page_title: Maurice Denys (sheriff)
section_title: Blazoning of Armorials
hierarchical_section_title: Maurice Denys (sheriff) / Denys monumental brass, 1505, Olveston Church / Blazoning of Armorials
caption_attribution_description: English: Armorials of Russell of Dyrham, Gloucestershire, and Kingston Russell, Dorset: "Argent, on a chief gules 3 bezants". Burke's Armorials, 1884. It appears on the Denys funerary brass in the Parish Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Olveston, Gloucestershire, England, UK.
context_page_description: Maurice Denys, Esquire, of Siston, Gloucestershire, was twice Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1460 and 1461. The Denys family were stated by Sir Robert Atkyns, the 18th-century historian of Gloucestershire, to have provided more sheriffs for that county than any other family.
context_section_description: The arms of Denys are: Gules, three leopard's faces or jessant-de-lys azure, over all a bend engrailed of the last. The Denys arms blazoned with these tinctures survive earliest in British Library Add.MS 45131, f. 54, a 1509 drawing of Hugh Denys (d. 1511) at the deathbed of Henry VII. The armourials are the arms of Cantilupe of Candleston Castle, Glamorgan, probably granted as "arms of patronage" to their feudal officials or tenants the Denys's, differenced by the imposition of a bend engrailled, probably before 1258. Cantilupe arms, reversed for difference, are still borne as the official arms of the See of Hereford,  in honour of St. Thomas de Cantilupe, Bishop of Hereford, canonised in 1320. The Denys arms are a rare ancient exception to the rule of tincture "no colour on colour or metal on metal" propounded by John Gibbon in his 1682 Introductio ad Latinam Blasoniam, in which he lists (pp. 150–1) some exceptions, including Denys: "Now for my reader's diversion and delight I will insert what hath fallen under my observation". The Denys arms are also shown sculpted on the wings of the nearby Tudor mansion Siston Court, built by Sir Maurice Denys (d.1563), great-grandson of Maurice Denys (d. 1466), yet there they have been altered to a neater composition, with the bend passing between the leopards' faces, and the latter composition was also adopted by the Denys family of Pucklechurch, lords of that manor until 1701.
  Russell: (of Kingston Russell, Dorset & Dyrham, Glos.) Sir Gilbert Denys of Siston had married c. 1404,as his 2nd wife, Margaret Russell, eldest da. and later co-heiress of Sir Morys Russell of Dyrham. Argent, on a chief gules 3 bezants. She was the mother of Morys Denys. (Bezants are Byzantine gold coins, thought to have been very popular with the Crusaders who plundered Constantinople in 1204, not having received the previously agreed funding from the Emperor.)
  Gorges (of Knighton, Isle of Wight; Wraxall, Somerset; Bradpole, Dorset). Sir Theobald I Russell (d. 1341) of Kingston Russell, Dorset, grandfather of Sir Maurice Russell of Dyrham, had been the ward of Sir Ralph III de Gorges, 1st Baron Gorges (d. 1324), and had been married-off by his warder to his 2nd. daughter Eleanor de Gorges. Eleanor's 3rd son Theobald II Russell inherited from his uncle Ralph IV de Gorges (d. 1331), 2nd Baron, the former Gorges estates and changed his name to "Gorges", adopting their arms, apparently as part of the arrangement. The armorials of Gorges are of interest. They were originally canting arms of a Gurges, which is Latin for whirlpool, then c. 1300 were changed voluntarily to lozengy, or and azure, in recognition of the de Morvilles, ancestors of the Gorges. Yet there was a celebrated dispute in 1347 (see Warbelton v. Gorges) when these lozengy arms were claimed by John de Warbelton against Theobald II Russell "de Gorges" and a court of honour adjudged the arms to Warbelton. Instead of adopting completely new arms, Theobald merely added a red chevron as a difference, blazoned Lozengy or and azure, a chevron gules. These arms are known as "Gorges Modern". The Denys family should logically have quartered the undifferenced arms of their ancestor Ralph III de Gorges, not those of Theobald II Russell "de Gorges", their cousin, unless as appears to have been the case, it was customary to apply such heraldic judgements retrospectively.
  Danvers (of Cothorpe, Oxon.) Morys Denys's 2nd wife, and Sir Walter's mother, was Agnes Danvers, co-heiress of Sir Robert Danvers (d. 1467), Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. The arms blazoned in the 4th. Q. on Sir Walter's tabard appear as A chevron between 3 roses, yet the arms given by Burkes 1884 for this family are quite different Argent, on a bend gules 3 martlets (house martens) vert legged or. The arms of Danvers of Warwick however are closer to those depicted here: Gules, a chevron between 3 mullets (stars) of 6 points or.
  Conclusion: The monumental brass is likely to have been erected well after the date of the interment, so if indeed there are errors on the part of the engraver, 
caption: Arms of Russell
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