 His father’s first wife, whom he had married in about 1482 and who was short-lived, was Edith Twynyho, but she died young.His father was a great-grandson of Sir Gilbert Denys (died 1422) of Waterton, Glamorgan, who had settled in Gloucestershire following his first marriage in 1379 to Margaret Corbet, heiress of Siston.Denys entered the Inner Temple in London, where he trained as a barrister.