Thomas Courtenay 6/14th Earl of Devon (1432 – 1461)

Thomas Courtenay 6/14th Earl of Devon was born in 1432. He was the eldest son of Thomas 5/13th Earl of Devon and Margaret Beaufort [aunt of Lady Margaret Beaufort mother of Henry Tudor]. Thomas inherited the Earldom of Devon aged 26, upon his father’s death on 3 February 1458. He became a magnate at a time of great local and national tensions, with his family heavily embroiled in a feud with Lord Bonville and having been implicated in unrest on a national level. 

And ther wan Kynge Edwarde the felde thanked by Jesu. And than rode the kynge to Yorke and ther he was rialy resseyved. And ther he in the castell toke the Erle of Devynsshyre and oþer mo, and did lett smyte of her hedes. 

‘A Short English Chronicle: London under Henry VI (1422-71)’, in Three Fifteenth-Century Chronicles with Historical Memoranda by John Stowe, ed. James Gairdner( London, 1880), British History Online

Thomas Courtenay 6/14th Earl of Devon’s Affiliation

The Earl’s father had altered his affinities over the years, reflecting changing fortunes of the Beaufort family to whom they were closely tied through marriage, and other factors such as the switch of the Neville Earls of Salisbury and Warwick into the Yorkist faction after the Dartford standoff of 1452. His father had been relatively neutral when matters turned violent at the First Battle of St. Albans.

Ongoing disputes and the aftermath of the incidents of 1455 led to the family being aligned to Queen Margaret and the Court Party at the time of the death of Thomas’ father. Thomas’ allegiance to the Queen was no doubt influenced by his own marriage, after September 1456, to Marie, illegitimate daughter of Charles, count of Maine, and therefore a cousin of Queen Margaret. 

1458-1459

As Thomas became 6/14th Earl of Devon the nobility and Court were in the middle of a crisis. Feuds were taking place across several parts of the country. Alongside these were disputes at Court itself over the management of the countries Government and ill feeling between many of the leading magnates. 1458 saw attempts at arbitration, via a Loveday Parade, and consideration of potential threats to peace from France. Thomas Courtenay 6/14th Earl of Devon aligned himself with the Queen as these matters were considered, and remained loyal to her and the Lancastrian Court as the dispute between the Houses of Lancaster and York turned into violent onflict in 1459.

1460

The Earl of Devon was very much a part of the wider call to arms and preparations of the Lancastrian force in 1460. The clashes of 1460 and early 1461 saw the deaths of all of the major members of the Bonville family, the Earl of Devon’s regional rivals. Whether or not there was any deliberate targetting of these men is of debate in some cases: two are said to have died at Wakefield, for example, but the evidence about events there is rather contradictory on a range of issues, including those actually present.

Thomas Courtenay 6/14th Earl of Devon at the Battle of Towton

Thomas was one of the magnates who arrayed for the Lancastrians in early 1461. He fought in the Battle of Towton on 29 March 1461. In the battle he was injured. His wounds made it impossible for him to flee alongside the King, Queen, Prince Edward, and Duke of Somerset. Instead, he was left in the City of York. The Yorkist forces of Edward IV found the injured Earl of Devon and he was subsequently executed by beheading on 3 April 1461.

Posthumous Attainder of the Earl of Devon

In November 1461 Thomas Courtenay 6/14th Earl of Devon was one of the men whom Parliament attainted. This stripped his heirs of rights to inheritance and as such the Earldom of Devon fell into abeyance. One anomaly within the process of attainting the Earl of Devon is that it resulted in lands granted to his brother, Henry Courtenay, also being forfeited to the Crown.

The Courtenay Inheritance during the Wars of the Roses

Whilst this may seem both likely and obvious, it is an oddity as Henry had been granted some of these Manors by King Edward IV after the Battle of Towton and execution of his brother. Those Manors, granted on 27 July 1461, were also seized as a result of the November Parliament. Henry himself was later executed, in 1469, for treason. A younger brother of Thomas and Henry, John Courtenay, was briefly restored to the family inheritance during the Readeption of King Henry VI. He was amongst the fallen Lancastrians in their defeat in the Battle of Tewkesbury in May 1471.

Featured Image

Arms of Thomas de Courtenay, The Earl of Devon: Arms: Quarterly, 1st and 4th, azure label or three torteaux (for Courtenay); 2nd and 3rd, or a lion rampant azure (for Redvers). By Wikimandia – This vector image includes elements from this file:, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia.