Robert Corbet

  General Notes:

~ Eyton's Antiquities of Shropshire, Vol. VII,, p. 40 (Corbet of Caus pedigree chart), Eyton has Roger fitz Corbet of Caus, occuring 1086-1121, and his brother, Robert fitz Corbet of Alcester and Longden, as the sons of Corbet of Caus, the Norman, living 1071-1080 ⁷³³

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information. ⁷²²
Robert Fitz Corbet, fourth son, Domesday Baron of Longdon and Alcestor [Eyton, 7:6], the later in Warwickshire, and he also held the manor of Wigmore in Herefordshire. He flourished from 1070 until 1130. Shortly after 1070, he was in the company with Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury, and from 1083 he attested the Earl's charters to the Abbey of Shrewbury.

Robert was governor of Northumberland upon the pacification of northern England. He held lands in Yorkshire, Northumberland, Durham, Middlesex, Nottinghamshire and elsewhere as well as lands in wales.
His children were:

Robert, who died without heirs
Sybil (also called Adela and Lucia), who was the mistress of Henry I Beauclerc of England. She married Herbert Fitz Herbert, and had children with both gentlemen.
Alice, who married William de Boterel, lord of Boscatel, and they had a son named William de Bottrell who married Isabel de Say, lady of Clun.

~ Boyer's Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, pp. 61-62

• Web Reference: The Anglo-Norman Corbets from The Corbett Study Group.
Roger and Robert were said by Le Carpentier to be the second and fourth sons of Corbet. Surviving documents refer to Corbet and to Roger and Robert as sons of Corbet.) They must have been young men when they were brought to Shropshire to serve Earl Roger Montgomery; they were still alive fifty years later. We do not know whom they married, nor when, nor the dates of birth of their children. This is not surprising for most of the evidence comes from witness-lists to charters. We can with safety assume that they, especially Roger, were leading followers of the earl. Roger was one of the witnesses to the charter to the earl's church of Quatford on 22 July 1086, when the bishops of Worcester, Hereford and Chester were also present. [Eyton, Shropshire i, pp. 109-111]

Hugh Montgomery succeeded as earl on his father's death in July 1094. Earl Roger Montgomery was buried in Shrewsbury Abbey, on which occasion Roger fitz Corbet's grant of the church of Wentnor and the tithes of Yockleton was made. [Rees, Cartulary, p.39] Earl Hugh's charter of liberties (cartulary no.4) was witnessed by Roger 'Corbeth' and his brother Robert. [White, op.cit.]

It is because of Henry I's personal propensities that we know something of two Corbet women who occur in the records of this period. Of his numerous mistresses Sibyl Corbet, elder daughter of Robert fitz Corbet of Longden, must have been a favourite since she bore four, possibly five, of Henry's illegitimate children. [Complete Peerage XI, Appendix D] She had a younger sister Alice. The known children by Sibyl Corbet were Rainaud de Dunstanville, his brother William and sisters Gundred and Rohese; it is also possible, but not certain, that Sibyl was the mother of the king's illegitimate daughter Sibyl who was married to Alexander after he became king of the Scots in 1107. [A.C. Lawrie, Early Scottish Charters, Glasgow 1905:charter XXXVI to Scone Priory, Alexander I, c. 1120, witnessed by Queen Sibyl and her brother William; she died 12 June 1122 on an island in Loch Tay to which Alexander granted charter XLVII, to canons of Scone.]