Charlemagne was very tall, but not robust.
The left tibia of Charlemagne, the Medieval "Father of Europe" has been X-rayed and CT scanned to determine his still highly debated stature. We found the healthy bone to be long (430 mm) but rather not robust (total mid-shaft cross-sectional area 473 mm(2), cortical area 352 mm(2)). Reconstructed stature of 1.84 m falls at about 99% of Medieval heights, which would be ca. 1.95 m in present-day Europe. Thus, tall stature indeed could have contributed to the success of "Charles the Great" as a king emperor and soldier.
Institute of Anatomy, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstr. 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland. frank.ruhli@anatom.uzh.ch
Frank J
FJ
Rühli
Bernhard
B
Blümich
Maciej
M
Henneberg
D000885:Anthropology, Physical; D001827:Body Height; D001842:Bone and Bones; D005197:Famous Persons; D006304:Health Status; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011057:Politics; D013977:Tibia