William Denys

Sir William Denys (1470–1533) of Dyrham, Gloucestershire, was a courtier of King Henry VIII and High Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1518 and 1526.

He was the eldest son and heir of Sir Walter Denys( d.1505) by his 2nd wife Agnes Danvers, 2nd daughter & co-heiress of Sir Robert Danvers (died 1467) of Epwell, Oxfordshire, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas(1450–1467). The Inquisition post mortem of his father Sir Walter, dated 1505, states William his son and heir to have then been "aged 35 years and more", which suggests a date of birth of 1470.

In about 1481 William's father arranged for him to marry Edith Twynyho, daughter of the wealthy Cirencester lawyer and cloth-merchant John Twynyho (1440–1485), whose monumental brass survives over his tomb in the south aisle of Lechlade Church, Glos. Twynyho served as MP for Bristol in 1472-5 and again in 1484 and had been Attorney General to Lord Edward, 1st son of King Edward IV in 1478. Twynyho had gone into partnership with John Tame (died 1500), the builder of Fairford Church, Glos., and a favourite of King Henry VII, and the pair had expanded their sheep, wool and cloth business in a bold fashion by acquiring large amounts of sheep rearing land, including Fairford in 1479. Indeed Twynyho's daughter Alice (died 1471) was given by her father as wife to John Tame, and the monumental brass of the couple can be seen on top of their chest tomb, known as "the Founder's Tomb", at Fairford Church. Twynyho's relative Ankaret (née Hawkeston) had been a servant of Isabel Neville, Duchess of Clarence (died 1476), daughter and co-heiress of Richard Nevill Earl of Warwick (died 1471), whose death in childbirth had been blamed, by her husband George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence (executed 1478), on a poisoning by Ankaret. Clarence was determined to have Ankaret executed, against the wishes of the Queen, who believed her to be an elderly and harmless widow blamed unjustly. Clarence rapidly gave orders for her arrest, which was performed at Keyford, Somerset, the family home, on 12/4/1477 by Richard Hyde and Roger Strugge and 80 "riotous persons", whence she was taken to Bath, thence to Cirencester thence to Warwick, where she was tried before JP's at the guildhall and found guilty by a jury. She was hanged at Mytton, Warks., on 15 April 1477, which action is considered by modern historians as a notorious judicial murder. Clarence himself was executed in the Tower of London the following year, 18 Feb. 1478, and two days later on 20 Feb. 1478 Ankaret's grandson Roger Twynyho obtained the king's annulment of Ankaret's conviction.

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