Corbet of Caus, Shropshire
How Siston manor came to the Corbets is not clear, but Sir Peter Corbet, grandfather of Margaret, was seized of it when he died in 1362. It is however known that their Tenancies-in-Chief of Alveston (9 miles (14 km) north west of Siston) and Earthcott, Glos., which holdings were to determine the devolution of Siston, had arisen on the m. of Sir Peter Corbet (d.1362) to Elizabeth FitzWarin, da. of Walter FitzWarin (d.1363) of Alveston. The marriage is likely to have arisen due to the two families anciently being neighbouring Marcher Lords in Shropshire and the Marches. Siston seems to have been the residence of Peter Corbet in Glos. as Alveston and Earthcott were occupied by the de Gloucester family, holding from FitzWarin, when granted to Peter Corbet. Unlike Alveston and Earthcott, Siston was not held in-Chief from the King, but from the Abbey of Bath and Wells. The Corbets descended from Norman Marcher Lords of Caus Castle, Shropshire, which name was taken from Pays de Caux, Normandy. Their "Liberty" in the Marches is estimated to have covered between 50 square miles (130 km2) and 150 square miles (390 km2), and was exempt from royal writs, the Corbets assuming for themselves the rights of High Justice, imprisoning and executing men with impunity. The Corbet branch at Siston, whilst it had lost most of the ancient lands to collateral Corbet branches, nevertheless was the senior line of the Barons of Caus When Peter Corbet died, he left 10-year-old fatherless triplet grandchildren, as his descendants, John, deemed the eldest, William and Margaret. Their father William, who had m. Elizabeth Oddingseles, had predeceased his own father, having had a short life. It is not known to whom the wardship of John the heir was granted, but the second son William was granted to John Gamage "by the King's Order". The Gamages were a Norman family descended from Godfrey de Gamage who m. Joan de Clare, one of the co-heiresses of "Strongbow", 1st. E. of Pembroke (d.1176) and were based at Rogiet, directly across the Severn Estuary from Bristol. John died young aged probably just under 21 in 1374. The lack of records suggests he had not attained his majority. His younger brother William, soon out of wardship at 21, thereupon inherited the Corbet estates. His sister Margaret, pivotal to the future descent of Siston, was married off to William Wyriott from Orielton in Pembroke, which was 6 m. S.W. of the Corbet manor of Lawrenny. It appears that she had been granted the manor, possibly by her brother out of his new inheritance, as her marriage settlement. Margaret and Wyriott probably set up home in Pembroke, intending to spend the rest of their lives there. However, just 3 years after the death of John, William Corbet died too, without progeny, aged 24, and Margaret was left sole heiress of the Corbet estates, with her husband Wyriott holding in her right. These estates comprised Alveston and Earthcott (Green), both in Gloucs., both held in-Chief, Siston, Lawrenny, and Hope-juxta-Caus in Shropshire. The future devolution of Siston depends entirely on the possession by Margaret of the two Tenancies-in-Chief of Alveston and Earthcott. These were held directly from the Crown, unlike all the others, held from Mesne Lords. A Tenancy-in-Chief without a male tenant was likely to escheat, that is revert back to the Crown. The King relied on his Tenants-in-Chief to be his agents in the shires, to raise troops for him and to perform Knight Service. He could not afford to leave ladies, educated to the gentler things in life, in such positions as the manor would simply not fulfill its feudal role. Only two years after she had inherited the Corbet estates from her brother, William Wyriott her husband also died, without issue, in 1379. Margaret now found herself as just such a widow Tenant-in-Chief.
Effectively Margaret now became a pawn of the King. As a female Tenant-in-Chief she could not marry unless by Royal Licence; naturally the King wanted to select his own tenants based on his own pragmatic criteria - were they loyal and effective soldiers and good local diplomats for the Crown? Any choice of husband she might make would be refused, because probably the King had a long waiting list of useful men for whom he wished to find vacant royal manors, the revenues from which they would be expected to use in Crown service. Here was the essence of mediaeval feudalism. Margaret had the simple choice: either relinquish the family estates, possibly retiring to a nunnery, or to a life of social obscurity married to a man likely to be beneath her station, for she would have no land to bring to a marriage, or accept the man selected by the King as his new Tenant-in-Chief for her husband, and remain. Any new husband would on such marriage automatically become the life tenant (in her right) of all her lands and the revenues therefrom, including Siston, not just the royal manors of Alveston and Earthcott. Thus the future devolution of Siston became tied to that of Alveston, which was disposable at the King's choosing. Edward III had died three years before in 1377, leaving his 10-year-old grandson Richard II, son of The Black Prince who had predeceased his father, as nominal King. In that year of 1380 King Richard II, just 3 years into his reign, was aged just 13, clearly too young to appoint his own tenants-in-chief. The question arises as to who was then wielding this significant power of patronage on the King's behalf. Although the kingdom during Richard's minority was in the hands of a series of "continual councils" it seems not implausible that John of Gaunt (1340–1399), Richard's uncle then aged 37, Duke of Lancaster and son of Edward III, would have had some influence in the matter, although never having been a formal member of these councils. It was not until Richard was 15 two years later in 1382 that he wrested back his kingdom from his councillors. That he had been proposed by Gaunt would be speculation, but certainly some powerful hand rather than the mere force of romance caused Margaret Corbet to accept the young esquire from Glamorgan, Gilbert Denys as her new husband. Margaret and Denys were married in 1380, and the long connection of the Denys family with Siston and Gloucestershire as a whole had begun, for as Sir Robert Atkyns, the 18thC historian of Gloucestershire, stated about the Denys family "There have been more High Sheriffs from them than from any other family in the county".
Read more about this topic: Siston, Descent of The Manor