page_title: Hall, Lanteglos-by-Fowey
section_title: The Courtenay Faggot at Hall
hierarchical_section_title: Hall, Lanteglos-by-Fowey / The Courtenay Faggot at Hall
caption_attribution_description: English: Arms of William Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon (1475-1511) of Tiverton Castle, Devon, above the "Greenway Porch" (south porch) of St Peter's Church, Tiverton, next to the castle. Part of the Greenway Chapel, built in 1517 by the wealthy Tiverton merchant John Greenway (d.1529), whose initials are seen above the Courtenay arms. He possibly erected the arms of the Courtenays on his porch in deference to them as great local magnates, lords of the manor of Tiverton, (patrons of the church?), resident at the adjacent Tiverton Castle. He also shows the Courtenay arms with the same badge on his surviving Greenway Almshouses erected by him in 1517 in Gold Steet, Tiverton. The arms are Courtenay impaling the 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): Quarterly 1st: royal arms of England of Edward IV; 2nd &amp; 3rd: Or, a cross gules (de Burgh), 4th: obliterated, usually shows either repeat of 1st quarter or else: Barry of six or and azure on a chief of the first two pallets between two gyrons of the second over all an inescutcheon argent (Mortimer). The sinister (right) supporter appears to be a dolphin, an heraldic emblem usually used by the family of Courtenay of Powderham, a junior branch of the Courtenay family. (Supporters stated as follows by Harding, Lt-Col. William, The History of Tiverton in the County of Devon, Volume II, Book IV, Tiverton, 1847, p.12[1]: Dexter supporter "A man in armour having at his feet what would appear to be intended for a dragon, sinister a female figure") 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. On either side of the falcon is shown a White rose of York, in reference to Courtenay's royal father-in-law. It is possibly a reference to the "Courtenay Fagot" described by Richard Carew (d.1620) in his Survey of Cornwall (pages 132-3)[2], 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.
context_page_description: Hall in the parish of Lanteglos-by-Fowey in Cornwall, England, is an historic estate, most prominent as the seat of a branch of the Mohun family of Dunster Castle in Somerset. The family of Mohun of Hall was also seated at Bodinnick also in the parish of Lanteglos-by-Fowey and later at Boconnoc, both in Cornwall, and was one of the four co-heirs of Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon, feudal baron of Okehampton, etc., of Tiverton Castle, Okehampton Castle, etc., the last of the mediaeval Courtenay Earls of Devon. In recognition of this in 1628 the senior representative of the Mohun family of Hall was created Baron Mohun of Okehampton, namely John Mohun, 1st Baron Mohun of Okehampton eldest son and heir of Sir Reginald Mohun, 1st Baronet of Boconnoc. The family of Mohun of Hall died out in the male line in 1712, following the death in a celebrated duel of Charles Mohun, 4th Baron Mohun of Okehampton, who died without progeny. However, the family had long out-lived the senior Dunster line which died out in the male line in 1375, following the death of John de Mohun, 2nd Baron Mohun, KG.
context_section_description: The inheritance of the Trethurffe family of Trethurffe, Ladock, in Cornwall, of part of the estates of Edward Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon (c.1527-1556), the last of the Courtenay Earls of Devon seated at Tiverton Castle, was supposedly foretold by the Courtenay Faggot being "againe sub-divided into other twayne". The Courtenay Faggot was a mysterious naturally mis-shapen piece of wood split at the ends into four sticks, one of which again split into two, supposedly kept as a valued possession by the Courtenay Earls of Devon, "carefully preserved by those noble men".
  It was later interpreted as an omen of the end of the line of Courtenay Earls of Devon via four heiresses. It was seen by the Cornish historian Richard Carew (died 1620) when visiting Hall, in the parish of Lanteglos-by-Fowey, Cornwall, then the dower house of Margaret Reskimer, the widow of Sir William Mohun (died 1588), MP, of Hall, the great-grandson of Elizabeth Courtenay, who described it in his Survey of Cornwall  as follows:
  "A farre truer foretoken touching the Earle of Devon's progeny I have seen at this place of Hall, to wit, a kind of faggot, whose age and painting approveth the credited tradition that it was carefully preserved by those noble men. But whether upon that prescience or no, there mine author fails me. This faggot being all one peece of wood, and that naturally growen, is wrapped about the middle part with a bond and parted at the ends into foure sticks, one of which is againe sub-divided into other twayne. And in semblable maner the last Erle's inheritance accrued unto 4 Cornish gent(lemen): Mohun, Trelawny, Arundell of Talverne and Trethurffe. And Trethurffe's portion Courtenay of Ladocke and Vivian do enjoy, as descended from his two daughters and heires".
caption: Arms of William Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon (died 1511), of Tiverton Castle, above the south porch of St Peter's Church, Tiverton, next to the Castle. Part of the Greenway Chapel, built in 1517 by the wealthy Tiverton merchant John Greenway (died 1529), whose initials are seen above the Courtenay arms. Above and between two White Roses of York appears the heraldic badge of the Courtenays: A falcon rising holding in its claws a bundle of sticks, the Courtenay Faggot
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