Sibyl Corbet ^{1 2}

  General Notes:

SIBYL Corbet ([1090/95]-after 1157). The Complete Peeragededuces 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…". 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. 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.

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).

[FMG/Medieval Lands]

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Sibyl (or Adela or Lucia) Corbet, living 1157, daughter and coheir of Robert Corbet, mistress of Henry I, lady of Alcester, co. Warwick and of Pontesbury and Woodcote, co. Salop (by Henry I she was mother of Reginald Fitz Roy, Earl of Cornwall).

[Ancestral Roots]

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The following additional info was supplied by Curt Hofemann, curt_hofemann AT yahoo.com:

no evidence to prove that Henry I married Sibyl [Ref: Sheppard Apr65 p96]

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. [Ref: CP XI Appendix D]

She had a younger sister Alice. Where, when and how the liaison began between Henry and Sibyl is a mystery. He had already had children by various mistresses: among the oldest must have been Juliane, who married Eustace de Pacy lord of Breteuil in 1103, and rebelled against her father; and Robert, born of an unknown woman of Caen, who was created earl of Gloucester by his father in 1122. [Ref Corbet citing: CP V:683: the suggestion that he was the son of Sibyl Corbet is probably correct]

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. [Ref: Corbet citing: 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]

Note 1: Sheppard = Walter Lee Sheppard, Royal Bye-Blows II: The Illegitimate Royal Offspring from Edward III To Queen Anne, NEHGR vol 21, 1967.

Note 2: Corbet = The Corbett Study Group, http://website.lineone.net/~corbett_group/First/people.htm
specifically: The Anglo Norman Corbets by Barbara Coulton.

Regards,
Curt

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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

Prominent at Matilda's 'court' were several connections of the Corbet family through Sibyl and her sister Alice. Sibyl had married Herbert fitz Herbert, a son of the chamberlain of Henry I; Alice married a kinsman of Brien fitz Count, of Wallingford, one of the empress's main supporters: he was William Boterel of Botreaux. Sibyl's son Herbert fitzHerbert married Lucy, daughter of Miles earl of Hereford. . . .

We do not know when or where Sibyl and her sister Alice died, but there is an odd footnote to their history in an old account of Asthall church in Oxfordshire. "On the north side of the church ... is the effigy of a female figure recumbent, on a stone coffin, situated within an elegantly Gothic arch. It is said to contain the remains of Alice Corbett, concubine to King Henry I., the daughter of Sir Robert Corbett of Warwickshire." So a memory lingered, though confused.

Note: Was this "confused" effigy of Sibyl rather than Alice? Or was Alice also a mistress of Henry I? ³

Sibyl had a relationship with Henry I of England King of England, Duc de Normandie, son of Guillaume I de Normandie King of England (William I), Duc de Normandie and Mathilde de Flandre. (Henry I of England King of England, Duc de Normandie was born in 1068 in Selby, North Yorkshire, YO8, GB,^{5 6} died on 1 Dec 1135 in Château de Lyons-la-Forêt, Eure, Haute-Normandie, 27480, FR ⁵ and was buried in Reading Abbey, Reading, Berkshire, RG1, GB.)

Sibyl next married Herbert [I] FitzHerbert, son of Herbert FitzHenry Chamberlain of England and Emma de Blois, between 1115 and 1125. (Herbert [I] FitzHerbert was born about 1087 and died before 1155 ⁴.)