that is the fruit I shall reap for taking on me services that no man of my calling would have taken in hand, I will rather suffer such punishment as God lays on me, than adventure falling into such melancholy humours, as service in such a place might bring me to.11

  But it was too late, Katherine died on 15th January at the young age of forty-four at Hampton Court Palace. When Francis heard the news he was devastated and for once unable to write to Cecil. He asked Henry, his brother, to respond to him regarding Mary, Queen of Scots and Henry began his letter with ‘My brother being distracted with sorrow for his great loss…has desired me (to) answer to your last letter…‘

  Mary was moved to Tutbury in Staffordshire and is said to have blamed Elizabeth for Katherine’s death. Elizabeth had definitely played a great part in keeping the couple apart and she was filled with remorse and regret, mourning her secret sister. Elizabeth felt ‘passions of grief for the death of her kinswoman and good servant, falling for a while from a prince wanting nothing in this world to private mourning…’

  Francis took time to mourn for the woman he had loved all her life, his wife and soulmate. He wrote to the Privy Council after her death:

  I am much disquieted with this service in these strange countries, which melancholy humour grows daily on me since my wife’s death. I am commanded expressly of God, “that I shall not tempte my lord my God,” and my continuance here is intolerable, unless I obey man rather than God. My case is pitiful, for my wife disburdened me of many cares, kept all the “monuments” of my public charges, as well as my private accounts—now, my children, my servants and all other things, are loosely left without good order. But your lordships know all this without my rehearsal, and I leave it to your consideration.12

  Elizabeth’s grief and guilt and the knowledge she had lost one of the only women ever to be so close to her was shown in her orders for Katherine’s funeral. She was buried in April in St Edmund’s Chapel at Westminster Abbey. The funeral - ‘almost a royal funeral’13 - was paid for by the queen, costing £640.2s.11d (around £110,000 in today’s money). A most fitting send-off for a woman who most certainly had royal blood. Katherine had lived through the reigns of Henry, Edward and Mary and had given her life in service to Elizabeth. It was right that she should be so honoured.

  Thomas Newton published an epitaph to Katherine after her death:

  Epitaphe upon the worthy and Honorable Lady,

  the Lady Knowles.

  Death with his Darte hath us berefte,

  A Gemme of worthy fame,

  A Pearle of price, an Ouche of praise,

  the Lady Knowles by name.

  A Myrroure pure of womanhoode,

  a Bootresse and and a stay,

  To all that honest were, she was

  I say both locke and kaye.

  Among the Troupes of Ladies all,

  and Dames of noble race,

  She counted was, (and was indeede)

  in Ladie Fortunes grace.

  In favoure with our noble Queene,

  above the common sorte,

  With whom she was in credit greate,

  and bare a comely porte.

  There seemde between our Queene & Death,

  Contencion for to be,

  Which of them both more entier love,

  to her could testifie.

  The one in state did her advaunce,

  and place in dignitie,

  That men thereby might knowe, to doe,

  what princes able be.

  Death made her free from worldly carke,

  from sicknes, paine and strife,

  And hath ben as a gate, to bringe

  her to eternall life.

  By Death therfore she hath receivde,

  a greater boone I knowe:

  For she hath made a chaunge, whose blisse,

  no mortall wight can showe.

  She here hath loste the companie,

  of Lords and Ladies brave,

  Of husband, Children, frendes and kinne,

  and Courtly states full grave.

  In Lieu wherof, she gained hath

  the blessed companie

  Of Sainctes, Archangels, Patriarches,

  and Angelles in degree.

  With all the Troupes Seraphicall,

  which in the heavenly Bower,

  Melodiously with one accord,

  Ebuccinate Gods power.

  Thus are we sure: for in this world

  she led a life so right,

  That ill report could not distaine,

  nor blemish her with spight.

  She traced had so cunningly,

  the path of vertues lore,

  Prefixing God omnipotent,

  her godly eyes before:

  And all her dedes preciselie were,

  so rulde by reasons Squire,

  That all and some might her beholde,

  from vice still to retire.

  The vertues all, the Muses nine,

  and Graces three agreed,

  To lodge within her noble breast,

  while she in Earth did feede.

  A head so straight and beautified,

  with wit and counsaile sounde,

  A minde so cleane devoide of guile,

  is uneth to be founde.

  But gone she is, and left the Stage

  of this most wretched life,

  Wherin she plaid a stately part,

  till cruell Fates with knife:

  Did cut the line of life in twaine,

  who shall not after goe?

  When time doth come, we must all hence,

  Experience teacheth so.

  Examples daily manifolde,

  before our eyes we see,

  Which put us in remembraunce,

  of our fragilitie.

  And bid us watch at every tide,

  for Death our lurking foe,

  Sith dye we must, most certainely,

  but when, we do not knowe.

  Som which today are lusty Brutes,

  of age and courage ripe,

  Tomorow may be layd full lowe,

  by Death his grevous gripe.

  Respect and parcialitie

  of persons is there none,

  For King, or Kaiser, rich or poore,

  wise, foolish, all is one.

  God graunt that we here left behinde,

  this Ladies steppes may treade,

  To live so well, to die no worse,

  Amen, as I have saide.

  Then maugre Death, we shall be sure,

  when corps in earth is closde,

  Amonge the joyes celestiall,

  our Soule shal be reposde.

  Katherine had lived too short a l
ife and was sorely missed by the Queen, her husband and her family as well as those who knew and loved her.

  Today there is an alabaster monument erected in her memory that can be seen in Westminster Abbey. Its inscription reads “The Right Honorable Lady Katherin Knollys Cheeffe Lady of the Quenes Maties [Majesty’s] Beddechamber and wiffe to Sr. Frances Knollys Knight Tresorer [Treasurer] of her Highnes Howsholde. Departed this lyefe the 15. of January 1568 (Old style dating). At Hampton Courte. And was honorably buried in the flower [floor] of this chappell. This Lady Knollys and the Lord Hundesdon her brother were the childeren of William Caree Esquyer, and of the Lady Mary his wiffe one of the doughters and heires to Thomas Bulleyne Erle of Wylshier [Wiltshire] and Ormond. Which Lady Mary was sister to Anne Quene of England wiffe to Kinge Henry the Eyght father and mother to Elizabeth Quene of England”.

  Underneath it is a Latin inscription which when translated reads “O, Francis, she who was thy wife, behold, Catherine Knolle lies dead under the chilly marble. I know well that she will never depart from thy soul, though dead. Whilst alive she was always loved by thee: living, she bore thee, her husband, sixteen children and was equally female and male (that is, both gentle and valiant). Would that she had lived many years with thee and thy wife was now an old lady. But God desired it not. But he willed that thou, O Catherine, should await thy husband in Heaven”.

  Katherine had lived and died with the secret of her birth intact.

  Appendix

  Of Her Blood

  Katherine’s memorial plaque in Westminster credits her with having sixteen children; 8 boys and 8 girls, yet Francis’s list of his children’s births in his Latin dictionary gives us only 14 children; 8 boys and 6 girls. On Katherine and Francis’s magnificent tomb in St Nicholas’s Church at Rotherfield Greys, erected by their son William in 1605, there are seven sons on one side and seven daughters on the other with an infant by Katherine’s side - presumably Dudley who had died at birth. There is a discrepancy with the number of daughters the couple had - was it 6, 7 or 8? It is quite possible given Katherine’s fecundity that she had more daughters but that they died soon after birth or during infancy and thus were not recorded when Francis compiled his list.