The family Coat - Armour
Denny Family Coat-Armour
The original Coat-Armour (Coat-of-Arms) was used in the ancient
and authentic Arms of the Denny family, used on the seal of Geof-
frey Denny in the 1300's. Some branches of the family altered their
arms or else adopted new ones. These were frequent practices in
early heraldic usage.
The original arms is described as follows:
Its blazon is: Argent, a chevron sable between three five
pointed mullets gules or. In color reproduction one would see,
on a silver shield, a chevron of black, this between three
scarlet mullets (stars) with small openings in their centers
showing gold. A mullet represents a pricking device or rowel
of a spur. These Arms, borne by the earliest known ancestor of
the Denny family to whom direct lineages have been traced, are
the only ones which, with propriety, may be borne by the Denny
family in America.
Through Geoffrey Denny's second marriage a usage of the Stanmore
family Coats-of-Armour came about through the son, Thomas, who was
brought up by his mother's family. Such usage was not too uncommon.
Therefore, some branches have used either the original or varia-
tions of the Stanmore Arms. Such usage is not authentic, however.
This Coats-Armour is described as:
Blazon: Argent, a fesse danciettie gules. In English this is a
silver shield, across which is a band of scarlet, with notched
edges. The mantlet or drapery around a shield, falling on the
helmet, denotes a knight's mantle, slashed in battle, and
especially the mantle of a Crusader.
Although the earliest usages in Great Britain of Coat-Armour is the
de Clare Arms around 1138 or 1148 A.D., 30 years after the first
Crusade, we have no evidence of the use of armour seals by the
kings until 1189 by Richard I. His grandfather's tomb (Geoffrey of
Anjou) bears a seal of six leopards from 1151 A.D.. Geoffrey's
descendents corrupted these leopards to the present lions used as a
symbol of Great Britain.
Some of the very earliest Coats-of Arms has no crest. The earliest
usage of a crest on a shield is that of the De Quincy's, Roger in
particular, sometime before 1250. The usage of a crest on the Denny
Armour, therefore, probably indicates its adoption sometime after
this date.
After the College of Heraldry was established and Coats-Armour was
registered and somewhat regulated, some families or branches of the
family altered, changed, or adopted new coats-of-arms. This seems
to have been the case with Sir Anthony Denny (January 18, 1500 -
September 10, 1549) who had the coat-of-arms changed in its entire
ty. (There may be some question as to whether he did this or one
of his ancestors, possibly a grandson, as will be noted later.)
The coat-of arms as attributed to Sir Anthony Denny is as follows:
Arms: - Quarterly 1 and 4; gules, a saltire argent between
twelve crosses, crosslet or; 2, or, a fesse dancettee, gules,
in chief three martlets, sable; 3, azure, three trout fretted
in triangle argent, a mullet pierced or for difference.
Crest - A cubit arm, vested azure, cuffed argent, holding in
the hand proper five wheat ears, or.
In ordinary English this is as follows:
Blazon: gules, scarlet: argent, silver or white; or, gold or
yellow; sable, black; azure, bright blue. A mullet which is
used for "difference", in heraldry signifies descent from a
third son of an ancestor who was head of the family, according
to the laws of primogeniture. The mantlet (martin or swallow)
denotes, similarly, descent from a fourth son.
The odd part about this coat-of-arms is that quarters one and four
are identical with the Coat borne by the ancient family of Windsor.
This same coat was emblazoned in a window of the church at West
Hurling, Norfolk. Sir Henry Lyttleton Lyster Denny, noted historian
(English) of the Denny genealogy thinks these arms were borne by a
Denny, who Sir Henry believes was either Sir Robert Denny or his
son, Thomas Denny. Sir Robert died about 1419 and his son Thomas
died in 1429. He also states that there were two other, different
Denny coats in windows of this same West Hurling Church. He
presents no evidence that the three coats in the windows were borne
by members of the Denny family, however.
No connection directly to the Windsor line has been established,
however, unless it would be through Sir Robert's wife Amy, whose
maiden name is unknown. Normally the 1st and 4th quadrants are
honored quarters and are reserved for those whose surname is borne
by the bearers of the quartered arms. The exception to this would
be if the family whose arms are transmitted outranks that of the
family receiving the arms. This would be the case in regard to
royalty (Windsor). Thus, it may have been possible that the Col-
lege of Heraldry knew Sir Anthony bore royal blood and granted him
this honor of using the Windsor arms in the place of honor.
It may even be that, due to his close connection with Henry VIII
and Edward VI, the College of Heralds granted Sir Anthony the
privilege of using the Windsor arms as a favor. Nevertheless, no
definite connection has been established as a direct connection to
the Windsor family through Sir Anthony. More will be discussed
below as a possible connection through Sir Edward Denny, Baronet of
Tralee Castle.
The second quarter of this Coats Armour was a golden field, a fesse
dancettee (horizontal band with notched edges) of scarlet, there
being three black martlets (martlets or swallows) across the upper
edge of the shield. It has been explained previously that this was
the Stanmore coat and that the second wife of Geoffrey Denny was
Joan Stanmore and that the son of Joan and Geoffrey used the sur-
name Stanmore. Some branches of the Denny family have continued to
use, to the present time, some form of the Stanmore Coat Armour.
Perhaps because Sir Anthony had broken with the ancient faith and
did not wish to be closely identified with the rest of the family,
he wished to emphasize the severance to Protestantism and yet have
the new shield connected with the past. It should also be noted
that in the new shield the background was gold rather than silver
as on the original Stanmore Armour.
In 1555 Sir Matthew Carew visited Paris and found in the great
Abbey of St. Denis on the tombs, dating to 1420 the Coat Armour
with the fesse dancettee. In place of swallows it had three cres-
cents indicative of descent from a second son. Otherwise it resem-
bled the Stanmore Armour. Martlets signified descent from the
fourth son. These arms were presumably borne by Denny's before the
adoption by Sir Anthony. These tombs lay among the nobility of
France. Sir Henry Lyttleton Lyster Denny believes some of the
lineage traced along this path is incorrect, however.
The third quarter of Sir Anthony's new Coat-of-arms emblazoned the
arms of the Troutbeck family. Their use by Sir Anthony is entirely
understandable. His grandfather, William Denny, married Agnes
Troutbeck and she, being an heiress, heraldically, was entitled to
pass on her family arms and Sir Anthony picked them up to use on
his new Armour.
The third quarter shows three silver trout, in triangular fashion,
on an azure shield and a golden mullet indicating descent from a
third son.
The crests were not used until after 1250. The arm was azure, the
cuff silver, the hand flesh, and the wheat grain golden ears.
The simplified form of Sir Anthony's coat-of-arms was as follows:
(DENNY - Tralee Castle, Co. Kerry, bart.)
Gu. a saltire between twelve crosses crosslet or crest. A
cubit arm, habited azure, cuff ar., hand ppr. grasping five
ears of rye or, motto - "et mea Messis erit".
In this coat only one of the three quarterings are used from Sir
Anthony's, that being the Windsor coat which was similar to the
Coat of Holy Cross Abbey.
Mottoes were used by some of the families and were subject to
change. This particular motto meant "and my harvest shall be" (more
of a slogan) interpreted as "what I have sown I shall reap."
The baronets of Tralee must be mentioned and followed up. Sir
Edward Denny, born in 1547, probably at Chestnut in Herfordshire
had as a godfather at his baptism, the boy king, Edward VI. In his
childhood he was left an orphan. Sir Anthony died in 1549 and his
mother (Lady Joan) in 1553. He lived in the golden age of English
history and was well acquainted with and associated with the great
Englishmen of this period and with the early founding period of
America. Though his father's will bequeathed him certain lands in
Herfordshire, he really had to make his own way in the world. "By
God's favor, Queen Elizabeth's bounty, and his own valor, he
achieved a fair estate in the county of Kerry, Ireland."
He sailed in 1578 with his kinsmen (cousins), Sir Walter Raleigh
and Sir Humphrey Gilbert to plant a colony in America. The expedi-
tion was unsuccessful and he took to privateering, capturing Span-
ish, French, and Flemish ships for the Queen. He became discontent
in this service and asked to be excused. He was put in command of
the company who lay siege to Fort-Del-Ore, Ireland. For this en-
deavor he received thanks and favor of the Queen and Council. He
took a prominent part in the fighting that defeated the Earl of
Desmond who was killed.
Sir Edward Denny was given the Earl's castle, Tralee. It was in
ruinous condition but contained 6000 acres plus smaller castles and
was restored during the reign of James I by his grandson. Tralee
was originally called Traleigh "stand of the Leigh" and was owned by
the Fitzgerald's a very old family in Irish history (remember John
Fitzgerald Kennedy?).
The interesting part here is that the Fitzgeralds were closely
connected with the Windsors. Through marriage, etc., they became
part of the family of the Earl of Desmond and the possibility
exists that it was not Sir Anthony at all but rather Sir Edward
Denny who adopted the Windsor coat-of-arms into the Denny shield
due to his acquiring the Castle Tralee. The question may have been
answered by now but was still not researched prior to WWII. Tralee
was later destroyed completely by the Irish who did not like any
thing that transpired concerning the English and especially their
giving away what was their lands.
Sir Edward's tomb says he was "beinge of Queen Elizabeth's privie
Chamber and one of ye Counsell of Munster in Ireland," Governor of
Kerry and Desmond and as a "Collonell" in the military forces of
Ireland. The rest of his epithet is very flattering. Sir Edward
married Lady Margaret, daughter of Piece Edgecombe in August 1582.
He died in February 1599, actually 1600 by our modern calendar. The
Edgecombes were related to Anne Boyelyn and Catherine Howard, two
of the queens of Henry VIII. She was for five years Maid-of-Honor
to Queen Elizabeth.
There are excellent records of the family through this time period
on to the mid 1700's. Another Sir Edward Denny, son of the one
above, was very distinguished also in his service to the kings and
queens and fought against Cromwell.
The Dennys of Dumbarton
The Denny's are shown to have been of Norman descent and ancestry.
The Denny name was brought into Great Britain at the time of the
Norman Conquest. The ancient town of Denny, in Stirlingshire,
probably took its name from one of these early settlers. An estate
there, occupied by the Knight's Templars, in very early times,
appears in the records as the "Barony of Temple Denny". These lands
were the headquarters of the Order of Scotland. This town lies not
far distant from Dumbarton. This was a very important town both
politically and economically.
Most of these Dennys from this region seem to trace to the Dennys
of England and many of the Dennys of Pennsylvania trace to the
Dennys of Scotland. The Dennys of Pennsylvania were predominantly
Presbyterian which figures historically to the Scottish ancestry.
The Scottish Coat-of-Arms:
Arms - Argent, three estoiles of eight points in chief sable.
Crest - A hand erect, pointing with two fingers to the sun.
All proper.
It seems that the Dennys of Delaware are definitely of English
origin and would be safest using the original Denny Coat-of-Arms.
The above information was gleaned, for the most part, from the
Denny Genealogy referred to in the other section and has been
largely paraphrased.
(Information Researched by Edward C. Denny, Sr., 1976)
There are three interesting "asides" found in researching the above
material:
1. Sir Edward Denny was raised by his aunt and uncle who were
the parents of Sir Walter Raleigh after the death of his
father and mother.
2. Sir Anthony Denny was reported to have been the "best man"
at five of Henry VIII's marriages.
3. Another Denny (Sir Edward ? I think) was reported to have
been the strongest man in Ireland. He was high sheriff of
county Kent and escorted James and Mary down from Scotland
when they assumed the throne.
We need to make the connection back to England from our ancestry in
Delaware to establish where we fit into this picture. It would also
be nice to find out how the family became members of the Society of
Friends yet wound up settling in Delaware as opposed to Pennsylva-
nia, which was founded originally for the Quakers by William Penn.
A lot of Denneys are around today. Most of these trace to the
descendants of Sir Edward Denny's offspring who stayed in Ireland,
married Irish Lassies, and Gaelicised their names to fit in with
the neighborhood. These are truly Irish, in heart at least, ... we
aren't.
Copyright, Graphicraft, December 23, 2004.