Hugh Courtenay (c.1345 – 20 February 1374) was an English soldier and

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

to the earldom of Devon.

Career

Hugh Courtenay was born about 1345, the only child of Sir Hugh Courtenay (22 March 1327 – after Easter term 1348) and

Elizabeth de Vere Elizabeth de Vere (died 14 or 16 August 1375) was the daughter of John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford and Maud de Badlesmere, and the wife of Sir Hugh Courtenay (died c. 1348), then John de Mowbray, 3rd Baron Mowbray, and then Sir William de Cossi ...

. He was the grandson of Hugh Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon (12 July 1303 – 2 May 1377), and became heir apparent to the earldom of Devon after the death of his father in 1348. Through his grandmother, Margaret de Bohun (3 April 1311 – 16 December 1391), he was a descendant of King

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vas ...

. Courtenay took part in the intervention in the

Castilian civil war The Castilian Civil War was a war of succession over the Crown of Castile that lasted from 1351 to 1369. The conflict started after the death of king Alfonso XI of Castile in March 1350. It became part of the larger conflict then raging betwee ...

Edward, the Black Prince Edward of Woodstock, known to history as the Black Prince (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), was the eldest son of King Edward III of England, and the heir apparent to the English throne. He died before his father and so his son, Richard II, suc ...

, and was knighted by the Prince at Vitoria in 1367, together with King Peter of Castile, Courtenay's brother-in-law,

Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent Thomas Holland, 2nd Earl of Kent (135025 April 1397) was an English nobleman and a councillor of his half-brother, King Richard II of England. Family and early life Thomas Holland was born in Upholland, Lancashire, in 1350. He was the eldest s ...

, and Courtenay's uncles, Peter Courtenay and Philip Courtenay. He also distinguished himself at the

Battle of Nájera The Battle of Nájera, also known as the Battle of Navarrete, was fought on 3 April 1367 to the northeast of Nájera, in the province of La Rioja, Castile. It was an episode of the first Castilian Civil War which confronted King Peter of Casti ...

on 3 April 1367. On 8 January 1371 he was summoned to Parliament by writ directed to ''Hugoni de Courteney le fitz'', whereby he is held to have become

Baron Courtenay The Courtenay barony was created in 1299, when Hugh de Courtenay was summoned to Parliament, thus becoming the first Baron Courtenay. He was subsequently made Earl of Devon in 1335. During his life, his son Hugh de Courtenay the younger, was s ...

. Courtenay died without issue on 20 February 1374 during the lifetime of his grandfather, Hugh Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon, and the earldom descended to Courtenay's cousin,

Edward de Courtenay, 11th Earl of Devon Edward de Courtenay, 3rd/11th Earl of Devon (c.1357 – 5 December 1419), known by the epithet the "Blind Earl", was the son of Sir Edward de Courtenay and Emeline Dawnay, and in 1377 succeeded his grandfather, Hugh Courtenay, 10th Earl of D ...

Marriages

Courtenay married firstly, Margaret de Bryan, daughter of Guy de Bryan and his first wife Joan, daughter of Sir John de Carew, and secondly, by

papal dispensation In the jurisprudence of the canon law of the Catholic Church, a dispensation is the exemption from the immediate obligation of law in certain cases.The Law of Christ Vol. I, pg. 284 Its object is to modify the hardship often arising from the ...

dated 5 September 1363, Maud Holland, daughter of

Thomas Holland, 1st Earl of Kent Thomas Holland, 2nd Baron Holand, and ''jure uxoris'' 1st Earl of Kent, KG (c. 131426 December 1360) was an English nobleman and military commander during the Hundred Years' War. By the time of the Crécy campaign, he had apparently lost one of ...

, and his wife,

Joan Joan may refer to: People and fictional characters * Joan (given name), including a list of women, men and fictional characters *: Joan of Arc, a French military heroine *Joan (surname) Weather events *Tropical Storm Joan (disambiguation), multip ...

, the daughter of

Edmund of Woodstock, Earl of Kent Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent (5 August 130119 March 1330), whose seat was Arundel Castle in Sussex, was the sixth son of King Edward I of England, and the second by his second wife Margaret of France, and was a younger half-brother o ...

. He had no issue by either wife. In Easter Week 1380, Maud Holland, remarried, at

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original c ...

, to Waleran, Count of Ligny and St Pol (d. 19 April 1415). Maud died before 13 April 1392, and was buried at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

on 23 April.; .

Footnotes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Courtenay, Hugh Hugh Hugh Hugh Hugh