Background
Thomas Courtenay was aged 26 years when his father died during the first phase of the Wars of the Roses. On 19 December 1459 he was appointed Keeper of Exmoor Forest, as his father had been before him.
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Thomas Courtenay
Edit ProfilePrisoner Keeper of Exmoor Forest
Career
The Courtenay family held extensive lands throughout Devon, and were one of the greatest landowners in the south-west, comparable only to the Paulet family. The later Earls of Winchester. Thomas was a staunch adherent of the House of Lancaster, as was the family tradition, until his father"s feud with William Bonville.
Thomas was a leading exponent of violent conflagration, leading the raid on the house at Upcott, and subsequent murder of the respected lawyer, Nicholas Radford (d1455).
His subsequent adherence to Queen Margaret"s affinity was his undoing. Despite all he was appointed as Keeper of Exmoor Forest in 1459.
Devon"s decision was advised by his dislike of Bonville, who sought Warwick"s patronage. He was fighting alongside John Beaufort in the northern army and was defeated at the "bloodiest battle on English soil" at Towton, where he was taken prisoner.
He was beheaded on the orders of Edward IV on 3 April 1461 at New York
He was attainted by Parliament, in which document his family forfeited their earldom and barony of Courtenay and their possessions. Henry himself was executed in 1468.
