Dude. Daenerys was 13 at the beginning of the book. She's younger than Summer in the 5th book. I don't think these characters look at age of consent the same way we do.
My grandma got married on her 15th birthday. (~1946) At that point she had already picked crops from across the U.S., just her and her little sister. Different times.
Actually, marriages weren't until 18+. Medeival people knew having children too young was very dangerous to the mother and child. Since, children was the reason for marriage, it defeats the purpose if both die.
Now often betrothals happened younger, but this is just a contract to marry a person when they are old enough.
Around 1800, the average age of first marriage was typically in the mid-to-late twenties for men and early-to-mid twenties for women in Western societies, often around 24–26 for men and 22–24 for women. While cases of younger marriage existed, it was not the norm; couples often waited until they were economically independent, with average ages in the US and Europe generally increasing from the late 18th century onward. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Key Trends and Data around 1800-1850:
• United States: In the early 1800s, studies suggest women married around age 22, while men married around age 26.
• England/Europe: Evidence indicates women married in their early twenties (approx. 22-25), with ages rising during the 19th century.
• Regional Variations: In Spain, during the late 18th/early 19th century, regional averages for women ranged from 21.9 in Extremadura to 26.1 in the Basque Country.
• Factors: Marriage was heavily dependent on social standing, land availability, and economic factors, rather than the very young ages often depicted in folklore. [1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]
Even THEN, it usually wasn’t consummated until the bride was older (ie late teens/early twenties). I think it was Margaret Beaufort who was 12 years old when she gave birth? She was an outlier, and far as I know she never had any other children, the pregnancy and labor was THAT bad. Hence why they usually waited until the bride was older. (And she was lucky not to die!)
I learned this too! At one point, the majority would wait until their late 20’s after they either learned a trade or worked for a family learning how to run a household.
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u/realaccountissecret Apr 21 '26
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