Denys family of Siston

Arms of Denys of Siston: Gules, three leopard's faces or jessant-de-lys azure over all a bend engrailed azure

The Denys family of Siston, also spelled Dennis, originally came from Glamorgan in Wales and in the late 14th century acquired by marriage the manor of Siston, Gloucester and shortly thereafter the adjoining manor of Dyrham. Maurice Denys re-built Siston Court in the 16th century.

Origins of the Denys/Dennis family of Siston

(The family name in historical documents is generally spelt "Denys" pre c.1600, "Dennis" post c.1600) The Denys family of Siston came most immediately from Glamorgan.^[1] It may have been of Danish origin, as is thought to have been the contemporaneous family of Denys of Devon^{[nb 1]} established before the 13thC at Giddicote, Black Torrington. It is well established that there was much connection in the Mediaeval times between the SW Peninsula, Glamorgan and Gloucestershire, therefore it is possible the two families sprung from a common origin. The ancient arms of Denys of Devon appear to make allusion to a Danish connection:^{[2][nb 2]} "Ermine, three bills or Danish battle-axes gules"^{[3][nb 3] [4]} The arms of the King of Denmark were recorded in the Camden Roll (c.1280) as: "Gules, three axes in pale or".^[5] Either or both families may have descended from the very ancient Denys family of Sock Dennis, Ilchester, Somerset.^{[nb 4]} This family was recorded in early Norman charters in French as le Deneys, meaning "The Dane", which was frequently Latinised by scribes as Dacus, being the adjectival form of Dacia, the mediaeval Latin for Denmark, thus "Danish". William Dacus ("the Dane"), perhaps father of John, was the founder of the Whitehall Almshouse in Ilchester c.1217.^[6] John the Dane "Deneis", "heir of Robert de Beauchamp" (of Hatch) brought an action in 1224 concerning a carucate which Richard of Ilchester (Bishop of Winchester 1174–88) had conveyed to a certain William son of Ralph.^[7] John the Dane held two fees in Sock of the Beauchamps of Hatch in 1236.^[8] Cecilia was one of the co-heiresses of her brother Robert de Beauchamp, and m. one of the Turberville family, possibly descendants of Sir Payn "The Demon" de Turberville,(fl.c.1100) builder of Coity Castle, and one of the 12 legendary knights of Robert FitzHamon (d.1107) Lord of Gloucester and Conqueror of Glamorgan. The other co-heiress appears therefore to have been a Denys. Yet Gerard of Trent tells of King John wresting Sock and Bearley from the men of Ilchester to give them to William the Dane in exchange for nearby Petherton Park.^[9] A 13thC exchange of land called "Deneysesdone" in Petherton Forest was certainly made with a "Haywardwyk" in Ilchester.^[10] The Denys family from Glamorgan, whose pre-Gloucestershire pedigree goes back 6 generations as set out in the Golden Grove Book of Welsh Pedigrees (believed to be 18thC), were likely to have been in the 13thC feudal tenants or officers, under Candleston Castle near Ogmore held by the Glamorgan branch of the Norman Cantilupe^{[nb 5]} family, by whom their coat of arms was seemingly granted as arms of patronage.^{[nb 6]} The earliest firm evidence of the Denys family in Glamorgan is from a charter dated 1258, witnessing an exchange by Gilbert de Turberville (Lord of Coity Castle) of lands in Newcastle (Coity) with Margam Abbey (Clark, Cartae no. DXCIV).^[11] Among the 5 witnesses are: Willelmo le Deneys and Roberto de Cantulupo. Cartae MXLIII dated 1376 is a lease by Margam Abbey to Johan Denys de Watirton (Waterton in the lordship of Coity), and we are very much on firm ground with the reference in the 1415 Inquisition post mortem^[12] of Sir Lawrence de Berkerolles Lord of Coity to "rent in Waterton^{[nb 7]} which Gilbert Denys, knt., and others render yearly." Denys was by then established at Siston.

Armourials of the Denys family

Denys arms on 1505 Denys monumental brass at Olveston

Arms of Bishop of Hereford Thomas de Cantilupe (c.1218-1282): Gules, three leopard's faces reversed jessant-de-lys or. These arms were subsequently assumed by the See of Hereford

The armourials of the Denys family are sculpted on the facade of the wings of Siston Court. The full blazon as anciently used is: "Gules, 3 leopards' faces or jessant-de-lys azure, overall a bend engrailled azure".^{[13][nb 8]} It must be assumed the two prominent Denys families in the S.W., if indeed related at all, branched out prior to the widespread adoption of armorials c.1250, and therefore adopted coat-armour independently. The basic arms of Cantilupe are "three leopards' faces jessant-de-lys"^{[14][nb 9]} and are still used as the official arms of the See of Hereford,^[15] but reversed for difference, in honour of St.Thomas de Cantilupe, Bishop of Hereford,(d.1282), canonised 1320.^[16] The arms of Denys of Glamorgan are the three Cantilupe leopards' faces jessant-de-lys, differenced by the overlay of a bend engrailled. As has been stated above, these arms are likely to have been granted by the Glamorgan branch of the Cantilupe family^{[nb 10]} to a member of the Denys family, probably one of their feudal tenants or officers, holding an important post within their manor of Candleston, which modern name is thought to be a corruption of "Cantilupe's-ton".^{[nb 11]} a few hundred yards west of Ogmore Castle across the River Ogmore, which formed the boundary of the Ogmore Lordship. As for dating evidence, the Margam Charter dated 1258 (Clark's Cartae DXCIV) concerning an exchange of lands between Gilbert de Turberville, Lord of Coity, and Margam Abbey, was witnessed by 5 people, including Roberto de Cantulupo and Willelmo le Deneys. It seems likely that witnesses to an important charter between high-status parties would themselves be high-status individuals, who would necessarily bear coat-armour. This suggests that the Denys family had been granted the Arms of Patronage before this time. Examples of these original arms survive earliest as shown on the Denys monumental brass^{[nb 12]} of Sir Walter Denys (1437–1505) at Olveston Church (next to Alveston). A colour depiction^[17] has survived (c.1509) drawn by Sir Thomas Wriothseley, Garter King of Arms, of the arms of Hugh Denys of Osterley (d.1511),^{[nb 13][nb 14]} Groom of the King's Close Stool to Henry VII, Verger of Windsor Castle and great uncle of Sir Maurice Denys, showing the scene at the deathbed of the King at Sheen Palace, at which he was present^{[nb 15]} The Denys arms are shown quartered with Corbet, with a crescent superimposed on the bend to denote a third son. The arms of all the heiresses married into the Denys family are also sculpted on the facade of the wings of Siston Court: Russell of Dyrham (1404), Newmarch (1224) and Gorges (c.1325)^{[nb 16]} (Russell heiresses), Danvers (1467)^{[nb 17]} and Corbet (1380). The Corbet Raven "Corbeau" is believed to have been the early emblem of the Viking Dukes of Normandy, whose hereditary standard-bearer was known as Roger Corbeau, who founded the Corbet family.^[18]

Sir Maurice Denys (1516–1563) builder of Siston Court

Arms of Sir Maurice Denys (1516–1563) sculpted on south wing of Siston Court

Left: Arms of Denys ancestors on Siston Court: Danvers quartering Langley: Quarterly 1st & 4th: Argent, on a bend gules 3 martlets or winged vert (Danvers); 2nd & 3rd: Gules, 2 bars or in chief 2 buck's heads cabossed of the 2nd (Langley). The de Langley family were hereditary keepers of Wychwood Forest, Oxon., which office carried with it the tenancy of the manor of Langley in Shipton-under-Wychwood parish.^[19] Their heir was Simon Verney(d.1368) whose brother was William Verney of Byfield, Northants., father of Alice Verney, 1st. wife of John Danvers (d.1449) of Calthorpe, MP for Oxfordshire 1420, 1421, 1423, 1435.^[20] The de Langley family held the manor of Shipton, Oxfordshire, and Richard Lee in his "Gleanings of Oxfordshire" of 1574 states that these arms of Gules, 2 bars or in chief 2 buck's heads cabossed of the 2nd were then visible in a stained glass window in Shipton Church with a tomb under it. The buck's heads seem to be a reference to the de Langley office of forester of Wychwood. Agnes Danvers was the mother of Sir William Denys, Maurice's father, and the Langleys of Shipton, Oxon., were ancestors of the Danvers family^[21] Right: the same arms on the tomb of Sir John Danvers (d.1514), Dauntsey Church, Wilts. Sir John Danvers married Ann Stradling(d.1539), heiress of Dauntsey manor, who was descended from Joan Dauntsey, the young widow of Sir Maurice Russell (d.1416) of Dyrham

It was the ambitious Sir Maurice Denys (1516–1563), great-great-grandson of Sir Gilbert, who bought out his elder brother Sir Walter's inheritance of Siston, probably in 1542 when the latter obtained Royal Licence to alienate Kingston Russell to Sir Maurice,^[22] and erected the present mansion. He took the classic Tudor businessman's training as a lawyer at the Inner Temple and became heavily involved in property speculation and development during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. In 1540 he was awarded the Receivership of the dissolved Order of Knights of St.John, residing at a London mansion at Clerkenwell, the order's HQ, and at a former Commandery at Sutton-at-Hone in Kent. He had built a large mansion for the prominent Mercer Nicholas Statham at Brook Place, Sutton,^[23] and in 1545 married his widow Elizabeth, thereby inheriting the house he had built. Sir Maurice borrowed greatly not only to buy out his brother's manor of Siston, but also Barton Regis,^{[nb 18]} a large part of adjacent Kingswood Forest, Abson and Pucklechurch from William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke who had obtained the latter at the Dissolution from Bath Abbey, as well as a handful of other manors in Gloucestershire and elsewhere. Certainly Siston Court was designed to be Sir Maurice's grand seat after he had obtained a title of nobility. Yet his plans had been over-ambitious and his debts dragged down not only himself but also his brother, who as a beneficiary of the loan, was forced by the Crown to co-sign a bond. Sir Maurice had been appointed Treasurer of Calais, responsible for financing the military campaign there, yet was twice imprisoned in the Fleet seemingly for accounting irregularities, but was twice released and pardoned. The inference seems to be that he misapplied Crown funds to repay his personal debts. He was fully rehabilitated by Queen Elizabeth, and died in August 1563 at Portsmouth during an outbreak of plague whither he had been sent to pay troops. As dating evidence for Siston Court the following entry in the Cecil Papers is given:

Sir Adrian Poynings to the Queen. Concerning the state of payments to the troops from Newhaven (i.e. Le Havre) at the death of Sir Maurice Denis (sic) Treasurer. Wherwell 28/8/1563. Cecil Papers, vol 1. no.924.

A similar dispatch had been made 3 days prior. Siston was sold before his death to satisfy his creditors, but with a right of repurchase for £2,200. His nephew and heir Richard Denys (1525–1594), son of Sir Walter, exercised the repurchase, but due to the depletion of the family funds, it was finally sold by Richard and his son Walter in 1568 for £3,200 to Robert Wicks.^[24] Wicks offered it without success to the Earl of Salisbury in 1607 for £3,300^[25] and then sold in 1608 to Sir Henry Billingsley (jnr) of Doynton Manor, Glos., the son of Sir Henry (c.1530–1606) Lord Mayor of London in 1596 and the first translator of Euclid into English. It passed in 1651 to Samuel Trotman, Esq.

Decline of Denys/Dennis family

Another branch of the Denys family descended from Sir Maurice's uncle John, third son of Sir Walter (d.1505), and heir of Hugh Denys (d.1511), remained as Lords of the Manor of Pucklechurch until 1701.^{[nb 19]} Richard's brother Thomas fared best of all, albeit temporarily, having married the niece and heiress of cap manufacturer Sir Thomas Bell (snr.), thrice mayor of Gloucester and its richest citizen. The Dennis family of Gloucester by inheritance briefly became the main private landlords of the city, but most of their properties, situated on the outskirts, were destroyed during the Civil War siege.^[26] In the 16/17th century the family had modernised its name to Dennis.

Notes

1. The two Denys families from Glos. & Devon interacted as courtiers of H VIII, Sir Thomas Denys of Orleigh, Devon being a member of Wolseley's household (L&P HVIII vol.20 March 1527)
2. The Danish allusion made by the family in adopting such arms, forcibly post c.1220 at the earliest, may of course itself have been based on a very early myth, or family tradition.
3. Note that the elaboration of plain "Axes" may have been elaborated by Burke, prompted by 19thC family mythology, into "Danish Battleaxes"
4. Sock Dennis Farm, 1 m. S. of Ilchester is today the only remnant of this ancient manor.
5. The usual modern academic spelling of this family is Cantilupe. The family probably took its name from the Normandy manor of Canteloup (mod. French cartographic spelling) 10 miles (16 km) east of Caen.
6. c.f. Cantilupe based arms of Hubard of Ipsley (13thC) & Woodforde of Brentingby(pre 1316), both former Cantilupe manors
7. Waterton manor, to the immediate E. of Ewenny Priory (mod. Bridgend) Ewenny is one of the best preserved Norman fortified churches in Europe, which by total coincidence (the Denys's appear even by the 16thC. to have forgotten their Glamorgan roots, which certainly were not declared by them at the official Heraldic Visitation made at Gloucester in 1623, which recorded their line commencing with Sir Gilbert (d.1422)) was granted at the Dissolution to Sir Edward Carne, whose residence it became, husband of Ann Denys, sister of Sir Maurice. It is unlikely that she was aware that the next door manor had been her family's former ancestral home.
8. Burke's armorials incorrectly lists the bend "between" not "(imposed) overall"^[3] contrary to evidence on the two earliest surviving monuments—but not the Siston escutcheons, and lists the tinctures incorrectly (evidenced by the 1509 colour sketch by Wriothesely (Garter King of Arms), BL Add.MS 45131,f.54, agreeing to Robson). At Siston the bend passes between the leopards' faces, which have been slightly moved to accommodate it. This may have been the result of artistic licence as it presents a clearer image, or the result of a brand new grant obtained by Sir Maurice.
9. The original primitive Cantilupe arms pre c.1220 were simply 3 fleurs-de-lys. vide Planche who deems the change to have been a differencing, rather than evolution. The Woodforde Cartulary contains a deed dated 1215 relating to William de Cantilupe's interests at Brentingby on which the seal is "3 fleurs-de-lis circumscribed" (quoted from A History of the Woodforde Family from 1300. www.woodforde.co.uk)
10. Genealogists have been unable to link the pedigrees of the Glamorgan Cantilupe's with their great namesakes in Hereford and Worcester, but there is little doubt it is the same family
11. Candleston Castle is today a ruin, much neglected, standing overlooking the sand dunes into which the elements transformed its once productive lands. It passed in the 15thC for a short while into the ownership of Denys cousins of Sir Gilbert's, by marriage. See Nicholl, L.D. The Normans in Glamorgan, written by a 19thC owner of the manor who researched its mediaeval devolution.
12. Transactions of the Bristol & Glos Archaeol. Soc. XII. p.326. for transcript of the gothic text of the Olveston Brass (1505)
13. vide. Starkey, David. Henry: The Virtuous Prince. 2008, chap. 16, for the career of Hugh Denys, who played a major role in facilitating H VII's "reign of fiscal terror". The "machinery of the Chamber" allowed the first two Tudor kings to employ effectively the private as well as the public revenues.
14. Hugh Denys d.s.p. His heir was nephew John Denys, founder of the Denys of Pucklechurch line, which eventually inherited his manor of Purleigh in Essex. He bequeathed much of his property to Sheen Priory, including Gray's Inn, Holborn
15. Brit.Lib. Add.MS. 45131, f.54. He is shown 4th. on the King's right hand, amongst bishops and other members of the Privy Chamber, interspersed with doctors holding bottles, and tonsured monks. Also depicted is the courtier Sir Richard Weston of Sutton Place, Surrey, father of Margaret, wife of Sir Walter Denys, brother of Sir Maurice. His son Sir Francis Weston was beheaded for adultery with Ann Boleyn. Richard Denys, son of Sir Walter was named as a co-heir in the will of his grandfather Sir Richard Weston, should his grandson's attainded not be lifted, which it was.
16. Eleanor Gorges, heiress of Sir Ralph III de Gorges of Tothill (warder of her future husband), m. Sir Theobald Russell (d.1349)
17. Sir Walter Denys (d.1505) m.1stly. a Fiennes, d. of Lord Dacre of the South, who must have died in childbirth. He m. 2ndly. Agnes Danvers, co-heiress of Sir Robert Danvers of Ipwell, Oxon.(d.1467) Chief Justice of the Common Pleas
18. Barton Regis was the former "Manor of the King" in Kingswood Forest, anciently serving as the Grange for storing provisions for Bristol Castle, or so Salisbury deduced when he was examining how to regain the encroached upon Forest for the Crown.(Cecil Papers vol.24. 6/5/1609.)
19. William Denys Esq., Sheriff of Glos. 1689, d.1701, the last Dennis Lord of the Manor of Pucklechurch. Of his two co-heiresses, Mary, (ob.s.p. 1739 buried at Puckl.) m. as his 2nd. wife Col James Butler of Ireland, great-great-grandson of 9th. Earl of Ormond, and Elizabeth m. as his 2nd. wife Sir Alex. Cuming, 1st. Bart.of Culter, Aberdeen. Cuming became an ignominious bankrupt and was the father by his 1st wife of Sir Alex. Cuming the extraordinary adventurer and eccentric who exhibited such personal charisma as to be proclaimed Emperor of the Cherokee Indians, and virtually a living god. He attempted to use the connection to gain the Cherokees as allies of the English against the French, but the English establishment and King refused to reward his efforts, seeing him for the unstable visionary and egotist he probably was. He died in penury. Cuming and Elizabeth still held the Essex manor of Purleigh, until her death, bequeathed by Hugh Denys (d.1511) about which an Act of Parliament had been procured after the Dissolution to divert the income derived from it (originally settled on Sheene then transferred to Syon) to found a Dennis Scholarship at Magdalene Coll. Cambs. The Scholarship still exists today nominally, although consolidated into the General Scholarship Fund. It yields only a peppercorn income, having been eroded by centuries of inflation.

References

1. Golden Grove Book of Pedigrees. Carmarthenshire Archives. 2. 2nd. part, p.G1026(78) & Nicholl, L.D. The Normans in Glamorgan. Cardiff, 1936.
2. Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.120
3. Sir Bernard Burke. (1884). The general armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales; comprising a registry of armorial bearings from the earliest to the present time . London: Harrison and Sons. p.279.
4. For supposed Danish origin see for example Fuller's "Worthies", quoted by the Duchess of Cleveland's Battle Abbey Roll; also Risdon, Tristram (d.1640), Survey of Devon, 1811 edition, London, 1811, with 1810 Additions, p.120
5. Camden Roll, British Museum Cotton Roll 8. "Le Rey de Denemarche, de goules od treis haches d'or"
6. Som. Rec. Soc. I, p.68
7. Curia Regis R XI pp.344, 505.<
8. Victoria Co. History, Som. vol 3, pp.230–235
9. Som.Rec.Soc. XV p. 207.<
10. Cal. inq. p.m. III p.121 (Quoted from SRS XV)
11. Clark, G.T. Cartae et Alia Munimenta quae ad Dominium de Glamorgancia Pertinent. 6 vols. Cardiff, 1910. vol.2, pp. 622–623
12. Cal. Fine Rolls 1413–1422 (1934):100, 441/442
13. Robson, T. (1830) The British Herald.
14. Burke's Armorials 1884.
15. P. W. Montague-Smith (editor). (1968). Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage. Kelly's Directories. p. 568
16. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography pp.955–959<
17. Henry Deathbed ogimages.
18. Corbet, A.E. The Family of Corbet, its Life & Times.
19. Macnamara, F.N., Memorials of the Danvers Family, 1895, p.198<
20. Roskell J.S. (Ed.) History of Parliament, House of Commons 1386–1421. 2, pp.747–748, Danvers, John
21. MacNamara, F.N. (1895) Memorials of the Danvers Family. pp. 196–200
22. Letters & Papers Henry VIII, xvii. 443(10)
23. Ireland, William Henry. (1830) England's topographer: or A new and complete history of the county of Kent.
24. Cal. Cecil Papers vol. 19 p. 396 (123.5)
25. Cal. Cecil Papers. vol 19.p.374 (123.113)
26. VCH Glos. vol. 4, pp. 120–23

Further reading

• Rourke, Elana. (2010). Siston Court Remembered Pucklechurch.