Study: Medieval Monks Were Obese
By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News
July 23, 2004 — The jolly image of rotund Friar Tuck could be only
partially true, according to a recent study of skeletal remains from monks
that lived during the Middle Ages (476-1450 A.D.) that revealed most monks
were overweight, but perhaps not entirely jolly because they suffered from
conditions associated with obesity, such as arthritis.
The findings, presented last week at the International Medieval Congress at
Leeds University in England, shed light on the monastic lifestyle from that
period and could help to explain the development of civil unrest against
monasteries toward the latter part of the medieval age.
Philippa Patrick, author of the paper and an archaeologist at University
College London, made the determinations after analyzing the skeletal
collections of the Museum of London, which include remains of medieval
monks from St. Mary Graces Abbey, Tower Hill, St. Saviour's Abbey,
Bermondsey and Merton Priory.
Patrick, whose study was funded by the U.K. Arts and Humanities Research
Board, told Discovery News that by the time most monks were 45 and over,
they were three times more likely than the overall population to develop a
condition linked to obesity known as DISH, diffuse idiopathic skeletal
hyperostosis. DISH affects a victim's spine with lesions, making it harder
for the person to walk and move.
The monks also were three times as likely to suffer from weight-related
forms of arthritis.
"The biggest difference was in terms of osteoarthritis of the distal
interphalangeal joints (the fingertips essentially) which is strongly
linked with obesity in the clinical literature," explained Patrick. "Monks
were six times as likely to develop this condition than their secular
counterparts."
She said the monks' sedentary lifestyle coupled with overeating led to the
weight gain. Obesity was unusual during the medieval period, during which
time many people suffered from poverty, malnutrition and deadly plagues.
"(The monks'😉 diet has been classified as 'a form of high class diet,' that
would mean very few people — only the upper echelons of society — could
have managed to match the monks in terms of quality and quantity of their
diet ... but the inactivity probably didn't help either," said Patrick.
She added that the monks ate animals and birds that they raised and used
for secondary products, such as milk, butter, eggs and cheese. Monasteries
also had extensive complexes of fishponds to supply fish. The monks ate
fruits and nuts, but vegetables were limited mostly to beans, peas, onions,
garlic and leeks.
While monks were expected to donate up to a third of their daily food as
alms to the poor, this did not always happen.
Patrick said, "... In 1432, the monks of Peterborough were reprimanded for
taking the alms food to another room and sharing it out amongst
themselves."
The middle classes in the 14th century, after the Great Famine and the
Great Death, criticized monastery excesses. Thereafter, Patrick said
gluttony became a common accusation against certain members of religious
orders and monasteries, many of whom came from wealthy families.
Tony Waldron, a professor of archaeology at University College London, read
Patrick's study and came to similar conclusions in his own research on
monks.
In a paper for the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, Waldron
wrote, "DISH seems to be related to obesity and type II diabetes and is
probably a multisystem hormonal disorder. DISH occurs frequently in human
skeletal remains, particularly in those recovered from monastic sites."
Patrick believes that people today who eat high fat diets and lead
sedentary lifestyles could learn lessons from the medieval monks.
"Monks weren't eating fast food and sitting in front of the television, but
in a way the unbalanced diet and relative inactivity are comparable," she
said. "I wonder whether seeing some of these skeletal lesions might put a
few people off their food and decide to pursue a more healthy lifestyle?"