Jerome Corbet

Jerome Corbet (born in the 1530s; died 1598) was an Elizabethan politician and lawyer of Shropshire landed gentry background. A brother of Sir Andrew Corbet and, like him, a supporter of the Elizabethan Religious Settlement, he became an MP for Bridgnorth and a member of the Council in the Marches of Wales. Background and education Jerome Corbet was the youngest son of Roger Corbet (died 1538) of Moreton Corbet, Shropshire, and Linslade, Buckinghamshire, son of Sir Robert Corbet (died 1513) and Elizabeth Vernon (died 1563). The Corbets were a wealthy and powerful gentry who could trace their link with Shropshire and the Welsh Marches back to the Norman Conquest. Anne Windsor (died 1550–51), daughter of Andrew Windsor, 1st Baron Windsor. The Windsors could also trace their ancestry back to the Norman Conquest and were hereditary wardens of Windsor Castle, from which they derived their name. Sir Andrew, a cousin of the notorious Edmund Dudley, had acquired immense wealth and powers of patronage as Keeper of the Great Wardrobe under both Henry VII and Henry VIII, a post in the kings' secret financial system which gave him control of a vast budget. Jerome Corbet's parents married because Roger Corbet's father died when he was about 12 years old and his marriage and wardship fell into the hands of Windsor, who arranged Roger's marriage to his own daughter, Anne. Both Corbet and Windsor family connections were to prove useful to Jerome, who was faced by the prospect of earning his own living, as he was not destined to succeed to the Corbet estates. Roger Corbet died in 1538. His will mentions that he has three sons beside Andrew, his heir, but the scribe failed to include Jerome's name alongside his brothers, Walter and Robert, referring instead vaguely to "brethren". This part of the will was probably transcribed from an earlier version made before Jerome was born and inadequately amended, so Jerome was still an infant at the time of his father's death. Jerome and his brothers were each left an allowance of £6 13s. 4d. per year from age 21 until they could earn their own living of at least £20 a year.