What Is a Ward? The Medieval Origins of Guardianship

For medieval nobles, inheritance was never guaranteed by blood alone. If a landholding father died before his heir came of age—typically 21 for boys, 14 for girls—the estate was not simply passed down. 

In an arrangement within the feudal system known as wardship, lords and kings assumed control over the estates and futures of underage heirs. Through the Middle Ages, wardship became a tool for revenue, influence and strategic marriage-making.

In its simplest sense, a ward was someone who needed legal protection because they weren't old enough to manage their own affairs, says Adele Sykes, a research fellow at the School of Advanced Study at the University of London. In medieval England, the concept was closely tied to the feudal system, which organized society around land held in exchange for service.

“[A] lord or even the king had the right to take over the estate of a tenant who died, holding it until the young heir came of age,” Sykes explains. However, wards weren’t orphans according to today’s definition. Under English common law in the medieval period, only a child’s father had to die for them to enter a state of wardship, Sykes notes.

“A guardian would be put in charge of both the child's wellbeing—their upbringing and where they lived—and, crucially, their inheritance,” Sykes says. The guardian managed the heir's lands, property, cash, debts, income and responsibilities to the crown such as "knight service."

Wardship was an integral part of medieval feudalism—common wherever people had wealth to pass down, Sykes explains. It gradually became codified, evolving into “a practice shaped by law but also by social expectations and, at times, greed.”

The system really took hold in England after the Norman Conquest, when land ownership was reorganized around lords and tenants (someone who held land from a lord in exchange for service or payments). “By the 12th and 13th centuries, the rules for feudal wardship were clearly written down, and you can see them being used all the time in government records, tracking heirs and their guardians,” Sykes says.

The relationship could be anything from caring to cruel—and, according to Sykes, that range is really the heart of the story. “On one hand, many feudal wards became a part of their guardian’s household, where they were educated, trained to be a knight or run an estate,” she explains. “On the other hand, there was a massive power imbalance. The guardian held all the cards, controlling the money, the ward’s future and even where they lived.” 

Because the guardian profited from the wardship arrangement, it was easy for the relationship to become exploitative—even if it looked paternal on the surface. “We know these relationships could get ugly because there had to be laws against abusing, mistreating or even kidnapping wards,” Sykes says, who notes such concerns became especially pronounced during the Black Death.

However, there wasn't one single wardship experience; it was different depending on location, social class and the type of property or wealth that made up an inheritance. Women could be directly involved in wardships, too. “When you look at wills and household records, you see that widows weren't just standing by," says Sykes. "They were often the key players, deciding whether to manage the estate themselves, use the city's financial systems or invest their children's inheritance in their own business networks.”

Wardships also weren't just for children. The king had the right to take custody of the lands and affairs of adults who were considered unable to manage their own lives, explains Sykes, like those with mental illness or developmental disabilities. Legal texts even distinguished between people who were incapacitated from birth and those who lost agency later in life.

“A guardian—sometimes a relative, sometimes just a well-connected person—would then be appointed to manage their lands and provide for their care," Sykes says. “It’s important to remember, though, that the medieval language and legal ideas around disability were very blunt and don't line up neatly with our modern understanding.” 

In the feudal system, a lord controlled the marriage of his ward. “This was one of the most powerful and controversial parts of the whole system,” Sykes says. “The guardian essentially ‘owned’ the ward's marriage. They had the right to choose who their ward married...and they could even sell that right to the highest bidder.” 

This became so problematic it was addressed in the Magna Carta in 1215, which states that heirs should be married to someone of equal social standing and that their close family be told before the wedding happened. “Control over marriage was what made feudal wardship more than just a financial tool—it was a way to forge alliances, secure inheritances and build power,” Sykes says.  

Church law, however, required the free consent of both parties. That provision created an important loophole for some wards, says Sykes, since a coerced union could be challenged or even annulled. That tension between legal control and personal consent appears in some versions of the Robin Hood legend, in which Maid Marian is portrayed as a ward of King John.

Even as the feudal system gave way to a more centralized monarchy and modern states, wardship endured. Under the Tudor regime, wardship became one of the major ways to fund the monarchy. In 1503, Henry VII appointed a master of wards, developing the bureaucracy that eventually became the Court of Wards (a royal body in charge of wards of the crown) from 1540 to 1642. Wardships—especially the forced marriage component—remained alive and well in the second half of the 17th century, despite changes in the law offering more protection to wards.

Variations on wardships, like guardianships, continued in different forms over the next few centuries. Even today, arrangements like conservatorships—when a judge appoints another person to act or make decisions for someone deemed to need help—can trace their origins back to these feudal social arrangements.