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DE BOHUN Margaret
Birth: 3 Apr 1311 Caldecote, Northamptonshire, England
Death: 16 Dec 1391 Exeter, Devonshire, England
Burial: Cathedral, Exeter, Devonshire, England
Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_de_Bohun,_Countess_of_Devon
Margaret de Bohun, Countess of Devon (3 April 1311 – 16 December 1391), was the
granddaughter of King Edward I and Eleanor of Castile, and the wife of Hugh
Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon (1303-1377). Her thirteen children included an
Archbishop of Canterbury and six knights, of whom two were founder knights of the
Order of the Garter. Unlike most women of her day, she received a classical education
and was a lifelong scholar and collector of books
Early life[edit]
Lady Margaret de Bohun was born on 3 April 1311 at Caldecote, Northamptonshire,
the third daughter and seventh child of Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford,
Lord Constable of England by his wife Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, the youngest daughter
of King Edward I and Eleanor of Castile. Her paternal grandparents were Humphrey de
Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford and Maud de Fiennes. She was named after her maternal
step-grandmother, Margaret of France, the second queen consort of Edward I.
Margaret was left an orphan shortly before her eleventh birthday. On 16 March 1322
at the Battle of Boroughbridge, her father was slain in an ambush by the Welsh. Her
mother had died six years previously in childbirth.
Together with her siblings she received a classical education under a Sicilian Greek,
Master Diogenes. As a result, Margaret became a lifelong scholar and avid book
collector.[citation needed]
On 11 August 1325, at the age of fourteen, Lady Margaret married Hugh de
Courtenay, the future 10th Earl of Devon, to whom she had been betrothed since 27
September 1314. Her dowry included the manor of Powderham near Exeter. The
marriage agreement was formally made on 28 February 1315, when she was not quite
four years old.[5] The first Earl of Devon promised that upon the marriage he would
enfeoff his son and Margaret jointly with 400 marks worth of land, assessed at its true
value, and in a suitable place.[6]
Margaret assumed the title of Countess of Devon on 23 December 1340.[7]
Her eldest brother John de Bohun (23 November 1306 – 20 January 1336) succeeded
as 5th Earl of Hereford in 1326, having married Alice Fitzalan, daughter of the 9th Earl
of Arundel in 1325. She had a younger brother William de Bohun (1312–1360), who
was created 1st Earl of Northampton in 1337 by King Edward III. He married Elizabeth
de Badlesmere, by whom he had two children. Margaret's elder sister Lady Eleanor de
Bohun (17 October 1304 – 7 October 1363), married in 1327, her first husband, James
Butler, 1st Earl of Ormonde. They were the ancestors of Anne Boleyn and Catherine
Parr.
Hugh and Margaret had thirteen children,[8] most of whom reached adulthood. Their
descendants include members of the British royal family and former British Prime
Minister, Sir Winston Churchill.
Their family chantry was expanded at Naish Priory in the family's manor of Coker in
Somerset, at the end of the 14th century when it was owned by her most notable son,
William Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury.
Margaret died on 16 December 1391 at the age of eighty. She is buried in Exeter
Cathedral.
Marriage and issue[edit]
On 11 August 1325, in accordance with a marriage agreement dated 27 September
1314, she married Hugh Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon (1303-1377), by whom she had
eight sons and five daughters:[9][10][11]
Sir Hugh Courtenay (1326/7-1348), KG, eldest son and heir, who died shortly before
Easter term, 1348, having predeceased 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.[12]
Thomas Courtenay (c. 1329/31 - 1381[13]), canon of Crediton and Exeter[14] and MP
for Devon in 1377.[15]
Sir Edward Courtenay (c.1331-1368/71), who was born about 1331 at Haccombe,
Devon, and died between 2 February 1368 and 1 April 1371, having predeceased his
father. He married Emeline Dawney (c. 1329 – 28 February 1371), daughter and
heiress of Sir John Dawney (d. 1346/47) of Mudford Terry, Somerset, and had issue:
[16] 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.[17]
Sir Hugh Courtenay of Haccombe and Bampton (1358-1425), whose grandson was
Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon (d. 1509).
Robert Courtenay.[10]
William Courtenay (c. 1342 – 31 July 1396)[14] Archbishop of Canterbury.
Sir Philip Courtenay (c. 1355 – 29 July 1406), KG, of Powderham, who married Ann
Wake, daughter of Sir Thomas Wake by Alice Patteshull, daughter of Sir John de
Patteshull.[18]
Sir Peter Courtenay (d. 2 February 1405), KG, 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.[19]
Humphrey Courtenay, who died young without issue.[20]
Margaret Courtenay, who married John de Cobham, 3rd Baron Cobham.[20]
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,[20] and secondly, Sir
Andrew Luttrell of Chilton, in Thorverton, Devon.[21]
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.
[20]
Anne Courtenay.[10]
Joan Courtenay, who married, before 1367, Sir John Cheverston (died c. 1375), by
whom she had no issue.[20]
Parents
DE BOHUN Humphrey (1275 - 16 Mar 1322)
PLANTAGENET Elizabeth (7 Aug 1282 - 5 May 1316)
Siblings
DE BOHUN Eleanor (17 Oct 1304 - 7 Oct 1363)
DE BOHUN Margaret (3 Apr 1311 - 16 Dec 1391)
DE BOHUN William (ABT 1312 - 16 Sep 1360)
Marriage To COURTENAY Hugh (12 Jul 1303 - 2 May 1377)
m. 11 Aug 1325
Notes
Parents
COURTENAY Hugh (14 Sep 1276 - 23 Dec 1340)
ST. JOHN Agnes (ABT 1275 - 11 Jun 1345)
Children by COURTENAY Hugh 12 Jul 1303 - 2 May 1377
COURTENAY Edward (ABT 1329 - ABT 1368)
COURTENAY Philip (ABT 1346 - 29 Jul 1406)
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