The ordinal number given to the early Courtenay earls of Devon depends on whether the earldom is deemed a new creation by the letters patent granted 22 February 1334/5 or whether it is deemed a restitution of the old dignity of the de Redvers family.

Hugh de Courtenay was the second, but first surviving, son of Edward Courtenay, 3rd/11th Earl of Devon, 'the blind Earl', and Maud de Camoys, daughter of Sir John de Camoys[2] of Gressenhall, Norfolk, by his second wife, Elizabeth Latimer, the daughter of William Latimer, 3rd Baron Latimer (c. 1300 – 1335).

[3] His brother Sir Edward de Courtenay, died in 1418, making him his father's heir.

[5] Courtenay died on 16 June 1422, aged 33, and was succeeded in the earldom by his son, Thomas.

[8] It is believed they also had a daughter, Dame Anne Courtenay, who married, as her second husband, John Yerde, esq., of the manors of Denton and Trappinton in Kent and East Cheam in Surrey.