It's a modern myth that reliable contraception is a new thing. There are loads of references to it prior to the 19th Century when Jane Austin morality was imposed on women. While probably not as reliable as modern contraceptives they existed and were widely used. While childbirth was dangerous, so was not having children to support you in later life, and with high child mortality rates you wanted several to give you a decent chance.
>If Heortlings have reliable contraception, (and reasonably frequent
>deaths in childbirth) I can see a proportion of women choosing not to
>have children. I think GAG suggests that the Vingans at least have
>reliable contraception - is that right?
Generally Vingans entrust their fertility to Ernalda until they leave the cult. In general I'm sure there are women who choose not to have children and some who are unable to have children. This is why the population maintenance rate is something like 2.3 surviving children per family which means a lot of births in some families if we assume pre-20th century child mortality rates.
>If children are raised by the clan, not by a nuclear family, then does
>it matter if Uncle Valmar never married and had children, as long as
>he's there to help raise his brother's children? The limiting factor is
>not men who want children as much as it is women who want children.
This is going to depend a lot on the exact proportions of men and women which will vary from clan to clan and is affected by recent history. In a basically monogamous society if 51% of adults are female there are going to be a surplus of unmarried females so Uncle Valmar is going to be under great pressure to marry. Conversely if only 49% are female he will be accepted as just having been unlucky.
-- Donald Oddy http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/
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