ABSTRACT
The feudal ward was normally married, or contracted in marriage, by the time that he was twenty-one, when he became old enough to claim his inheritance. In ordinary lawsuits, where a feudal inheritance was not the principal point at issue, the procedure for establishing the age of a person was relatively simple. More astonishing still is the proof of age of two men in two separate counties: Kent and Essex. Custom stood firm against common sense; and if the proving of age procedure was showing itself to be no more reliable than the inquisition post mortem, like the inquisition it possessed remarkable powers of survival. The conferment of a knighthood, or special grants by the crown absolving the heir from the elaborate process of suing livery, were exceptions to the normal procedure: most wards reached maturity by a more traditional route.
