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Sir Anthony Denny (16 January 1501 – 10 September 1549) was Groom of the Stool to King Henry VIII of England, thus his closest courtier and confidant. In 1539 he was appointed a gentleman of the privy chamber and was its most prominent member in King Henry's last years, having together with his brother-in-law, John Gates, charge of the "dry stamp" of the King's signature, and attended the King on his deathbed. He was a member of the Reformist circle that offset the conservative religious influence of Stephen Gardiner. He was a wealthy man, having acquired several manors and former religious sites distributed by the Court of Augmentations after the Dissolution of the Monasteries.Robert Hutchinson, The Last Days of Henry VIII: Conspiracy, Treason and Heresy at the Court of the dying Tyrant (Phoenix, 2006) pp. 152–159
Denny was educated at St Paul's School and tradition asserts, at St John's College, Cambridge. He was first a servant of the courtier Francis Bryan, and joined the king's household in 1533 as a groom of the privy chamber. He was appointed keeper of Whitehall Palace in January 1536. Jane Seymour gave him a brooch.Maria Hayward, The Inventory of Whitehall Palace, 1 (Illuminata Press, 2004), pp. 56–57, 65. He was made Yeoman of the Robes in September 1537.Maria Hayward, The Inventory of Whitehall Palace, 1 (Illuminata Press, 2004), p. 58.
He was present at the wedding of Henry VIII to Catherine Parr in the Queen's Privy Closet at Hampton Court on 12 July 1543. In 1544, he joined Henry's military expedition to France. He was Knight Banneret at the capture of Boulogne in 1544. He became Groom of the Stool in October 1546. He oversaw the use and maintenance of the king's close stool.Maria Hayward, The Inventory of Whitehall Palace, 1 (Illuminata Press, 2004), pp. 60, 66–67.
In 1547, he was elected knight of the shire (MP) for Hertfordshire.D. F. Coros. (1982). "DENNY, Anthony (1501-49), of Cheshunt, Herts." The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff. History of Parliament website Retrieved 3 May 2023. By 1548, he was keeper of the Palace of Westminster.HMC, 7th report, More Molyneaux Loseley, p. 605.
Along with Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, John Dudley, Viscount Lisle, and Sir William Paget, Denny helped to finalise King Henry VIII's will upon his deathbed in 1547. Denny specifically argued to the King on several occasions against the removal of Bishop Gardiner from the will. Denny was himself the man to tell King Henry of his coming death, advising the old King "to prepare for his final agony". His position gave him both the power to control who saw King Henry VIII in his last years (in which he spent much time in the Privy Chambers), and the power to influence, through his personal relationship with the ageing King. Along with Sir William Paget, the Principal Secretary, Denny is suspected of having fixed the choosing of the "Progressive" appeals, headed by Edward Seymour.
In 1549, during the Seymour affair, Denny was sent to Hatfield House to arrest the Elizabeth I's cofferer Thomas Parry and his sister-in-law Kat Ashley.Maria Hayward, The Inventory of Whitehall Palace, 1 (Illuminata Press, 2004), p. 61. Denny joined the forces raised against Kett's Rebellion in August 1549.Maria Hayward, The Inventory of Whitehall Palace, 1 (Illuminata Press, 2004), p. 62.
He died on 10 September 1549. Denny is buried without surviving stone memorials at St. Mary parish church at Cheshunt, the family seat in Hertfordshire.Swensen, Patricia C. 'Patronage from the Privy Chamber: Sir Anthony Denny and Religious Reform', Journal of British Studies, 27:1 (1988), pp. 25–44. JSTOR website Retrieved 3 May 2023.
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