Honora Denny (died 1614) was an English courtier. She was the daughter of Edward, Lord Denny and Mary Cecil, a daughter of

Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, KG (5 May 1542 – 8 February 1623), known as Lord Burghley from 1598 to 1605, was an English politician, courtier and soldier. Family Thomas Cecil was the elder son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, b ...

. Some sources use the name "Honoria" or "Honor". She married a prominent Scottish-born courtier

James Hay, 1st Earl of Carlisle James Hay, 1st Earl of Carlisle KB (c. 1580March 1636) was a British noble. Life A Scot, he was the son of Sir James Hay of Fingask, second son of Peter Hay of Megginch (a branch member of Hay of Leys, a younger branch of the Erroll family) an ...

. Their marriage was celebrated by '' Lord Hay's Masque'' written by

Thomas Campion Thomas Campion (sometimes spelled Campian; 12 February 1567 – 1 March 1620) was an English composer, poet, and physician. He was born in London, educated at Cambridge, studied law in Gray's inn. He wrote over a hundred lute songs, masques for ...

and staged on 6 January 1607. The Spanish ambassador gave her a jewel worth 6000

crowns A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

. She was a favourite of

Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional fo ...

. They enjoyed the company of a Venetian diplomat and musician Giulio Muscorno. Muscorno argued with the ambassador

Antonio Foscarini Antonio Foscarini (c. 1570 in Venice – April 22, 1622) belonged to the Venetian nobility and was Venetian ambassador to Paris and later to London. He was the third son of Nicolò di Alvise of the family branch of San Polo and Maria Barbarigo di ...

. A third Venetian diplomat, Giovanni Rizzardo investigated their quarrel and found that the queen and Lady Hay had promoted Muscorno's cause. During subsequent hearings in Venice about Foscarini's conduct, doubt was cast on Rizzardo's story, and it was suggested Lady Hay was not a lady of the court, or the queen's servant, and did not frequently visit her. Honora was supposedly unfaithful and Hay was jealous. He broke open her cabinets in search of love letters and threatened her servants. After her death, Lady

Mary Wroth Lady Mary Wroth (née Sidney; 18 October 1587 – 1651/3) was an English noblewoman and a poet of the English Renaissance. A member of a distinguished literary family, Lady Wroth was among the first female English writers to have achieved an en ...

alluded to their troubles in ''Urania'' and satirised Hay as Sirelius. Wroth criticised Lord Denny for taking Hay's part against his daughter. Denny responded in verse. Joseph Hall addressed an epistle her on the subject of baptism after she lost a child. In 1614 she was returning from a masque at court late at night in a coach and a thief reached in and stole a valuable jewel which she was wearing on her forehead. She died soon after, suffering a miscarriage, and was buried on 16 August 1614 at

Waltham Abbey Waltham Abbey is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, within the metropolitan and urban area of London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. It lies on the Greenwich Meridian, between the River Lea in the west and E ...

. She had a daughter, Anne Hay, and a son, James Hay, 2nd Earl of Carlisle, who married Margaret Russell, a daughter of

Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford Francis Russell, 4th Earl of Bedford PC (1587 – 9 May 1641) was an English nobleman and politician. He built the square of Covent Garden, with the piazza and church of St. Paul's, employing Inigo Jones as his architect. He is also known fo ...

Richard Niccols Richard Niccols (1584–1616) was an English poet and editor. Life He was born in London. He may have been the son of Richard Niccols who entered the Inner Temple in 1575, and who wrote ‘A Treatise setting forth the Mystery of our Salvation,’ ...

dedicated two volumes to her memory, ''The Furies'' or ''Vertues Encomium. Or the Image of Honour'' and ''Monodia, or Waltham's Complaint upon the death of the Lady Honor Hay'' (London, 1614). The tomb of her aunt Dorothy Denny, wife of the crown auditor William Poovey or Purvey, at Wormley in Hertfordshire, commemorates an "Honour Denny" with a carved profile portrait of a young woman and a verse that mentions, 'Foreseeing Death, she sung a Swan-like song'.Henry Chauncey, ''Historical Antiquities of Hertfordshire'', vol. 1 (London, 1826), pp. 573-4.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Denny, Honora 1614 deaths Household of Anne of Denmark Daughters of British earls