Image: SpekeChantryExeterCathedral1518CourtenayArms

Description: Arms and heraldic badge of William Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon (1475-1511) sculpted on external wall of Speke Chantry, Exeter Cathedral, Devon, burial place of Sir John Speke (d.1518), of Whitelackington, Somerset. No family relationship seems to have existed between the two men but the Courtenay arms may have been displayed simply in deference to the Earl as the most powerful man in Devon. Arms: Baron: quarterly 1st & 4th Courtenay, 2nd & 3rd de Redvers (lion should be azure not sable, possible restoration error) impaling femme: royal arms of King Edward IV (1461-1483), father of his wife Catherine of York (the sixth daughter of King Edward IV by Elizabeth Woodville). The Roses surrounding the escutcheon should be the White Rose of York not the Red Rose of Lancaster as shown here possibly due to erroneous restoration. The very rarely seen heraldic badge above of the "Courtenay falcon and faggot" (not the usual ancient Courtenay crest of a plume of ostrich feathers) seems to have been adopted during the Wars of the Roses and depicts A falcon rising holding in its claws a bundle of sticks. The significance of the imagery is unknown. It is possibly a reference to the "Courtenay Fagot" described by Richard Carew (d.1620) in his Survey of Cornwall (pages 132-3)[1], a naturally mis-shapen piece of wood split at the ends into four sticks, one of which again split into two, which was "carefully preserved by those noble men". Carew states: "and in semblable maner the last Earles inheritance accrued unto 4 Cornish gent(lemen): Mohun, Trelawny, Arundell of Talverne and Trethurffe". This is a reference to the heirs of Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon (c.1527-1556), the last of the Courtenay Earls of Devon seated at Tiverton Castle. Alternatively it may be a corrupted version of the well-known classical Greek and Roman image often displayed on ancient coins of the "Eagle of Jupiter" holding in his claws a thunderbolt, the emblem of that deity. Mediaveal nobles frequently kept classical cameos and other valuables in a Cabinet de Medailles as curiosities, and thus the imagery would have been familiar.
Title: SpekeChantryExeterCathedral1518CourtenayArms
Credit: Self-photographed
Author: (Lobsterthermidor (talk) 14:42, 10 March 2013 (UTC))
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No