heraldryofyorkmi01custuoft

Il6
THE HERALDRY OF YORK MINSTER.
I must not dismiss the family finally
bearing their arms (see page 32).
from our consideration without making the memoir complete.
According to the quaint custom of those days, Stephen de Turnham
gave 300 marks fine for his wardship and marriage, and in due time
united him to his daughter Eleanor.
In the 1
7th year of King John, when he was, I suppose, about eighteen
or twenty, he was taken prisoner amongst the rebellious barons, then in
arms, and committed for a time to Rochester Castle. The next mention
of him is 3 6th year of Henry III., when he must have been fifty-six. He
took part in a notable tournament held at Walden, and encountered
Ernald de Mountenci, " a valiant knight, and ran his lance into his throat
" under his helmet, it
wanting a collar, whereupon Mountenci fell from his
" horse and died presently." Dugdale adds, "As it was supposed by some, that
" in regard his lance had not a socket on the point, he did it purposely, in
" revenge of a broken leg he had received from Mountenci tilting with him
"in a former tournament."
The next year he accompanied the King into Gascony, and seven
years after was made constable of the castle of Bristol. But in two years,
his loyalty becoming suspected by his favouring the turbulent barons, the
King forbade him to take part in any tournament without his special
license. This seems to have exasperated him, so that he openly took their
side at Oxford, and was excommunicated by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
" But not long after this, being drawn off by rewards, as was said, he
" forsook them," and was made warden of the Cinque Ports, and in the
following December appointed a commissioner, with Prince Edward, to
treat with these rebellious nobles; and, on their refusal, he testified his
fidelity to the King in the war which ensued against them, assisting in
their defeat at the battle of Northampton, and afterwards at the assault
upon Rochester Castle, where he was dangerously wounded. Before the
end of the year he also took part in the battle of Lewes, where the royal
army was defeated ;
upon which he fled into Wales, and took part with
Lord Mortimer against the barons there. After the victory of Evesham,
he was rewarded by the King with the wardenship of all the forests beyond
Trent (which might mean that the arms and horn in the Minster belong
to him), and was also made sheriff of Cumberland, warden of the Cinque
Ports, and sheriff of Kent, with other substantial grants. These honours
were annually renewed to him during the next two years, with the addition
of the governorship of the castle of Carlisle. In the 52nd year of Henry III.
he was " signed with the cross," in order to his going to the Holy Land
with Prince Edward.
Indeed, his character seems well expressed in the following metrical
translation of the song of Hybrias the Cretan, which the late Rev. Lambert