In the day before cars were affordable and public transport diddnt exist.....in all rural areas of England people had to rely an Shank's Pony to get about .....to meet someone if the oppersit sex was nigh on impossible... So many people people married close relatives.....first cousins and maybe even closer relatives......
Even today,if you visit rurual areas 50 miles from London like Suffolk you can still see older people that have interbred within their own family .....Going with your cousin is legal ,but often leads to abnormalities in their children....you can see it in their faces still quite easilly....
