KNOLLYS, or KNOLLES, SIR Robert, English military commander: a native of Cheshire, birth date unknown; d. 1407. His first military service was in Brittany under Sir Thomas Dagworth (1346) at the siege of La Roche d'Orient. He was a knight when he took part in the "Combat of the Thirty" and was one of the survivors made prisoner (1351). On his release he remained in Brittany and ac quired renown on the field. He aided Henry of Lancaster on his raid into Normandy in sup port of Philip of Navarre and Godfrey de Har court (1356), and was head of the plunderers known as the "Great Company" (1358), his share in the loot being 100,000 crowns. In the Loire Valley he captured 40 castles and rav aged the country from Tonnerre to Vezelay and Nevers to Orleans, sacking and burning the suburbs of the latter city. He declared this warfare was neither for the English king or for Charles of Navarre, but for himself alone. He sacked Auxerre and enforced a great ransom, captured Chatillon-sur-Loing (1359), then raided through Bern into Auvergne. He aided Simon de Montfort against Charles de Blois at the siege of Auray and defeated de Blois, then joined the Black Prince (1367) in his Spanish expedition. He
aided in the capture of Navarrete, and was present at the battle of Najara. Soon he re turned to Brittany, but was given command of an expedition in Aquitaine (1369). France having prepared a military expedition against Wales (1370), he was given command of a force to land at Calais. Thence he continued and sacked the suburbs of Arras and went through Artois into Picardy and Varmandois, plundering till he reached Rheims, and thence to Villejuif, near Paris. This raiding counter attack averted the planned French onslaught on Wales which did not take place. He was residing in London in 1381 when the Wat Tyler rebellion broke out, and the city gave him the leadership. He quickly suppressed the rising. Having acquired immense wealth in his cam paigns, he used some in frequent loans to the king and much was spent in building English churches, a hospital at Rome, the house of the Carmelites in London; at Pontefract he founded a college and hospital and endowed them. Consult Froissart's Chroniques (Vols. IV-VIII) ; Fuller's 'Worthies' (1811) ; Lobineau's 'Histoire de Bretagne,' etc.