The following biography of 134503846Stephen de Thurnham is copied verbatim from: Henry Summerson, "Stephen of Thornham [Turnham] (d. 1213/4)," Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Volume 54, page 617.

Thornham [Turnham], Stephen of (d. 1213/14), justice and administrator, was the son of Robert of Thornham, a Kentish landowner. First recorded in the 1170s in association with his father as a benefactor to Combwell Priory in Kent, he entered the service of Henry II, and was several times recorded in attendance on the king in France, while in February 1188 he was one of the royal agents sent to Canterbury to see that divine services were resumed there, during the dispute between the archbishop and the monks of Christ Church over the former's proposals for a collegiate church at Hackington. He was rewarded with lands at Artington in Surrey, where he quickly acquired considerable local authority. In attendance on Richard I in June 1190 Thornham accompanied the new king on crusade. In April 1192 he visited Jerusalem, and in the following year he escorted Queen Berengaria and Joan of Sicily on their journey from Palestine to Rome. His loyalty to Richard is shown by the grant of land that he made to Combwell Priory in May 1194, shortly after the king's release from captivity, for the soul of Henry II ‘and for the body and soul of my lord King Richard of England’ (‘Charters of Cumbwell Priory’, 204-5). Thereafter he continued his career primarily in England, above all in the field of finance, where he served as a manager of royal demesnes, escheats, wardships, and vacant bishoprics in many counties. He would appear to have preserved a better reputation than most royal servants engaged in such activities—Adam of Eynsham described him as ‘a faithful and godly man and devoted to our holy bishop’—even when engaged in seizing the possessions of the see of Lincoln in 1198 (Life of St Hugh of Lincoln, 114-115). Thornham was also in the late 1190s sheriff of Berkshire, Wiltshire, and (briefly) Lancashire, while in addition to these administrative duties he acted as a justice between 1197 and 1199, both at Westminster and on eyre in south-east England.

Thornham witnessed royal charters at the beginning of John’s reign, but then not between 9 May 1200 and 5 May 1204, and his career may have faltered somewhat, while his accounts were scrutinized and his debts summoned, though the fact that in 1203 he had the custody of the king’s niece, Eleanor of Brittany, shows that he was not entirely out of favour. But in 1204 he was allowed to make fine for all his outstanding arrears for 1000 marks—a generous settlement in itself, and ultimately pardoned in its entirety. Between May 1204 and June 1207 he attested a number of royal charters, while in 1206 he was able to secure confirmation of his wife’s inheritance. He was still on occasion engaged in financial administration, above all in the king’s chamber, where he was sometimes involved in the payment and receipt of considerable sums of money—on 11 December 1207, for instance, the king notified the treasurer that he had lately received 5100 marks in the presence of Thornham and two others. But his trustworthiness in John’s eyes is perhaps more strikingly shown by his responsibility for the custody not only of some of the king’s wards but also of members of the royal family—Queen Isabella and the king’s eldest son, the future Henry III, as well as Eleanor of Brittany, were at various times in Thornham's keeping at Winchester. Stephen of Thornham was dead by 6 March 1214. Some time before 1206 he had married Edelina, one of the three daughters and coheirs of Ranulf de Broc. His marriage brought him lands in several counties, especially in Surrey, Kent, and Hampshire, and royal serjeanties attached to the king’s chamber and to the Marshalsea. Although the latter appears originally to have been a subordinate marshals office, it was confirmed by John in 1205, as ‘the superior and chief marshalsea of our household and court’ (Rotuli chartarum in Turri Londinensi asservati, ed. T. D. Hardy, RC, 1837, 160). The king may have been trying to advance Thornham at the expense of William (I) Marshal, who was then out of favour. If so, his efforts had no effect. William Marshal and John were reconciled in 1208, while Thornham died without a male heir, his estates being subsequently divided among his five daughters and their husbands.
HENRY SUMMERSON

Sources Chancery records (RC) • Pipe rolls • Curia regis rolls preserved in the Public Record Office (1922-), vols. 8, 10 • H.C. M. Lyte and others, eds., Liber feodorum: the book of fees, 3 vols. (1920-31) • L. Delisle and others, eds., Recueil des actes de Henri I, roi d’Angleterre et duc de Normandie, concernant les provinces francaises et les affaires de France, 3 (Paris, 1920) • ‘Charters of Cumbwell Priory’, Archaeologia Cantiana, 5 (1863), 194-222 • C. R. Cheney and B. E. A. Jones, eds., Canterbury, 1162-1190, English Episcopal Acta, 2 (1986) • C. R. Cheney and E, John, eds., Canterbury, 1193-1205, English Episcopal Acta, 3 (1986) • W. Stubbs, ed., Chronicles and memorials of the reign of Richard I, 2: Epistolae Cantuarienses, Rolls Series, 38 (1865) • Adam of Eynsham, Magna vita sancti Hugonis / The life of Saint Hugh of Lincoln, ed. D. L. Douie and D. H. Farmer, 2 vols., OMT (1961-2) • D. Crook, Records of the general eyre, Public Record Office Handbooks, 20 (1982) • J. E. A. Jolliffe, Angevin kingship, 2nd edn (1963) • T. D. Hardy, ed., Rotuli de oblatis et finibus, RC (1835), 339 • T. D. Hardy, ed., Rotuli litterarum clausarum, RC, 1 (1833), 141

As stated in the Oxford Dictionary biography, 134503846Stephen was the son of 269007692Robert de Thornham,1 and had married 134503847Edeline de Broc1-5 by 8 August 1204.3

The Oxford Dictionary biography briefly mentions 134503846Stephen's participation in the Third Crusade, but we find further details in: Helen J. Nicholson, Chronicle of the Third Crusade: A Translation of the "Itinerarium Peregrinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi" (reissue by Routledge, 2019) (See a copy of select pages.); and also in: William Stubbs, ed., Chronica Magistri Rogeri de Houedene (1870), Volume III, page 228. The most interesting details therein are:

As mentioned in the Oxford Dictionary biography, 134503846Stephen repeatedly gave land, rights, and other items to the Church, mostly to Combwell Abbey,1,4-12 which lay at coordinates N51.073889 E0.433611. The abbey/priory was dissolved long ago, and the structure no longer exists, but a private residence now stands at the same location. The seals that 134503846Stephen used for two such charters are extant. The seal is the same on both, but the counterseals are slightly different. Sketches are below.13 The counterseal's inscription DEVS SALVET CVI MITTOR ("God save whom I escort") may be a reference to 134503846Stephen's escorting of the Queen in 1192; see above.

134503846Stephen used these seals on charters for land given to Combwell Abbey, circa 1210.13

134503846Stephen had died by 6 March 1214.14 A fine dated 26 January 1218/9 mentions his heirs; see the copy below.15 You'll find 134503846Stephen's name in almost the exact center of the image below.

Sources Cited:

1: John Caley et al., eds., Monasticon Anglicanum: A New Edition [...], Volume VI, Part 1 (London, 1846), page 413

2: Thomas Duffus Hardy, ed., Rotuli de Oblatis et Finibus in Turri Londinensi Asservati, Tempore Regis Johannis (1835), page 339

3: Thomas Duffus Hardy, ed., Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum in Turri Londinensi, Volume I (1833), page 4, right column, 2nd paragraph under "Memb. 19." The year of 6 John began on 3 June 1204 and ended on 18 May 1205.

4: "Charters of Cumbwell Priory," Archaeologia Cantiana, Volume V (London, 1863), pages 208-209, charter XII

5: ibid., pages 209-210, charter XIII

6: ibid., pages 201-202, charter V

7: ibid., page 203, charter VI

8: ibid., pages 203-204, charter VII

9: ibid., pages 204-205, charter VIII

10: ibid., pages 206, charter IX

11: ibid., pages 207, charter X

12: ibid., pages 207-208, charter XI. On the Internet Archive's copy of this volume, part of page 207 is obscured by an editor's note insert; you can see the obscured text here.

13: ibid., pages 206 and 208. As noted on an inset sheet, 134503846Stephen's seal as originally printed on page 206 is erroneous; the editor sent a correction.

14: Thomas Duffus Hardy, ed., Rotuli Litterarum Clausarum in Turri Londinensi, Volume I (1833), page 141, right column, 2nd paragraph after "Memb. 1"

15: UK National Archives reference C 60/11, membrane 9, an entry dated 26 January concerning Thomas de Balinghem et al. Thanks to the Henry III Fine Rolls Project, you can see the "original" copy at <https://finerollshenry3.org.uk/content/fimages/C60_11/m09.html>. The Project's translation of this entry reads, "26 Jan. Westminster. This fine is enrolled in the Fine Rolls of the time of King John. Order to the sheriff of Surrey that since Thomas de Balinghem and his wife, Mabel, Adam de Bendenges and his wife, Alice, Roger of Leybourne and his wife, Eleanor, Ralph son of Bernard and his wife, Eleanor, and Ralph de Fay and his wife, Beatrice, made fine with King John, father of King Henry, for five palfreys, for having all land formerly of Stephen of Thornham which falls to Mabel, Alice, Eleanor, Eleanor, and Beatrice by hereditary right, and having accepted security from Thomas and Mabel, Adam and Alice, Roger and Eleanor, Ralph and Eleanor, and Roger and Beatrice for rendering the five palfreys to the king, he is to cause them to have full seisin of all land formerly of Stephen with all of its appurtenances in Artington. Witness the earl."