Hugh de Courtenay, 2nd/10th Earl of Devon

Sir Hugh de Courtenay (12 July 1303 – 2 May 1377), 2nd Earl of Devon, 2nd Baron Courtenay, feudal baron of Okehampton and feudal baron of Plympton, played an important role in the Hundred Years War in the service of King Edward III. His chief seats were Tiverton Castle and Okehampton in Devon. The ordinal number given to the early Courtenay Earls of Devon depends on whether the earldom is deemed a new creation by the letters patent granted 22 February 1334/5 or whether it is deemed a restitution of the old dignity of the de Redvers family. Authorities differ in their opinions, and thus alternative ordinal numbers exist, given here.

Hugh de Courtenay was born on 12 July 1303, the second son of Hugh de Courtenay, 9th Earl of Devon (1276–1340), by his wife Agnes de Saint John, daughter of Sir John de Saint John of Basing, Hampshire. He succeeded to the earldom on the death of his father in 1340. His elder brother, John de Courtenay (c.1296-11 July 1349), Abbot of Tavistock, as a cleric was unmarried and although he succeeded his father as feudal baron of Okehampton, did not succeed to the earldom.

By his marriage to Margaret Bohun in 1325, Courtenay acquired the manor of Powderham; it was later granted by Margaret to one of her younger sons, Sir Philip Courtenay, whose family has occupied it until the present day, and who were recognised in 1831 as having been de jure Earls of Devon from 1556.

On 20 January 1327 Courtenay was made a knight banneret. In 1333 both he and his father were at the Battle of Halidon Hill. He was summoned to Parliament on 23 April 1337 by writ directed to Hugoni de Courteney juniori, by which he is held to have become Baron Courtenay during the lifetime of his father. In 1339 he and his father were with the forces which repulsed a French invasion of Cornwall, driving the French back to their ships. The 9th Earl died 23 December 1340 at the age of 64. Courtenay succeeded to the earldom, and was granted livery of his lands on 11 January 1341.

In 1342 the Earl was with Edward III's expedition to Brittany. Richardson states that the Earl took part on 9 April 1347 in a tournament at Lichfield. However, in 1347 he was excused on grounds of infirmity from accompanying the King on an expedition beyond the seas, and about that time was also excused from attending Parliament, suggesting the possibility that it was the Earl's eldest son and heir, Hugh Courtenay, who had fought at the Battle of Crecy on 26 August 1346, who took part in the tournament at Lichfield.

In 1350 the King granted the Earl permission to travel for a year, and in that year the house of the White Friars was built for him in London. In 1352 he was appointed Joint Warden of Devon and Cornwall, and returned to Devon. In 1361 he and his wife were legatees in the will of her brother, Humphrey de Bohun, 6th Earl of Hereford, which greatly increased his land holdings.

Courtenay made an important contribution to the outcome of the Battle of Poitiers in 1356. The Black Prince had sent the baggage train under Courtenay to the rear, which proved to be a wise manoeuvre as the long trail of wagons and carts blocked the narrow bridge and the Frenchmen's escape route. Courtenay played little part in the battle as a result of his defensive role. Courtenay retired with a full pension from the King. In 1373 he was appointed Chief Warden of the Royal Forests of Devon, the income of which in 1374 was assessed by Parliament at £1500 per annum. He was one of the least wealthy of the English earls, and did not compare in this respect with his much wealthier fellow warrior lords such as Arundel, Suffolk, and Warwick. He had nevertheless a retinue of 40 knights, esquires and lawyers in Devon. He also held property by entail, including five manors in Somerset, two in Cornwall, two in Hampshire, one in Dorset and one in Buckinghamshire. The earl had stood as patron in the career of John Grandisson, Bishop of Exeter. He supported the taking-on of debt to build churches in the diocese of Exeter.

He died at Exeter 2 May 1377, and was buried in Exeter Cathedral on the same day. His left a will dated 28 Jan 1391.

On 11 August 1325, in accordance with a marriage agreement dated 27 September 1314, Courtenay married Margaret de Bohun (d. 16 December 1391), eldest surviving daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, by Elizabeth, daughter of King Edward I, by whom he had eight sons and five daughters:

• Sir Hugh Courtenay, KG, eldest son and heir, who died shortly before Easter term, 1348, predeceasing his father. He married, before 3 September 1341, Elizabeth de Vere (d. 16 August 1375), daughter of John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford, and Maud de Badlesmere, daughter of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere, by whom he had an only son, Hugh Courtenay, 3rd Baron Courtenay, (d. without issue 20 February 1374). After the death of Sir Hugh Courtenay, his widow, Elizabeth, married successively John de Mowbray, 3rd Baron Mowbray (d. 4 October 1361), and Sir William de Cossington.
• Thomas Courtenay ( born c.1329-31), canon of Crediton and Exeter.
• Sir Edward Courtenay of Godlington, who was born about 1331 at Haccombe, Devon, and died between 2 February 1368 and 1 April 1371, predeceasing his father. He married Emeline Dawney (c.1329 – 28 February 1371), daughter and heiress of Sir John Dawney (d.1346/7) of Mudford Terry, Somerset, and had issue:
  • Edward Courtenay, 11th Earl of Devon (d.1419), who married Maud Camoys. The earldom remained in their descendants until their great-grandson, Thomas Courtenay, 14th Earl of Devon, was beheaded at York on 3 April 1461 after the Battle of Towton, dying without issue. All his honours were forfeited by attainder, and the earldom eventually passed, after a brief period of confusion during the Wars of the Roses (for which see Earl of Devon), by a new creation in 1485 to Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon (d.1509), the grandson of Sir Hugh Courtenay of Haccombe and Bampton (1358-1425), brother of the 11th Earl.
  • Sir Hugh Courtenay of Haccombe and Bampton (1358-1425), whose grandson was Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon (d.1509).
• Robert Courtenay of Moreton.
• William Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury, (c.1342 – 31 July 1396).
• Sir Philip Courtenay (c.1355 – 29 July 1406) of Powderham, who married Ann Wake, daughter of Sir Thomas Wake by Alice Patteshull, daughter of Sir John de Patteshull.
• Sir Peter Courtenay (d. 2 February 1405) of Hardington Mandeville, Somerset, who married Margaret Clyvedon, widow of Sir John de Saint Loe (d. 8 November 1375), and daughter and heiress of John de Clyvedon. His monumental brass, much worn, but still showing the arms of Courtenay impaling Bohun, may be seen in the south aisle, Exeter Cathedral.
• Humphrey Courtenay, who died young without issue.
• Margaret Courtenay (1326-2 Aug 1385), who married John de Cobham, 3rd Baron Cobham.
• Elizabeth Courtenay (d. 7 August 1395), who married firstly, Sir John de Vere (d. before 23 June 1350) of Whitchurch, Buckinghamshire, eldest son and heir apparent of John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford, by Maud de Badlesmere, and secondly, Sir Andrew Luttrell of Chilton, in Thorverton, Devon.
• Katherine Courtenay (d. 31 December 1399), who married, before 18 October 1353, Thomas Engaine, 2nd Baron Engaine (d. 29 June 1367), by whom she had no issue.
• Anne Courtenay.
• Joan Courtenay, who married, before 1367, Sir John Cheverston (died c.1375), by whom she had no issue.