The prominent
de Knightley family originated at the Staffordshire manor of Knightley, acquired by them shortly after the
Norman Conquest of 1066. The
Domesday Book of 1086 lists the tenant of
Chenistelei as
Rainald, namely "Reginald the Sheriff", who held 88 manors throughout England, said to be the ancestor of this family. Mark Noble (1787) wrote of the de Knightley family: :
There is no private family in the kingdom has given more knights; none which has been more numerous in its branches; some of them have almost rivalled the eldest in consequence, and that fettled in France surpassed them, having many centuries ago been declared noble; the alliances they have contracted have been equal to themselves, and the many high offices held by them in the state, have been exceeded only by the very large possessions they have constantly had. In 1415 Sir Richard Knightley purchased the manor of
Fawsley in Northamptonshire, where the senior line of the family became seated. Branches of the family became
Knightley baronets, of which two titles were created, and in 1892
Rainald Knightley, 1st Baron Knightley (1819-1895) was created
Baron Knightley "of Fawsley" in the
Peerage of the United Kingdom. ==References==