Image: MargaretDeBohunTombPowderhamChurch

Description: (Note misleading file name) 14th c. Effigy of unknown lady, situated under recessed alcove, north wall of chancel, St Clement's Church, Powderham, Devon. Generally assumed to be of Princess Elizabeth (1282-1316) the youngest daughter of King Edward I (1272-1307) by Eleanor of Castile and wife of Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford and Earl of Essex and mother of Margaret de Bohun, wife of Hugh Courtenay, 2nd Earl of Devon (d.1377). Pevsner, N, (Buildings of England: Devon, 1952, p.692) illustrates the typical confusion concerning this female effigy, whom he describes as: "Elizabeth de Bohun (d.1378?) (sic) whose daughter married the third (sic) Earl of Devon. Effigy with the queer headgear of that period". Clearly he is incorrect in two of his details, namely date of death, which he places 62 years too late and identity of husband. Possibly the effigy is of Margaret de Bohun (d.1391) herself, heiress of Powderham and wife of Hugh de Courtenay, 2nd Earl of Devon (1303-1377). She does however have an effigy, lying next to that of her husband, in Exeter Cathedral, but as he predeceased her by 14 years, her effigy may have been placed next to his in symbolic fashion, not as a sign of her body having been buried underneath. Lysons, writing in 1822, stated this effigy then to be situated "in a window of the north aisle". (Lysons, Samuel, Magna Britannia). The manor of Powderham was given by Humphrey de Bohun as the marriage portion of his daughter Margaret on her marriage to Hugh Courtenay, and serves today as the seat of her descendants the present Earls of Devon
Title: MargaretDeBohunTombPowderhamChurch
Credit: Self-photographed
Author: own photo
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
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