Feudal barony of Okehampton

De Moels

The descent in the de Moels family was as follows:^[3]

• Baldwin de Moels (died 1090), who married a certain Emma. All three of his sons died successively without children, and were succeeded by the children of their two sisters, about which surviving sources are obscure. However, his brother, Richard FitzGilbert de Bienfaite, Lord of Clare, had issue, one of whom was Walter de Clare, the founder of Tintern Abbey in Wales. ^[4]
• William FitzBaldwin (died 1096)(son), died without children
• Robert FitzBaldwin (died 1101) (brother), died without children
• Richard FitzBaldwin (died 1137) (brother), Sheriff of Devon in 1096, died without children. He founded Brightley Abbey^[5]
• Robert d'Avranches (nephew), son of Emma FitzBaldwin, according to Pole (died 1135), the younger of Baldwin's two daughters,^[6] the elder being Adela FitzBaldwin (died 1142)^[7] According to Pole Adela married "a Kentish knight", but according to The Complete Peerage she was the amita of Ranulf Avenel, however both sources agree that she died childless. Emma however married as her second husband William d'Avranches (d. circa 1087), (her first husband having been Ranulf (or William^[8]) Avenel (died 1128/9)), by whom she had a son Robert d'Avranches, who according to Pole was "loved"^[8] by his uncle Richard FitzBaldwin (died 1137), feudal baron. Richard effectively handed over the barony to his nephew Robert d'Avranches by making all his tenants give homage and swear fealty to Robert in place of himself and as his heir.^[8] Robert d'Avranches left England, never to return, and married the daughter of Godwin (or "Gelduin"^[3]) de Dol, by whom he had a daughter and sole-heiress Maud (or Matilda) d'Avranches (died 1173).
• Adela FitzBaldwin (died 1142), (aunt), the elder daughter of Baldwin, succeeded^[8] to the barony following the successive deaths of Richard FitzBaldwin (died 1137) and Robert d'Avranches. As she was childless, she appointed as her heir Ralph Avenel, her sister Emma's eldest son.
• Ralph Avenel (nephew), eldest son of Emma FitzBaldwin by her first marriage to William (or Ralph^[3]) Avenell. His great inheritance prompted Reginald de Dunstanville, 1st Earl of Cornwall (1110–1175), the uncle of King Henry II (1154–1189), to offer him one of his daughters in marriage. Ralph turned down the proffered wife and married instead Matilda de Redvers, sister of Richard de Redvers, Earl of Devon. This angered the Earl of Cornwall, who swore to deprive Ralph Avenell of the barony of Okehampton. This he did by bringing an assize to question the validity of Ralph's tenure, which court ruled that on Robert d'Avranches having taken the homage and fealty of the tenants of the barony, at his uncle's wish, he had thereby become the legal holder of the barony. Thus the true heir, according to the decision of the assize, was his daughter and sole heiress Maud d'Avranches (died 1173). Thus Ralph Avenell was deprived of the barony of Okehampton.^[9]
• Maud d'Avranches (died 1173) (cousin), daughter and sole-heiress of Robert d'Avranches. She married firstly William de Curcy (died pre 1162), called by Pole "Lord of Ayncourt", by whom she had a daughter and sole-heiress Hawise de Curcy (died 1219), the heiress of the barony of Okehampton. On the suggestion of Reginald, Earl of Cornwall, the widowed Maud d'Avranches was given secondly in marriage by King Henry II (whose royal licence, and thus effective control, a female tenant-in-chief (or widow of a tenant-in-chief) needed in order to remarry) to the Earl of Cornwall's brother Robert FitzRoy (died 1172) (alias Robert FitzEdith and Robert de Caen), the king's uncle and a natural son of King Henry I of England. By her second husband Maud had a further daughter, Maud, Dame du Sap (died 1224). Maud du Sap, following her father's death, became a royal ward, and King Henry II married her off to Reginald I de Courtenay(died 1190), of the French House of Courtenay, a knight whom King Henry's wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, had brought to England from France. No children resulted.
• Hawise de Curcy (died 1219)(daughter by 1st marriage), half-sister to Maud, Dame du Sap, second wife of Reginald de Courtenay, whose son and heir by his first wife was Renaud de Courtenay (called by Pole "William"^[10]), who "by the advice and command of his father",^[10] married Hawise de Curcy, his father's half sister-in-law and heiress to the feudal barony of Okehampton. Thus, the barony came into the possession of the Courtenay family. Reginald's French possessions were confiscated by the French King Louis VII, but were given, together with the marriage of his daughter, Elizabeth de Courtenay, to the King's youngest brother, Peter, who adopted the name Peter de Courtenay. Thus, the Courtenay family thenceforth became dependent on its English lands and became Anglicized.

Courtenay

Arms of Courtenay, from about 1200: Or, three torteaux

• Robert de Courtenay (died 1242), son of Reginald de Courtenay (died 1194) by his wife Hawise de Curcy (died 1219), heiress of Okehampton. He married Mary de Vernon, daughter of William de Redvers, 5th Earl of Devon (died 1217), feudal baron of Plympton, Devon. From this marriage the Courtenays later inherited the barony of Plympton in 1293 and in 1335 were declared Earls of Devon.^[11]
• John de Courtenay (died 1274),^[12] (son) who married Isabel de Vere, daughter of Hugh de Vere, 4th Earl of Oxford (c. 1210 – 1263)
• Sir Hugh de Courtenay (died 1292),^[12] (son) who married Eleanor le Despenser (died 1328), daughter of Hugh le Despenser, 1st Earl of Winchester (1261–1326).
• Hugh Courtenay, 9th Earl of Devon (1276–1340),^[12] (son). In 1293 on the death of his cousin Isabella de Forz, Countess of Devon (1237–1293) (eldest daughter of Baldwin de Redvers, 6th Earl of Devon (1217–1245), feudal baron of Plympton in Devon^[13]) he became heir to the feudal barony of Plympton,^[13] and in 1335 was declared Earl of Devon. The descent of the feudal barony of Okehampton thenceforth follows the descent of the earldom of Devon.^[14] In 1539 King Henry VIII seized the lands of the barony and had Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquess of Exeter(died 1539) executed for treason.^[15] The Earldom of Devon became forfeit, and the Courtenay lands in Cornwall escheated (i.e. reverted) to the crown to be held by the Duchy of Cornwall.