*curiously, the old Irish shilling had thirteen pence, not twelve. I doubt if the EU has had much effect on French stallholders. Remnants of the old French measures can still be seen today, in markets, where fruit and vegetables are sold by kilogrammes or 'livres' (pounds). The French at that time used a foot/pound system similar to the British imperial system until Napoleon himself changed France to the metric system.īut the French foot had thirteen inches *, not twelve, so that Napoleon's height was in fact 67 inches, or 5 feet 7 inches, quite normal. Napoleon Bonaparte is often depicted as being a person of small stature, because contemporary accounts state that his height was 5 feet 2 inches. View previous topic | View next topic Height of Napoleon Bonaparte