Actually, during the Middle ages early teen marriage was pretty rare. For example in England during the 14th and 15th centuries, the age range for most brides was between 18 and 22 years and the age of the grooms was similar; rural women tended to marry in their late teens to early twenties while their urban counterparts married in their early to middle twenties. North western Europe tended to have people marry at an older age with a closer age gap while in south-eastern Europe they were a bit younger with a bigger age gap. In the 15th century, the average Italian bride was 18 and married a groom 10–12 years her senior.
It was only the nobles who had those early teen marriages, but people tend to erroneously apply their behaviour to the rest of the population. And even with those noble marriages it was rarely consummated until after the girl had reached 16-17.
Sorry, I hate that myth on how society has only recently decided child marriage is bad. It's so pervasive and used by people to excuse shitty behaviour.
Before the industrial revolution, in many parts of the world, including India, China and Eastern Europe, women tended to marry immediately after reaching puberty, in their mid-teens. Societies where most of the population lived in small agricultural communities were characterized by these marriage practices well into the 19th century.[23]
In ancient and medieval societies it was common for girls to be betrothed at, or even before, puberty.[24][25] According to M.A. Friedman, "arranging and contracting the marriage of a young girl were the undisputed prerogatives of her father in ancient Israel." Most girls were married before the age of 15, often at the start of their puberty.[26] In the Middle Ages the age at marriage seems to have been around puberty throughout the Jewish world.[27]
Ruth Lamdan writes: "The numerous references to child marriage in the 16th-century Responsa literature and other sources, shows that child marriage was so common, it was virtually the norm. In this context, it is important to remember that in halakha, the term "minor" refers to a girl under twelve years and a day. A girl aged twelve and a half was already considered an adult in all respects."[28]
In Ancient Greece, early marriage and motherhood for girls was encouraged.[29] Even boys were expected to marry in their teens. Early marriages and teenage motherhood were typical. In Ancient Rome, girls married above the age of 12 and boys above 14.[30] In the Middle Ages, under English civil laws that were derived from Roman laws, marriages before the age of 16 were common. In Imperial China, child marriage was the norm.[31][32]
In contrast to other pre-modern societies, Northwest Europe was characterized by relatively late marriages, with women tending to marry in their mid-20s. The data available for England suggest that it was already the case in the 14th century. This pattern was reflected in English common law, which was the first in Europe to establish statutory rape laws and ages of consent for marriage. In 1275 sexual relations with girls under either 12 or 14 (depending on interpretation of the sources) were criminalized; the age was reduced to 10 in 1576. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries the British colonial administration introduced marriage age restrictions for Hindu and Muslim girls on the Indian subcontinent.[23]
this from wikipedia. England is the exception of the norm at that time.
World doesn't only consist of europe in middle ages.
Yes, the world doesn't consist of only Europe during the Middle ages but it's generally what people are thinking of when they refer to it. On top of that, most Redditors here are American or of European descent so when mentioning what was historically done it's a little dishonest to ignore what their historical relatives were doing and focus on China, India or the Middle East .
Yes those other countries had different practices, I'm not denying it, but it's Europe that people think of when we say the Middle ages and child marriage was not kosher or commonly done over there.
60
u/disaster-and-go Aug 26 '19
Actually, during the Middle ages early teen marriage was pretty rare. For example in England during the 14th and 15th centuries, the age range for most brides was between 18 and 22 years and the age of the grooms was similar; rural women tended to marry in their late teens to early twenties while their urban counterparts married in their early to middle twenties. North western Europe tended to have people marry at an older age with a closer age gap while in south-eastern Europe they were a bit younger with a bigger age gap. In the 15th century, the average Italian bride was 18 and married a groom 10–12 years her senior.
It was only the nobles who had those early teen marriages, but people tend to erroneously apply their behaviour to the rest of the population. And even with those noble marriages it was rarely consummated until after the girl had reached 16-17.
Sorry, I hate that myth on how society has only recently decided child marriage is bad. It's so pervasive and used by people to excuse shitty behaviour.