_Family of De Thurnham_ (Vol. vii., p. 261.).--In reply to ~Theta~.
I send a few notes illustrative of the pedigree, &c. of the De
Thurnhams, lords of Thurnham, in Kent, deduced from Dugdale, public
records, and MS. charters in my possession, namely, the MS. Rolls of
Combwell Priory, which was founded by Robert de Thurnham the elder; from
which it appears that Robert de Thurnham, who lived tempore Hen. II.,
had two sons, Robert and Stephen. Of these, Robert married Joan,
daughter of William Fossard, and died 13 John, leaving a daughter and
sole heir Isabel, for whose marriage Peter de Maulay had to pay 7000
marks, which were allowed him in his accounts for services rendered to
the crown. Stephen, the other son, married Edelina, daughter of Ralph de
Broc, and, dying circiter 16 John, was buried in Waverley Abbey, Surrey.
He seems to have left five daughters and coheirs; viz. Mabilia, wife of
Ralph de Gatton, and afterwards of Thomas de Bavelingeham; Alice, wife
of Adam de Bending; Alianore, wife of Roger de Leybourne; Beatrice, wife
of Ralph de Fay; and Alienore, wife of Ralph Fitz-Bernard. Dugdale and
the Combwell Rolls speak of only four daughters, making no mention of
the wife of Ralph Fitz-Bernard; but an entry on the Fine Rolls would
seem almost necessarily to imply that she was one of the five daughters
and coheiresses. If not a _daughter_, she was in _some way_ coheiress
with the daughters; which is confirmed by an entry in _Testa de Nevill_:
and, by a charter temp. Edw. I., I find Roger de Northwood, husband of
Bona Fitz-Bernard, in possession of the manor of Thurnham, with every
appearance of its having been by inheritance of his wife. With this
explanation, I have ventured to include Alianore, wife of Ralph
Fitz-Bernard, as among the daughters and coheiresses of Stephen de
Thurnham. The issue of all of these marriages, after a few years,
terminated in female representatives--among them the great infanta
Juliana de Leybourne--mingling their blood with the Denes, Towns,
Northwoods, Wattons, &c., and other ancient families of Kent.
I have two beautiful seals of Sir Stephen de Thurnham temp. John,--a
knight fully caparisoned on horseback, but not a trace of armorial
bearings on his shield; nor, in truth, could we expect to find any such
assigned to him at that early period.