Were the rich and the nobility taller and/or heavier than ordinary people prior to the 1800's?

Question

People today are bigger and more healthy than our ancestors. This is usually attributed to the fact that we have better diets. If this is true was this effect also seen among the wealthy in the past.

We know the rich had more access to food. The question is were they taller as a result of growing up with a more adequate diet.

Answer 1

When you delve deep into history you find that many of the natural leaders in a community tended to be the biggest the strongest. People talk of tall muscular Charlemagne and William the Conquerer and Edward the Just among others.
Yes Diet was a big factor. Not only the fact they could afford to eat more but more was available to them.
Game Laws were enforced across Europe & England. If it was the King's Deer Park and you snagged a doe for your wife and five children and were caught you were likely to be flogged unto death.

Wealthy Cardinal Woolsly of Tudor times was portrayed as 'grosstequely fat,' and among monrchs there was Louis the Fat of France, so again the Historical record suggests yes.

One direct link to diet where the issue of taller & heavier comes into play - - - Magellen's Voyage around the Globe during an era when little was known about scurvy, the ship's officers were of the Nobility, they mostly escaped the ravages of scurvy while their crews shriveled up and several died. What kept the Officer's healthier and alive? Quince. A Jam, a delicacy, a source of Vitamic C reserved for the Nobility (well, of course the servants snagged a bite how do you think a Filipino was the first actual person to circle the Globe).

Peace.....

Answer 2

In the past it was called Conspicuous Consumption, the rich people just sat around and ate. The thin people were the ones working hard burning off their calories. I wouldn't call any of the people prior to the 1800s healthier because there wasn't the concern or knowledge of nutrition and medicines then.

Don't you love that term? Conspicuous Consumption...LOL! Nowadays, it's just the opposite, usually, because of personal trainers and dietitians.

Edit after your addition: I've got a degree in fashion history and design, the clothing from the pre-1800s were much shorter in lengths, and people just seemed so much more petite. Me being an average size woman, 5'6 and 135 pounds, LOL, I would be considered quite large to them. If you check out the clothing in museums it will look almost child sized compared to average adult clothing today. But I doubt their height had anything to do with their diets then. Interesting theory though. From old family pictures, I have a genealogy hobby, the poorer family members actually looked taller, maybe because they were thinner? I don't know!

Answer 3

Yes. Not only prior, but also subsequent to the 1800s.
In the 1945 parliament the average Labour MP was about three inches shorter than the average Conservative. And if it hadn't been for well-heeled intellectual Labour MPs, the diparity would have been even greater.

Answer 4

they had better diets and health care ( such as it was) they did'nt have to work hard for a living.. by hard i mean 6 or 7 days and week working as long as theres light in the sky, under conditions that peta woulded let a animal live in today. bad food no health care, barbers use to cut hair and pull out teeth with no pain killers. most ppl in the country used the sears catalog for toilet tissue or corn cobs ( soaked in water ) travel was very limited.
rich ppl or ppl well off had servents who cooked, cleaned, washed, packed there clothes for trips, did the house work. most better off ppl did'nt do anything but make money in the way they knew how.

Answer 5

There was a study which demonstrated that there is a link between your physical size and the likelihood that you will be promoted. Most likely due to primitive human instincts that create more respect for a physically dominant leader, one has to be physically bigger if they are mentally small...

Answer 6

I don't think so. Some may have been fat but they could still suffer from malnutrition because they ate too many bad foods and not enough fresh fruits and vegetables. Also there was so much sickness (TB, smallpox, syphilis, fevers, etc.) that people would often become very ill and lose weight.