The Noble and Gentle Men of England / or, notes touching the arms and descents of the ancient knightly and gentle houses of England, arranged in their respective counties.

by Evelyn Philip Shirley

This illustrious house is descended from Reginald de Courtenay, who came over to England with Henry II. A.D. 1151, and, having married the daughter and heiress of the hereditary sheriff of Devonshire, became immediately connected with this county. The Earldom of Devon was first conferred on the Courtenays in 1335, by reason of their descent from William de Redvers, Earl of Devon, The Powderham branch springs from Sir Philip, sixth son of Hugh second Earl of Devon.

See Brydges's Collins, vi. 214; Lysons, lxxxvii.; Westcote's Devonshire Pedigrees, 570, &c.; Journal of Arch. Institute, x. 52; and Sir Harris Nicolas's Earldom of Devon.

Arms.—Or, three torteauxes.

This coat, with a bend azure, was borne by Sir Philip de Courtenay in the reign of Edward II. (Roll.) And the same, with a label azure, by Hugh de Courtenay in 1300. See the Roll of Carlaverock, and Sir Harris Nicolas's notes, p. 193. This label was, he remarks, charged by respective branches of the family with mitres, crescents, lozenges, annulets, fleurs-de-lis, guttees, and plates, and with a bend over all. See also Willement's Heraldic Notices in Canterbury Cathedral.

Present Representative, William Reginald Courtenay, 11th Earl of Devon.

Edgcumbe of Edgcumbe, in the parish of Milton Abbot's.

Richard Edgcumbe was Lord of Edgcumbe in 1292, and was the direct ancestor of this venerable family, the present representative being twentieth in lineal descent from this first Richard.

In the reign of Edward III. William Edgcumbe, second son of the house of Edgcumbe, having married the heiress of Cotehele, in the parish of Calstock, removed into Cornwall, and was the ancestor of the Edgcumbes of Cotehele and Mount Edgcumbe, Earls of Mount Edgcumbe (1789).