Medieval Diet and Health

[Lady Rosalind Avalle]

Medieval Diet and Health, A Compendium of Averages

What did the average man on the street look like in 1320s Scotland? How tall was he? What did he eat? Did he worry about the same health threats as we do? How long did he live? How many children did he have?

These are all excellent questions. There is enough evidence that finding out the answers is not as difficult as you might think, and with a little knowledge of diet, routine, and the socio-political atmosphere of the day, filling in the holes is not as difficult as it might seem.

The average man in 1320s Scotland was a peasant farmer. He was 5'5 and averaged 120 pounds. He ate meat on special occasions, but his diet largely consisted of eggs, butter, or cheese curds as a substitute for protein, as well as what vegetables were in season, and approximately three pounds of dark bread not fit for the nobility per day. His work day was usually 12 hours long. He married young, between the ages of 17 and 25, with any peasant over the age of 25 and unmarried held in extreme suspicion. He was susceptible to an early, short, and painful death, if not in the numerous wars he was called to serve, but by minor wounds suffered on the job that might fester due to lack of an understanding for proper hygiene.

His wife was usually quite a bit shorter at about 5'0. She weighed much less. Like her husband, due to a deficiency in necessary vitamins and minerals, she suffered maladies of the skin and hair and likely began losing her teeth in her 20s. With no family planning, she will give birth, on average, to six or seven children in her life with the expectation that one or two will survive infancy. Girls were married young, often between 13 and 14, and lifespan rarely extended beyond 30.

The gentry, in comparison, lived lavish lives, yet their health was often worse than lower classes due to overindulgence. The Medieval noble was likely a few inches taller than his peasant counterpart. He also carried more weight, most likely around his middle. He was likely to suffer from scurvy, syphilis, tooth decay, heart problems, skin rashes, infections caused by rotting meat and lack of proper nutrition. Since the preservation of meat was more art than science in the 1300s, the ability to poison an entire household was not uncommon -- they would probably not be able to distinguish malicious intent from bad meat anyway.