Lord Renaud de Courtenay

• General Notes
  • # Note:
    
        Renaud de Courtenay, Lord of Courtenay; accompanied Louis VII of France on the Second Crusade but quarreled with him so that Louis seized his French possessions and bestowed them, with Renaud's daughter (Elizabeth) in marriage, on his (Louis') own younger brother Pierre; Renaud subsequently threw in his lot with the English kings and was granted the Lordship of Sutton (now Sutton Courtenay), on the Berks-Oxon borders by Henry II 1161; accompanied Henry II to Wexford in the Irish expedition of 1172; married 1st Hedwige (living 1148-58), sister of Guy du Donjon; married 2nd Maud, Dame du Sap (dsp 1224), daughter of Robert Fitz Roy (illegitimate son of Henry I of England) by his wife Maud d'Avranches. [Burke's Peerage]
    
    # Note:
    
    I consider there to be two Renaud de Courtenay's: Renaud I married Hedwige du Donjon and his son, Renaud II married 1st Hawise Deincourt and 2nd Maud du Sap (dsp 1224).
    
    # Note: ---------------------------------------------------
    of Sutton, Berkshire, England; Sire de Courtenay; exiled 1150. [Roderick W. Stuart, Royalty for Commoners, 3rd ed., Genealogical Publishing Company, Baltimore MD, 1998]
    
    # Note: ----------------------------------------------------
    
        The story is told that the great possesions in France of Renaud de Courtenay (a man of high social rank and described in personal terms as in effect a glorified bandit) were seized abt 1150 by King Louis VII who granted them to his own youngest brother, Pierre (ancestor of the French Courtenays), with Renaud's daughter, Elizabeth, in marriage, and that Renaud then appeared in England as a minor functionary of the English Court with a small manor and another family. [Ancestral Roots, Frederick Weis, line 138]
    
    # Note:
    
        Ancestral Roots also discounts Renaud II being the son of Milo (ie. Renaud I and Renaud II in my genalogy, which AR seems to consider the same person) because of dates and social standings, but does not seem to address the possibility of a Reginald [d. 1194 - line 138-25), son of Renaud II (d. 1190 - line 138-24), son of Renaud I (d. 1161 - line 107-24), son of Milo [d. 1127 - line 107-23).
    
    # Note:
    
    Since according to Burke, Elizabeth's marriage was 1150, Renaud lost his French lands and went to England on or about 1150. His children were born in France, while he still had possession of his French estates.
    
    # Note:
    
    Title: Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists, 7th Edition, by Frederick Lewis Weis, additions by Walter Lee Shippard Jr., 1999
    Page: 107-24
    
    Title: Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 106th Edition, Charles Mosley Editor-in-Chief, 1999
    Page: 833
    
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    Seigneur De Courtenay
    Baron of Oakhampton
    He was a nobleman of Sutton, Berkshire, England.
    He was the son of Miles de Courtenay and Ermengard de Nevers. He married Elizabeth de Donjon, a daughter of Frederick du Donjon and Corbeil.
    (Wikipedia)
    
    Reginald de Courtenay, who went to the Holy Land, and went to England with Queen Eleanor (divorced wife of Louis VII, King of France), who married Henry, Duke of Normandy, afterwards Henry II, King of England. King Louis VII had taken his Queen Eleanor, heiress of Aquitiane and Poicters, etc., with him to the Holy Land, where he suspected her of nuptial infidelity. Upon that occasion there were two parties, one for the King and one for the Queen. Reginald de Courtenay was one of those who vindicated Eleanor's character. Reginald de Courtenay whilst in France married a sister of Guy de Donjon, who was one of the famous knights of that age, and descended from the ancient Counts of Corbeil, and had by her two daughters. The eldest, Elizabeth, married Peter, youngest son of Louis VI, King of France, surnamed Le Gros, which Peter on obtaining all the Seigneuries of Courtenay, Montorges, etc., took the name and arms of Courtenay, and was ancestor of the Courtenays of France, who claim the rank of Princes of the Blood next to the House of Bourbon. Their daughter Alice married Aymer, Count of Valence, and their daughter Isabel married King John of England. Their son Peter married Yolanda of Hainault, sister of Baldwin, Emperor of Constantinople, and their daughter Yolanda or Jolanda married Andrew, King of Hungary. Reginald de Courtenay married 2nd Hawisa D'Eincourt, only daughter and heir of Robert de Abrancis, from whom Reginald de Courtenay in right of his wife became hereditary Sheriff of Devonshire, Baron of Oakhampton, and Governor of Castle Exeter. Sir Reginald died Sept. 27, 1194 and is buried in Ford Abbey. His 2nd wife Hawisa died July 30, 1209. He was in great favor with Henry II, was with him in his wars, and esteemed a noble and valiant warrior, and was witness to many deeds and charters. By his 2nd wife he had 3 sons and one daughter: Robert, from whom this line is descended, Reginald, Henry, and Egeline (the wife of Gilbert Bassett, Baron of Heddington, by whom she had a daughter Eustachia, who married Richard de Camville, and their daughter Idonea married William de Longspee, Earl of Salisbury, natural son of Henry II, by Rosamund Clifford. Ela de Longspee married James D'Audley and Joan D'Audley married John de Beauchamp.
    (Kin of Mellcene Thurman Smith, page 283)