Anthony Knyvett (d. 1 March 1554) was an English rebel during the reign of Mary I of England.
[3] His father had been in the retinue of his kinsman, the Duke of Buckingham and John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners, the Deputy of Calais,[4] who was also the father-in-law of his nephew Edmund Knyvet (d. 1 May 1539), sergeant porter to King Henry VIII.
[5] His father Charles would later go on to be one of the main witnesses against his cousin Edward Stafford, the Duke of Buckingham.
It is thought that he may have been involved in the fraud created by Elizabeth Crofts:[10]The xxx vj day of julij waſ a goodly sermon on of the prebendareſ of powll{s} & ther waſ a nuw skaffold mayd ther for ye mayd yt spake in ye wall & wystelyd in althergatstret & she sayd openly yt yt waſ on john̄ drakeſ S antony knevett suand & she whept petefully & she knelyd & askyd god mercy & ye quen & bad all pepull be ware of ffalsse thechyng for she sayd that she shuld haue many goodly thyng{s} gyffyn her[11]In 1554, he joined Wyatt's Rebellion[12][13] together with his brother William:[14] On the other parte, Sir Henrie Iſley, An|thonie Kneuet, and his brother Willyam Kne|uet being at Tunbridge, proclaymed the She|rife, the Lorde of Burgueuennie, and George Clarke Gentlemanne, traytours to God, the Crowne, and the Common wealth, for reyſing the Queenes Subiectes, to defende the moſte wicked and diueliſhe enterpriſe of certayne of the wicked and perueſe Counſaylors.
The diarist Henry Machyn wrote that he and his brother were taken to the Tower on Ash Wednesday:Thys was done on As-Wedynsday the furst yere of quen Mare of England; and the sam nyght to the Towre ser Thomas Wyatt, master Cobham, and master Vane, and ij Knewetes and odur captaynes.
[17][18] Simon Renard wrote to his Emperor Charles V on 17 February 1554 that:Last Thursday ten gentlemen were sentenced, among them being Rudstone, his son-in-law, Brett, Culpepper, Cormer, the two Knyvetts and three more whose names I do not know.
[19]On ‘Wenisdaie the XXVIIIth of Februarye’ William and Anthony Knyvet who had been among the leaders of Sir Thomas Wyatt’s rising ‘went down by water in a bardge towarde Kent to be put to death’.
[20][21] According to John Proctor, Anthony Knevet, William his brother, and one of the Mantels were executed at Sevenoaks.
who acquired land there by marriage with the widow of Sir Thomas Willoughby, was executed for his part in Wyatt’s Rebellion in 1554.
[26]This widow was Bridget Rede, the daughter of Sir Robert Rede, Knight, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, of Boresall in Kent, by his wife Margaret, daughter and co-heiress of John Alphew of Bore Place in Kent.
'But to avoid being tedious, take this for a certain truth that if you doe marry that young man, you will not only utterly undoe yourself and children, but also lose the hearts and good will of your assured friends,' of whom he professed himself one, and writ that during her widowhood he should be glad to do her any pleasure, or if she would marry such a one as her friends might hope to see herself and her children find comfort from.
Upon the outside of this letter there is writ with my father's hand that the lady was the relict of Sir Thomas Willoughby[28]Bridget would survive him only for a few years, dying in August 1558.