Yes, in certain periods at least Europeans were shorter than they are today.
Records of the height of young men aged 18-20 subscribed for compulsary
military service exist for the last 200 years or so. They show a marked
increase in both average heigth and maximum heigth from the beginning of
this century on. In Denmark, the tallest recruits were normally drafted for
the Royal Guard. The minimum requirement was, as I recall it, 172 cm, and
that was considered tall. Today, you could easily set that requirement at
190 cm if it were not that the guard  would then have to renew all the  blue
and the red galla uniforms, bear skin hats etc. I suppose the records of
recruits could be obtained through either the Ministry of the Interior or
the Ministry of Defence. I was told about them at a meeting of the Museum
Curators Club in the Museum of the Royal Guard.
   When looking at old beds, which seem so very short, it should be
remembered that according to old paintings people tended to sleep more or
less sitting up supported by a number of pillows. Low ceiling heigth could
be associated with heating problems during the winter, so whether or not you
knock your head on beams in the ceiling does not necessarily say anything
about the heigth of the original inhabitants, but of course the danger has
been les since people were actually a good bit shorter in the 18th and 19th
century.
 
Kay W. Petersen
Zoological Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark
[log in to unmask]