COURTENAY, William (c.1429-85), of East Coker, Som. and Ilton and Powderham, Devon.

William Courtenay was born in about 1429 as eldest son and heir of (Sir) Philip Courtenay of Powderham, the head of the most important cadet branch of Devon’s comital family. His early career was shaped by his father’s close friendship with one of the leading men of his generation in south-western England, Sir William, later Lord Bonville. During the drawn-out minority of the natural leader of county society, Thomas Courtenay, earl of Devon, the two men came to dominate the political scene in Devon, as part of a larger circle of nobles around the steward of the young Henry VI’s household, Walter, Lord Hungerford, Sir Philip’s father-in-law. It was probably Hungerford influence that by 1446 had gained Courtenay entry to the royal household as one of the esquires of the hall and chamber, and it also serves to account for the young man’s first political appointment in September 1450 as a commissioner of arrest in Wiltshire in the aftermath of that year’s violent disturbances in the county. E101/409/16; 410/1, f. 30v; 410/3; 410/6, f. 40; 410/9. To further cement the alliance between the Courtenays and the Hungerford circle, William was married to Bonville’s daughter, Margaret, and the couple were established on the Courtenays’ Somerset manor of East Coker. No formal grant of the manor to William appears in the records, but as he presented to the church of East Coker in 1453, he must have been seised of property there at the time: Reg. Bekynton, i (Som. Rec. Soc. xlix), no. 745.

In the interim, relations between Lord Bonville and the young earl of Devon, who had been formally declared of age in 1435 and had begun to assert himself politically, steadily deteriorated, and in the first half of the 1450s erupted into open violence. In the first instance, it seems, Earl Thomas’s sabre-rattling that culminated in the siege of Taunton and the abortive assault on the earl of Wiltshire’s manor of Lackham passed Courtenay by. Before long, however, he was drawn into politics on a wider stage, as the broader disagreements of the lords found their outlet in the first battle of St. Albans, from which the supporters of the duke of York emerged victorious. Within days, a Parliament was summoned. Even in the south-west, political society was not as yet polarized beyond hope of a compromise, and whereas the electors of Devon returned Courtenay’s father alongside Sir Robert de Vere*, a younger brother of the earl of Oxford, who by marriage was allied to the comital Courtenays of Tiverton, in Somerset it was Courtenay himself who was chosen to ride to Westminster with the seasoned parliamentarian Alexander Hody*, a Middle Temple lawyer who had previously served as legal counsel to the earl of Devon and as steward to Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury, increasingly one of York’s key allies in his opposition to the court.

It is not clear what part Courtenay played in the deliberations of the Commons, or, indeed, how much of Parliament he was able to attend. During the summer prorogation the earl of Devon once again rallied his armed supporters and proceeded to unleash a concerted campaign of violence against his enemy, Lord Bonville, and the latter’s friends, including Sir Philip Courtenay, who when the Commons reassembled on 12 Nov. was under siege in his castle at Powderham on the Exe estuary. William’s whereabouts during these dramatic events are not known, but it is reasonable to suppose that he joined his father and father-in-law in their defence against the earl of Devon’s assault. In its bid to restore order the council and the duke of York, newly appointed Protector, took steps against both parties, and like other combatants Courtenay found himself eclipsed from office until he was able to procure a pardon in 1458. C67/42, m. 38.

Early in that year, the earl of Devon died, and was succeeded by his son, who by virtue of his marriage to Margaret of Anjou’s cousin possessed close links with the court party in which the queen was growing increasingly dominant. The Courtenays’ consequent political realignment forced Bonville also to reassess his position, and by the end of the 1450s he, and with him the Courtenays of Powderham, had become associated with the Yorkist cause. When the Yorkists assumed government after their victory at the battle of Northampton in July 1460, Courtenay was called upon to serve in local administration, albeit initially only as an ad-hoc commissioner. CPR, 1452-61, p. 652. The execution of his father-in-law Bonville at the queen’s behest after the second battle of St. Albans in February 1461 changed Courtenay’s position dramatically. The peer’s son and grandson had met their deaths alongside the duke of York at Wakefield the previous December, and only the life of Bonville’s infant great-grand-daughter Cecily now separated William’s wife from a great inheritance. In the first instance, however, Bonville’s death had left a gap in county society and administration that needed to be filled, and during the summer of 1461 Courtenay was added to the Somerset bench and commission of array, and in the spring of 1462 he became active as a justice of oyer and terminer across the counties of Wiltshire, Somerset and Dorset alongside John Stourton II*, Lord Stourton, and the young Humphrey Stafford IV*, Lord Stafford of Southwick, a former ward of Lord Bonville’s who had assumed his late guardian’s mantle in local society. KB9/21/28.

In 1463, Courtenay’s father, Sir Philip, died. CFR, xx. 124-5. Yet, the inheritance which now came to William was much diminished by the generous jointure controlled by his mother, which included not only the family seat of Powderham and 13 other manors in Devon, but also William’s own home at East Coker. CCR, 1461-8, pp. 222-3. Eventually, it seems, he came to an agreement with his mother which allowed him to take control of both Powderham and East Coker, although in return he had to concede to her other Devon properties worth over £13 p.a. C140/59/77; C67/46, m. 24; 48, m. 32; 51, m. 16. Other problems compounded Courtenay’s difficulties. Not only did it take until the early summer of 1465 for his mother’s jointure to be released from the King’s hands, but before his death, Sir Philip had entrusted many of his muniments to the custody of the Exeter lawyer John Netherton*, who even in the aftermath of Lady Elizabeth’s death in December 1476 was still refusing to return them to the heir. C1/56/221.

In spite of his reduced circumstances, Courtenay now assumed his father’s place in Devon society. He was knighted, perhaps even in his father’s lifetime, and took his seat on the local bench. In 1467 he was present in the county court on the occasion of the election of the knights of the shire for Edward IV’s third Parliament. C219/17/1, 3. Regional political alignment was more difficult. Following the death of William Neville, earl of Kent, in 1462, the King had proceeded to build up his favourite, Humphrey, Lord Stafford, as the dominant nobleman in the south-west. While it appears that at least some members of the old Bonville affinity, who perhaps remembered him from his days in Lord Bonville’s wardship, transferred their loyalty to him, the Courtenays of Powderham did not. Instead, Sir William and his brothers forged ties with a more powerful patron, the King’s teenage brother, George, duke of Clarence. This was to prove a wise choice when Clarence was persuaded to intervene on Courtenay’s part in a dispute with Sir John Halewell† over the manors which had come to the family from Sir John Chiverston† in the late fourteenth century. C4/14/56.

Yet, towards the end of the 1460s Clarence grew increasingly disaffected with his brother’s rule and in conjunction with his cousin, the earl of Warwick, he began to plot against Edward IV. It may have been suspicion of an involvement in such a plot that caused Courtenay to sue for a general pardon, which was granted in July 1468. C67/46, m. 24. Certainly, he had personal reasons for discontent: the attainder of the last Courtenay earl in the Parliament of 1461 had raised the Powderham Courtenays’ hopes that they might recover the manor of North Pool, of which they had been deprived by their kinsmen of the main line more than 60 years before, yet by 1468, when Sir William petitioned the King for redress, the manor was still in the Crown’s hands. CPR, 1467-77, pp. 127-8.

Matters did not come to a head until the spring of 1470. Throughout the summer and autumn of 1469 there had been popular uprisings, stirred up by Warwick and Clarence, in various parts of northern England, and in July Lord Stafford of Southwick, now elevated to the earldom of Devon, had lost his life while attempting to crush one of the rebel armies. Early in 1470, fresh disturbances were orchestrated, and this time – undoubtedly at Clarence’s bidding – the Courtenays did their part to raise the south-west. On 16 Mar. the King (himself bound for the north to quash the rebellion in that region) ordered John, Lord Dynham, and his brother-in-law Fulk Bourgchier, Lord Fitzwaryn, to arrest Sir William, his brothers Peter, Philip, Humphrey and Walter, and their cousin Sir Hugh Courtenay*, as well as other retainers. Yet, when the two lords reached Exeter, they found themselves trapped by Sir Hugh, who laid siege to the city and demanded their surrender. Two weeks later, Warwick and Clarence, having fled south after the military disaster at Empingham, themselves reached Exeter and raised the siege, only to flee for France five days later. The fate of the Courtenays is unknown, but it is probable that they joined their patron in exile, as on 25 Apr. the seizure was ordered of their possessions alongside those of Warwick, Clarence and other rebels. CPR, 1467-77, pp. 217, 218; H. Kleineke, ‘Exeter in the Wars of the Roses’, in The Fifteenth Cent. VII ed. Clark, 143-4; W.R. Harwood, ‘Courtenay Fam.’ (Univ. of Cambridge M.Litt. thesis, 1979), 86-87; PSO1/34/1782, 1782B.

Yet, within a few months the wheel of fortune had turned once again. Warwick and Clarence invaded England with French support, drove Edward IV into exile and returned Henry VI to the throne. Although the restoration of the Lancastrian line raised questions over Clarence’s long-term future, for the present his support was vital to the survival of the Readeption regime, and his retainers were thus entrusted with important roles, both at Westminster and in the localities. Thus, Peter Courtenay became the King’s secretary, and Sir Philip was made sheriff of Devon, while Sir William himself resumed his place on the Devon bench. In the longer run, it could be assumed that their cousin John Courtenay of Tiverton would return from exile to reclaim the earldom of Devon, but for the time being the Powderham Courtenays were dominant in Devon, and it was with them that the Exeter city authorities sought to ingratiate themselves by gifts of wine. Devon RO, Exeter city recs., receivers’ accts. 10-11 Edw. IV, m. 2.

This was to prove a shrewd investment, for by early 1471 Clarence had started to waver in his support for the Readeption government, and in April the intervention of their mother and sisters brought about his reconciliation with his brothers. As he switched sides once more, so did the Powderham Courtenays. As soon as 26 Apr. Sir William, who may have proved his reliability on the battlefield of Barnet, was prominent in the commissions of array issued for Cornwall and Devon, and it is probable that he and his brother Philip, who also served on the Devon commission, were present in the King’s host at Tewkesbury, where they would have found themselves opposed by their kinsmen of the Tiverton and Boconnoc lines of the Courtenays, with whom they had made common cause just weeks earlier. The events of the previous two years were set aside, and on 5 June Sir William was rewarded by a grant of custody of the former lands of Nicholas Carew ‘for his good service’. In July he was among the ten knights who publically swore allegiance to the infant prince of Wales, and the issue of letters of pardon for his disloyalty during the Readeption was thus a mere formality. CCR, 1468-76, no. 858; C67/48, m. 32; PSO1/34/1797.

In the years that followed, Courtenay and his brothers continued their close association with the duke of Clarence, CPR, 1467-77, p. 330. but while this connexion had seen them safely through the crisis years of 1469-71, it was to prove, at least temporarily, their undoing. In September 1474, probably in response to renewed rumours of possible plotting by Clarence, Sir William and his brother were once again removed from the Devon bench. C. Ross, Edw. IV, 192. While Sir William’s eldest son was sufficiently trusted to be appointed to the captaincy of Guernsey for life even in November 1477, on the eve of Clarence’s fall, he himself had to wait until 1480 before he was restored to the position of trust that the county bench represented. C76/161, m. 2. He may at this time have been serving as constable of Plympton castle (part of the former Courtenay estates settled on Clarence after 1471, and now in the King’s hands during the minority of the young earl of Warwick), for in 1480-1 he was fined for his failure to maintain the fortifications in good repair. SC6/1118/4.

For much of the 1470s Sir William seems to have been preoccupied with the consolidation of his estates. It was at this period that he brought a string of actions against local men for real or imagined trespasses on his property, CP40/830, rot. 15; 838, rot. 235; 866, rot. 144; KB27/845, rot. 95. and he also became embroiled in an acrimonious quarrel with the parson of his own church at Powderham, which had to be settled by the intervention of the dean of Exeter, Courtenay’s brother Peter, in December 1477. Devon RO, Courtenay (Moger) mss, D1508M/Moger/295. At the same time, he seems to have sought to round off his holdings with a series of land purchases. CP25(1)/46/92/36, 42. At the end of 1476 the death of his mother offered the prospect that he might at last reunite the family lands in his hands, C140/59/77. but, perhaps as a further consequence of his previous association with Clarence, it was only in February 1482 that he was granted licence to enter his full inheritance. CPR, 1476-85, p. 257.

In the autumn of that year Courtenay was pricked sheriff of Devon, an office in which he was twice confirmed under the seals of successive monarchs during one of the most turbulent years of the later fifteenth century. The crisis came in mid October 1483. Courtenay can hardly have been unaware of the groundswell of outrage at Richard III’s usurpation that found its outlet in the duke of Buckingham’s rebellion, since the Devon rebels included two of his brothers, Walter and Peter, by now bishop of Exeter. Sir William for his part remained loyal to Richard III, but seems to have secured few tangible rewards for his pains. It is generally assumed that it was Sir William, rather than his synonymous son, who in Mar. 1484 was granted an annuity of £20 for life, but crucially the recipient was not styled a knight: C. Ross, Ric. III, 110; CPR, 1476-85, p. 428. It is not known whether he was present at the decisive battle of Bosworth, and if so, which side he fought on. The claim that he deserted Ric. III for Henry Tudor (L. Gill, Ric. III and Buckingham’s Rebellion, 135) seems to be based on a confusion of Sir William of Powderham with his kinsman William Courtenay of Boconnoc, the eventual earl of Devon. On balance, it seems probable that he avoided the engagement, perhaps on grounds of failing health, for he was dead by 20 Sept., when (in one of the very first acts of his reign) Henry VII granted his eldest son livery of his estates. CPR, 1485-94, p. 9. The earliest letters patent under Henry VII’s great seal date from 18 Sept.

A prolific father like many of the Courtenays, Sir William had been able to contract advantageous marriages for his children. His heir, another William, married Cecily, daughter and heiress of Sir John Cheyne of Pinhoe, an old associate of Sir Philip Courtenay’s, in a match which had been long agreed between the two families. CAD, vi. C4663, C6409; J.S. Vivian, Vis. Devon, 246; Patronage, Crown and Provinces ed. Griffiths, 129; The Commons 1509-1558, i. 717; M. Cherry, ‘Crown and Political Community, Devon’ (Univ. of Wales, Swansea, Ph.D. thesis, 1981), 230. A younger son, Peter (d.1508), married Joan (d.1496), a daughter of Sir Thomas Beaumont, and widow of John Reigny. STAC1/1/14; CIPM Hen. VII, i. 1231. On chronological grounds, it seems improbable that Joan, successively wife of William Beaumont (d.1453) and Henry Bodrugan†, and mother of John Beaumont†, was Sir William’s daughter as claimed by Vivian, 66.

In their later years, Courtenay and his wife devoted particular attention to the rebuilding of the parish church of St. Clement at Powderham as a mausoleum for their family, even though they also had a private chapel at their manor-house. Almost entirely at their own cost they had a new aisle constructed and also rebuilt the main body of the church. Lambeth Palace Lib., Reg. Morton, f. 129v. No trace of Sir William’s tomb survives, although his and his wife’s arms can still be seen at the east end of the nave. N. Pevsner, Buildings of Eng.: Devon, 692. His widow, whom he had appointed his executrix, survived him for less than two years; E13/171, rot. 59d. writs of diem clausit extremum were issued in her name in October 1487. CFR, xxii. 151-2. Some 20 years later, in 1508, her daughter-in-law (Peter Courtenay’s second wife) in her own will provided for an annual obit for Sir William and Margaret in the chapel of St. Saviour at Dartmouth. PROB11/16, f. 36v. It was the younger William’s synonymous son who represented Devon in the Parliament of 1529. The Commons, 1509-1558, i. 717.