Friars' tucker led to many a corpulent corpse
Friar Tuck had plenty of rotund mates in England's monasteries, writes Martin Wainwright in Leeds.
The full truth about one of Britain's favourite historical fatties has been tracked down by a three-year study of overweight medieval monks.
Robin Hood's companion Friar Tuck had hundreds of real-life counterparts, according to a newly published analysis of skeletons in three monastic burial sites in London.
Suet, lard and butter were wolfed down in "startling quantities" by the closed communities, whose abbots often depended on arranging large and regular meals to keep their flocks under control.
"The way to a man's heart is through his stomach and this seems specially to have been the case with monks," said Philippa Patrick of the Institute of Archaeology at University College, London.
"They were taking in about 6000 calories a day, and 4500 even when they were fasting." Arthritis in knees, hips and fingertips showed that the often underemployed monks were seriously obese.
Ms Patrick, whose findings were revealed to the International Medieval Congress, meeting in Leeds, said: "Their meals were full of saturated fats. They were five times more likely to suffer from obesity than their secular contemporaries."
The reckless consumption was in clear breach of St Benedict's austere rules, which warned: "There must be no danger of overeating, so that no monk is overtaken by indigestion, for there is nothing so opposed to Christian life as overeating."
Critics such as Peter the Venerable, who slated monks for "wearing furs and eating fat", were advised that Benedict had also warned about grumbling: "Brethren would indeed grumble if deprived of the food to which they are accustomed."
The skeletal data, from 300 sets of bones, includes information on a medical condition known now as DISH (diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis) triggered by overeating and a rich diet. "The marks of DISH keep appearing on their skeletons. It forms a coating on the spine like candlewax dripping down the side," Ms Patrick said.
The findings tally with satire that developed a keener edge after the Black Death and food shortages. Friar Tuck was only one of many fat fictional characters based on medieval churchmen by resentful lay storytellers.
The new evidence backs records from Westminster Abbey, showing that six eggs a day was normal for monks. In the middle ages, monkish obesity was Europe-wide. The Portuguese Cistercians had a test: monks unable to squeeze through a certain doorway at Alcobaca monastery's dining room had to fast, while slimmer colleagues tucked into "pastry in vast abundance".