Sir Hugh Courtenay (1358–1425) was an English MP and High Sheriff of Devon.
He was born at Haccombe, Devon in 1358, the younger son of Edward Courtenay of Goodrington and Emmeline Dawney, an heiress.
Hugh was knighted in 1387 on the occasion of his marriage to Elizabeth Audley.
He was made Commissioner of Survey to Devon and Cornwall in 1388, and again by Lords Appellant to the two counties in October 1397. In 1395 he was elected as MP for Devon and again in September 1397. At the height of the Crisis, King Richard II betrayed his uncle, Earl of Arundel, and as a consequence he lost his main supporters.
After the usurpation by King Henry IV Hugh was made Commissioner of Array for Devon in December 1399 - responsible for raising troops and bringing the south-west to the Lancastrian cause. He proved a successful recruiter for the wars in France, as he was made commissioner again in July 1402 to fight the Welsh Rebellion. The commission met again in August, September, and October 1403, after King Henry had defeated Harry Hotspur and the Mortimers at Shrewsbury.
In February 1400, Sir Hugh was a Commissioner of Oyer et Terminer dispensing the king's justice in the south-west. There was also a Commission of Inquiry into waste lands. King Henry made Hugh a Commissioner in the region and in Hampshire, a traditional land area of Courtenay holdings, to look into the concealment of possessions owned by adherents of the late king. He was also on the commission for "concealment of alnage" in Devon from July 1401.
The south-western counties disliked the new king and interference of parliament and in 1405 the Cornish rebelled with widespread rioting. In January a commission was set up to look into "unlawful assemblies" during 1406. Sir Hugh, however was a known Lancastrian: in May 1402 he had been forced to proclaim the intention of Henry IV to govern well. Also he was a JP for Devon, appointed on 16 February 1400 for the period until 1407; instructed to enforce the law and collect the king's taxes. He was appointed Tax Collector for Devon in March 1404.
He was made High Sheriff of Devon on 4 November 1418, holding the office for the year until 23 November 1419. When his brother the Earl of Devon died the new earl was fighting the French abroad, and so Sir Hugh was the most senior member of the family at home and probably felt compelled to represent Devon in parliament again in May 1421.
Henry IV died in 1413, and during the new reign Sir Hugh found favour with Henry V. King Henry V had travelled triumphantly through France, securing the future accession of his son as King of both England and France. Sir Hugh was thus present as knight of the shire for the County of Devon.
He died on 5 or 6 March 1425. He had married four times.
He married for the firstly Elizabeth Audley, the widow of Sir Thomas Audley, a knight killed in the Hundred Years War in France. Elizabeth was deceased by 1392. His second wife, Elizabeth Cogan, who he married on 11 February 1393, was the daughter of Sir William Cogan of Bampton, and also had military connections to that manor, which Hugh inherited through his wife. Her mother was Elizabeth Loring, daughter of the soldier, Sir Nigel Loring of Chalgrove and the widow of Fulk Fitzwaryn of Whittington. With the second Elizabeth, who died on 29 October 1397, he only had one child, who died young. By 1407 he was married for a third time to Philippa Archedekne, daughter of Sir Warin, Archdeacon of Haccombe. They had two daughters, one of whom married Sir Nicholas Carew.
He married for the fourth time by licence on 16 October 1417, Maud Beaumont, daughter of Sir John Beaumont of Shirwell. They had two sons and a daughter. His heir by his fourth marriage, Edward, was only eight years old and so his lands were divided between his third wife, Philippa and her daughters. Hugh was buried next to her at Haccombe.[1]
Children by Philippa Archdekne:
Children by Maud Beaumont:
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