Medievalists. net has a summary of a study of 277 skeletons from sites in medieval Norway, dating from the eleventh to the sixteenth centuries and which has looked at the height of the individuals and at that in relation to their social status, as inferred from their places of burial.
I will say that I do wish in studies like this the compilers would use feet and inches as well rather than just centimetres - I cannot visualise someone as just a total of centimetres, whereas I can immediately envisage someone in feet and inches.
As with other such studies, and in contrast to some popular presentations of the past, what is striking is that, given more advanced nutrition and childhood healthcare today, is that medieval people were, on average, only slightly shorter than their descendants and successors today. Average and actual height is known to have notably increased in the western world during in the twentieth century. This has been more obvious in some countries than others. I can well imagine that an affluent country like Norway would be well up the list in such statistics, perhaps not far behind The Netherlands, which has I think the most striking increase in individuals’ height. The downside of this is an increase in back problems, especially earlier in life than might be expected, in taller men.
The article can be read at New study reveals height of medieval Norwegians
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