Are fantastic, made-up tales an accurate depiction of the societies in which they are set?

[james_davis_nicoll]

No.


In compensation, have a music video.

"" (Watch on YouTube)

Comments

[vschanoes.livejournal.com]

Grooms were not substantially older than the brides in Shakespeare's time in England as a matter of course. Marrying in the early to mid-twenties was, if memory serves, the norm for both men and women (excluding, of course, nobility, whose marriages, as you note, about statecraft and property--most people didn't have enough property to have to worry about such things).

[graydon saunders (from livejournal.com)]

My recollection is that if the average age of first marriage was, say, 25, for the brides, it would be 28 or so for the grooms. I perhaps should not have called that "substantial" but there does seem to be an "older groom" bias.

[vschanoes.livejournal.com]

Oh, agreed. There's a consistent difference; it's just usually not very big.