Douglas Richardson asked this question in 2001 and this is what I
replied at the time.
"It is my understanding that a woman was of age when she was of
sufficient maturity to perform her wifely duties i.e.manage the marital
household. As many women were married off at the age of 12, this in
itself was not sufficient for them to be of age. The youngest age of
women providing proof of age in Chancery documents I have seen is 14.
Bracton on the Laws and Customs of England v.2 p.250 indicates that
being of age varies according to the type of property she may be heir
to and her marital circumstances.
A woman may be of full age [in socage]
[031] whenever she can and knows how to order her house and do the
things that belong
[032] to the arrangement and management of a house, provided she
understands what
[001] pertains to 'cove and keye,' which cannot be before her
fourteenth or fifteenth year
[002] since such things require discretion and understanding. Full age
with respect to
[003] socage also demands strength, as well as discretion and
understanding, that the
[004] heir of a sokeman may do and know how to do the things belonging
to husbandry.
[005] Those that pertain to military service require greater strength,
and greater understanding
[006] and discretion, that the heir in military service be of
sufficient vigour to
[007] bear the arms appropriate to his military duty. Depending upon
the kind of
[008] tenement and the services due, there is a full age for pleading
and claiming restitution
[009] of one's own seisin or that of an ancestor, and there is a full
age for pleading
[010] and claiming the proprietas and for answering upon it, for no
matter how possession
[011] may be acquired within age, before he reaches his full age of
twenty-one years he
[012] shall not answer for it, nor even plead on the proprietas, [by
answering, though he
[013] may sometimes do so by claiming, [though] a military fee is
involved, when he is
[014] of full age as of socage.] <In socage he can and must answer as
well as claim.>
[015] This is true unless he is impleaded [in a possessory action]
because of his own act,
[016] as where he has committed a disseisin, [or in a proprietary] if
he has been enfeoffed
[017] under age. When a minor may sue while under age, and what and
when he may
[018] answer, will be explained more fully below [in the portion on]
exceptions arising
[019] out of minority in pleas and assises. A female and a male heir,
[according to some,]
[020] are on the same footing with respect to their ages in the several
kinds of tenements,
[021] that is, that she reaches full age in burgage when a male does,
and in socage
[022] when he does, that is, at the age of fifteen, and so with respect
to a military fee, that
[023] is, at twenty-one years, and that her wardship then first ends.
According to others,
[024] a woman is said to reach full age with respect to a military fee
when she reaches
[025] the age of fifteen, for then, as they say, she can order her
house and marry a
[026] husband, who, by himself or by another, can perform the military
obligations, [She
[027] comes to full age first because she is held legally responsible
for her actions earlier
[028] than a man, and because she is ready for marriage earlier than a
man. But if
[029] that were the test she would be of full age at twelve, for she
would then be mature
[030] enough to have and take a husband.] which is false. <If it were
so this inappropriate
[031] result would follow, that below the lawful age of twenty-one
years
[001] she could plead and be impleaded by writ of right and answer
before
the lawful
[002] time, though no more than fourteen or fifteen years of age. Hence
it seems that
[003] such full age [fifteen] is to be understood of socage, not of a
military fee, for at that
[004] age she can manage her house and have 'cove and keye,' and in her
seventh year
[005] agree to marriage, and take a husband in her twelfth year.
De Legibus is at
http://supct.law.cornell.edu/bracton/Common/index.htmlCheers
Rosie
----- Original Message -----
From: "Douglas Richardson" <royalancestry@msn.com>
To: <GEN-MEDIEVAL-L@rootsweb.com>
Sent: Sunday, October 07, 2001 12:12 PM
Subject: A Woman's Proof of Age
Dear Newsgroup ~
I have a reference question of sorts. Can someone tell me at what age
a woman could prove her age in medieval England? Was it 21? 18?
what?
Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah
E-mail:
royalancestry@msn.com