Hugh Courtenay

Sir Hugh I Courtenay (after 1358 – 5 or 6 March 1425), of Haccombe in Devon, was Sheriff of Devon for 1418/19 and was thrice elected knight of the shire for Devon in 1395, 1397 and 1421. He was a grandson of Hugh de Courtenay, 2nd/10th Earl of Devon (1303–1377), was the younger brother of Edward de Courtenay, 3rd/11th Earl of Devon (1357–1419), "The Blind Earl", and was the grandfather of Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon (d.1509), KG, created Earl of Devon in 1485 by King Henry VII. He was the link between the senior line of the Courtenay Earls of Devon made extinct following the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471 (his elder brother's line) and the post-Wars of the Roses creation of a new Earldom for his grandson made in 1485 by King Henry VII. Origins Hugh Courtenay was born in 1358, the younger of two sons of Sir Edward de Courtenay (d. between 2 February 1368 –1 April 1371) of Goodrington, Devon, by his wife Emeline (or Emme) Dawney (or Dauney, Daunay, etc.) (c.1329 – 28 February 1371/2), daughter and heiress of Sir John Dawnay (d.1346/7) of Sheviock in Cornwall, Mudford Terry and Hinton in Somerset by his wife Sybil Treverbyn. Emmeline Dauney was a great heiress who brought to her husband several manors and estates Hugh Courtenay was the grandson of Hugh de Courtenay, 2nd/10th Earl of Devon (1303–1377). At the 2nd/10th Earl's death on 2 May 1377, Courtenay's elder brother, Edward, became the 3rd/11th Earl of Devon. Maternal inheritance His elder brother was due to inherit the earldom and the vast Courtenay estates under primogeniture or entail, and thus as the second son with no prospective patrimony, Hugh Courtenay was given various estates by his mother, the heiress Emmeline Dauney. The practice of raising up a younger son in this way was common in the case of a wealthy heiress who married an already wealthy husband, and frequently the younger son beneficiary was required to adopt the maternal surname and armorials. Furthermore, his mother requested his elder brother the Earl to give him the estates of "Goderington" (Goodrington), Stancombe (alias Slancomb (sic) Dawney) and South Allington, which he duly performed by deed of indenture dated 1414. Career Courtenay's elder brother, Edward Courtenay, 11th Earl of Devon (c.1357 – 5 December 1419), succeeded to the earldom of Devon in 1377, and by 1384 Hugh was serving as one of his brother's esquires.