Frances Knyvet or Knyvett (1583–1605) was an English courtier who performed in masques.
Career She was a daughter of Henry Knyvet (1537–1598) of Charlton Park, Wiltshire, and Elizabeth Stumpe (died 1585), the daughter of a wealthy clothier, James Stumpe, of Malmesbury.C. E. L., 'Funeral Certificates of Henry Knevett and his lady', John Gough Nichols, Topographer and Genealogist, vol. 1 (London, 1846), pp. 469-473Henry Manders, Moresby Hall (Whitehaven, 1875), p. 58.
Her first husband was Sir William Bevill (c. 1548 – 1600) of Killigarth near Polperro. While serving in Parliament in 1593 he was given leave to return home to attend his first wife's illness. She was Jane Arundell, a daughter of Thomas Arundell of Wardour. Bevill is said to have been gored to death by a bull on one of his farms.Jonathan Couch & Thomas Couch, The History of Polperro (Truro, 1871), pp. 61-62. This story is probably derived from family heraldry featuring a carved bull at St Tallanus' Church, Talland.Paul Cockerham, Continuity and Change: Memorialisation and the Cornish Funeral Monument Industry 1497-1660 (Archaeopress, 2006), pp. 38-40.
In 1602, she married Francis Manners, later the 6th Earl of Rutland. The family home was Belvoir Castle. He was made a Knight of the Bath in January 1605.Maurice Lee, Dudley Carleton to John Chamberlain, 1603-1624 (Rutgers UP, 1972), p. 67.
She danced in masques at the court of Anne of Denmark.Leeds Barroll, Anna of Denmark, Queen of England: A Cultural Biography (Philadelphia, 2001), p. 101. Named as "Lady Bevill", she appeared in The Masque of Blackness as Notis on 6 January 1605. Her sister, Catherine, Countess of Suffolk, portrayed Kathare.Sarah Schmalenberger, 'Hearing the Other in the Masque of Blackness', Naomi André, Karen M. Bryan, Eric Saylor, Blackness in Opera (University of Illinois, 2012), p. 35. This masque, celebrating the creation of Prince Charles as Duke of York,Memorials of Affairs of State, vol. 2 (London, 1725), pp. 43-44. is noted for the use of blackface makeup.Kim F. Hall, Things of Darkness: Economies of Race and Gender in Early Modern England (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1995), pp. 128-138.
Her daughter, Katherine, married the royal favourite, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham in 1620.John Nichols, Progresses of James the First, vol. 1 (London, 1828), pp. 488-489.
Frances, Lady Manners, died of smallpox in the summer of 1605.Memorials of Affairs of State from the papers of Ralph Winwood, vol. 2 (London, 1725), p. 141. She was buried at St Mary the Virgin, Bottesford, Leicestershire. Her husband became Earl of Rutland in 1612.
Sources of confusion Frances Knyvet is sometimes confused with another Frances, Lady Manners, and Countess of Rutland (born 1571). Frances Cary was the daughter of Edward Cary and Katherine Knyvett, and married George Manners, 7th Earl of Rutland in March 1605. Lady Anne Clifford wrote that this "Lady Manners" was a friend to her in London in 1616 and used to visit her and help dress her hair.Jessica L. Malay, Anne Clifford's Autobiographical Writing, 1590-1676 (Manchester, 2018), pp. 46, 271.
Some portraits thought to depict Frances, Lady Manners, are now believed to depict Cecily Tufton Manners, Countess of Rutland.Weiss Gallery: A Connoisseur's Eye (London, 2020), pp. 32-34.
External links Heraldic shield of Earl Francis and his first wife, Countess Frances Knyvet, Bottesford The Tomb of John Bevill of Killigarth – Scandal, Angry Bulls & Daphne Du Maurier
References