Sir Robert Knolles or Knollys (c. 1325 – 15 August 1407; aged 81–82) was an English knight of the Hundred Years' War,[1] who, operating with the tacit support of the crown, succeeded in taking the only two major French cities, other than Calais and Poitiers, to fall to Edward III.

[citation needed] His methods, however, earned him infamy as a freebooter and a ravager: the ruined gables of burned buildings came to be known as "Knollys' mitres".

[6] Knolles' finest hours were to come that autumn when he led a Great Company of 2,000–3,000 Anglo-Gascons into the Loire Valley, establishing several forward garrisons at important towns like Châteauneuf-Val-de-Bargis.

He then advanced into the Nivernais, which was unsuccessfully defended for Margaret III of Flanders by the Archpriest Arnaud de Cervole, the adventurer who had raised the first Great Company the previous year.

The sack of Auxerre proceeded with little violence and destruction, Knolles and his soldiers were professionals who intended to maximize their profit.

As they continued to the Papal city of Avignon, their path was barred by the army of Thomas de la Marche, deputy for Louis II, Duke of Bourbon, at which point both English commanders retreated and dissolved their companies.

Knolles passed the winter in his castle at Derval on the Breton March and afterwards attempted to evacuate his men and those of Minsterworth, who had managed to join him with his surviving troop, from the port of Saint-Mathieu.

However, for lack of ships most of the English soldiers had to be left behind on the shore, to be wiped out by the French under Olivier V de Clisson.