Bastard feudalism as well as recruiting local gentry into their affinities. By offering money instead of land, lords could afford to retain more followers. In return for becoming retainers, the gentry would expect to rely on their lord's influence in local and national politics. This practice was known as "maintenance". The retainer might wear his lord's livery badge or the grander form, a livery collar, which could be very useful in a courtroom. Under a weak king, such as Henry VI (reigned 1422–1461 and 1470–1471), the rivalries of magnates might spill over from the courtroom to armed confrontations, thereby perverting justice. Since
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