Margaret de Bohun, Countess of Devon
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Margaret de Bohun, Countess of Devon was the granddaughter of King Edward I and Eleanor of Castile, and the wife of Hugh Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon (1303–1377). Her seventeen children included 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.
Margaret de Bohun, detail of her effigy (heavily restored) situated next to that of her husband on a chest tomb in Exeter Cathedral
Effigies of Margaret de Bohun and her husband Hugh de Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon, south transept, Exeter Cathedral. Two Bohun swans, the heraldic device of Bohun, are shown with their necks intertwined at Margaret's feet.
Bohun heraldic swans collared and chained with necks intertwined at feet of effigy of Margaret de Bohun. The Bohun swan can be seen above the escutcheon on her father's seal formerly attached to the Barons' Letter, 1301. A lion serves as the footrest of her husband.
Image: Margaret De Bohun Powderham
Hugh de Courtenay, 2nd/10th Earl of Devon
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Sir Hugh de Courtenay, 2nd/10th Earl of Devon, 2nd Baron Courtenay, feudal baron of Okehampton and feudal baron of Plympton, played an important role in the Hundred Years War in the service of King Edward III. His chief seats were Tiverton Castle and Okehampton Castle in Devon. The ordinal number given to the early Courtenay Earls of Devon depends on whether the earldom is deemed a new creation by the letters patent granted 22 February 1334/5 or whether it is deemed a restitution of the old dignity of the de Redvers family. Authorities differ in their opinions, and thus alternative ordinal numbers exist, given here.
Effigy (restored) of Hugh de Courtenay, 2nd/10th Earl of Devon, south transept, Exeter Cathedral
Effigies of Hugh de Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon, and his wife, Margaret de Bohun, south transept, Exeter Cathedral.