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- Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England; Caus Castle is a ruin of a hill fort and medieval castle in the civil parish of Westbury in the English county of Shropshire. It is situated up on the eastern foothills of the Long Mountain guarding the route from Shrewsbury, Shropshire to Montgomery, Powys on the border between England and Wales. It was destroyed during the English Civil War and has been in ruins since.[1] The early outer earthworks of the site are probably an Iron Age hillfort, while the later motte-and-bailey is of Norman construction. Roger le Corbet (or Fitz Corbet) was granted several manors in Shropshire in 1069 by William the Conqueror as the Barony of Caus for his role in the Norman conquest and invasion of England. They were named after his Normandy estate in the Pays de Caux, in France. The Corbets owed fealty to Roger de Montgomery, the first Earl of Shrewsbury to help control Welsh Marches with absolute control over their demesne. Caus Castle was built by Roger le Corbet in the late 11th century as a high motte with a very small summit on which stood a tower and a strongly defended inner bailey. The castle was sufficiently important that the Crown took an interest in its maintenance. Henry II of England had it garrisoned in 1165. In 1198 Roger Corbet re-built the tower, keep and curtain wall in stone. During the late 12th century a town or borough was founded in the large outer Bailey. A royal grant of 50 marks was made in 1263 towards further building work, when D-shape towers were added to the curtain wall. The town contained a church of St Margaret as well as the castle's church of St Nicholas, and the names of two thoroughfares, Castle Street and St Margaret Street are recorded.[2] On the death of Beatrice Corbet in 1347 Caus passed to the Earl of Stafford. At its height the borough had 58 burgesses resident in 1349, a year coinciding with the arrival of the Black Death in England.
Scottish branch: The first Corbet in Scotland came from Shropshire, and settled in Teviotdale under Earl David (later King David I of Scotland) in the first quarter of the 12th century. He is said to have obtained the manor of Fogo which he held as a vassal under the Earls of Dunbar. Robert fitz Corbet appeared in Scotland in about 1116 as one of the retinue of Earl David, who later became King David I. The author, Augusta Corbet, who wrote The Family of Corbet – Its Life and Times, says that Robert was the son of Roger Corbet and grandson of Corbet le Normand. It is said he belonged to the family which held Drayton in Northamptonshire. Robert Corbet was a witness in the instrument or Inquisition made by David, Prince of Cumberland, into the lands belonging to the old Church of Glasgow, and is also a witness in other deeds of David when he was King of Scotland (1124–53).
Foundation for Medieval Genealogy
ROBERT [I] Corbet (-after 1124). Orderic Vitalis records "Guillelmum cognomento Pantulfum et Picodum atque Corbatum, filiosque eius Rogerium et Rodbertum" as vassals of Roger de Montgommery in Shropshire, dated to [1071] from the context[1656].
Domesday Book records “Robert fitzCorbet” holding Woolstaston, Ratlinghope, Womerton, Woodcote, Longden and several other places in Shropshire[1657].
Henry I King of England granted the manor of Alcester, Warwickshire to Robert Corbet[1658]. "Rogerius filius Corbet, Robertus frater eius" subscribed the charter dated to [May 1121] under which Henry I King of England confirmed Shrewsbury abbey[1659]. A manuscript reciting the foundation of Shrewsbury abbey records donations including by "Robertus Corbeth" of “villam…Lochetonam”, with the consent of "filius eius Robertus"[1660].
"…Robto Corbet…" witnessed the charter dated to [1119/24] under which "David comes filii Malcolmi regis Scotorum" founded the monastery of Kelso[1661]. "…Robertus Corbet…" witnessed the charter, dated to the reign of Alexander I King of Scotland, under which "David predicti regis Scotie germanum…Cumbrensis regionis princeps" listed the lands of the church of Glasgow[1662]. "…Rob Corbet…" witnessed the undated charter under which David I King of Scotland donated property to "ecclesie sci Johis de castro de Rokesburg"[1663].
m [firstly] ---. The name of Robert’s [first] wife is not known.
m [secondly] ---. The name of Robert’s [second] wife is not known. This second marriage is suggested by the difference in age between Robert’s two daughters, as explained below, although their estimated dates of birth could fall within the reproductive range of one woman.
Robert [I] & his [first] wife had one child:
a) SIBYL Corbet ([1090/95]-after 1157). The Complete Peerage deduces her parentage, relationship with King Henry, and her marriage from a charter, dated to [1163/75], of her son "Reginaldus, Henrici Regis filius, comes Cornubiæ" by which he granted property to "Willielmo de Boterell, filio Aliziæ Corbet, materteræ meæ" which he had granted to "Willielmo de Boterells in Cornubia, patri…predicti Willielmi" on his marriage, witnessed by "Nicholao filio meo…Herberto filio Herberti, Baldwino et Ricardo nepotibus meis, Willelmo de Vernun, Willielmo fratre meo…Hugone de Dunstanvill…"[1664]. The [1125/35] birth date range estimated for her son Herbert, born from this marriage, suggests that she married after her relationship with the king. The question whether she was the mother of Sibyl, wife of Alexander I King of Scotland, is discussed in the document ENGLAND, KINGS 1066-1603. Lady of Alcester and Pontesbury. The Pipe Roll of 1157 records a payment to "the mother of Earl Reginald" from an estate at Mienes, Sussex[1665]. Mistress ([1110/15]) of HENRY I King of England, son of WILLIAM I "the Conqueror" King of England & his wife Mathilde de Flandre (Selby, Yorkshire Sep 1068-Château de Lyon-la-Forêt, near Rouen 1 Dec 1135, bur Reading Abbey, Berkshire). m ([1115/25]) HERBERT FitzHerbert, son of HERBERT FitzHenry & his first wife Emma de Blois (-before 1165).
Robert [I] & his [second] wife had two children:
b) ROBERT [II] Corbet (-after Jul 1141). "…Roberto Corbet…" is named as present at a second donation by “Mylo constabularius de Gloucestria” to Lanthony abbey, undated but following an earlier donation dated 1137[1666]. It is not known with certainty that this Robert Corbet was the son of the earlier Robert Corbet. However, the latter would have been very old at the time if the charter refers to him. A manuscript reciting the foundation of Shrewsbury abbey records donations including by "Robertus Corbeth" of “villam…Lochetonam”, with the consent of "filius eius Robertus"[1667]. "…Rob Corbet…" witnessed the charter dated [Jul 1141/Dec 1142] under which Empress Matilda permitted "Milon com Heref" to hold the castle and honour of Abergavenny, from "Bri fil com et Matild de Walengeford uxor sue"[1668]. The absence of any later reference either to Robert [II] or to any possible children suggests that he died childless, maybe before he married, which in turn would suggest that he may have been born from his father’s supposed second marriage. Another possibility is that he settled in Scotland, where Walter Corbet and his descendants are recorded from the end of the 12th century (see the document UNTITLED SCOTTISH NOBILITY).
c) ALICE Corbet ([1115/20]-). Eyton states that "Alice, daughter and eventual co-heir of Robert fitz Corbet married William Botterell of Cornwall", adding that the marriage must be dated to after 1140 as on her marriage her nephew Renaud Earl of Cornwall gave her property at "Cracunton and Bidun", both in Cornwall, which he assesses would only have been his after his installation as earl in that year[1669]. Renaud Earl of Cornwall issued a charter for William de Boterel which names his mother "matertere mee Aliz Corbet"[1670]. As noted above, Alice’s estimated birth date suggests that she may have been born from a different marriage from her sister Sibyl, although it is possible that their estimated dates of birth could fall within the reproductive range of one woman. m (1140 or after) WILLIAM Boterel [I], son of --- (-[1165/75]). Military fee certifications in the Red Book of the Exchequer, in 1166, record that "Willelmus de Boterellis" held one knight’s fee from the bishop of Exeter in Devon and twelve knights’ fees from "comitis Reginaldi" in Cornwall[1671].
Roger Corbet. Alive at least between 1080 & 1122. May have fought at the Battle of Hastings. Held 24 manors in Shropshire in 1086 (DomesdaySurvey).
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The following material was excerpted from The Corbet Study Group, J.C.Nobel, online at
http://website.lineone.net/~corbett_group/First/people.htm:
The Anglo Norman Corbets by Barbara Coulton
Roger fitz Corbet's largest manor was Worthen, north of Rea Brook: its14½ hides supported men-at-arms as well as villagers. His other twenty-four manors included Yockleton, Westbury and Wattlesborough to the north and Pontesbury to the east of Worthen; further east lay his brother's chief manor of Longden. The site which later became the capital of the Corbet barony is not mentioned in early records, but it will be as well to review at this point what has been written of Cause - the first known reference to which occurs some fifty years after the DomesdaySurvey. It has already been pointed out that Corbet was probably associated with the Pays d'Auge. Later documents testify to the presence of the family in that area: holding land at Crocy in Calvados; donating land to the abbey of St-Martin and Ste Barbara at Ste-Barbe-en-Auge. 12 Most accounts of the family follow R.W.Eyton in locating the family in another part of Normandy, the Pays de Caux. Eyton asserts this as a fact,without citing original sources. He was following an idea of J.B.Blakeway, but Blakeway was by no means so definite: "what seems nearly certain is, that the family settled in the Pais de Caux." He gives no references for this supposition. The source he uses for an earlyCorbet lineage, the Histoire du Cambray et du Cambresis par Jean le Carpentier, Leyden 1664, deals with another branch of the family, and there is no reference to the Pays de Caux. 13 What seems to be at work is a wish to derive the place-name Caus/Cause from Caux, without any good evidence.
Note: In order to play it safe, I have the father Hugh of both Pays deCaux and Pays d'Auge.
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1054 - 1122 (68 years)
