Descended from Norman forebears, the Marney family had held Layer Marney for at least two centuries. Robert’s grandfather, William, was still alive in 1331, but within four years he himself had inherited the family estates and obtained confirmation of grants (originally made by Henry III) permitting the enclosure of a park at Layer Marney. The property thus inherited was of some value, and it included the manor of Totham and land in Great Wigborough.
Marney’s violent behaviour led to his indictment for several felonies and trespasses committed in association with John, Lord Fitzwalter, and in November 1351 his lands and goods were confiscated. He may have been kept in the Tower (along with Fitzwalter) until, in the following June, he paid a fine of £116 10s. to obtain a full pardon for his crimes and the restitution of his property.
During a respite from military service, the rapacious Sir Robert set his sights on the extensive Bruyn estates. In 1360 he had obtained from Sir Maurice Bruyn and his wife, Alice, an annual rent of £40 from their manor of South Ockendon, Essex, having already acquired all their interests there and at Beckenham in Kent for a period of 15 years. Bruyn died two years later, and in 1363 Marney joined the widow in purchasing, for £200, the wardship and marriage of her son Ingram Bruyn, heir not only to the estates in Essex and Kent but also to Ranston (Dorset) and Rowner (Hampshire). He then married Alice and persuaded Ingram when he came of age in 1375 to confer on them the whole of his inheritance for term of their lives. Meanwhile, Marney had negotiated Ingram’s marriage to the elder daughter of Sir Edmund de la Pole, brother of the future earl of Suffolk.
When first returned to Parliament in 1369 Marney, although a seasoned veteran of the French wars and aged about 50 years old, lacked experience of local government at home — perhaps because of the formal exemption from such service which he had obtained 11 years before. He may have intended to join John of Gaunt’s army in France in 1373, but evidently did not do so, for his butler, Philip atte Bridge, was reported to be with his retinue in Essex and London when they were supposed to be overseas. In 1377 Marney obtained further letters patent of exemption from royal office, but nevertheless he was subsequently appointed to several commissions in Essex, including those of the peace. He was especially active in the suppression of the Peasants’ Revolt, during which his military background no doubt proved to be of use. Marney’s aggressive disposition next led to lawsuits with Sir John Neyrnut† (Eleanor de Ewelme’s heir) who challenged his title to Kingsey, but Neyrnut was obliged to retract in 1383. Whether a man of Marney’s temperament could be expected to offer loyal support to any single lord to the exclusion of others seems doubtful, and indeed Sir Robert appears to have avoided any definite alignment in the factions of the 1380s. He was connected, through his stepson’s marriage, with Richard II’s chancellor, the earl of Suffolk; he had dealings with Sir Thomas Swinburne, who was of the court party; and when, in 1392, he obtained yet another royal pardon (specifically for theft and the manslaughter of the vicar’s servant at Kingsey), it was at the request of Edward, earl of Rutland, the King’s cousin. On the other hand, some consideration should be given to his association with Joan de Bohun, countess of Hereford, who, as sister to the earl of Arundel and mother-in-law to the duke of Gloucester, was no friend to Richard II. In 1387, as an amicable gesture, Marney had allowed an escaped bondman of his, who had joined the countess’s household, to have his freedom; and in July 1388 his son, William, married into the dowager’s family when Sir Robert secured for him the hand of her great-niece, Elizabeth Cergeaux.
Over the years Marney’s fluctuating fortunes and his scrapes with the law had prompted him to make many enfeoffments of his estates. Among these transactions had been a settlement on his son, William, of the manor of Gibcrack in Great Totham, a grant to his daughter-in-law of an annual rent of 20 marks, and the handing out of generous rewards to certain old retainers. After the death of his second wife, in about 1391, he retained the Bruyn estates and most of the Lacer properties for life.