Peter Courtenay

Peter Courtenay
Peter Courtenay
Bishop of Winchester
	Arms of Bishop Peter Courtenay (d.1492), showing the arms of theSee of Exeterimpaling Courtenay of Powderham, incorporatingheraldic badgesofdolphinsof Courtenay of Powderham, Hungerfordsicklesand Peverellgarbs.Detail from the Courtenay Mantelpiece, Bishop's Palace, Exeter
Appointed	29 January 1487
Term ended	23 September 1492
Predecessor	William Waynflete
Successor	Thomas Langton
Previous post(s)	Bishop of Exeter; Dean of Windsor; Dean of Exeter
Personal details
Born	c. 1432
Died	23 September 1492 (aged 59–60)
Denomination	Catholic

Peter Courtenay(c. 1432– 23 September 1492)^[2]wasBishop of Exeter(1478–87) andBishop of Winchester(1487-92), and also had a successful political career during the tumultuous years of theWars of the Roses.

Arms of Bishop Peter Courtenay (d.1492),*Or, 3torteauxa label of 3 points azure each point charged with 3platesin 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). Thesicklesin triangle are abadgeof the Hungerford family and thegarbsa badge of the Peverells. The lettersTauwith a bell pendant are a symbol ofSaint 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

Origins

Courtenay was the third son ofSir Philip Courtenay(d. 1463) ofPowderhamby Elizabeth Hungerford, daughter ofWalter 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 ofSir Philip Courtenay(d. 1406) of Powderham, a younger son ofHugh Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon(d. 1377). Courtenay was also a grand-nephew ofRichard Courtenay(d. 1415),Bishop of Norwich,and a great-grand-nephew ofWilliam 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 atUniversity of Oxfordin 1457, and continued his legal studies at theUniversity of Cologne,matriculating in the faculty of law there in November 1457. By April 1461 he was studying law at theUniversity of Padua,^[6]where he was elected rector.^[7]

Courtenay enjoyed ecclesiastical preferment from 1448 on.^[8]Among other appointments he was madeArchdeacon of Exeteron 8 June 1453,^[9]prebendaryatLincolnin 1483,Archdeacon of Wiltshirein 1464, Master ofSt. Anthony's Hospital, St Benet Finkin theCity of Londonin 1470,^[10]Dean of Exeterfrom October 1476 to March 1477, andDean of Windsorin April 1477.^[11]On 14 June 1478 Courtenay was electedBishop of Exeter,^[12]with papal provision taking place on 9 September 1478. He received histemporalitieson 3 November, and was consecrated on 8 November atSt 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 ofKing Edward IV,and was sent by the King to offer theDuke of MilantheOrder of the Garter.In November 1463 he acted as the King's proctor in thepapal curia.However, in 1470 both he and his elder brother,Sir Philip Courtenay,had joined King Edward's brother, theDuke of Clarence,in opposition to the King. Courtenay accommodated himself to theLancastrianregime during the readeption, serving as secretary toKing 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 inDevonandCornwallon behalf of Henry Tudor, the futureKing Henry VII.The rising failed, and Courtenay fled to the continent, joining Tudor in exile atVannes,Brittany. In January 1484 he wasattaintedby Parliament, and his temporalities were forfeited. Courtenay accompanied Henry Tudor on his return to England, and after the victory atBosworthand the death of Richard III, was madeKeeper of the Privy Sealon 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 becomeBishop 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 inWinchester Cathedral.^[17]

Shakespeare and Peter Courtenay, Bishop of Exeter

Courtenay's rising against Richard III is mentioned in Act IV Scene iv ofShakespeare'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 Parliamentbiography of "HUNGERFORD, Sir Walter (1378-1449), of Farleigh Hungerford, Som. and Heytesbury, Wilts."[1]
^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.
^"Archdeacons: Exeter | British History Online".british-history.ac.uk.Retrieved7 June2019.
^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[2]
^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).Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.Retrieved24 October2012.(subscription orUK public library membershiprequired)
Richardson, Douglas (2011).Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, ed. Kimball G. Everingham.Vol. II (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City.ISBN 978-1449966386.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
Tout, Thomas(1887)."Courtenay, Peter".InStephen, Leslie(ed.).Dictionary of National Biography.Vol. 12. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 339–340.

External links

Courtenay pedigree in The Visitations of Cornwall, p. 108
"Courtenay, Richard,s.v.Peter Courtenay ".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 7 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 327.
Images of Bishop Courtenay's Mantlepiece[3]

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

[1] 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

[2] Horrox 2004

[3] History of Parliamentbiography of "HUNGERFORD, Sir Walter (1378-1449), of Farleigh Hungerford, Som. and Heytesbury, Wilts."[1]

[4] Richardson II 2011,pp. 30–1, 327, 427–8.

[5] Pevsner, Nikolaus & Cherry, Bridget, The Buildings of England: Devon, London, 2004, p. 417

[6] Jonathan Woolfson,Padua and the Tudors: English Students in Italy, 1485-1603,James Clarke & Co, 1998, p. 4.

[7] Horrox 2004.

[8] Tout 1887,p. 339;Horrox 2004.

[9] "Archdeacons: Exeter | British History Online".british-history.ac.uk.Retrieved7 June2019.

[10] 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[2]

[11] Tout 1887,p. 339;Horrox 2004.

[12] Fryde 1996,p. 247.

[13] Tout 1887,p. 339;Horrox 2004.

[14] Horrox 2004.

[15] Tout 1887,p. 340.

[16] Tout 1887,p. 340;Horrox 2004.

[17] Tout 1887,p. 340;Horrox 2004.

[2]

[1]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]