How much did a man weigh in the middle ages?

[KilroywasNOTHere]

Pretty much what it say on the can. I'm trying to figure out the average height and weight of a knight, the height I think I have down, but I can't find a good answer on the phisical size of a man during that time, just the weight of the armor.

 

[Doomsought]

Well that depends. How wealthy is the knight, and does he expect to be involved in a war?
Since only the wealthy were able to get fat, people in the middle ages tended to be as heavy as their finances and duties allow.

 

[KilroywasNOTHere]

Well that depends. How wealthy is the knight, and does he expect to be involved in a war?
Since only the wealthy were able to get fat, people in the middle ages tended to be as heavy as their finances and duties allow.

dealing with mainly averages here. So i'm guessing whatever the typical knight during wartime

 

[Marduk]

Pretty much what it say on the can. I'm trying to figure out the average height and weight of a knight, the height I think I have down, but I can't find a good answer on the phisical size of a man during that time, just the weight of the armor.

Knights aren't modern style soldiers, there is little to no standarization in this regard.
For starters, for a given fitness level weight and height are connected.
According to this, being able to get onto a warhorse in armor was considered a pretty basic expectation, so that gives us a bit of an idea.
So overall, a good knight would have similar BMI to what's considered fit today, but a lot of the ones not really training for warfare as they are supposed to may be a bit fat, especially if they had the wealth and/or safety to get away with it for previous years - though i guess after a few years of constant campaigning those cases may be trimmed down.
So overall, their weight would probably be equivalent to medium-heavy weight boxers, special forces soldiers, and equivalent athletes for the ideal, somewhat above that for those with softer, more comfortable life, and below that in cases like long term supply shortages in campaigning, or as in the given example of Templars, excessive fasting.

 

[KilroywasNOTHere]

Knights aren't modern style soldiers, there is little to no standarization in this regard.
For starters, for a given fitness level weight and height are connected.
According to this, being able to get onto a warhorse in armor was considered a pretty basic expectation, so that gives us a bit of an idea.
So overall, a good knight would have similar BMI to what's considered fit today, but a lot of the ones not really training for warfare as they are supposed to may be a bit fat, especially if they had the wealth and/or safety to get away with it for previous years - though i guess after a few years of constant campaigning those cases may be trimmed down.
So overall, their weight would probably be equivalent to medium-heavy weight boxers, special forces soldiers, and equivalent athletes for the ideal, somewhat above that for those with softer, more comfortable life, and below that in cases like long term supply shortages in campaigning, or as in the given example of Templars, excessive fasting.

cool gotcha. Thanks.

 

[Yinko]

cool gotcha. Thanks.

What Marduk said is probably good enough. From what I've heard from historical research channels (Scholaglatoria, ShadiUniversity, Metatron, etc) the average height was probably about the mid 5 foot range (5'9" maybe?) but reasonably well built. The biggest fitness difference would not be strength but rather endurance, with the average knight being able to jog for tens on miles at a time in armor (as we saw at the battle of stamford bridge). So, rather than take the weight of a gym guy of that height, take the weight of an Ironman completer of that height.

 

[KilroywasNOTHere]

What Marduk said is probably good enough. From what I've heard from historical research channels (Scholaglatoria, ShadiUniversity, Metatron, etc) the average height was probably about the mid 5 foot range (5'9" maybe?) but reasonably well built. The biggest fitness difference would not be strength but rather endurance, with the average knight being able to jog for tens on miles at a time in armor (as we saw at the battle of stamford bridge). So, rather than take the weight of a gym guy of that height, take the weight of an Ironman completer of that height.

so about 130-150?

 

[Sailor.X]

It depends on the Country and Continent too. Some places like the Middle East were not exactly the Bread Basket of the planet and had a lot of Nomadic Tribes. Africa had Nomadic Tribes. Farming Societies, Fishing Societies and Hunter Gatherers. The same for North America. Asia had a lot of advanced kingdoms. But it depended on your wealth in such places also.

 

[KilroywasNOTHere]

It depends on the Country and Continent too. Some places like the Middle East were not exactly the Bread Basket of the planet and had a lot of Nomadic Tribes. Africa had Nomadic Tribes. Farming Societies, Fishing Societies and Hunter Gatherers. The same for North America. Asia had a lot of advanced kingdoms. But it depended on your wealth in such places also.

the setting I'm thinking up takes insperation from like your Germanic Medieval Period european eras. in terms of government and military.