Thomas Courtenay, 14th Earl of Devon

Who was Thomas Courtenay, 14th Earl of Devon?

Sir Thomas Courtenay, 6th Earl of Devon was the eldest son of Thomas de Courtenay, 5th Earl of Devon by Margaret Beaufort, the royal blooded daughter of John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset and Margaret Holland, daughter of Thomas Holland, Earl of Kent.

Thomas Courtenay was aged 26 years when his father died during the first phase of the Wars of the Roses. On 19 December 1459 he was appointed Keeper of Exmoor Forest, as his father had been before him. The Courtenay family held extensive lands throughout Devon, and were one of the greatest landowners in the south-west, comparable only to the Paulet family; the later Earls of Winchester. Thomas was a staunch adherent of the House of Lancaster, as was the family tradition, until his father's feud with William Bonville. Thomas was a leading exponent of violent conflagration, leading the raid on the house at Upcott, and subsequent murder of the respected lawyer, Nicholas Radford. He took, with his brother, internecine warfare to new levels of brutality. His subsequent adherence to Queen Margaret's affinity was his undoing. Despite all he was appointed as Keeper of Exmoor Forest in 1459.