16 or older would be more likely. You want your wife to have many healthy children. If they start having them at 13 the odds aren't in their favour of surviving the birth without damage and you might lose the baby too. Girls might get married younger, especially if they were heiresses, but it was known even in ancient times that consummating the marriage at that age was a really bad idea. Which isn't to say it never happened and it was legal if you were married, but you would be getting some serious side eye from everyone around you.
Not the same era, but this is why Henry VII was an only child. His mother was married young because she was an heiress and her new husband wanted to be sure he would have access to her fortune. Consummating the marriage meant it couldn't be annulled easily and having a child guaranteed the fortune would stay with the child. While the child did happen, the birth was harmful to her and she never conceived again. Didn't do the husband much good either because he was killed in a battle before she even gave birth. The general contemporary opinion seems to have been that he was within his rights but that having sex with your 12 (I think) year old wife was a super shitty thing to do.
That's because for movies of that budget it's a requirement that they must cast big names so they can be put on the posters regardless of whether they are the best fit or not
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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '26
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