Knightley was the eldest son of Sir Valentine Knightley of Fawsley and his wife Anne (née Ferrers). He succeeded his father in 1566 and was knighted in 1565. He was MP for
Northampton in the Parliaments of 1584 and 1586, and for
Northamptonshire in those of 1589 and 1598. He served as
High Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1568–1569 and 1581–1582. In 1587, he was commanded by Queen Elizabeth to be present at the
execution of
Mary, Queen of Scots at
Fotheringhay Castle and
her funeral at
Peterborough Cathedral. He was a conspicuous member of the Puritan faction in Parliament, and in November 1588 was involved in the printing of the
Marprelate tracts. In the late spring of 1588,
Elizabeth Hussey allowed the printer
Robert Waldegrave and the Puritan preacher and pamphleteer
John Penry to set up a secret press at her country home at
East Molesey,
Surrey, across the Thames from
Hampton Court Palace. The first tract to be printed there was a work by
John Udall, the
Demonstration of Discipline. In late 1588 and early 1589, Waldegrave embarked on an even more controversial enterprise, printing the first four tracts written against the ecclesiastical authorities by an unknown satirist using the pseudonym
Martin Marprelate. The first of the
Marprelate tracts, Martin's
Epistle was printed on the secret press in October 1588. It enjoyed immense popularity, and the ecclesiastical authorities instigated a hue and cry after Martin. In November the press was moved from East Molesey to Sir Richard Knightley's house at
Fawsley, where Martin's second tract,
The Epitome, was printed. Knightley may even have met the expense of the printing. Shortly thereafter, the secret press was moved to the
Whitefriars, Coventry, the home of Knightley's great-nephew,
John Hales, where
Certaine Minerall and Metaphysicall Schoolpoints and
Hay Any Worke for Cooper were printed, the former in early January and the latter in late March 1589. Waldegrave then refused to print any further tracts, citing the Puritan ministers' disapproval of Martin Marprelate's course of action. The secret press was then moved to
Wolston Priory in
Warwickshire, the home of Roger Wigston. The secret press was captured in 1589, and Knightley was arrested, although subsequently released. In February 1589, he was fined £2,000 by the
Court of Star Chamber, and dismissed from the
lieutenancy of the county and the
magistracy. In 1605, he was again fined, this time the sum of £10,000. He was MP for
Orford, Suffolk in 1601. He died on 1 September 1615 in
Norton, Northamptonshire. ==Marriages and children==