Hugh Courtenay (died 1471)

Sir Hugh Courtenay (c.1427 – 6 May 1471) of Boconnoc, Cornwall, was MP for Cornwall in 1446-47 and 1449-50.[1] He was beheaded after the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471.[1]

Arms of Courtenay Earls of Devon: Or, three torteaux a label azure

Origins

He was the second son of Sir Hugh Courtenay (c.1358-1425), of Haccombe and Bampton, Devon, MP and Sheriff of Devon (a grandson of Hugh de Courtenay, 2nd/10th Earl of Devon (1303–1377) and the younger brother of Edward de Courtenay, 3rd/11th Earl of Devon (1357–1419), "The Blind Earl"),[1] by his 4th wife Maud Beaumont (d. 3 July 1467), daughter of Sir William Beaumont of Shirwell by Isabel Willington, daughter of Sir Henry Willington of Umberleigh.

Marriage and children

He married Margaret Carminow, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Carminow, by Joan Hill, the daughter of Robert Hill. They had the following issue:[1]

Sons

• Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon (d.1509), created Earl of Devon in 1485 by King Henry VII, the title long held by his ancestors and cousins but forfeited during the Wars of the Roses. His great-grandson was Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon (d.1556), who died unmarried and without children, the last of the mediaeval Courtenay Earls of Devon seated at Tiverton Castle, whose co-heirs were the descendants of Sir Hugh Courtenay's four daughters below.
• Sir Walter Courtenay, died childless
• John Courtenay (d.1509), died childless

Daughters

• Elizabeth/Isabel Courtenay, wife of John Trethurffe of Trethurffe in the parish of Ladock, near Truro, Cornwall.[2]
• Maud Courtenay, wife of John Arundell of Talvern
• Isabel/Elizabeth Courtenay, wife of William Mohun[3] of Hall in the parish of Lanteglos-by-Fowey in Cornwall, a descendant of John Mohun (d.1322[4]) of Dunster Castle in Somerset, feudal baron of Dunster by his wife Anne Tiptoft.[5] In 1628 her descendant John Mohun (1595-1641) was created by King Charles I Baron Mohun of Okehampton,[6] his ancestor having inherited as his share Okehampton Castle and remnants of the feudal barony of Okehampton, one of the earliest possessions of the Courtenays. The Mohuns' held the manor of Boconnoc not (as might be expected) as a share of the Courtenay inheritance, but by lease from the Russell Earl of Bedford.[7]
• Florence Courtenay, wife of John Trelawny

Eventual co-heirs

Thus the Courtenay estates were divided into four parts.[3] On the death of Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon, in 1556, the actual heirs to his estates were the following descendants of the four sisters above:[8]

• Reginald Mohun (1507/8-67) of Hall in the parish of Lanteglos-by-Fowey in Cornwall, who inherited Okehampton Castle;
• Margaret Buller;
• John Vivian;
• John Trelawny;

Sources

• Vivian, Lt.Col. J.L., (Ed.) The Visitations of the County of Devon: Comprising the Heralds' Visitations of 1531, 1564 & 1620, Exeter, 1895, pedigree of Courtenay, p. 245

References

1. Vivian, p.245
2. Image of surviving part of mansion house
3. Lysons, Daniel & Samuel, Magna Britannia, Vol 6, Devonshire, 1822, pp.496-520
4. Vivian, 1895, p.565
5. Vivian, Heraldic Visitations of Devon, pp.245, 565, 566, where she is called "Elizabeth", frequently interchangeable with "Isabel" Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
6. Pole, Sir William (d.1635), Collections Towards a Description of the County of Devon, Sir John-William de la Pole (ed.), London, 1791, p.11
7. http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/mohun-reginald-i-15078-67
8. History of Parliament biography of Reginald Mohun (1507/8-67) of Hall