Frances Knyvet

Frances Knyvet or Knyvett was an English courtier who performed in masques.

Career

She was a daughter of Henry Knyvet of Charlton [Park, Wiltshire], and Elizabeth Stumpe, the daughter of a wealthy clothier, James Stumpe, of Malmesbury.
File:Inigo Jones, design for Masque of Blackness 1605.jpg|thumb|right|Costume design for The Masque of Blackness by Inigo Jones
Her first husband was Sir William Bevill 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 Castle|Thomas Arundell] of Wardour. Bevill is said to have been gored to death by a bull on one of his farms. This story is probably derived from family heraldry featuring a carved bull at St Tallanus' Church, Talland.
In 1602, she married Francis Manners, [6th Earl of Rutland|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.
She danced in masques at the court of Anne of Denmark. 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. This masque, celebrating the creation of Prince Charles as Duke of York, is noted for the use of blackface makeup.
Her daughter, Katherine, married the royal favourite, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham in 1620.
Frances, Lady Manners, died of smallpox in the summer of 1605. She was buried at St Mary the Virgin, Bottesford, Leicestershire. Her husband became Earl of Rutland in 1612.