The Medieval Period II: Legislative Definition of Childhood (12th Century)

B. Legislative Definition of Childhood (12th Century)

Most of the laws Britain has today had their foundations built during the 12^th century. The middle medieval period was a time of robust lawmaking, which was led by the Church. It was during this period that childhood was properly defined for legislative purposes.

The medieval concept of childhood was adapted from classical philosophy, which (although it may be stating the obvious) says that children have different rights and responsibilities than adults.

This was a step in the right direction to our present concept of childhood.

It was during the medieval period that laws especially considering children were promulgated. The typical medieval definition of childhood considered the boundary between itself and childhood - puberty. For boys, it was usually set at 14 years old, while it was 12 for girls.

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On the positive side, this was the precursor of modern childhood legislation. On the other hand, this meant that childhood ended early. Childhood practically ended at puberty.

By twelve years old, a girl is expected to be married and able to run a household, while a fourteen year old boy is expected to be a squire.

(However, it is important to consider that this is due to the relatively short life spans of medieval people – thus, the “adjusted” timeline.)

The Church began this change, by regarding children under puberty to lack the maturity to understand the adult world. Thus, they were considered to be incapable of committing sins.

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In the same light, medieval civil society began a similar concept of the age of legal responsibility. When children go past the age of puberty, they were stripped of the exemptions that the law gave them as children, and were put under the same expectations of responsibility and culpability.

In modern times, this has evolved to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which has specific provisions protecting children. Individual countries and states also have created laws for children which can be traced to originate from the original interpretations made in medieval Britain.

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