The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 10.1838  Wednesday, 27 October 1999.

[1]     From:   David Lindley <
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        Date:   Tuesday, 26 Oct 1999 18:54:54 GMT
        Subj:   Re: SHK 10.1830 Ages of Puberty

[2]     From:   John Drakakis <
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        Date:   Wednesday, 27 Oct 1999 12:57:05 +0100
        Subj:   RE: SHK 10.1830 Ages of Puberty


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           David Lindley <
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Date:           Tuesday, 26 Oct 1999 18:54:54 GMT
Subject: 10.1830 Ages of Puberty
Comment:        Re: SHK 10.1830 Ages of Puberty

>I hope list members will excuse a rather tangential question from a new
>subscriber. A while back, in the course of a discussion on eunuchs and
>castrati, Sean Lawrence mentioned something about, "Ages of puberty
>being what they were..." Which leads me to inquire: what were they? What
>would be a source of reliable information on that subject?
>
>Hoping this query is not too out-of-line for a first posting,
>Alice Cooley

Certainly not!  I know I've read something somewhere about it -
suggesting that it wasn't too different from that in our own time.
Legally, of course, girls could marry at twelve, boys at fourteen -
though usually, in the case of such young marriages, consummation was
postponed (hence the Frances Howard/Earl of Essex problems...).

David Lindley
School of English
University of Leeds

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           John Drakakis <
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Date:           Wednesday, 27 Oct 1999 12:57:05 +0100
Subject: 10.1830 Ages of Puberty
Comment:        RE: SHK 10.1830 Ages of Puberty

Try Peter Laslett's The World We have Lost where some attempt is made to
work these things out.

Cheers,
John Drakakis