William Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon (1475 – 9 June 1511).
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He was the son of Sir Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon by Elizabeth Courtenay, daughter of Sir Philip Courtenay(b.1445) of Molland, 2nd son of Sir Philip Courtenay(d.1463) of Powderham by Elizabeth Hungerford, daughter of Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford(d.1449). William's parents were thus distant cousins, sharing a common descent from Hugh de Courtenay, 2nd Earl of Devon(d.1377).
Made a Knight Bachelor on 25 November 1487, William was a supporter of Henry VII. The occasion was the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. He was a supporter of Henry VII, and Captain in the royal army. He assisted his father in the defeat of the pretender Perkin Warbeck at Battle of Blackheath in 1497, which secured finally the Tudor Succession.
However William fell out of favour. Henry VII(1485-1509) discovered that he had joined in the conspiracy to crown Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk(d.1513), the last Yorkist claimant. For his complicity he was attainted and imprisoned in the Tower of London in February 1504, and so made incapable of inheritance.
Released from prison by Henry VIII(1509-1547), Courtenay was pardoned and restored to his rights and privileges, as a sword bearer at the coronation on 24 June 1509. It is a matter of debate as to whether he lived long enough to have been formally restored in his honours. [1] Certain sources however maintain that assumed the full titles and lands of the earldom on 10 May 1511, after jousting in a full tournament with the king and his cousin Sir Thomas Knyvett and Sir William Nevill.
He died a month later on 9 June 1511 of pleurisy and was buried by a royal warrant at Blackfriars.
He married Catherine of York the sixth daughter of King Edward IV by Elizabeth Woodville. William and Catherine had three children: