[MR] Childbearing in Period (Was What DID viking ladies really wear?)

[Kelly Keck]

On Sun, Mar 2, 2008 at 2:04 PM, McKenna <mckennawerks at earthlink.net> wrote:


> What the numbers show, based on extant records (again IIRC, I'll make
> another effort to find the book when I'm over this bronchitis) is marriage
> (wife) about age fourteen, (husband's age usually older, in many cases,
> much
> older) first child about age 18, second and subsequent children about 3
> yrs
> apart with the time between children increasing with age and few births
> after age 30 and very few after age 35, leading him to conclude (among
> other
> things) menarche about age 18, and menopause in the mid to late 30s.


Very interesting.  I wonder, though, if 18 is the age at which the average
woman of the time was able to *become* pregnant or just the age at which she
was likely to carry to term.  That is, if a large number of those
14-year-old brides had miscarriages at 15 or 16, that wouldn't be reflected
in this study, but would indicate an earlier age of menarche.

Adriana Michaels