 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (September 2020) |
The Courtenay barony was created in 1299, when Hugh de Courtenay was summoned to Parliament, thus becoming the first Baron Courtenay. He was subsequently made Earl of Devon in 1335.[1] During his life, his son Hugh de Courtenay the younger, was summoned as 2nd Baron Courtenay in 1337,[2] with the barony coming to represent a courtesy title for the heir of the Earls of Devon. This Hugh succeeded as Earl on his father's death in 1340,[2] and since his own son, also Hugh, died in 1348 without having been summoned as baron, it was Earl Hugh's grandson, yet another Hugh, who was summoned as 3rd Baron Courtenay in 1371, during his grandfather's life.[3] He died three years later, and on the Earl's 1377 death, both the Earldom of Devon and the Barony of Courtenay passed to another grandson, Edward de Courtenay, first cousin of the previous courtesy holder of the barony.[4] Though his son Edward would be styled 'Lord Courtenay' during his father's lifetime, he was never summoned under the courtesy title and he predeceased his father, so the earldom and barony devolved on the Earl's younger son, Hugh de Courtenay, 4th/12th Earl of Devon and 5th Baron Courtenay.[5] Both titles then passed together for two generations, but in 1461, Thomas Courtenay, 6th/14th Earl of Devon and 7th Baron, was attainted and executed, and the barony forfeited.[6]