shoes-lnks - 6/11/06

A set of web links to information on medieval footwear by Dame Aoife Finn of Ynos Mon.

NOTE: See also the files: shoes-msg, p-shoes-msg, boots-msg, shoemaking-msg, 2Shod-a-Shire-art, leather-msg, lea-tanning-msg, leather-bib, merch-leather-msg.

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NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.

Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s).

Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: liontamr at ptd.net
Subject: [SCA-AE] Links: Medieval Shoes
Date: July 7, 2004 3:59:51 PM CDT
To: sca-aethelmearc at andrew.cmu.edu

Greetings, everyone!

This week's edition of the Links List is all about Footwear. I know I
covered this subject several years ago, however, many of those Links are now
dead, and there are new ones to see. My only wish is that someone would do
an article on Medieval orthopedic shoes...some of us (naming no names, but
her name starts with A) are a mite too old and defiantely too fall-prone to
be hot-footing it around in thin-soled slippery footwear!

Please enjoy these Links and forward them where they may find an interested
audience. I enjoy hearing where these lists travel, so don't hesitate to let
me know where you are sending it to!

Cheers

Aoife

Dame Aoife Finn of Ynos Mon,
a/k/a Lisbeth Herr-Gelatt
Canton of Riverouge
Barony of the Endless Hills
Kingdom of Aethelmearc

Footwear of the Middle Ages by I Marc Carlsson
http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/shoe/SHOEHOME.HTM
(Site Excerpt) The purpose of this web site is to provide a general guide to
footwear in the European Middle Ages, with some examinations of footwear
before that period, as well as some that came after.  Hopefully this will be
an overview of footwear technology up to 1600.  Since we don't have the
materials or knowledge to make this an exhaustive view of all footwear up to
1600, because much of the knowledge has been long lost, not yet published,
or simply not available to me at this time, this site should always be
considered a work in process.

Medieval Shoes from the Bata Museum Collection, Toronto, Ontario
http://www.medievallife.com/Pages/Bata_Shoe_Museum1.htm
A Series of photos in their colelctionof extant shoes. Clains to be page one
of 3, but no button to navigate. It is possible to find the other pages by
replacing the numer 1 at the end of the URL with numbers 2 or 3.

Making Medieval Arrowheads (a type of shoe)
http://www.the-exiles.org/essay/makingmedishoes.htm
(Site Excerpt) There are many different methods used to create the pattern,
authentically a last should be used. What follows though is an easy method
of creating a mediaeval looking shoe.
Firstly draw around your foot on a piece of paper and extend the big toe
into a point (it's also worth narrowing the middle slightly) to give your
shoe that mediaeval look. See fig 1.

Northampton University Medieval Shoes
http://www.northampton.gov.uk/Museums/Collections/Boot_and_Shoe/History_of_Shoes/Medieval_shoes.htm
(Site Excerpt) Footwear styles continued to change during the Medieval age.
The sole and upper were no longer thonged but stitched together with thread
and the toe became a sharp point, known as scorpion tails, they began to get
longer in the 1320's and became known as pikes, crackowes or poulaines. The
length of ones toe was an indication of status. The King and his court had
shoes with the largest toes. This style wasn't worn by women. The ankle shoe
remained popular, it was usually side laced with three pairs of holes.

Shoes from the Mary Rose
http://www.maryrose.org/life/cloth1.htm
(Site Excerpt) The mid-sixteenth century marked a turning point in shoe
construction, with the traditional 'turnshoe' giving way to the 'welted'
method still used today. Square, round or ear-toe shoes demonstrate the
variety of styles worn, with some slashed in a decorative manner similar to
that used on the jerkins.

Pattens, Clogs and Wooden Soled shoes
http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/shoe/APP4.HTM
(Site Excerpt) When dealing with this whole category of footwear, there are
some problems with the terminology that need to be dealt with right away.
The term "clog" has at one time or another meant any and all of the above
mentioned items, and "patten" has meant at least as many things. So for the
purposes of this document, the following things will be referred to as:
Pattens, Chopines, wooden soled clogs...

Wooden Pattens
by Mistress Fuiltigherne
http://www.meridies.org/as/dmir/Costume&Fashion/0928.html
(Site Excerpt) Soled hose and cloth shoes of the Middle Ages were fine -- as
long as you were staying indoors. In order to protect them from the mud and
mire, a type of overshoe was developed. The terms "cog", "patton", "galochs"
and "pulaine" seem to be for the most part, interchangeable, although the
"poulaine" seems to apply mostly to those overshoes with leather soles. The
basic patten had a wooden sole with a covering of leather over the top and a
leather strap to hold the shoe in place. Pattens wore worn out of doors and
removed while inside.

Footwear for Scottish and Irish re-enactors
http://www.historicgames.com/Scottishstuff/ghillies.html
(Site Excerpt) Shoes are often one of the more difficult items of apparel
for the re-enactor to obtain. Handmade footwear in a period style is
expensive. Even simple shoes can cost over $100, and the price often goes up
from there. As a result, a common problem among re-enactors is an otherwise
good portrait of a historical character, marred by modern-styled moccasins,
or shoes.

Costume: Accessories - 13th Century Footwear
by Jurgen von Baden
http://www.havenonline.com/moas/a_s_2000/shoes.htm
(Site Excerpt) These two pairs of shoes are based on styles of footwear
common during the 13th century. They are both based on patterns taken from
shoes that were excavated from along the Themes River in London. These shoes
have been detailed in Shoes and Pattens: Medieval Finds from Excavations in
London. Nearly 1500 shoes were excavated, covering the time period 1150 to
1450. This provides a large sample of shoes, many of similar style, from
which a number of conclusions can be drawn. First, shoes of this time period
were of turnshoe construction. The shoes were sewn together inside out, and
then turned right side out once they were completed. This type of
construction protects the seams of the shoe from wear.

Lasts, History and use in Medieval Shoes
http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/shoe/APP2.HTM
(Site Excerpt) The origins of shoes are obscured by the distance of history,
and like them, the origin of the last is equally hidden in that same
distance.  Tradition among shoemakers would imply that lasts have always
been used, alongside other ancient tools like the boar's bristle, flax
thread and the curved awl, if not since Adam was handed his first lasts
after being tossed from the Garden, at least since the day that some
nameless caveman got tired of wearing leather bags on his feet and so
invented shoemaking.  However, while tradition can tell us a great deal
about the people who maintain those traditions, tradition is not history.
Ideally, history is determined by facts that can be documented and studied
objectively (I should note that this view of history is at variance with
some of the schools of thought in historicial studies in the past decades.
While I accept the reality of relativism in history, I'm not sure that we
should use that as an excuse to stop searching for an objective truth).

Stefan's Florilegium: Shoemaking
www.florilegium.org
To see these files and messages, click on "clothing" on the lefthand menu,
then "shoemaking" or "shoes" on the right.

Tournaments Illuminated index: Footwear
http://www.sca.org/ti/topic.html#garbfoot
Presently the index has several article slisted by tonly one linked: On
Constructing Boots and Shoes by Caitlin Stuart.

SHOE FROM PARLIAMENT ST.
YORK   CONSTRUCTION NOTES
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~chrisandpeter/shoe/construction.html
(Site Excerpt) This pattern is for a type of early medieval (l0th to 13th
cent.) shoe that is distributed widely in North Western Europe, examples are
known from York, England as well as Hedeby/Haithabu in Germany and Svendborg
in Sweden. The shoe (Find no.756), sole (757), and upper (819) are described
in reference [1].

Poor People's Poulaines --Pointy Shoes for Everyone! (copyright  Cynthia
Virtue)
Easy pointy shoes out of modern leather, which will look accurate at normal
distances.
http://www.virtue.to/articles/poulaines.html
(Site Excerpt) * So how long were these points, anyway? One fairly
un-reliable source I have says that anyone who was lower than a prince could
not wear points on their shoes that measured over six inches in length. If
you look at the pictures in this handout you can see that the points during
the 15th century seem to be between `half the foot long' and `as long as the
foot' in most cases. You can do your own figuring for your own foot how long
this really would be for you

Shire of Hartstone: Medieval Hats, Belts and Shoes
http://www.shireofhartstone.org/hatsplus.html
This site includes: To Shod a Shire by Lady Eowyn Swiftlere at
http://www.shireofhartstone.org/documents/stonies/articles/shodashire.html,
as well as several links from the last time I chose Shoes as a topic
(thanks, guys, for saving them!).

Barony of Carillion: Medieval Bag Shoes
http://www.carillion.eastkingdom.org/CUARAN_convt.pdf
Note: This is an Adobe Acrobat file, and a good one. It take s quite a while
to load, however, so please be patient.

Markland: Shoes
http://www.markland.org/shoes.php
(Site Excerpt) Most medieval shoes were "turn shoes", sewn together inside
out and then turned rightside out, to keep the stitching protected from
wear.  The sole is sewn to the upper with an edge/flesh seam: the stitch
passes straight through the upper, then into the edge of the sole and out
through the flesh (rough) side (fig 1.).  The edges of the uppers can be
butted together and sewn with an edge/flesh seam, or simple overlapped and
stitched straight through.

Late 14th Century Shoe with Poulaine (a photo series)
http://www.medievallife.com/Pages/14thCenturyShoePoulaine01.htm

Medieval and Postmedieval Turnshoes
from Kempten (Allgäu), Germany
http://www.uni-bamberg.de/~ba5am1/info/shoes.htm
(Site Excerpt) The oldest complex is of special interest for archaeological
and historical research. It contains charters, writing exercises, a love
letter, playing-cards, wooden waste from a turnery and also about 600
leather and fur objects, which are the topic of the author's doctoral
thesis(3).
The biggest part of the leather finds are shoes - which is common on
conventional excavations. The earliest types beyond these were one well
preserved fragment of a poulaine (a.k.a. crackowe) (top is cut off, fig. 5)
and a nearly complete patten.

Fragment of Medieval Shoe from Newcastle upon Tyne
http://museums.ncl.ac.uk/archive/old_fotm/old_fotmmr98/
(Site Excerpt) The fragment shown is the back piece of upper from a turnshoe
boot, extending to the quarter butted seam on one side. The other edge is
torn. On either side the butted seams slope down from the top edge where
where a triangular piece would have been inserted to complete the shape. The
back top edge has a whipped seam where a top band would have attached. On
the flesh side at the back, heel stitch marks show where a heel stiffener
was attached. A lasting margin with stitch holes at 5-6 mm intervals is
present except at the heel base where it is worn away. All butted seams have
stitch holes at 4 mm intervals. Threaded through the leather are two
parallel rows of thonging 3 mm wide. One set of double slit holes above the
rows suggests that there were originally three rows of thonging. Thickness
3mm

NorthShield: 7th Century Anglo-Saxon Shoes by Tarrach Alfson
http://www.havenonline.com/moas/a_s_2000/shoes2.htm
(Site Excerpt) These are two pair of 7th century Anglo-Saxon shoes. Drawings
of probable designs of 7th century shoes are shown in Figure 1. The lighter
pair was made using fairly lightweight leather for both the upper and sole
as was described for the shoes found in the 7th century grave at Sutton Hoo.
They are experimental in that I wish to see some of the advantages and
disadvantages of thin-soled shoes. The second pair is done with heavier sole
leather and is more complex in construction techniques (including a rand and
an appliqued decoration with inner sole covering arch support). This pair
includes a number of techniques described for shoes found at Sutton Hoo.

Costumer's Manifesto: 17th Century Shoes and Boots
http://www.costumes.org/HISTORY/100pages/17THSHOE.HTM

It's the Shoes, Baby!
Shoes through the Generations
http://www.lausd.k12.ca.us/NH_Zoo_Magnet/shoes/
(Site Excerpt) Footwear styles continued to change during the Medieval age.
The sole and upper were no longer thonged but stitched together with thread
and the toe became a sharp point, known as scorpion tails, they began to get
longer in the 1320's and became known as pikes, crackowes or poulaines. The
length of ones toe was an indication of status. The King and his court had
shoes with the largest toes. This style was not worn by women. The ankle
shoe remained popular, it was usually side laced with three pairs of holes.

"Romance is everything."  Gertrude Stein
"I have learnt to love you late, Beauty at once so ancient and so new!"
(Bishop) Saint Augustine (354-430)

<the end>
Edited by Mark S. Harris	shoes-lnks	Page 5 of 5