Ancestral Trails 2016 » Thomas "The Pilgrim" CORBET (1149-????)

Persoonlijke gegevens Thomas "The Pilgrim" CORBET 

• Hij is geboren in het jaar 1149 in Pontesbury, Atcham, Shropshire.
• Een kind van SIMON CORBET en MARGARET BRAMPTON

Gezin van Thomas "The Pilgrim" CORBET

Notities over Thomas "The Pilgrim" CORBET

Known as Thomas the Pilgrim, Progenitor of the Moreton-Corbet Line

Carl Boyer believed that Simon Corbet "probably died before his father, William Corbet of Wattlesborough. Assuming that William died in 1136, and Simon died shortly before, say, 1135, all of Simon's children would have been born prior to 1135.

Disputed Parents
Son of Simon - Augusta Corbet's Pedigree of the Barons of Caus shows "Thomas the Pilgrim, ancestor of the House of Wattlesborough and Moreton Corbet as the son of Simon of Pontesburie. as the father of four children:
(1) Roger, Baron of Caus, ob s p circa 1165, = Avidia or Hawisa de Albini, ob s. p.
(2)William, knt, ob. s. p. = Dyonisia de Boeville, ob s p.;
(3) Walter, ob. s. p.
(4) Simon of Pontesburie with numerous children.

Carl Boyer's "Medieval English Ancestors of Robert Abell" provides the ancestry of the Corbets of Moreton Corbet, eventually showing that Thomas "the Pilgrim" Corbet was the oldest son of Simon Corbet, younger brother of Roger II Corbet and grandson of Roger I Corbet through Roger I's son William.

Son of William - Thomas Corbet de Whatlesburg in com. Salop, son of Will'us Corbet of Whatlesburg. Note that the Visitation line skips Simon as Thomas' father, and makes William Thomas' father instead.

Siblings
"Sir Roger Corbet appears in possession of Chaddesleye as early as 1199; he must have been one of Rober the Baron's younger brothers, bearing also the same relation to Thomas the Pilgrim; perforce therefore another son of Simon of Pontesburie."

No Corbet Sister married Iorwerth ab Owain
August Corbet writes, "We find no further details of Thomas himself; one of his sisters became the wife of Jowerth, the father of the Great llewellyn ap Jowerth. It appears, however, that no such sister became a wife of Iorwerth. Many genealogies show a daughter of Simon Corbet who married Iorwerth ab Owain, father of Llywelyn ap Iorwerth. For instance, Augusta Corbet wrote in 1915: "One of (Thomas Corbet's) sisters became the wife of Jowerth, the father of the Great llewellyn ap Jowerth."

This supposition appears to be based on a reference by Llywelyn to a certain Walter Corbet as frater Willielmi Corbet avunculi mei. If William Corbet was Iorwerth's uncle, then surely Iorwerth's mother was William's sister, an unnamed Corbet, as reflected in Augusta Corbet's conclusion. But there are other ways an uncle-nephew relationship can be established.

It is now well established that Llywelyn ap Iorwerth"s mother was Marared ferch Madog. Cawley reports that Marared ferch Madog was born about 1130 and was called Margred, Marared, Marget, Marred, Marret, and Marvred in various records.

Yet there were clearly other signs of some Corbet connection. "Historians have long been cognizant of (Llywelyn's) kinship to the Corbet family; he often stayed his hand, spared Corbet lands, and a letter of his addresses William Corbet as 'uncle'.

Penman concludes that in order for Llywelyn's reference to William as an uncle to be correct, Marared must have made a second marriage after Iorwerth's death in 1174.

Who would Marared's second husband be? "In researching the Corbet family, I was able to eliminate Robert Corbet without difficulty. His brother William was the 'uncle' of Llewelyn's letter. Walter Corbet was a monk. By the process of elimination, Hugh Corbet had to be Marared's second husband, Llewelyn's stepfather."

Passed Over for Baron of Caus
Roger II, dying and leaving no heir, the Barony became "escheat" and fell under the King's control, who immediatly asserted his right and chose an heir. There was always some delay in doing this, or in announcing it at any rate; and meantime Caus Castle was garrisoned with the King's soldiers. ... Ten years later or more, in AD 1175, we find that the Baron of Caus had been very heavily fined for a severe forest trespass in the North, in company with his uncle William, the de Brus, and many other notabilities. ...we learn that the name of the new Baron was Robert, that he was a son of the mesne lord of Pontesburie (in the Brony of Caus) whose name was Simon, a brother of the late Baron's (Roger II), and apparently the only brother having sons. Simon's elder son would seem to have been called Thomas; he was absent at the time of the King's decision, and ws passed over.

The Myth of "Thomas the Pilgrim"
"It is noted in the Pedigrees that 'He travelled into farre countries and left his lands in his Brother's keeping.'" Only one author -- and he of great authority, Eyton -- rejects both tradition and legend. He gives certain reasons for doing so, at Volume VII, page 101.

The Myth of "Thomas the Pilgrim" has these elements: Thomas, bitten with the enthusiasm of the age, and possibly with the love of travel also, left his lands in charge of his brother, Robert of Caus, and went off beyond the sea on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. No doubt he met his cousins there from St. Pol, and for some reason or other stayed away some four or five years.

It is said that his brother, despairing of his return and of his having an heir, was celebrating his own wedding, when Thomas appeared with his palm, and revealed himself as the long-lost brother. Thomas, however, had not been to the Holy Land for nothing, and when the bridegroom would have surrendered the estates, he declined the offer, and desired only a small portion of the land, which he accordingly received. Thomas Corbet de Whatlesburg in com. Salop. Note -- The Visitation pedigree skips Simon,b.1100, and goes directly to Thomas de Whattlesburgh, b. 1135, who is said to be the son of Will'us de Whatlesburgh in Com. Salop, (born 1080.) and who in turn has a son Roger.

Janet Meisel, in her book "Barons of the Welsh Frontier: The Corbet, Pantulf, and Fitz Warin families, 1066-1272," relates the following about Thomas "the Pilgrim": The story of Robert Corbet's succession to the barony of Caus has been further complicated by the allegation that Robert was not the eldest living son of Simon Corbet and thus was not the legal heir of Roger II.

According to a legend associated with the Corbets of Moreton, a Corbet heir went as a pilgrim to the Holy Land during the reign of Henry II, and because he was detained in captivity, he was believed by his family to have died on his pilgrimage. By the time he returned to England, his younger brother had inherited the family lands, and "the Pilgrim" resigned his rights in favor of his younger brother. On the basis of this legend, A.E. Corbet asserted that the heir in question was "Thomas the Pilgrim," lord of Wattlesborough and Moreton, and that when Thomas returned to find his brother, Robert, in charge of the Corbet barony, Thomas generously left the barony in Robert's hands and took only the manors of Moreton and Wattlesborough for himself."

Richard Coeur de Lion...with him, as we may remember,went Robert the Baron of Caus. He had welcomed the return of the long lost borther, Thomas the Pilgrim, had done what justice and brotherly affection demanded, given the position and th lands asked for, to the Pilgrim and his posterity; and then, filled with the prevailing enthusiasm, and, as related in Volume I, himself joined the glittering hoses of Coeur de Lion and set out for the east.
(This would have been 1192; Richard died in 1199.)

Sibling
"Sir Roger Corbet appears in possession of Chaddesleye as early as 1199; he must have been one of Robert the Baron's younger brothers, bearing also the same relation to Thomas the Pilgrim; perforce therefore another son of Simon of Pontesburie."

Difficulties with Pilgrim Narrative
Unfortunately, there are several serious difficulties with this appealing version of events.
In the first place, the Corbets of Wattlesborough were already a separate line from the Corbets of Caus by the reign of Henry II, and so Wattlesborough must have been granted to a younger son by Roger I or William.

Second, there are no records at the time in question which refer either to "Thomas Corbet" or to "Thomas of Wattlesborough."

Third, the legend is specifically associated with the Corbets of Moreton, and I can find no connection between these Corbets and the Corbets of Wattlesborough during the reign of Henry II.

Finally, Roger II died between 1162 and 1165, and thus if his nephew had been away on pilgrimage for a sufficiently long period to be considered dead, the "Thomas the Pilgrim" must have been born about 1140 at the latest.

But William Corbet, who would have to be the grandfather of "Thomas the Pilgrim," was a minor in 1134 and was probably about twenty-six in 1140 and so could not possibly have a grandson born at that time.

I am therefore forced to conclude (albeit reluctantly) that the legend of "Thomas the Pilgrim" is almost certainly nothing more than an attractive myth.
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Corbet-38

Heeft u aanvullingen, correcties of vragen met betrekking tot Thomas "The Pilgrim" CORBET?
De auteur van deze publicatie hoort het graag van u!

Tijdbalk Thomas "The Pilgrim" CORBET

Klik op de namen voor meer informatie. Gebruikte symbolen:  grootouders    ouders    broers/zussen    kinderen