Children in poor families would be seen as almost commodities- sons for work and girls for dowries.
Not saying it's right but humans lived not too differently from animals not too long ago. Even in Judeo-Christianity, teenage brides were completely acceptable.
It's not surprising these attitudes still exist and are much more common than we think
“these attitudes still exist and are much more common than we think “
Only among uncivilized savages, especially muslime, and have no right to exist within a civilized society.
In the oldest Christian traditions, the Virgin Mary was 12 when the angel Gabriel appeared to her and she became pregnant.
Juliet, of course, was just turned 13. As her mother had been when she was married and pregnant.
Under English and American common law, the “age of consent” was 12 or below till the late 19th century, when reformers got to work on the issue. In most states it was 10. In Delaware, it was 7!
http://www.omgfacts.com/History/The-age-of-consent-in-Delaware-used-to-b/58707
The above is presented strictly to provide some historical context on the issue. I’m perfectly happy with modern laws and would be glad to see them enforced strictly.
In some cultures, e.g. where there's no payoff to any education beyond bare litercy and enough arithmetic to run a roadside vegetable stand, it makes absoluete good sense for girls to marry young. For one thing, childbearing is at its safest in the teens --- child-raising, too --- when the young mother's health and energy are at their peak, before diabetes, hypertension, kidney failure and the dgenerative diseases of age set in.