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English Familial Demography c. 1300: A Reconstruction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2025

Hugo La Poutré Open the ORCID record for Hugo La Poutré [Opens in a new window]  and
Richard Paping Open the ORCID record for Richard Paping [Opens in a new window]
Hugo La Poutré*
Affiliation:
Independent Scholar, The Netherlands
Richard Paping
Affiliation:
Department of Economic and Social History, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
*
Corresponding author: Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Due to the scarcity of data, the demographic regime of pre-plague England is poorly understood. In this article, we review the existing literature to estimate the mean age at first marriage for women (at 24) and men (at 27), the remaining life expectancy at first marriage for men (at 25 years), the mean household size (at 5.8), and marital fertility around 1300. Based on these values, we develop a macrosimulation that creates a consistent image of English demography at its medieval population peak that reflects a Western European marriage pattern with a relatively very high share of celibates.

Keywords

Demographic modelspopulation pressuremean household sizesimulationmedieval history
Type
Research Article
Information
Social Science History , First View , pp. 1 - 25
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Social Science History Association

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