Thomas Courtenay (of Wootton Courtenay)


Sir Thomas Courtenay of Wootton Courtenay in Somerset, was a knight and an English military commander against the French during the Hundred Years' War, who died in the year of the Battle of Poitiers.

Origins

He was the fourth son of Hugh de Courtenay, 1st/9th Earl of Devon, of Tiverton Castle in Devon, by his wife Agnes de Saint John, a daughter of John Saint John of Basing in Hampshire and a sister of John St John, 1st Baron St John of Basing.

Marriage and children

At some time before 27 August 1337 he married a great heiress, Muriel de Moels, the elder of the two daughters and co-heiresses of John de Moels, 4th Baron Moels, feudal baron of North Cadbury in Somerset, by his wife Joan Lovel, a daughter of Richard Lovel of Castle Cary in Somerset. Having married this daughter and heiress of a tenant-in-chief without royal licence, he received a royal pardon on 27 August 1337. By his wife he had one son and two daughters:
Courtenay died in 1356, the year of the Battle of Poitiers, having 10 years earlier in 1346 petitioned the Pope for an indult for plenary remission at the hour of death.

Landholdings

His wife's share of her paternal inheritance included the manors of King's Carswell and Dunterton in Devon, and Blackford, Holton and Lattiford in Somerset.
His landholdings increased greatly after inheritances from his marriage of many lands of the feudal barony of North Cadbury. His landholdings included, in Devon: Woodhuish, in the parish of Brixham; Kings Carswell; Dunterton; Plymtree, which he purchased and was recorded as lord of the manor in 1345; and Sutton Lucy and Lucyhays, in Colyton hundred.
In Somerset he held Wootton Courtenay, Blackford, Holton, Lattiford, Maperton, South Cadbury, and Cricket Malherbie.
He also held Over Wallop, Hampshire and Over Worton, Oxfordshire.