[Illustration] This illustrious house is descended from Reginald de Courtenay, who came over to England with Henry II. A.D. 1151, and, having married the daughter and heiress of the hereditary sheriff of Devonshire, became immediately connected with this county. The Earldom of Devon was first conferred on the Courtenays in 1335, by reason of their descent from William de Redvers, Earl of Devon, The Powderham branch springs from Sir Philip, sixth son of Hugh second Earl of Devon. See Brydges's Collins, vi. 214; Lysons, lxxxvii.; Westcote's Devonshire Pedigrees, 570, &c.; Journal of Arch. Institute, x. 52; and Sir Harris Nicolas's Earldom of Devon. ARMS.--_Or, three torteauxes_. This coat, with a bend azure, was borne by Sir Philip de Courtenay in the reign of Edward II. (Roll.) And the same, with a _label azure_, by Hugh de Courtenay in 1300. See the Roll of Carlaverock, and Sir Harris Nicolas's notes, p. 193. This label was, he remarks, charged by respective branches of the family with mitres, crescents, lozenges, annulets, fleurs-de-lis, guttees, and plates, and with a bend over all. See also Willement's Heraldic Notices in Canterbury Cathedral. Present Representative, William Reginald Courtenay, 11th Earl of Devon. EDGCUMBE OF EDGCUMBE, IN THE PARISH OF MILTON ABBOT'S. [Illustration] Richard Edgcumbe was Lord of Edgcumbe in 1292, and was the direct ancestor of this venerable family, the present representative being twentieth in lineal descent from this first Richard. In the reign of Edward III. William Edgcumbe, second son of the house of Edgcumbe, having married the heiress of Cotehele, in the parish of Calstock, removed into Cornwall, and was the ancestor of the Edgcumbes of Cotehele and Mount Edgcumbe, Earls of Mount Edgcumbe (1789). Another younger branch was of Brompton, or Brampton, in Kent. See Prince's Worthies of Devon, ed. 1701, p. 281; Gilbert's Survey of Cornwall, 4to. 1820, vol. i. p. 444; Carew's Cornwall, 1st ed., p. 99 b and 114 a; Brydges's Collins, v. 306; and Lysons's Cornwall, lxxiii. 212, 53. ARMS.--_Gules, on a bend ermine cotised or three boar's heads couped argent_. Present Representative, Richard D. Edgcumbe, Esq. CHICHESTER OF YOULSTON, IN THE PARISH OF SHERWILL, FORMERLY OF RALEGH, IN THE PARISH OF PILTON; BARONET 1641. [Illustration] This ancient family is said to have taken its name from Cirencester, in Gloucestershire, the residence of its remote ancestors. The Chichesters were, however, as early as the reign of Henry III. of the county of Devon, although Ralegh came to them at a later period from an heiress of that name; Youlston, the present seat, from an heiress of Beaumont in the time of Henry VII. John de Cirencester, living in the 20th of Henry I. is said to have been the first recorded ancestor.