General Topics

Therefore, when making "Period" items, we are often placed in the position of either making a slavish reproduction of an item, a reasonable facsimile or an exercise in interprative speculation or a baldfaced fantasy. The first of these, slavish reproduction, is my personal preference and goal might be better termed museum quality replica. One of the major drawbacks to this level of reproduction is that, while accurate, it may not be terribly representative of what might actually have been worn (For example, photographs of English Civil War re-enactors show a very limited number of shoe styles that are unlikely to accurately portray the varieties of footwear actually worn). On the other hand, we are forced to work with what we know.

There is a spectrum of possibilities between the terms reasonable facsimile" and an exercise in interpretive speculation (also sometimes refered to as "plausibly period"), ranging from slight personal modifications of an otherwise absolutely accurate replica (for example, I know of one person who made a pair of Irish Slippers but chose to set the lacing holes in a slightly different pattern to make them more comfortable to that individual), to the basic designs of a number of the shoes in this document that are my estimates based on contemporary illustrations and descriptions, and layed out as best as I am able to reflect contemporary manufacturing techniques.

Baldfaced fantasy involves making items using techniques or materials that are not accurate to the design being recreated (for example: making an Anglo-Saxon design with a full welt and attached lower sole is a blatant anachronism, although it does allow for a longer lasting, more easily repaired shoe, and more comfort to some people when walking on gravel).

Keeping this in mind, this work shall endeavor to show accurate techniques and will indicate which designs are, in fact, based on archaeological finds and those that are based on shoes in period pictures (and those that are modern fabrications).

Development of Footwear

• Antiquity
  We can not say for certain what the first shoes worn were like, but many have guessed that they were probably bag-like wrappings of fur or skins in the colder regions. There are indications that in the ancient civilizations on the Nile and the Fertile Crescent some form of sandals were sometimes worn, if only for ceremonial purposes.
  The earliest European shoe we have evidence for (although it is not to be thought that it was the earliest shoe) was the shoe worn by the Ice Man, who was found frozen in the Alps. This shoe, surprisingly, was made of multiple pieces of leather and woven quarters. The shoes we mostly see in finds from Antiquity are single piece, center seam shoes, exmplified by those found in Rome. An interesting development in the single peice shoe among the tribes north of the Alps is the wrapping the lacing under the sole of the shoe to help hold the (possibly ill-fitted) shoes in place.
  Some authors have suggested that the Greeks wore shoes made on lasts, and it is known that the Romans used iron lasts to support their caligae as they hammered the soles together with hobnails. Most Roman shoes had attached soles. It is generally agreed that the transition from single piece shoes among the European tribes was due to the Roman influence, although this was a gradual change. The use of the separate sole allowed the sole to be replaced when it wore out, and thereby minimizing leather wasted in the upper. It may be noted that the single piece shoe did not totally fade from use, as can be seen in the form of rawhide shoe that was carved from a fresh piece of untanned flesh that was laced to the foot, generally with the hair on the inside. These were refered to as "rifeling" in Saxon, also known as "riwelingas", "rewylynys", "rowlingas", "rulyions", "rullions", "rivilin" in the Shetlands, "rivelins" in Scotland and the Orkneys, "pampooties" in the Aran Islands, "skin-sko" in Iceland, and "cuaran" in Gaelic.

• The Early Middle Ages/"Dark Ages" (c800-c1000)
  As sophisticated as shoes were by the end of the Roman Empire, by the end of the early Middle Ages in Britain and northern Europe shoes were fairly simple and uncomplicated affairs. "Turned" shoes were purportedly introduced to the north by the Saxons in the 5th Century, and by the 7th century, they appear to have replaced the center seam style of shoe that had prevailed in the areas of Roman influence. There is little archaeological evidence for shoes before the 7th Century, but it can be assumed that the shoes in common use would be either of a slip-on type or secured by a toggle-and-thong or tied-thong fastening, as depicted on contemporary or near contemporary art.
  From the linguistic data, the most common term for shoe under the Saxons was "scoh", which would most likely have meant the ankle-boot styles. The "staeppescoh", the term used by the 8th C for slipper, is synonymous with the word "swiftlere", although that was only documented later in this period. Both of these terms are translated into the Latin "subtalaris" ("below the ankle") signifing a foot covering which was certainly lower than the ankle. "Socc", a term from the Roman "succus", which was a simple slipper consisting of an light upper and sole, later appears to have been synonomous with "slebescoh"/"slypesco" or slipshoe, or a "bag-like" foot covering that was easily slipped on. In some texts, however, "socc" appears to have been synonmous to "callicula" and "gallicula", both terms apparently derived from "caligae", while in others they may have referred to boots. "Tibracis" was apparently a form of leather boot. "Calc" and "crinc" refer to types of a sandal.
  In the 7th C, there is evidence of metal (e.g. bronze) aglets on worsted cords used as shoe-laces. The Frankish fashion for shoe buckles and latchets gradually spread into Britain.
  In both the British and the Norse regions, the most common form of shoe was the turnshoe. Typically, this shoe was ankle high, usually fastened by means of a triangular flap which covered the ankle, and was attached by a latchet, or with thongs which passed through slits in the leather and wrapped around the ankle. All this footwear is flat-soled and very plain. The shoes do not have exaggerated toes or ornamentation in the form of tooled leather; fancy stitching is extremely rare. Among the Norse shoes, the most notable features are the the large triangular heels and straight soles. These are representative of Norse shoes of the period until c1150, when the "waisted" sole and round heel found elsewhere became the norm.
  There are a number of different ways to sew these shoes together, but the most common stitches were the flesh/edge tunnel stitch and the flesh/flesh stitch. The most common thread for these shoes was waxed woolen thread (and perhaps waxed sinew in more rural regions) until the 10th century, when waxed linen thread became more common.

• The Anglo-Norman Era/Middle Ages (c1000-c1300)
  By the mid-12th century, the shoes had become more round heeled and notably waisted. There is a brief period in here where there was a bit of a vogue for longer shoes, but it faded away slowly. More important was the development of a rand sewn into the seam between the upper and the sole, and the regular use of a leather binding stitch along the top edge, to strengthen and reinforce the edge. But it may be that the most important development in shoes of the 12th Century "little Renaissance" was the gradual professionalization of the craft into guilds or "mysteries". It is during this time that the term "Cordwainer" came to refer to the use of Cordoban leather and was later to became so associated with shoes that the terms for the material and the shoemaker became intertwined. The Cordoban/Cordovan leather first came from the hide of the Moufflon Sheep, then later goat and cow hide. Previous to this time, for instance, the shoemaker often had to prepare his hides (Most often sheep, goat and calf) himself. Archaeological evidence suggests that in the 12th century a professional division of labor had taken place. In any case, ideally shoemakers are not cobblers -- they are shoemakers, bootmakers, chaucers or cordwainers or any one of many terms. Cobblers, on the other hand, are restricted to using previously worked material, and so only FIX shoes.

• The Middle Ages (c1300-c1450)
  In the 14th and 15th centuries, shoes again became more pointed in the toe, but rarely did the styles grow to any ridiculous lengths (although, at times this did happen). The designs in this manual are for shorter toes, although these may be modified as the cordwainer sees fit. By the 14th century, there was a greater standardization of shoe design, and an increase in the use of smaller pieces in more complex patterns. By the late 14th century, Pattens became common, as were more open-work decorative designs. Pattens, sometimes referred to as Clogs, were a form of overshoe or protective raised sole, first made from wood, then sometimes later of leather. In the 15th Century, shoe construction techniques changed with the evolution of "turn-welt" construction, from the rand techniques, which allowed heavier soles to be attached to the shoe.

• The Tudor Period (c1450-c1550)
  In the late 15th Century and 16th Century, this sort of turn-welt construction is replaced by true welted, lasted shoes such as those made today. Although ther is some mention of it, the making of such shoes is beyond the scope of this book, and argueably beyond my ability to teach. The few examples I have used in this work should be made as lasted shoes, but it may be also possible to make then as "turn-welt" construction.

St. Crispan and St. Crispinian

Replicating from Realia

The easiest reason for me to explain is that no two people's feet are really the same size or shape, and that to do so, means that you will be making a shoe that is made for someone else, even if their foot length happened to be the same as yours. Not even in the Middle Ages were two matching shoes necessarily absolutely identical, since they were made for different feet, for different people. The same "style" of shoe made by two different Cordwainers may look completely different.

More than that, though, is that any leather garment, worn for any length of time, changes shape, so that the "pattern" soon ceases to bear anything but the most cursory resemblance to the original, which means that, among other things, areas that in the leather original had been stretched thin and flexible will not be thin and flexible in the new item (thus suggesting that your slavish reproduction is anything but).

Finally, of course, is the fact that these are archaeological remains, and may have stretched, shrunk, twisted and deformed in ways that are subtle to the eye, but when replicated into footwear may cripple you. The designs in this document should be suited to present the general designs, just as items such as The Tailor's Book present general designs that show you how a certain piece was supposed to look.

Foot Health

Historically, the most common reason for the aches and pains of medieval shoes, as with modern ones, is that they are badly fitted. Shoes that are too tight are often painful, uncomfortable, and can cause blisters, corns and bunions, hammer-toe and other long term problems. It has been suggested (Grew and de Neergaard, pg 106) that some of the problems that we see in Medieval shoes, had as much to do with poorly fitted shoes in childhood, as with badly fitted shoes in adult life.

Shoes that are too loose can be even worse than those that are too tight. Shoes that let your foot slide around won't give you a stable foundation for support, and your own body weight becomes your foot's enemy. It is possible to give yourself shin splints and cramps in your feet, just trying to hold your foot stable in an oversides shoe. Often the walker is spending as much energy dealing with his shoe as he is with actual movement.

The second detail to observe is the padding that goes into the shoe. In modern shoes, the interiors are often heavily padded and shaped to support the foot, and those that aren't may be supplemented by purchased pads and insoles. In the dark and middle ages, shoes were often padded as well, though with moss, hair, wool, and so forth. Padding can be used to correct for shoes that have stretched, or shoes that cause blisters. A pad can be placed inside the vamp to keep the foot from sliding too far forward, and to cushion the instep. Note that if the padded arch of the shoe is placed too far forward, it can be as painful as a fallen arch.

There is no reason that modern reproductions can't be padded, either in a medieval manner or a modern one. Placing an inner sole in a shoe can help enormously.

Finally, and sometimes more difficult to deal with, is that with every different style of shoe, comes a different style of walking. People who wouldn't bat an eyelid at, for example, learning how to walk in high heels, assume that walking in moccasins is the same as walking in tennis shoes. There are different strains on the foot that one becomes accustomed to in a short time, but if ignored, can lead to strained tendons, bruised heels and damaged arches. If nothing else, a little more care must be taken before placing one's feet; in other words, look where you're going.

You might want to try to keep your feet pointed straight forward when you walk, as opposed to modern society's fashionable 45 degree angle. Keep this in a shorter stride that distributes the shock of each foot step along the outside of the foot. Try not to stomp your heel down when you walk, as a pebble can do far more harm in thin soled shoes than it will in more padded soles. Even with out the pebble, you can eventually bruise the heel. These are all things our ancestors knew without thinking, since they learned them as they learned to walk the first time. We, on the other hand, learned to walk on padded soles. Even so, we still twist the occasional ankle.

With some simple, common sense preparations, akin to those taken every day, there is no reason that most people can not wear period shoes.

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