[citation needed] The family trace their ancestry to two barons found in the 1086 Domesday Book and they probably came from the Boitron and Essay region, near Sées in Normandy.

[2] The name Corbet derives from the Anglo-Norman word corb, meaning "crow" or "raven",[3] matching the modern French corbeau.

A battle is described where the Roman military tribune Marcus Valerius was helped by a crow during a duel and for this he took the nickname Corvus.

In fact it could be a family that has Roman origins, which is why it is found throughout Europe with the same translated surnames and shields of similar or equal blazons: the Romans, in order to colonize the conquered territories, had the custom of installing some members of the 14 families founders of Rome, like the gens Valeria.

[citation needed] By the 20th century the Corbets were the largest land owners in the Vale Parish once known as the Clos du Valle.

[citation needed] Louise Corbet, daughter of Jean Thomas married John Bichard and thus together the families created the first glasshouse growing operation in Guernsey; the vast estate was called "Les Landes".

[citation needed] The Cumberland or Cumbria of those days extended to the Clyde, and included Glasgow, which David incorporated into Scotland.

David appears to have allotted lands in Roxburghshire to Robert Corbet, where his descendants were "great lords of several generations".

By the late 13th century, the Corbets owned land in the Castle Douglas/ Dalbeattie areas in addition to their traditional tenures.

[citation needed] Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, Corbets were busy in Scotland in a variety of occupations, including shipmasters, tanners, tailors, schoolmasters, weavers, etc.

[19] Sir Roger Corbet displayed two ravens proper on a gold shield with a bordure red engrailed under King Edward III; Sir Peter Corbet, 2nd Baron of Caus, displayed two ravens proper on a gold shield at the Battle of Falkirk in 1298, as recorded in the Falkirk Roll and in the Barons' Letter, 1301; Sir Thomas Corbet, displayed two ravens proper on a gold shield; Sir Thomas Corbet, displayed three ravens proper on a gold shield at the First Dunstable Tournament in 1308; Sir Thomas Corbet, displayed six ravens proper on a gold shield with a red canton with 2 silver lions passant gardant in 1567.

[20] Sir Bernard Burke: The general armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, Harrison, London, 1884, accessed 9 December 2013 at Internet Archive Augusta Elizabeth Brickdale Corbet: The family of Corbet; its life and times, Volume 2 at Open Library, Internet Archive, accessed 9 December 2013.

George Grazebrook and John Paul Rylands (editors), 1889: The visitation of Shropshire, taken in the year 1623: Part I by Robert Tresswell, Somerset Herald, and Augustine Vincent, Rouge Croix Pursuivant of arms; marshals and deputies to William Camden, Clarenceux king of arms.