Peter Courtenay

For other people named Peter Courtenay, see Peter Courtenay (disambiguation).

Peter Courtenay
Bishop of Winchester
Arms of Bishop Peter Courtenay (d.1492), showing the arms of the See of Exeter impaling Courtenay of Powderham, incorporating heraldic badges of dolphins of Courtenay of Powderham, Hungerford sickles and Peverell garbs. Detail from the Courtenay Mantelpiece, Bishop's Palace, Exeter
Church	Catholic
Appointed	29 January 1487
Term ended	23 September 1492
Predecessor	William Waynflete
Successor	Thomas Langton
Personal details
Born	c. 1432
Died	23 September 1492
Previous post	Bishop of Exeter Dean of Windsor Dean of Exeter

Arms of Bishop Peter Courtenay (d.1492), Or, 3 torteaux a label of 3 points azure each point charged with 3 plates in pale with supporters the Bohun swans, each collared with a crown and chained or. Gothic text above: Honor Deo et Regi (Honour to God and the king); beneath: "Arma Petri Exon(iensis) Epi(scopi)" (Arms of Peter, Bishop of Exeter). The sickles in triangle are a badge of the Hungerford family and the garbs a badge of the Peverells. The letters Tau with a bell pendant are a symbol of Saint Anthony the Great, reflecting Courtenay's Mastership of St Anthony's Hospital in London in 1470.^[1] Detail from Bishop Peter Courtenay's Mantelpiece, Bishop's Palace, Exeter

Peter Courtenay (c. 1432 – 23 September 1492)^[2] was Bishop of Exeter and Bishop of Winchester, and also had a successful political career during the tumultuous years of the Wars of the Roses.

Origins

Courtenay was the third son of Sir Philip Courtenay (d. 1463) of Powderham by Elizabeth Hungerford, daughter of Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford (d. 1449), by his first wife Catherine Peverell, daughter of Sir Thomas Peverell, MP, of Parke and Hamatethy, Cornwall.^[3] He was a grandson of Sir Philip Courtenay (d. 1406) of Powderham, a younger son of Hugh Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon (d. 1377). Courtenay was also a grand-nephew of Richard Courtenay (d. 1415), Bishop of Norwich, and a great-grand-nephew of William Courtenay (d. 1396), Archbishop of Canterbury. He came from a family of six brothers and four sisters.^[4]

Career

The "exceedingly ostentatious"^[5] Bishop Courtenay Mantelpiece, Bishop's Palace, Exeter, erected by Bishop Peter Courtenay

According to Horrox, Courtenay was admitted bachelor of civil law at University of Oxford in 1457, and continued his legal studies at the University of Cologne, matriculating in the faculty of law there in November 1457. By April 1461 he was studying law at the University of Padua,^[6] where he was elected rector.^[7]

Courtenay enjoyed ecclesiastical preferment from 1448 on.^[8] Among other appointments he was made Archdeacon of Exeter on 8 June 1453,^[9] prebendary at Lincoln in 1483, Archdeacon of Wiltshire in 1464, Master of St. Anthony's Hospital, St Benet Fink in the City of London in 1470,^[10] Dean of Exeter from October 1476 to March 1477, and Dean of Windsor in April 1477.^[11] On 14 June 1478 Courtenay was elected Bishop of Exeter,^[12] with papal provision taking place on 9 September 1478. He received his temporalities on 3 November, and was consecrated on 8 November at St Stephen's Chapel, Westminster.^[13]

Courtenay's ecclesiastical career ran side by side with involvement in the political affairs of the day. By June 1462 he had left Padua and was back in England, where he entered the service of King Edward IV, and was sent by the King to offer the Duke of Milan the Order of the Garter. In November 1463 he acted as the King's proctor in the papal curia. However, in 1470 both he and his elder brother, Sir Philip Courtenay, had joined King Edward's brother, the Duke of Clarence, in opposition to the King. Courtenay accommodated himself to the Lancastrian regime during the readeption, serving as secretary to King Henry VI. However, in 1471 he rejoined Clarence, and by March 1472 was secretary to Edward IV, who had taken back the throne. Courtenay was still serving as King Edward's secretary in May 1474, and appears to have become a member of the King's council in 1477–8.^[14]

After the death of Edward IV on 9 April 1483, Courtenay initially supported the new King, Richard III.^[15] However, in the fall of 1483 both he and his younger brother, Walter Courtenay (d. 7 November 1506), attempted to incite a rising in Devon and Cornwall on behalf of Henry Tudor, the future King Henry VII. The rising failed, and Courtenay fled to the continent, joining Tudor in exile at Vannes, Brittany. In January 1484 he was attainted by Parliament, and his temporalities were forfeited. Courtenay accompanied Henry Tudor on his return to England, and after the victory at Bosworth and the death of Richard III, was made Keeper of the Privy Seal on 8 September 1485, and was one of the bishops who officiated at the new King's coronation. His attainder was reversed by Henry VII's first Parliament, and on 29 January 1487 he was translated to become Bishop of Winchester.^[16]

Courtenay continued to play a political role until his death, being present at the ratification of a treaty with Spain on 23 September 1490 and the creation of the King's eldest son, Arthur, as Prince of Wales on 29 November 1491. Courtenay died on 23 September 1492, and was buried in Winchester Cathedral.^[17]

Shakespeare and Peter Courtenay, Bishop of Exeter

Courtenay's rising against Richard III is mentioned in Act IV Scene iv of Shakespeare's Richard III, although Shakespeare erroneously refers to Sir Edward Courtenay, the Bishop's cousin, as his brother:

Mess. My gracious sovereign, now in Devonshire,
As I by friends am well advertised,
Sir Edward Courtney and the haughty prelate,
Bishop of Exeter, his elder brother,
With many moe confederates, are in arms.

Citations

↑ A Delineation of the Courtenay Mantelpiece in the Episcopal Palace at Exeter by Roscoe Gibbs with a Biographical Notice of The Right Reverend Peter Courtenay, DD,... To which is added A Description of the Courtenay Mantelpiece compiled by Maria Halliday, privately published at the Office of the Torquay Directory, 1884, p.10
↑ Horrox 2004
↑ History of Parliament biography of "HUNGERFORD, Sir Walter (1378-1449), of Farleigh Hungerford, Som. and Heytesbury, Wilts."
↑ Richardson II 2011, pp. 30–1, 327, 427–8.
↑ Pevsner, Nikolaus]] & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p. 417
↑ Jonathan Woolfson, Padua and the Tudors: English Students in Italy, 1485-1603, James Clarke & Co, 1998, p. 4.
↑ Horrox 2004.
↑ Tout 1887, p. 339; Horrox 2004.
↑ British History – Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300–1541 – Archdeacons of Exeter
↑ Victoria County History, Volume 1, London Within the Bars, Westminster and Southwark, ed. William Page, London, 1909, pp. 581-584: Alien Houses: Hospital of St Anthony
↑ Tout 1887, p. 339; Horrox 2004.
↑ Fryde 1996, p. 247.
↑ Tout 1887, p. 339; Horrox 2004.
↑ Horrox 2004.
↑ Tout 1887, p. 340.
↑ Tout 1887, p. 340; Horrox 2004.
↑ Tout 1887, p. 340; Horrox 2004.

References

Fryde, E.B. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (3rd rev ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.
Horrox, Rosemary (2004). Courtenay, Peter (c.1432–1492). Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 24 October 2012. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
Richardson, Douglas (2011). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, ed. Kimball G. Everingham. II (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City. ISBN 1449966381.
Tout, Thomas Frederick (1887). Courtenay, Peter. 12. Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
Works related to Peter Courtenay at Wikisource: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900, Volume 12

External links

Courtenay pedigree in The Visitations of Cornwall, p. 108
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "^{article name needed}". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Images of Bishop Courtenay's Mantlepiece

Political offices
Preceded by John Gunthorpe	Lord Privy Seal 1485–1487	Succeeded by Richard Foxe
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Henry Webber	Dean of Exeter 1474–1478	Succeeded by Lionel Woodvile
Preceded by John Booth	Bishop of Exeter 1478–1487	Succeeded by Richard Foxe
Preceded by William Waynflete	Bishop of Winchester 1487–1492	Succeeded by Thomas Langton

Deans of Exeter

High Medieval	Serlo Roger de Wynkleigh William de Stanwey Roger de Toriz John Noble John Pycot Andrew de Kilkenny

Late Medieval	Henry de Somerset Thomas de Lechlade Bartholomew de Sancto Laurentio Richard de Coleton Richard de Braylegh Reginald de Bugwell Robert Sumpter Thomas Walkyngton Ralph Tregrision Stephen Payn John Cobethorn John Hals Henry Webber Peter Courtenay Lionel Woodville John Arundel

Early modern	Edward Willoughby Thomas Hobbes John Vesey Richard Pace Reginald Pole Simon Haynes James Haddon Thomas Reynolds Gregory Dodds George Carew Stephen Townesend Matthew Sutcliffe William Peterson Seth Ward Edward Young George Cary The Hon Richard Annesley William Wake Lancelot Blackburne Edward Trelawney John Gilbert Alured Clarke William Holmes Charles Lyttleton Jeremiah Milles William Buller Charles Harward

Late modern	Charles Talbot George Gordon John Garnett Whittington Landon Thomas Lowe Charles Ellicott The Viscount Midleton Archibald Boyd Benjamin Cowie Alfred Earle Henry Gamble Walter Matthews Spencer Carpenter Alexander Wallace Marcus Knight Clifford Chapman Richard Eyre Keith Jones Jonathan Meyrick Jonathan Draper

Bishops of Exeter

Bishops of Crediton	Werstan (bishop at Tawton) Putta (bishop at Tawton) Eadwulf Æthelgar Ælfwold I Sideman Ælfric Ælfwold II Ælfwold III Eadnoth Lyfing of Winchester Leofric see translated to Exeter

High Medieval	Leofric Osbern FitzOsbern William Warelwast Robert Warelwast Robert of Chichester Bartholomew Iscanus John the Chanter Henry Marshal Simon of Apulia William Briwere Richard Blund Walter Branscombe Peter Quinel Thomas Bitton

Late Medieval	Walter de Stapledon James Berkeley John Godeley John Grandisson Thomas de Brantingham Edmund Stafford John Catterick Edmund Lacey John Hales George Neville John Booth Peter Courtenay Richard Foxe Oliver King Richard Redman

Early modern	John Arundel Hugh Oldham John Vesey Myles Coverdale John Vesey James Turberville William Alley William Bradbridge John Woolton Gervase Babington William Cotton Valentine Cary Joseph Hall Ralph Brownrigg John Gauden Seth Ward Anthony Sparrow Thomas Lamplugh Sir Jonathan Trelawney Bt Ofspring Blackall Lancelot Blackburne Stephen Weston Nicholas Clagett George Lavington Frederick Keppel John Ross William Buller Reginald Courtenay

Late modern	John Fisher George Pelham William Carey Christopher Bethell Henry Phillpotts Frederick Temple Edward Bickersteth Herbert Edward Ryle Archibald Robertson Lord William Cecil Charles Curzon Robert Mortimer Eric Mercer Hewlett Thompson Michael Langrish John Ford (acting) Nick McKinnel (acting) Robert Atwell

Bishops of Winchester

Early Medieval	Birinus, Bishop of Dorchester Agilbert, Bishop of Dorchester Wine Leuthere Hædde Daniel Hunfrith Cyneheard Æthelheard Ecgbald Dudd Cyneberht Ealhmund Wigthegn Herefrith (disputed) Eadmund (disputed) Eadhun Helmstan Swithun Ealhferth Tunbeorht Denewulf Frithestan Beornstan/Byrnstan ÆlfheahI ÆlfsigeI Beorhthelm ÆthelwoldI ÆlfheahII

High Medieval	Cenwulf ÆthelwoldII ÆlfsigeII Ælfwine Stigand Walkelin William Giffard Henry of Blois Richard of Ilchester Godfrey de Luci Richard Poore Peter des Roches Ralph Neville William de Raley Aymer de Valence Andrew of London William de Taunton John Gervais Nicholas of Ely Robert Burnell Richard de la More John of Pontoise

Late Medieval	Henry Woodlock John Sandale Rigaud of Assier John de Stratford Adam Orleton William Edington William of Wykeham Henry Beaufort William Waynflete Peter Courtenay Thomas Langton

Early modern	Richard Foxe Thomas Wolsey Stephen Gardiner John Ponet Stephen Gardiner John White Robert Horne John Watson Thomas Cooper William Wickham William Day Thomas Bilson James Montague Lancelot Andrewes Richard Neile Walter Curle Brian Duppa George Morley Peter Mews Jonathan Trelawny Charles Trimnell Richard Willis Benjamin Hoadly John Thomas Brownlow North

Late modern	George Pretyman Tomline Charles Sumner Samuel Wilberforce Harold Browne Anthony Thorold Randall Davidson Herbert Ryle Edward Talbot Frank Woods Cyril Garbett Mervyn Haigh Alwyn Williams Falkner Allison John Taylor Colin James Michael Scott-Joynt Tim Dakin

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 86319175

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 7/8/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.