Robert Corbet (died 1583)

Robert Corbet was the eldest son of :*Sir Andrew Corbet of Moreton Corbet, Shropshire.The Corbets had a history as Marcher lords in Shropshire stretching back to the Norman Conquest and were the leading landed gentry family in the county, although they were never ennobled. Their seat was at Moreton Corbet Castle, although they had very large property holdings across Shropshire and in many other parts of the country. However, when Robert was born he was still a youth of about nineteen, not yet a knight. Like his father, Roger Corbet, Andrew underwent a prolonged wardship although he was fortunate that the wardship was purchased by his uncle Richard Corbet. Richard was responsible for arranging his marriage to Jane Needham and it is likely that they had been married for only a very short time before the conception of their first child. Robert was born more than a year before Andrew could take livery of his estates. He was one of at least eleven children of the marriage, including six sons. Robert had been a favourite name for Corbet heirs for centuries but had been demoted in recent generations. Elizabeth Corbet, née Vernon, Robert's great-grandmother, who survived until 1563, may have had a decisive say in the choice of name. Augusta Corbet, the family historian, maintains that Robert Corbet was educated at Shrewsbury School and cites a known payment of 3 shillings and ninepence by Sir Andrew to the school for his three sons. While plausible, there is no other evidence. The Corbet family did have a close association with the school: Reginald Corbet, Robert's great-uncle and recorder of Shrewsbury played an important part in getting permission to establish it in 1548. However, if Robert did get his schooling at Shrewsbury, it would have been in the very early days, as the school was opened only in 1552. From the outset, it had a distinctly Calvinist ethos, and under Thomas Ashton, its head appointed in 1561, it developed a reputation as a centre for humanistic learning and drama. It is quite possibly where Corbet developed an international outlook and facility for languages that would be useful in his later career. ==Political and diplomatic career==

Member of Parliament for Shropshire Many Corbets had been knights of the shire for Shropshire over the centuries and it was to replace one of them that Robert Corbet became a member of parliament in 1566. The young Robert was slotted into his uncle's place and held the seat until the parliament was dissolved in January 1567. He was listed as "junior" in the parliamentary record to distinguish him from his uncle Robert of Stanwardine, near Baschurch. an older and more experienced man and a close colleague of Sir Andrew in the military organisation of the county and the Council in the Marches, and he was a member of the committee investigating the succession question, which continued to preoccupy parliament. However, Leighton was granted leave of absence on 16 November, leaving Robert Corbet as the county's sole representative for the closing stages of the parliament. Travels During the 1570s Robert Corbet travelled widely in mainland Europe, Shelley, Corbet's travelling companion on this occasion was last grand prior of the Knights of St. John in England, a Catholic notable who resided in Venice acting informally as the queen's trade representative and even less formally as a spy for the English government. Corbet set out for Vienna on 27 May, without his servant, who was too ill for the journey, but carrying a portrait of Sidney for Languet. After a brief stay in Vienna, Corbet and Shelly set out with letters of introduction from Languet to friends in Prague, Nuremberg and Augsburg. However, Corbet was soon writing back from Prague to Languet that Shelley was too ill to proceed, which Languet initially put down to Shelley's hypochondria. However, wrote Languet: :''"alas he made a more just calculation of his danger than the physicians, as I learn from a second letter from our friend Corbet, who writes in despair of Richard's condition. He was at the point of death, given over by his physicians...Corbet's letter shows that he is greatly disturbed, and I do not wonder at it. He consults me about his own affairs, and asks whether he shall pursue his journey when he has lost his companion as he hears that troops are being raised in the places through which his road lies, and that all the country about the Rhine and Lorraine is in a state of great confusion. But as he intimates that he will not leave Prague until he receives my reply, I have written to him to say what I think he should do."'' The regions mentioned as being in turmoil suggest that Corbet and Shelley were now making for England. Shelley survived his illness and Corbet arrived home the following year, receiving a present valued at £1 13s. 4d. from the borough of Shrewsbury on his return. taking responsibility for the direct approach to Spain, and John Hastings, who probably had Dutch connections, approaching the rebels. Corbet's detailed brief, dated 29 October, is preserved in the State Papers. It strongly stressed the queen's concern for England's commercial interests: "the recovering and better settling of the ancient intercourse between her subjects and those of the Low Countries." He was told to emphasise the shared interest of England and Spain in keeping the French out of the Netherlands, with their fine ports and shipping. However, there was a red line: the queen might even support Spain "if she perceived that the King would permit his subjects to enjoy their liberties and be governed peaceably." In other words, England would not abandon the Protestant cause. At first the mission seemed to go well. By 16 November Corbet had met Requesens and reported back to Burghley on the poor morale and unpopularity of the Spanish forces. On 4 December Corbet reported that the governor was made more receptive to peace overtures by further blows to Spanish morale. They feared an intervention by forces allied to the French Huguenot champion, Henri, Prince of Condé (1552–1588), and long-expected Spanish reinforcements had amounted to a mere 700 men. There was also a rumour that the English were raising forces to aid the Dutch. Perhaps this is why Corbet found the Commendator in a much more antagonistic mood on his next encounter, a week later. Requesens openly blamed English support for sustaining the Dutch revolt and cast doubt on the good faith of the English in pressing for peace. Corbet offered to go straight to the Dutch camp and press for peace negotiations but Requesens would not hear of it, refusing to create the impression that he had made the first move. Corbet sadly requested permission to return home, concluding: :"The Commendator will condescend to any reasonable conditions of peace, the same being proffered by others first to him, and withal his Papistical religion excepted. Whether this exception be unreasonable or not he leaves to Burghley to judge." Burghley was as much concerned by developments in the French wars of religion as in the Dutch revolt, but had no intention of committing English forces to either conflict. The very State Papers detailing Corbet's mission constantly refer to large sums expended subsidising Reiters (German mercenary cavalry) for John I, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken, called "Duke Casimir" by the English, whose forces were marching to the aid of the Prince of Condé in France's civil war. The political and social dislocation caused by this recruitment drive had destabilised the Rhineland, obstructing Corbet's travels the previous year. The rumour was deliberately put about that the reiters would also intervene in the Netherlands, thus subverting French and Spanish positions simultaneously. Requesens was agitated and may have known or suspected Burghley's role. Corbet would have known no more than Reqesens about the covert dealings of his own government. By 26 December Corbet was on his way home, after slightly less heated concluding talks with Requesens. He had done exactly what was expected of him but was not called on to act as ambassador again. He was rewarded by being made Master of the posts and chamberlain of the Exchequer. ==Landowner==

on the west corner of the frontage. Before inheriting the Corbet estates, Robert Corbet is said to have resided in a place he called Sowbyche when signing the Shawbury parish register. The house was wide and imposing, but shallow. Its facings were of stone but most of the internal construction was brick. Although Italian in inspiration and elaborately decorated, much of the carving was of a rustic finish. However, its large, rectangular windows and pilasters made clear it was intended for an entirely different way of living from the neighbouring castle - a significant achievement for a landed gentry family at that period. Moreton Corbet's new house was built a decade before the great examples of Elizabethan architecture, like Wollaton Hall and Hardwick Hall, began to appear. While the later halls used imported craftsmen, Corbet did his best with local masons and carvers. However, as Camden observed, he never properly finished the building and the rest was left to his brothers, who never cleared away the old castle. ==Death==

Robert Corbet visited his uncle Walter Corbet in London in May 1583. Both uncle and nephew contracted bubonic plague. Robert survived Walter's death by a few days and himself died on 30 May. His body was returned to Moreton Corbet and buried on 24 July "next to his father and his ancientry very worshipfully." He had no surviving son, although there were two small daughters. His heir was his younger brother, Richard. ==Marriage and family==

Corbet had married Anne, the daughter of Oliver St John, 1st Baron St John of Bletso, apparently while still young. is given by Augusta Corbet as a son of Robert. However, it is likely this was a son of Robert Corbet of Stanwardine, the brother of Sir Andrew. This child survived to be an adult and died in Spain. :*Elizabeth Corbet married Henry Wallop (died 1642), a prominent parliamentarian. ::*Robert Wallop, their son, was a republican politician during the English Civil War and considered a regicide. He died imprisoned in the Tower of London. :*Anne Corbet married Sir Adolphus Carey of Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, an MP and briefly a diplomat. They were without issue. If there was a son, there was a long gap until the births of the daughters. Both daughters seem to have been infants at the time of Corbet's death: according to the Inquisition post mortem, Elizabeth was almost 4 and Anne only 10 months. Corbet's widow Anne remarried after his death. Her second husband was Roland Lytton of Knebworth, Hertfordshire, a prominent politician and lawyer. They had 3 sons and 4 daughters and she died on 28 February 1602. ==References==