Mary I of England and Exile
The accession of Mary in 1553 darkened Knollys's prospects. His religious opinions placed him in opposition to the government, and he deemed it prudent to cross to Germany. On his departure the Princess Elizabeth wrote to his wife a sympathetic note, expressing a wish that they would soon be able to return in safety. Knollys first took up his residence in Frankfurt, where he was admitted a church-member on 21 December 1557, but afterwards removed to Strasburg. According to Fuller, he ‘bountifully communicated to the necessities’ of his fellow-exiles in Germany, and at Strasburg he seems to have been on intimate terms with John Jewel and Peter Martyr.
Before Mary's death he returned to England, and as a man ‘of assured understanding and truth, and well affected to the protestant religion,’ he was admitted to Elizabeth's privy council in December 1558. He was soon afterwards made Vice-Chamberlain of the Household and captain of the halberdiers, while his wife — a first cousin of Elizabeth — became women of the queen's privy chamber. In 1560 Knollys's wife and son Robert were granted for their lives the manor of Taunton, part of the property of the see of Winchester.
Read more about this topic: Francis Knollys (the Elder)
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