Earl of Devon

Earldom of Devon
Quarterly, 1st & 4th: Or, three torteaux (Courtenay); 2nd & 3rd: Or, a lion rampant azure (Redvers)
Creation date	1553 (fifth creation)
Monarch	Mary I of England (fifth creation)
Peerage	Peerage of England
First holder	Edward Courtenay (fifth creation)
Present holder	Charles Courtenay
Heir apparent	Jack Courtenay, Lord Courtenay
Remainder to	heirs male of the body (lawfully begotten)
Subsidiary titles	Lord Courtenay;Courtenay baronets
Seat(s)	Powderham Castle, Devon
Former seat(s)	Tiverton Castle, Colcombe Castle, Devon

The title of Earl of Devon was created several times in the English peerage, and was possessed first (after the Norman Conquest of 1066) by the de Redvers (alias de Reviers, Revieres, etc.) family, and later by the Courtenays. It is not to be confused with the title of "Earl of Devonshire", held, together with the title Duke of Devonshire, by the Cavendish family of Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, although the letters patent for the creation of the latter peerages used the same Latin words, Comes Devon(iae). It was a re-invention, if not an actual continuation, of the pre-Conquest office of Ealdorman of Devon.

Close kinsmen and powerful allies of the Plantagenet kings, especially Edward III, Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V, the Earls of Devon were treated with suspicion by the Tudors, perhaps unfairly, partly because William Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon (1475–1511), had married Princess Catherine of York, a younger daughter of King Edward IV, bringing the Earls of Devon very close to the line of succession to the English throne. During the Tudor period all but the last Earl were attainted, and there were several recreations and restorations. The last recreation was to the heirs male of the grantee, not (as would be usual) to the heirs male of his body. When he died unmarried, it was assumed the title was extinct, but a much later very distant Courtenay cousin, of the family seated at Powderham, whose common ancestor was Hugh de Courtenay, 2nd Earl of Devon (d.1377), seven generations before this Earl, successfully claimed the title in 1831. During this period of dormancy the de jure Earls of Devon, the Courtenays of Powderham, were created baronets and later viscounts.