| How tall were people in Shakespeare's time? |
 | There is a popular misconception that people in the 16th century were much smaller than today. On average our sixteenth-century ancestors were 5cm (2") smaller than we are but, as now, there was a height range of many centimetres for each sex. Archaeological evidence from the Mary Rose shows a range among the crew of 156.25cm - 180cm (5' 2½" - 6' 0") with an average of 168.75cm (5' 7½"). A survey among young men in 1983 gave an average of 172.5cm (5' 9"), a difference of only 3.75cm (1½"). Most skeletal evidence for height before the raising of the Mary Rose was based on cemetery excavation, but stature always decreases with age as bones degenerate, and thus, the greater the age at death, the smaller the apparent height. Women, as a general rule, are a few centimetres smaller than men, the average height in the sixteenth century being somewhere in the region of 160cm.
Clothing and the size of beds have often been used as evidence our forebears were substantially shorter. However, corsetting was the norm from an early age and most clothing was 5cm (2") smaller than the natural body measurements. Beds were often shorter than now as it was the practice to sleep semi-recumbent, supported by bolsters and pillows, not flat, as we do today.
Whilst it is true that diet has improved and average height has increased during the 20th century, this must be seen against the poor diet of the
bulk of urban working classes during the late 18th century and most of the 19th century, rather than against the much better balanced, albeit
restricted diet of earlier centuries. |
