John Courtenay, 15th Earl of Devon

Sir John Courtenay (c. 1435 – 4 May 1471) was the third son of Thomas Courtenay, 13th Earl of Devon, and Margaret Beaufort, and was styled Earl of Devon by Lancastrians in exile, following the execution of his brother the 14th earl in 1461.

Family Courtenay is said to have been born in 1435, the third son of Thomas Courtenay, 13th Earl of Devon, by Margaret Beaufort, the daughter of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset. Through his mother, Courtenay was a great-great-grandson of King Edward III. He had two brothers and five sisters:

Thomas Courtenay, 14th Earl of Devon (1432 – 3 April 1461), who married, shortly after 9 September 1456, Mary of Anjou, illegitimate daughter of Charles, Count of Maine. There were no issue of the marriage. He was taken prisoner at the Battle of Towton, and beheaded at York on 3 April 1461. Henry Courtenay (d. 17 January 1469), esquire, of West Coker, Somerset, beheaded for treason in the marketplace at Salisbury, Wiltshire on 17 January 1469. Joan Courtenay (born c. 1447), who married, firstly, Sir Roger Clifford, second son of Thomas Clifford, 8th Baron de Clifford, beheaded after Bosworth in 1485. She married, secondly, Sir William Knyvet of Buckenham, Norfolk. Elizabeth Courtenay (born c. 1449), who married, before March 1490, Sir Hugh Conway. Anne Courtenay. Eleanor Courtenay. Maud Courtenay.

Career John Courtenay is said to have been originally intended for a career in the church. The new King, Edward IV, marched north and sealed his reign with the bloody victory at the Battle of Towton, following which his brother was beheaded. About 1465, Courtenay was in exile in France with Queen Margaret of Anjou (wife of King Henry VI of England). However, Courtenay gained little political power, being appointed only to "a solitary commission [of the peace] in Devon". Warwick was defeated and killed by Edward IV at the Battle of Barnet, just outside London, on 14 April.

Queen Margaret landed in England two days later, and met Devon and Somerset in Cerne Abbey, where they "assured her that their cause was far from lost". They received commissions from the Prince of Wales to raise an army in the south-west. Courtenay gathered forces from the traditional Courtenay powerbase in Devon, while Somerset raised troops in Cornwall. Marching to unite with other Lancastrian forces being assembled in the West Midlands and Wales, they were intercepted by King Edward IV and brought to battle at Tewkesbury on 4 May 1471. Courtenay, commanding the Lancastrian left, was among those slain on the field- "in plain battle" —when the division "took to flight". He was buried, with the other noble dead, in Tewkesbury Abbey churchyard.

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