Margaret de Bohun, Countess of Devon
Margaret de Bohun, Countess of Devon was the daughter of Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, Lord High Constable of England and Elizabeth of Rhuddlan. She was the wife of Hugh Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon. Of her 17 children, 11 made it to adulthood, including an Archbishop of Canterbury and six knights, of whom two were founder knights of the Order of the Garter. Unlike most women of her day, she received a classical education and was a lifelong scholar and collector of books.
Early life
Lady Margaret de Bohun was born on 3 April 1311, the third daughter and seventh child of Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford and Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, the youngest daughter of King Edward I and Eleanor of Castile. Her paternal grandparents were Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford and Maud de Fiennes. There has been a debate as to where she was born. Some sources say Caldecote, Northamptonshire or Caldecote, Bedfordshire; however, other sources state that it was in Caldicot, Monmouthshire, especially as it has a castle which has links to the de Bohun family.Margaret was left an orphan shortly before her eleventh birthday. On 16 March 1322 at the Battle of Boroughbridge, her father was slain in an ambush by the Welsh. Her mother had died six years previously in childbirth.
Together with her siblings she received a classical education under a Sicilian Greek, Master Diogenes. As a result, Margaret became a lifelong scholar and avid book collector.
On 11 August 1325, at the age of fourteen, Margaret married Hugh de Courtenay, the future 10th Earl of Devon, to whom she had been betrothed since 27 September 1314. Her dowry included the manor of Powderham near Exeter. The marriage agreement was formally made on 28 February 1315, when she was not quite four years old. The first earl of Devon promised that upon the marriage he would enfeoff his son and Margaret jointly with 400 marks' worth of land, assessed at its true value, and in a suitable place. Margaret assumed the title of Countess of Devon on 23 December 1340.
The family chantry was expanded at Naish Priory in the family's manor of Coker in Somerset, at the end of the 14th century when it was owned by her most notable son, William Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury.
Margaret died on 16 December 1391 at the age of eighty. She is buried in Exeter Cathedral.
Marriage and issue
On 11 August 1325, in accordance with a marriage agreement dated 27 September 1314, she married Hugh Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon, by whom she had eight sons and nine daughters:- Sir Hugh Courtenay, KG, eldest son and heir, who died shortly before Easter term, 1348, having predeceased his father. He married, before 3 September 1341, Elizabeth de Vere, daughter of John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford, and Maud de Badlesmere, daughter of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere.
- Thomas Courtenay, canon of Crediton and Exeter and MP for Devon in 1377.
- Sir Edward Courtenay, who was born about 1331 at Haccombe, Devon, and died between 2 February 1368 and 1 April 1371, having predeceased his father. He married Emeline Dawney in or before 1346, daughter and heiress of Sir John Dawney of Mudford Terry, Somerset.
- Robert Courtenay.
- William Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury.
- Sir Philip Courtenay, of Powderham, who married Ann Wake, daughter of Sir Thomas Wake by Alice Patteshull, daughter of Sir John de Patteshull.
- Sir Peter Courtenay, KG, of Hardington Mandeville, Somerset, who married Margaret Clyvedon, widow of Sir John de Saint Loe, and daughter and heiress of John de Clyvedon.
- Humphrey Courtenay, who died young without issue.
- Margaret Courtenay, who married John de Cobham, 3rd Baron Cobham.
- Elizabeth Courtenay, who married, firstly, Sir John de Vere of Whitchurch, Buckinghamshire, eldest son and heir apparent of John de Vere, 7th Earl of Oxford, by Maud de Badlesmere, and, secondly, Sir Andrew Luttrell of Chilton, in Thorverton, Devon.
- Katherine Courtenay, who married, before 18 October 1353, Thomas Engaine, 2nd Baron Engaine, by whom she had no issue.
- Anne Courtenay.
- Joan Courtenay, who married, before 1367, Sir John de Cheverston, by whom she had no issue.
- Margaret Courtenay, who married Sir Theobald Grenville II.
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