Peter Courtenay

Peter Courtenay
Bishop of Winchester
Arms of Bishop Peter Courtenay (d.1492), showing the arms of the See of Exeter impaling Courtenay of Powderham, incorporating heraldic badges of dolphins of Courtenay of Powderham, Hungerford sickles and Peverell garbs. Detail from the Courtenay Mantelpiece, Bishop's Palace, Exeter
Appointed	29 January 1487
Term ended	23 September 1492
Predecessor	William Waynflete
Successor	Thomas Langton
Personal details
Born	c. 1432
Died	23 September 1492
Denomination	Catholic
Previous post	Bishop of Exeter Dean of Windsor Dean of Exeter

Peter Courtenay (c. 1432 – 23 September 1492) was Bishop of Exeter and Bishop of Winchester, and also had a successful political career during the tumultuous years of the Wars of the Roses.

Courtenay was the third son of Sir Philip Courtenay (d. 1463) of Powderham by Elizabeth Hungerford, daughter of Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford (d. 1449), by his first wife Catherine Peverell, daughter of Sir Thomas Peverell, MP, of Parke and Hamatethy, Cornwall. He was a grandson of Sir Philip Courtenay (d. 1406) of Powderham, a younger son of Hugh Courtenay, 10th Earl of Devon (d. 1377). Courtenay was also a grand-nephew of Richard Courtenay (d. 1415), Bishop of Norwich, and a great-grand-nephew of William Courtenay (d. 1396), Archbishop of Canterbury. He came from a family of six brothers and four sisters.

According to Horrox, Courtenay was admitted bachelor of civil law at University of Oxford in 1457, and continued his legal studies at the University of Cologne, matriculating in the faculty of law there in November 1457. By April 1461 he was studying law at the University of Padua, where he was elected rector.

Courtenay enjoyed ecclesiastical preferment from 1448 on. Among other appointments he was made Archdeacon of Exeter on 8 June 1453,prebendary at Lincoln in 1483, Archdeacon of Wiltshire in 1464, Master of St. Anthony's Hospital, St Benet Fink in the City of London in 1470,Dean of Exeter from October 1476 to March 1477, and Dean of Windsor in April 1477. On 14 June 1478 Courtenay was elected Bishop of Exeter, with papal provision taking place on 9 September 1478. He received his temporalities on 3 November, and was consecrated on 8 November at St Stephen's Chapel, Westminster.