A Burgundian Court Shoe
Gaerhun Gwynnedd
mka.
Paul Lalonde
Abstract
The cordwainer's art takes its name from the supple and brighly coloured
leathers produced in Cordovan factories throughout the middle ages.
The finest Cordovan leather was prized for its bright red colour.
Unsurprisingly, elegant shoes of this material were in demand during
the height of the Burgundian dominance over Northern European fashion in the
fifteenth century.
The slippers presented here are based on a number of finds from England and
France as well as iconographic and textual information dating from the
period. They are of a style commonly called a turn-shoe, being made
inside-out and turned to provide a tidier and more durable shoe.
This document presents the design decisions made, as well as the
evidence to support them. An appendix gives further information
on the leather used.
Burgundian Footwear
In 1396 King of France had in his ownership 131 pairs of chausses
semellees (Socks or hose with soles) with long whalebone-stiffenned
poulaines; 189 pairs of slippers in white, black, and red; 109
bottines (ankle boots); two pairs of high boots; and six pair
of soft high boots to wear at night [Gay 1887, `Chaussure'].
The selection of appropriate footwear was, as it is today, predicated
on comfort, fashion, and weather. In the warm summer months a pair
of chausses would have been sufficient, possibly with the addition
of pattens to keep the feet out reach of damp ground. This is supported
by images taken from the Tres Riches Heures de Jean, duc de Berry
and from a painting done for Jean Sans Peur.
In the winter months more footwear becomes evident, in the form
of ankle books and slippers. A painting of Charles VI dated around
1410 show the king in his chambers clearly wearing a pair of slippers
with long poulaines, while his courtiers wear ankle boots. A similar
slipper is found in a miniature from Chritine de Pisan's Epitres,
also early 15th century.
Choice of Materials
One difficult aspect of historical shoe construction is the selection
of the leather to use. Although shoes have been excavated from
archeological sites, few of the dig reports identify (or even attempt
to ascertain) the kind of leather used, except in a few cases where
kind of animal is identified. To establish what kind of leather
to use we must examine the processes used to turn skins into
leather, as well as textual evidence from period sources.
Methods of Preparing Leather
There are four different processes that produce leather from skins [Waterer 1946, p. 140]
These are:
- Vegetable tanning;
- Mineral tanning;
- Oil tanning; and
- Aldehyde tanning.
All but the last were used during the medieval period, and in particular
during the early part of the fifteenth century [Waterer 1946,pp. 140--146].
Of the aldehyde tanning we shall say no more as it is not of interest
to the period. Of the others, we restrict the discussion to a very
brief overview sufficient to establish the differences between the
processes. An interested reader is refered to
[Waterer 1946] for practical details.
Vegetable Tanning
By soaking skins in a solution of tannic acid (present in high
concentrations in oak-bark, and to a lesser extent in most vegetable
matter) a chemical conversion occurs that produces vegetable
tanning. Vegetable tanned leather varies in natural colour from
a pale cream to a dark reddish-brown. They tend to be solid
leathers, easy to tool, and reletively stable with respect to
stretch. The bulk of leathers used for utilitarian purposes
(bottles, riding harness, belts, etc.) would have been vegetable
leathers [Ibid, p. 146].
Oil Tanning
Oil tanning refers to preparing a skin by rubbing oily substances
into the skin. The oil causes the fibres of the skin to become
dehydrated, thus preserving them, and provides a water-resisting
film. Modern oil tannage involves using oils that oxidize and
so cause a chemical change in the fibres themselves that renders
them insoluble, but this is not the case with the period
process [Ibid, p. 145].
Mineral Tanning
The first mineral process used, dating back to ancient Egypt and
Babylonia, is the alum process. Skins are soaked in a solution
of alum and salt and the resulting leather is a pure white colour.
The alum and salt will, however, wash out in water, and the leather
must be further processed, according to the application, to avoid
this kind of damage [Waterer 1971,
pp. 23-24]. The process of preparing leather using the alum
process is called tawing. Alum tawed leather is also very
easy to dye in bright colours, alum being a mordant.
Chosing a Leather
I have found record of shoes made in vegetable tanned leather
and of alum tawed leathers. In my reading I have yet to find
a reference to shoes made from oil tanned leather, also comonly
called chamois.
From Roman times articles such as shoes and gloves were made from tawed
skins (in latin aluta). Tawed leather is delicate and easily
dyed, and was used when the shoes and gloves were more for show
than hard wear [Ibid, p. 20]. This tradition continued
through much of the middle ages.
As early as the 9th century the Spanish city of Cordoba was renouned
for the bright red tawed skins produced there. The French word for
shoe-maker, cordonier is derived from the old French form
cordouanier, refering to the cordovan leather.
Availability
Alum tawed leather is not widely available in the 20th century.
It has been largely supplanted by chrome tanned leather which
is more water stable than alum taw. One of the last industries
where alum taw is used is in fine bookbinding, where alum taw
has been in use since the middle ages. As such all the alum
taw produced commercially today is very thin -- suitable for
bookbinding, but not particularly so for shoes.
Fortunately there is a source of alum tawed leather. Rick Cavasin,
also known as Master Balderik, of the Barony of Skrealing Althing
(Ottawa, Ontario) produces hand-made vellum and alum taw. After
consultation he agreed to provide me with one goat skin, tawed,
and dyed red.
The Shoe
The shoe presented is a low-cut slipper with a rand
at the lasting-margin and a short poulaine. It is decorated with
a geometric design scrapped from the grain-side of the leather.
The rand serves to reinforce the lasting-margin (the part of the
shoe where the uppers meet the sole). By providing more bulk at
that seam the stitches can be made tighter without puckering the
leather. The rand also serves to stiffen the lasting-margin, which
is important since this is the seam that gives the shoe most of its
shape. In shoes made for outdoor wear the rand also increases the
water-tightness of the lasting margin since a tighter stitch can be
made.
The short poulaine is in accordance with the fashion in the early
part of the 15th century. The shortenning of the poulaine at
that time was a reaction to the excessive poulaines of the late
14th century. To help retain the poulaine's shape it has been
stuffed with dried moss.
Construction Technique
Much of the construction technique of period shoes can be infered
from archeological and iconographic evidence. Until the advent of the
so-called Tudor shoe, whose construction is in many ways similar to
modern shoes, most shoes were constructed inside-out and then
turned. They are most often refered to as turn-shoes.
Turning the shoes inside out has two advantages. First is that the
finished appearance is tidier since the seam allowances are all neetly
tucked inside. Second is that since the stitches are moved inside the
shoe the thread used to bind the sole to the uppers is not exposed to
wear while walking.
Construction starts by laying out the shoes on the skin using a pattern,
with an eye to making the best use of the available leather.
The marked parts are then cut slightly oversize with a knife or shears.
The parts are then fitted tightly over the last, tacking the leather lightly
at a few points along the lasting margin. The positioning of the
various seams can then be determined with some accuracy, and marked.
The leather is then removed from the last and
an awl is used to pierce the leather to make way for the stitching
thread. The shoe can at this time be tacked together at a few points,
returned to the last, which serves both as a form and as a way of
holding the work, and the final stitches made, although only loosely.
The shoe is then removed from the last, the stitches tightenned,
over-sized seam allowances trimmed back,
and the shoe turned inside out. An important detail of the turning
is that the poulaine cannot be completely stitched if the shoe is to
be turned inside out - the fine point is too bulky. The poulaine then
needs to be stitched from the outside as can be seen in surviving
artifacts.
Laces and other fittings can then
be added, after which the shoe can be finished by applying some
dressing to the leather, such as wax or oil.
Lasts
If a shoe is to be made to the correct shape without being subject
to vagrieties in cutting, then the shoe must be made to fit a last.
A last is wooden form not so much in the shape of a foot, but rather
in the shape of the shoe. A match between the shape of the last
and the intended wearer's foot is, however, important.
As the first part of this project I made two lasts, one right and
one left, with an eye to fitting my own foot. Lasts would have been
made out of some durable, available hardwood, such as beech. The
wood could easily be formed to rough shape when green and then
finished after a period of drying, as would be done with a bowl
[Abbott 1989, McGrail 1982].
In the absence of fresh-cut beech, I made my lasts out of pine.
I cut three contours approximating the shape of my foot, plus a poulaine,
and stacked them to make an appropriate height. After glueup I attacked
them with a rasp, a file, and some carving chisels.
These lasts will not be as durable as lasts made of hardwood, but should
easily outlive me nevertheless.
Patterns and Cutting
The most challenging part of making a new shoe is to make a suitable
pattern. In a medieval shop working at shoes full time for generations
this is less of a problem - the growth is largely evolutionary,
making patterns easy to come by. When starting from scratch though,
it is necessary to work through a few patterns to get the desired
effect.
My first pattern was a cloth mock-up of the shoe, fit to my foot.
I then cut this pattern in some scrap leather and fit it to the last,
and assembled a quick mock-up of the shoe to give me another chance
to adjust the fit and the last. I then made a pair of shoes out of
some camel skin leather that I had on hand. I wore these to a few
events to work out some more fitting problems, and then committed
myself to the nice red alum taw I had made, using a cardboard pattern
made from the last shoes before assembling them. I cut all my leather
with a small chip-carving knife that I use for general work.
In a period shop it is likely that a half-moon knife would have
been used, as is frequently depicted in illustrations.
Stitching
There is considerable evidence available about the stitches used
in shoemaking, most of it from shoes found in archeological digs.
In particular the London waterfront digs [Grew 1988]
and the Svendborg digs [Groenman 1988] provide ample
evidence of the stitches used in the late medieval period. What
is more lacking is an analysis of the fibres used, the thread not
having been well preserved. This makes it like that the thread
was linnen, as vegetable fibres do not survive well in environments
when animal protein might, which is the case with finds where
large quantities of leather is found.
Decoration and Finishing
Only three different
varieties of moss have been identified in any quantity in the shoes excavated
in London [Grew 1988]. The particular mosses are all
profusely branched with densely arranged small leaves, giving a
very firm stuffing.
Bibliography
Mike Abbott.
Green Woodwork.
Guild of Master Craftsman Publications, 166 High Street, Lewes, East
Sussex, BN7 1XU, 1989.
Joan Evans.
Dress in Medieval France.
Oxford, 1952.
Victor Gay.
Glossaire archeologique du moyen age et de la renaissance.
1887.
Francis Grew and Margrethe de~Neergaard.
Shoes and Pattens.
HMSO Books, London, 1988.
Sean McGrail, editor.
Woodworking techniques before A.D. 1500.
British Archaeological Records, Oxford, 1982.
Willy Groenman van Waateringe.
Leather from Medieval Svendborg, volume~5 of The
Archaeology of Svendborg, Denmark.
Odense University Press, 1988.
John W. Waterer.
Leather in Life, Art and Industry.
Faber and Faber Limited, 24 Russel Square, London, 1946.
John W. Waterer.
Spanish Leather.
Faber and Faber Limited, 3 Queen Square, London, 1971.
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Lalonde/Gaerhun Gwynnedd <plalonde at telus dot net>
Copyright 1996 Paul Lalonde
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