Fourth Creation, 1511
William Courtenay had married Catherine of York, a younger daughter of Edward IV, thereby exciting the suspicions of Henry VII, who had him imprisoned and attainted for (never proved) complicity in the conspiracy of Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk. However in the reign of Henry VIII William Courtenay was gradually forgiven. His lands were restored, and by letters patent on 10 May 1511 he was created Earl of Devon with remainder to the heirs of his body, but died suddenly of pleurisy a month later on 11 June, leaving his only surviving son, Henry Courtenay, to inherit the earldom.
In December 1512 Henry Courtenay obtained the reversal by act of Parliament of the 1504 attainder of his father, William Courtenay. In 1512 he thus inherited the earldom of Devon as held by his grandfather, having at his father's death the previous year already inherited the earldom conferred by patent on his father in 1511. In 1525 he was created Marquess of Exeter. Unfortunately, in 1538 he was tried, convicted, attainted and beheaded for conspiring with the Poles and Nevilles against the government of Thomas Cromwell in the aftermath of the Pilgrimage of Grace. All his titles were forfeited by his attainder.
Read more about this topic: Earl Of Devon
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