According to historians such as Barrow and Penman, it is also likely that when Robert and Edward Bruce reached the male age of consent of twelve and began training for full knighthood, they were sent to reside for a period with one or more allied English noble families, such as the de Clares of Gloucester, or perhaps even in the English royal household. Sir Thomas Grey asserted in his "Scalacronica" that in about 1292, Robert the Bruce, then aged eighteen, was a "young bachelor of King Edward's Chamber". While there remains little firm evidence of Robert's presence at Edward's court, on 8 April 1296, both Robert and his father were pursued through the English Chancery for their private household debts of £60 by several merchants of Winchester. This raises the possibility that young Robert the Bruce was on occasion resident in a royal centre which Edward I himself would visit frequently during his reign.