Origin of the Name Courtenay

The name Courtenay comes from a place 90 kilometres south of Paris, which was fortified about the year 1000 by Athon, a knight prominent among the immediate followers of the King of France.

Athon was the son of the Governour of Castle Renaud in Gastinois in France, and during the reign of King Robert the pious. He was very likely related to Hugh Capet , who gained the throne of France from the Carolingians in the year 987.

About the year 1000, he fortified the town of Courtenay, in the Isle de France area of the monarchy, and gave the name to the family. Courtenay stands on a hill on the Banks of the River Clairy between Sens on the East and Montargis on the West about 56 miles south of Paris.

There are three main branches of Athon Courtenay's decendents:

· those who departed for the crusades and became the Counts of Edessa and Emperors of Jerusalem and Constantinople;

· those who remained in France after the crusades; and

· those who went to England and founded the family there.

Only the English branches have survived and it is from these branches that the American families are descended.

This genealogy of his descendents is from charts found at the Society of Genealogists Library in London, England in a box or records marked Courtenay. copied by Dorothy Saunders and Thelma McIlwain.

Further sources for this compilation are: Harleian Volumes of the Visitations of the Counties of Devon and Cornwall. Debrett's Illustrated Peerage - 1980 edition pp P362 P363.

For his descendents see "A Genealogical History of the Noble and Illustrious Family of Courtenay" by Ezra Cleaveland. The Genealogical table of the family of Joceline de Courtenay, Count of Edessa is opposite page 1. The genealogical table of the Emperor of Constantinople is opposite p.45. The genealogical table of Reginald who founded the English branch of that family is opposite p. 113. The genealogical table of his second son Robert is found opposite p. 70. The genealogical table of the Seigniurs de Yerre is opposite p. 106.

Some lines were followed to Ireland from charts found in the Public Record Office in Dublin, Ireland in 1990. Most of them did not give dates and sources for the information. Notes are included about these sources when the lines are entered.

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