We sometimes get a cockeyed view of life in pre-modern times because it's common knowledge that thre average life expectancy during the medieval era was about 40. It's taken years to convince people that the number was low because so many infants and children died, drawing down the average. If you made it to puberty, you probably had a lot of years ahead of you. And then there's the fact that books are written about kings and especially queens who were married off at shockingly young ages. These were often arranged political alliances that had little to do with anyone else.
Meanwhile, the common people of Europe tended to delay marriage until their twenties. While education ended early, young people would work to buy a home, and women could earn a fair amount of money before they settled down to have children. These everyday folk didn't make the history books, but they were documented in records that tell the real story. Read more about the customs of medieval marriage at Fake History Hunter. -via Strange Company
Peasants, mostly farmers, married late. In part because their labor was needed at home, partly because of parents were reluctant to pay dowries in terms of land.
Oh yes, the nobility had dowries. "Marry my daughter and you get Aquitaine." M'lord, I love her even more!
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