[MR] History Blog: Władysław I, The Elbow-High

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

Yesterday's History Blog story concerned one of Europe's more unusually
named nobles, Władysław I, "The Elbow-high". He is credited with unifying
Poland in the 14th century, and is considered to be the country's founder.

His odd by-name is rendered as *Łokietek *in Polish, which is derived from
a term that describes a measurement of one elbow length, or roughly a
cubit. He has been described as a dwarf, and for years tour guides at Wawel
Cathedral in Krakow (where Władysław is buried)  have claimed the king was
only 120 cm tall (about 3' 11").

It makes a good story, but as it turns out, it isn't true. Recent
renovations at the cathedral allowed researchers to insert an endoscope
into the king's tomb. To everyone's surprise, the skeleton turned out to
measure about 5' 1" tall. The average height of an adult male of the time
was around 5' 6". Yes, Władysław was short, but definitely NOT a dwarf.

The History Blog story is at http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/65291 .

More on Władysław is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Władysław_I_Łokietek .

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆