BOOTS AND SHOES THROUGH THE AGES

Northern Advocate, 30 March 1937, Page 10

BOOTS AND SHOES THROUGH THE AGES

Early man wore a rough covering of rawhide to protect his feet, and after this the first constructed foot covering was undoubtedly the sandal.

Great attention was paid to shoes by the early Romans, among whom the shoemaker was called “sator.” Some of the shoes were so beautifully made and so highly valued that many of the wealthy were buried with their shoes upon their feet. The nailed shoe of the Roman soldier (caliga) and the laced sandal of the aristocrat have, in recent years, bsen unearthed from the soil of ancient London. In England the word boot was taken from the Welsh “botes,” which means shoes. The craft seems to have made its first headway in England about the time of >the Norman Conquest.

In the tenth century, wooden shoes were worn in Europe, even by great princes. The very poor wore a thick cloth wound round foot and leg. Shoemakers, a little later, began to experiment in rich and ornamental footwear. We read that at the court of William Rufus there was a great beau called Robert the Horned, who wore shoes, with long toes twisted like a ram’s horn, and stuffed with tow.

The shoemakers formed themselves into a guild, and were granted charters by Edward 11, Henry VI, and William and Mary, successively. There was a charity fund connected with the guild, which functioned for six centuries, and did much to alleviate distress among ill or unfortunate members. Regulating' Width. In the fourteenth century, pattens, which were something like the present-day goloshes, were made in -England, and largely worn by the gentry and the clergy. To ensure their lightness, they were, constructed of aspen, and sometimes had a small iron ring on the sole to prevent them slipping. In the reign of Henry VIII, shoes were made very broad. The King had to have them so on account of his gouty feet, and, after the manner of the present day, because they were favoured by Royalty, they immediately became very fashionable, but the fashion was carried to such extreme lengths that in the reign of Mary the law regulated the width across the toes to six inches. Then there came a craze for slippers, which reached its height in the reign of Charles I. Irf the Stuart and Tudor periods, the shoemaker was allowed to let his imagination run riot on fanciful decorations for shoes,, and the wealthy had them of silk and velvet and coloured leather, frequently embroidered with jewels.

Queen Elizabeth had a very expensive taste in shoes and boots, which she possessed in large numbers, for, in those halcyon days, a monarch could always afford to indulge in any extravagant taste. Probably the most ridiculous shoes in history were the Polish shoes. They were so fashioned that they curved right up to the knees, where they were fastened with their silk or gold.