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Catherine COURTENAY
A Courtenay of the cadet line of the
Earls of Devon at Powderham
A Courtenay of the cadet line of the
Earls of Devon at Powderham
Sir Phillip Courtenay of Powderham was the senior member of a junior branch of the powerful Courtenay family, who in 1487 became Earls of Devon.
In about 1426 he was married to Elizabeth Hungerford, daughter of Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford, Speaker of the House of Commons, Steward of the Household to Kings Henry V and Henry VI, and Lord High Treasurer.
Phillip had been badly treated by his distant cousin Thomas de Courtenay, 5th Earl of Devon (1414–1458), whose seat was at Tiverton Castle, and during the turbulent and lawless era of the Wars of the Roses, he supported the challenge against the earl, for local supremacy in Devon, put up by the Lancastrian courtier, Sir William Bonville (1392–1461), of Shute.
Sir Philip's eldest son and heir Sir William Courtenay (d.1485) had married Bonville's daughter Margaret, cementing the alliance between the two men. On 3 November 1455 Thomas de Courtenay, 5th Earl of Devon (1414–1458) at the head of a private army of 1,000 men seized control of Exeter and its royal castle, the stewardship of which was sought by Bonville, and laid siege to nearby Powderham for two months. Lord Bonville attempted to raise the siege and approached from the east, crossing the River Exe, but was unsuccessful and was driven back by the Earl's forces. Sir Philip otherwise played a limited role in the Bonville-Courtenay feud. On 15 December 1455 the Earl of Devon and Lord Bonville met decisively at the Battle of Clyst Heath, where Bonville was defeated and after which the Earl sacked and pillaged Shute.
Sir Philip swore fealty to King Edward IV (1461-1483) as an MP at Parliament.
Sir Edward Courtenay cousin and husband of his daughter Elizabeth took part in the Lancastrian revolt of 1483 with other nobles supporting Henry Tudor, Duke of Richmond . He fled to Brittany and was attainted in 1484. He returned to England and took part in the battle of Bosworth & was created Earl of Devon by Henry VII.
On the extinction of the senior line whose seat was at Tiverton Castle, the Powderham branch inherited the Earldom of Devon.
Phillip Courtenay and Elizabeth Hungerford had seven sons and four daughters:
Sir William Courtenay (c.1428 – September 1485) of Powderham, eldest son and heir, who married Margaret Bonville, daughter of William Bonville,1st Baron Bonville (died 1461).
Sir Philip Courtenay of Molland (died 7 December 1489), second son, MP, Sheriff of Devon in 1470, whose daughter Elizabeth became the wife of her cousin Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon (by the 1485 creation).
The Devon manor of Molland was given to him by his mother who had herself been given it as her marriage portion by her brother Robert Hungerford, 2nd Baron Hungerford (died 1459) who had himself received it from his wife Margaret de Botreaux, daughter and sole heiress of William de Botreaux, 3rd Baron Botreaux (died 1462).
The family of Courtenay of Molland continued at Molland until the death of the last in the male line in 1732.
Peter Courtenay (died 22 September 1492), Bishop of Exeter and Bishop of Winchester.
Sir Walter Courtenay (died 7 November 1506), who married Alice Colbroke, widow of John Vere (died before 15 March 1488), son of Sir Robert Vere (1410-1461), of Haccombe, Devon, by Joan Courtenay (died before 3 August 1465), widow of Sir Nicholas Carew (died before 20 April 1448), and daughter of Sir Hugh Courtenay by Philippa Archdekne.
Sir Edmund Courtenay, who married Jane Devioke, dau. of John Deviock of Deviock near St Germans
Humphrey Courtenay Esq. Who married Elizabeth Pomeroy daughter of Sir Henry & Alice Raleigh and sister of St Clere Pomeroy
Sir John Courtenay.
Their daughters were
Isabel Courtenay
Anne Courtenay, who married Sir Thomas Grenville.
Elizabeth Courtenay, who married thrice:
Firstly to Sir James Luttrell (1426/7-1461) of Dunster Castle, Somerset. Her ledger stone displaying the image of a lady, survives in Dunster Church.
Secondly to Sir Humphrey Audley.
Thirdly to Thomas Malet
Philippa Courtenay, who married Sir Thomas Fulford (d.1489) of Fulford, Devon, whose step-father Sir William Huddesfield (died 1499) was the husband of sister Katherine Courtenay.
Katherine Courtenay (died 12 January 1515), who married thrice:
Firstly Sir Stclere Pomeroy (died after the Battle of Tewkesbury in May 1471), without issue
There are no recorded children in the 9 years of marriage of St Clere & his wife Catherine married in about 1463 , This may possibly due to St Clere being away on military service but it seems to me more likely the age of his wife who may have been as young as 12 or so when she was married off to StClere. Husbands sometimes waited until she was 16 before consummating the marriage, . It happened.
After St Cleres death she married twice more.
Her second marriage was to Sir Thomas Rogers, when she was about 21 or 22, was to,Thomas Rogers of Smallbroke born about 1438 son of Thomas Rogers of Bristol, He became a Serjeant-at-law and also a Justice of the Peace for Wiltshire from 1461. He was an MP for Marlborough 1472-5 & barrister & JP for Wiltshire Issue 2 sons George Rogers of Langport (c.1475 -1524). & John Rogers. Thomas died 3 October 1478, buried Holy Trinity Church, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire.
When Katherine was about 30 she made a third marriage. This was to Sir William Huddesfield by whom she had 2 daughters. He died 23 June 1499
William Huddersfield of Shillingford St. George was a Privy Councillor & Attorney General to King Edward IV. His monumental brass exists in Shillingford Church (with a copy rubbing framed in Powderham Castle Chapel) showing him dressed as a knight in armour, with sword and spurs. He is bare-headed, and wears over his armour a tabard, on which is embroidered the arms of Huddesfield: Argent, a fess between three boars passant sable, on the fess a crescent for difference.
Katherine Courtenay widow of Sir St Clere Pomeroy & Sir Thomas Rogers asked for burial at Greyfriars in Exeter,"before St Francis beside the High Altar" but evidence suggests she was buried at Shillingford alongside her 3rd husband. Sir William Huddersfield.
There is a brass plaque above a tomb but the inscription is missing although, a shield with the arms of Huddesfield impaling Courtney in included.
An record confirms that the tomb is that of Sir William Huddisfield, Katherines 3rd husband although it does not mention Katherine however a stained glass window above mentions. Willhemi Huddesfield militis et Katharinae uxorid eius.
He kneels before a prie dieu, on which is an open book, and on the floor by his side lie his gauntlets, and helmet with mantling and crest, a boar rampant.
Katherine his wife kneels behind the knight. She wears a pedimental head dress and lappets, gown, ornamented girdle, with dependant pomander. Over this she wears a robe of estate, on which is her arms: Or, three torteaux a label of three, for Courtenay.
Behind her kneels her only son by her 2nd husband, George Rogers, and following them her two daughters, by Sir William Huddesfield, in similar costume to their mother, Elizabeth Poyntz, and Katherine Carew.
There is a monumental brass in Shillingford St George Church, Devon to Sir William Huddesfield (d.1499) and his wife Katherine Courtenay, daughter of Sir Philip II Courtenay (d.1463) of Powderham.
Katherine COURTENAY widow of St Clere Pomeroy asked to be buried along side ST Clere at Greyfriars in Exeter, "before St Francis beside the High Altar", as was the custom for ladies who made several marriages to be buried with their first husband..
Grey Friars was just outside the city walls on the south west corner of the city, where inthe C19th catacombes were built to contain dissenters
This suggests that St Clere was brought home after the Battle of Tewkesbury in May 1471 & buried the Grey Friars probably in a family tomb. there. with friars paid to say prayers for their souls
Heritage Gateway gives us this - A convent of Franciscans or Grey Friars was established in Exeter before the middle of the 13th century for a deed of 1240 mentions the "Domics Fratram Minorum". From several documents it is certain that the convent was originally situated in an area behind St. Nicholas's Priory and behind the North and West Gates, viz: between Snayle Tower and the Kings Highway in Bretayne now called Bartholomew Street. (
In the 1290's the Friary was moved to a new site outside the South Gate between Holloway Street and the River Exe where work on the new church dedicated to John the Baptist was in progress in 1303.
The brutal reality of 15th Century life
Upcott Barton, about 1½ miles north of the church at Stockleigh Pomeroy. It was the seat of the Upcotts in Henry III's time.
By the early 15th century Upcot Barton had come to Nicholas Radford a lawyer of considerable standing in the West Country, especially in Devon where he had served on the bench for over 30 years. He lived with his invalid wife Thomasina, who had suffered a ‘sore falle of hire horce’ some years before, at Upcott Barton.
This which is now a farmhouse, retaining considerable traces of its former status of "mansion."
When it was listed by English Heritage on 21 February 1977 it was described as a late medieval derelict farmhouse. Today it has a new life)
Nicholas Radford was the tenant of Upcott under the Courtenay Earls of Devon. In the feudal era a tenant was obliged by the terms of his tenure to remain loyal to his overlord. Radford however found himself in the situation of acting as lawyer to William Bonville, 1st Baron Bonville, of Shute, the chief enemy of his overlord Thomas de Courtenay, 5th Earl of Devon.
On the night of 23 Oct. 1455 Radford was wakened by the noise of the arrival at his manor-house of the earl’s eldest son, Sir Thomas Courtenay, at the head of an armed band some 95 strong.
Courtenay demanded that Radford should come down and speak with him, and upon receiving his promise as a knight and gentleman that no harm should befall him, Radford complied and opened the gates. Courtenay then ‘sotillye helde’ him talking and drinking while his men ransacked the house and its coffers, robbing Radford of £300 in money, and jewels, bedding, furs, books and chapel ornaments worth 1,000 marks, which they carried off on six of his horses, and heaving his invalid wife Thomasina Radford out of bed and Radford was then struck down by one of Courtenays men and left
The following Monday (27 Oct.) Henry Courtenay, Radford’s godson, rode to the chapel at Upcott where the body lay, conducted a travesty of a coroner’s inquest and forced the deceased servants to bear his body to the church of Cheriton Fitzpaine. The corpse of Nicholas Radford was pitched naked into a grave and the gravestones which Radford had bought for his tomb were thrown on top crushing the body beyond all recognition.
The affair was not over yet, for on 1 Nov. Earl Thomas himself, at the head of 1,000 men whom he assembled at Tiverton, marched on Exeter where, having forced the guards to give up the keys of the gates and the dean to open the cathedral doors, they bore away all they could find of Radford’s valuables in the city.
One of the motives for Radford’s murder may have been his wealth. By 1431 he had purchased land in Grantland, North Yeo, Babbadon and Cheriton Fitzpaine, as well as the manors of Cadeleigh, Poughill and Ford, which he placed in the hands of trustees early in 1455.
He had already entrusted the dean and chapter of Exeter with gold and silver plate worth £600 together with £700 in cash, and he also possessed more plate, jewels and money valued at £700 which were kept in his house in the city.
Following the murder the Bonville–Courtenay feud was finally ended at the Battle of Clyst Heath (1455) at which Bonville was defeated by Courtenay's private army.
In a petition addressed to Henry VI after his horrific death, it was said that Radford had been ‘oon of the moste notable and famous apprentice of your lawe’.
He held the royal council, as joint steward with John Copplestone of the estates of the earldom of Devon during the minority of the heir, and he also held courts in the name of the widowed countess. He was a royal commissioner, with Sir Philip Courtenay of Powderham in 1427 ....and came into contact with other lawyers such as John Fortescue and John Hody , both future chief justices of the King’s bench.
Kathrine Courtenay Born about 1450 died 1515
Wife of 1st of St Clere Pomeroy — married about 27 Sep 1463 age about 12. He died May 1471 after the Battle of Tewkesbury
2ndly Wife Thomas Rogers Esq. — married before 10 Jul 1478 He Died 1479
3rdly Wife of William Huddesfield — married after 1479 at Powderham, Devon,Died 1499. Issie a son William
IPM WILLIAM HUDDESFELD, knight. Writ 20 June, 14 Henry VII;IPM 22 October 1499 , 15 Henry VII
'Huddersfield died Sunday before Midsummer last. Katharine wife of Edmund Carewe, knight, and Elizabeth Huddesfeld, are his daughters and heirs, aged 21 and more and 17 and more respectively.' ( Note Midsummer was Thursday 24th June 1599 therefore he died 20th June; same date as writ )
Mother of George Rogers & John Rogers & Elizabeth (Huddesfield) Poyntz
Katherine Courtenay Huddesfeld of Devon, died on the 12th January 1515.
Her will was written on the 21s November 1510. She styled herself as Dame Kateryn, Lady Huddesfeld, widow. She asked for masses to be said for her at Greyfriars Exeter and to be buried there. This long vanished friary was tucked away in south-west corner of the Exeter city along side the city wall from 1303 until the Dissolution in the mid C16th. Her mass book was to be given to the churchwardens at Bradford, Wiltshire and they were asked to pray for her soul and the soule of her 'sometyme husband' Thomas Rogers.Katherine also wanted a stone to be laid on his tomb. Katherine left 'stuff' that remained at her 'place' in Birport (Bridport), Dorset to her daughter Elizabeth Poyntz. There was some previous agreement about this matter but Katherine wrote that if Elizabeth or her husband Antony vexed, troubled or sued the executors then the bequest was to go to Katherine's son George.
Katherine bequeathed to William Rogers, son of Thomas a 'standyng cuppe of sylver and gilt with a cover with dragon wynges' his brother John received a 'flatte cup of silver with with a cover of myn owne armes'
She gave to her grandaughter Kateryn (daughter of George Rogers, my son) 20 marks. Her two other grandchildren Edward and Elizabeth Rogers were together with their father George received the remainder of Katharines estate and were made executors. Probate was granted in February 1514/15.
Although she asked for burial at Greyfriars in Exeter, evidence points to her burial at Shillingford alongside her last husband. The brass pictured on this page names her and is placed above a tomb with a missing inscription, however it bears a shield with the arms of Huddesfield impaling Courtney. An earlier record written by Westcote in 1630 records the inscription confirming that the tomb was that of Sir William Huddisfield. Though there was no mention in the inscription of Katherine, stained glass above mentioned ' Willhemi Huddesfeild militis et Katharinae uxorid eius.'
Sources
1. ↑ Harwood, H. W. Forsyth ed The Genealogist New Series, volume 29, (1913) p 134 https://archive.org/stream/genealogist2919selb#page/n409/mode/2up Archive Books]Huddesfeld Katherine Widow ob 12 Jan 7 Henry 8- Inq at Totten Magna 6 Oct, 7 Henry 8 -Devon George Rogers s & h aet 30 yrs
2. ↑ Probable original IPMs :National Archives, Kew, Surrey England, :References: C 142/30/14and57, E 150/155/7and8 Description: Huddesfeld, Katharine: Devon Date: 7 Hen. VIII.
3. ↑ :National Archives, Kew, Surrey, England. PROB 11/18/20, Will of Dame Kateryn Lady Huddesfeld, Widow .Probate Date February 1514 transcript Helen Ford, freespace page
4. ↑ W.H. H. Rogers, Rogers-Courtenay-Huddesfield- of Bradford-on-Avon, Wilts; Cannington Somerset; and Shillingford, Devon. Wiltshire Notes and Queries Volume 3 (1902) p 342-345 archive books
• Plantagenet Ancestry 2nd ed. p.46, POYNTZ 13
• W.H. H. Rogers, Rogers-Courtenay-Huddesfield- of Bradford-on-Avon, Wilts; Cannington Somerset; and Shillingford, Devon. Wiltshire Notes and Queries Volume 3 (1902) p 337-345 archive books
• Visitations of the county of Devon : Comprising the herald's ...Page 607: Pomeroy
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