“Puberty as the Universal Legal Threshold in Pre-Modern History”

In pre-modern legal systems (Roman, Canon, and Early Islamic law), the onset of puberty—not a fixed birth year—was the universal marker of legal adulthood.

• Key Argument: Before the industrial revolution and the extension of "childhood" through modern schooling, human biology (puberty) was the only objective legal metric for maturity.

• Evidence: Compare this to the marriage of Margaret Beaufort (mother of King Henry VII) at age 12, or other historical figures where biological maturity was the legal standard.

• The Pivot: Argue that judging the past by the "age 18" standard is an act of Chronological Snobbery—the assumption that our current era's definitions are the only ones that have ever been correct.