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) 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 son of Sir Hugh Courtenay (c.1358-1425), of Haccombe and Bampton, Devon, MP and Sheriff of Devon (a grandson of Hugh de Courtenay, 2nd/10th Earl of Devon (1303–1377) and the younger brother of Edward de Courtenay, 3rd/11th Earl of Devon (1357–1419), "The Blind Earl"), by his 4th wife Maud Beaumont (d. 3 July 1467), daughter of Sir William Beaumont of Shirwell by Isabel Willington, daughter