Wars of the Roses the Hundred Years' War, unfolding the structural problems of feudalism, combined with the mental infirmity and weak rule of King Henry VI which revived interest in Richard of York's claim to the throne. Historians disagree on which of these factors to identify as the main reason for the wars. With the Duke of York's death, the claim transferred to his heir, Edward, who later became the first Yorkist king of England, as Edward IV. He reigned from 1461, interrupted by a Lancastrian uprising and reinstallment of Henry VI in 1470 to 1471, until his sudden death in 1483. His son
Hugh Courtenay (d.1471) of Sir Henry Willington of Umberleigh. He married Margaret Carminow, daughter and co-heiress of Thomas Carminow, by Joan Hill, the daughter of Robert Hill. They had the following issue: Thus the Courtenay estates were divided into four parts. On the death of Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devon, in 1556, the actual heirs to his estates were the following descendants of the four sisters above: Hugh Courtenay (d.1471) Sir Hugh Courtenay (c.1427 – 6 May 1471) of Boconnoc, Cornwall, was MP for Cornwall in 1446 and 1449. He was beheaded after the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471. He was the second