Philip Courtenay (died 1463)


Sir Philip Courtenay of Powderham, Devon, was the senior member of a junior branch of the powerful Courtenay family, Earls of Devon.

Origins

Courtenay was born on 18 January 1404, the eldest son and heir of Sir John Courtenay of Powderham, by his wife Joan Champernoun, widow of Sir James Chudleigh and daughter of Richard Champernoun of Modbury.
He was the grandson of Sir Philip Courtenay and therefore the great-grandson of Hugh de Courtenay, 2nd Earl of Devon, and Margaret de Bohun. He had a brother, Sir Humphrey Courtenay, who died without issue. Philip was heir to his uncle, Richard Courtenay, Bishop of Norwich and also to his other uncle Sir William Courtenay

Seat

Courtenay's seat was Powderham Castle, given to his grandfather Sir Philip Courtenay, of Powderham,, by his mother Margaret Bohun, whose father had given it to her as her marriage portion.

Battle of Clyst Heath (1455)

He had been badly treated by his distant cousin Thomas de Courtenay, 5th Earl of Devon, 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, of Shute. Sir Philip's eldest son and heir Sir William Courtenay had married Bonville's daughter Margaret, cementing the alliance between the two men. On 3 November 1455 Thomas de Courtenay, 5th Earl of Devon 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 Shute.
Sir Philip swore fealty to King Edward IV as an MP at Parliament.

Marriage and children

In about 1426 Courtenay married 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. They had seven sons and four daughters:
He died on 16 December 1463.