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Birth:          14 Sep 1276 Okehampton, Devonshire, England
Death:          23 Dec 1340 Tiverton, Devonshire, England

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_de_Courtenay,_1st/9th_Earl_of_Devon
Hugh de Courtenay, 1st/9th Earl of Devon (14 September 1276 – 23 December 1340)
[1] was the son of Sir Hugh de Courtenay (died 1292), feudal baron of Okehampton in 
Devon, by his wife Eleanor le Despenser (died 1328), sister of Hugh le Despenser, 1st 
Earl of Winchester. Forty-one years after the death of his cousin, Isabel de Forz, suo 
jure 8th Countess of Devon (1237–1293) (née de Redvers, eldest daughter of Baldwin 
de Redvers, 6th Earl of Devon (1217-1245)), letters patent were granted by King 
Edward III, dated 22 February 1335, declaring him Earl of Devon, and stating that he 
'should assume such title and style as his ancestors, Earls of Devon, had wont to do'.
[2] This thus made him 1st Earl of Devon, if the letters patent are deemed to have 
created a new peerage, otherwise 9th Earl of Devon if it is deemed a restitution of the 
old dignity of the de Redvers family and he is deemed to have succeeded the suo jure 
8th Countess. Authorities differ in their opinions[3] and thus alternative ordinal 
numbers exist for this Courtenay earldom.
Early life[edit]

Hugh de Courtenay was born 14 September 1276, the son of Sir Hugh de Courtenay 
(died 28 February 1292) feudal baron of Okehampton in Devon, by his wife Eleanor le 
Despenser (died 30 September 1328), sister of Hugh le Despenser, 1st Earl of 
Winchester, an important adviser to King Edward II. He was the grandson of John de 
Courtenay (died c. 3 May 1274)[4] of Okehampton by Isabel de Vere, daughter of 
Hugh de Vere, 4th Earl of Oxford. John's father, Robert de Courtenay (died 1242), the 
son of Reginald de Courtenay (died 1190) by Hawise de Curci (died 1219), the heiress 
of the feudal barony of Okehampton),[5] had married Mary de Redvers (sometimes 
called "de Vernon"), the daughter of William de Redvers, 5th Earl of Devon (died 
1217).

On 28 February 1292, about the time of his marriage, Hugh succeeded to the 
Okehampton estate and to those de Redvers estates that had not yet been alienated 
to the Crown. He may then have been styled Earl of Devon, the first of the Courtenay 
family, although was not recognised in the de facto Earldom until 1333.

Campaign against Scotland, 1297–1300[edit]

He did homage to Edward I on 20 June 1297 and was granted his own livery. At the 
time the King was with his army crossing the Tweed into Scotland. It is probable that 
the honour was in acknowledgement of Hugh's military achievements. That July the 
English defeated and humiliated the Scots at Irvine. However the following year the 
tables were turned on the advent of the remarkable campaign of William Wallace.

The following February 6, 1298 he was summoned as a Lord in Parliament, and sat 
throughout the reign of Edward II and into the Mortimer Regency for Edward's son. He 
remained an important noble at Parliaments into the reign of Edward III. He was 
summoned as Hugoni de Curtenay with the confusing suffix of senior being known as 
Lord Courtenay.

Courtenay joined King Edward at the long siege of Caerlaverock Castle, just over the 
Solway Firth for a fortnight in July 1300. He proved himself a fine soldier and loyal 
adherent to the English crown. He had not been present at the disastrous encounter 
outside Stirling Castle in 1298, during which half the English contingent were killed, 
including commander Hugh Cressingham. But Edward was determined to march into 
Ayrshire to devastate Robert Bruce's estates. Unfortunately the English army melted 
away into the forests as the army moved further northwards. Courtenay may have been 
with the English King when he sat down in Sweetheart Abbey to receive Robert 
Winchelsey, Archbishop of Canterbury who had travelled north with a demanding 
missive from Pope Boniface to cease hostilities. The King could not ignore this order. 
In September he disbanded troops and withdrew over the Solway Firth to Carlisle. The 
campaign had failed due to a shortage of money, so Parliament was recalled for 
January 1301. Before returning to London the English drew up a six months truce.

Parliament of 1301[edit]

Parliament met at Lincoln. The agenda included redrafting the Royal Forest Charter, 
which had no precedent since it was first introduced in the reign of Henry II, 150 
years earlier. Local juries were expected to "perambulate the forests" to gather 
evidence. But the King needed money and was required by Parliament to surrender his 
absolute authority and ownership of what became community forests.

Campaigns against Scotland, 1301–1308[edit]

In 1306 the Prince of Wales was despatched into Scotland; the vanguard led by 
Aymer de Valence, the King's half uncle. On 22 May, Courtenay was knighted by the 
Prince, presumably for his efforts against the Scots. In June the English occupied 
Perth. On 19 June, Valence, who had cut a swathe through the Lowlands fell on the 
Scots army at Methven in the early dawn. The Bruce fled into the hills. Edward I was 
merciless as many prisoners were punished. That autumn the army returned to 
Hexham. The war was all but over: there were however sieges at Mull of Kintyre and 
Kildrummy Castle, Aberdeenshire. Edward I committed many atrocities rounding up the 
Scots aristocracy and their women.

Then as Robert Bruce returned from exile in Ireland the English army started losing 
battles. The ailing King had one last campaign in which Courtenay played a major part. 
Struggling into the saddle to the Solway Firth, Edward I died at Burgh-on-Sands 
awaiting a crossing. In 1308 a new campaign was sent to quell Robert Bruce, and 
Courtenay was made a knight banneret, one of the King's elite household.[6]

During the reign of Edward II he was made a Lord Ordainer, one of the ruling council 
in the Lords. He was appointed to the King's Council on 9 Augustus 1318. He was 
appointed the Warden of the coast of Devon and Cornwall in 1324 and then again in 
1336, because his estates stretched across what is now Exmoor and Dartmoor. But he 
took the honours reluctantly and played a guarded game with King and Parliament. A 
veteran campaigner he aimed to ingratiate himself with the young Edward III, and so 
refused the Third Penny from the Exchequer. He was investigated; and on 22 February 
1335 elevated to the Earldom of Devon, restored to his ancestral line.

Forty-one years after the death of his cousin, Isabel de Fortibus, Countess of Devon, 
letters patent were issued dated 22 February 1335 declaring him Earl of Devon, and 
stating that he 'should assume such title and style as his ancestors, Earls of Devon, 
had wont to do'.[7] He was the 9th Earl of Devon, but the first in the Courtenay line.

Family[edit]

He married Agnes de Saint John, daughter of John de Saint John, Baron St John, of 
Basing, Hampshire, by Alice, daughter of Sir Reynold Fitz Peter.[8] They had four sons 
and two daughters:
John Courtenay (1300–1349), Prior of Lewes and Abbot of Tavistock.
Hugh de Courtenay, 2nd/10th Earl of Devon (1303-1377), second son, who married 
Margaret de Bohun, daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford by Princess 
Elizabeth, daughter of King Edward I and Eleanor of Castile.
Robert Courtenay (1309–1334), 3rd son, of Moreton Hampstead in Devon.
Sir Thomas Courtenay (1315-1356), 4th son, of Wootton Courtenay in Somerset, and 
of Woodhuish, Brixham[9] in Devon, a military commander against the French, who 
died in 1356,[10] the date of the Battle of Poitiers. He married a great Somerset 
heiress, Muriel de Moels, the eldest of the two daughters and co-heiresses of John 
Moels, 4th Baron Moels, feudal baron of North Cadbury in Somerset. His wife's share 
of her paternal inheritance included the manors of Kings Carswell and Dunterton[11] in 
Devon, and Blackford, Holton and Lattiford in Somerset.[12]
Eleanor Courtenay (c.1309 – c.1330), who married John de Grey, 3rd Baron Grey of 
Codnor.
Elizabeth Courtenay (born c.1313), who married Bartholomew de Lisle.

Courtenay died at Tiverton, Devon, 23 December 1340, and was buried at Cowick 
Priory near Exeter on 5 Feb 1341.[8]

Parents
DE COURTENAY Hugh (25 Mar 1251 - 28 Feb 1292)
LE DESPENCER Eleanor (ABT 1249 - 30 Sep 1328)

Siblings
COURTENAY Eleanor (ABT 1266 - Sep 1308)
COURTENAY Hugh (14 Sep 1276 - 23 Dec 1340)

Marriage To ST. JOHN Agnes (ABT 1275 - 11 Jun 1345)
    m. ABT 1292 

Notes

Parents
ST. JOHN John (ABT 1225 - 29 Sep 1302)
FITZ PIERS Alice (ABT 1240 - )

Children by ST. JOHN Agnes ABT 1275 - 11 Jun 1345
COURTENAY Hugh (12 Jul 1303 - 2 May 1377)
COURTENAY Thomas (1315 - 1356)

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