Mary Courtenay

Mary Pole was baptized in Colcombe on June 26, 1586. She married Nicholas Hurst on 5 Apr 1602.

http://www.thepeerage.com/p918.htm#i9173

Mary Pole was christened on 26 June 1586 at Shute, Devon, EnglandG. She was the daughter of Sir William Pole and Mary Periam.1,2 She married, firstly, Nicholas Hurst before 1606.1 She married, secondly, Francis Courtenay, son of Sir William Courtenay and Lady Elizabeth Manners, on 7 November 1606.1 She died, without issue.1

The Priory of St. Nicholas and the Hurst Family

The Benedictine Priory of St. Nicholas in Exeter began as the Church of St. Olave. Directly the result of the siege of Exeter in1068, King William commissioned a small group of Benedictine monks to begin developing the Church of St. Olave into a Benedictine monastery. Over the next nineteen years, a monastery and new church were constructed, with the church finally dedicated to St. Nicholas in 1087. Some five centuries hence, in 1536, upon Henry VIII Tudor's suppression of the monasteries, the Church of St. Nicholas and monastery were demolished, with other buildings being sold to the public at large............The transition of the Priory of St. Nicholas to a high end residential property offers context to the Hurst family and the marriage of Nicholas Hurst and Mary Pole -- "Two sets of initials and some tax records enable us to link the priory more closely with one of Exeter's most famous families. There is an Elizabethan plaster ceiling in the parlour probably inserted in the 1570's/80's,the design of which includes the initials WM and MH. Only people with substantial wealth and a desire to display it are likely to have paid for such a ceiling. One likely candidate is William Hurst, successful city merchant who was five times mayor of Exeter and Member of Parliament for the shire. He is known to have purchased much city property, including monastic lands. However, there is no record of him living at the priory, whilst there is evidence of him living elsewhere. He died in 1568 at age 96, perhaps too early for the ceiling............But another William Hurst is recorded as living in the parish of St. Olave and paying the most rent of anyone there. The priory is recorded as being easily the largest property for tax purposes. This is thought to be William Hurst, son of John Hurst and, therefore grandson of William Hurst, the mayor. William Hurst, Jr. is mentioned in his grandfather's will and, it seems, did not continue in the family business but became a country squire with family lands in Oxton in Kenton. St. Nicholas Priory would appear to be his town house (wealthy land owners often rented town properties to be used for entertaining and impressing people, hence the grand ceiling). We also know he married Mary Peter (from a wealthy merchant family). This union would therefore fit the initials WH and MH. They had a son, Nicholas Hurst. William died in 1595, aged about 60. William left Nicholas, aged about 40, the rest of the lease of the town house. Nicholas married Mary Pole, who was aged 16, on 5th April, 1602. His mother, Mary, married Sir William Clifton............Whilst there is no hard proof that William did not sub - let the property before his death, Nicholas appears linked with the priory again in 1602, so it is more than feasible for the family to have occupied the house from circa 1575 to 1604, when Nicholas died............Our scene is set in 1602, a short time after Nicholas' marriage to the young Mary Pole. Nicholas is not well (he dies in 1604) and is drafting his will. He is considering standard bequests to his mother and wife (the marriage of Nicholas Hurst and Mary Pole was without issue), but also to others including a child of a good friend. At this time, members of the household may have been: 1.) Nicholas Hurst (in very poor health, 2.) Mary (Pole) Hurst (Nicholas' wife), 3.) Lady Mary Clifton (Nicholas' mother), 4.) Sir William Clifton (Nicholas' step - father), 5.) William Raymonde (Nicholas' kinsman), 6.) Alice Bacon (Mary (Pole) Hurst's cousin and best friend), and 7.) Richard Bacon (Alice's husband. (2)

• Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Jan 22 2017, 23:55:18 UTC